Treering Blog

You’re expecting this to be all about brainstorming to increase buy-in, aren’t you? Critiques of brainstorming as ineffective or “the very opposite of synergy” challenge us to take a different approach to choosing a yearbook theme. Try something new this year: ask “What don’t we want in a theme?” 

“Oh snap,” said my eighth-grade self.

This could result in something quite powerful: there’s a leadership movement to replace brainstorming with problem-solving strategies inspired by Einstein. Yes, the Theory of Relativity guy. And “problem” in this context isn’t a crisis, it’s more like a mathematical expression: solve for theme.

Questions to Ask When Selecting a Theme

We have our question: What don’t we want in a yearbook theme? Now, it’s time to find the answers. 

Ask why. And do it five times.

In each of the examples above, students started with their ideas and defined what they wanted to highlight. You may choose to do two or three sets of these to direct your team before narrowing down your theme.

Treering’s nearly 300 themes can provide the visual to align with the story you want to tell (verbal). Here’s what I mean:

Yearbook Red Flags

Usually, a red flag is a full-on brake moment. Because we are problem-solving to develop a yearbook theme, let’s add some drama. 

1. Trendy or Timeless?

A theme that feels relevant only to the current moment might not resonate with readers in the future. If your theme conveys a you-had-to-be-there vibe, consider how it will be perceived years from now. And whether you want your sigma theme to resonate with your grandkids.

I know. I know. After the trendy theme “problems” above, you thought timeless might be the way to go. Timeless themes might be perceived as "safe," which could stifle creativity*. They often rely on classic or traditional designs, which might lead to a yearbook that lacks innovative or fresh elements that can make it distinguishable from previous years’ books. They also might be beacons of a longstanding tradition.

*PSA: That’s not a reason to ignore design hierarchy. 

2. Themes That Are Difficult to Execute Verbally

I’m just going to say it: if you have a visual theme and don’t know how to implement it, you don’t have a complete theme. You have a look. So does my mom.

via GIPHY

A complete yearbook theme provides that proverbial lens through which the entire school year is viewed. It helps prioritize content that aligns with the central idea, ensuring that the yearbook tells a cohesive story rather than just a collection of unrelated events. Remember our school that chose POV above?

POV is gorgeous. The included layouts focus on student voices and impactful photography, neither of which works if you only feature a subset of students in the book. To truly convey POV, you need multiple perspectives.

3. Themes That Don’t Reflect the School’s Identity

If the theme feels out of sync with the school’s identity or geography and/or doesn’t capture the essence of the student body, move on. 

This is when you could involve the student body and get that buy-in we previously discussed. Theme surveys help choose the visual identity of your yearbook theme. Our design team put all of Treering’s themes together so you could pare down the selection. (We suggest five or fewer.)

Throughout the school year, some many events and activities might seem unrelated at first glance. An intentional theme helps tie these events together under a common narrative. Visual elements from fonts to graphics, develop that narrative and provide a cohesive look. After you choose yours, check out these additional theme development resources:

(Then again, if theme brainstorming is your jam, check out these questions in the Theme Module of Treering’s free curriculum. We’re that flexible.)

Aside from the release of the annual Year in Review pages, nothing fills our DMs like the fall theme launch. After holding theme focus groups with freshly finished yearbook coordinators and interviews with customer-facing team members, our design team created the largest collection of layouts to date. Treering editors said they wanted the 2024 theme collection to have increased customization, more room for text, and variety in the coordinating layouts and graphics. Yes, yes, and yes.

Many of the 2024 yearbook themes use editable shapes, so yearbook squads can change up the color palette to coordinate with their school colors. You’ll see more caption boxes in the included layouts. Each theme also contains dedicated layouts and graphics for holidays, school events, sports, and academic subjects.

In addition to the ten new yearbook themes below, Treering’s design team added 35 new fonts and 100s of graphics.

"Stick Together" - a Design That’s Still Fire

Stickers have always been and will remain a significant part of contemporary youth culture. They are everywhere: laptops, phone cases, notebooks, and water bottles. Incorporating this concept into the yearbook aligns the design with Gen Z and Gen Alpha students' everyday experiences and interests, making it instantly relatable and engaging. 

Elementary, middle, and high school students will love the playful, whimsical look a sticker-based yearbook theme will give. With over 250+ pieces of art to mix and match, layouts become even more customizable to showcase the personality and energy of your school community.

The Modular Theme: "POV"

English teachers know POV as a literary device. Students see it on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. It’s a concept where content is presented from a specific perspective, often creating a more immersive and engaging experience for viewers.

As a yearbook theme, POV emphasizes storytelling and relatability by framing school events and experiences through student and faculty perspectives. To help, our design team created a full suite of quote-based graphics and 70 modular layouts.

By using modular coverage, you can combine more topics on a spread, which helps more students in the yearbook. It’s a design shift. Using templates can help: by employing professionally designed mods, students see what works and can edit and adjust these to work for them. Then, they can move on to create their own.

Most Spirited: "Mascot"

A symbol of identity and school unity, school mascots embody the essence of your school’s identity and values. Why shouldn’t your yearbook reflect that?

Older yearbook classes and clubs may choose to use the mascot to create a narrative of the school year such as, “Through the Eyes of a Lion,” or include their own “Mascot Moments” to tell how the school values come into play day-by-day.

The mascot can also be used to highlight important school traditions, events, and cultural moments, reinforcing its role as a key part of the school’s heritage.

A Collage-Themed Yearbook

With over 65 layouts for school events and activities, “Collage” used photo-realistic graphics for a mixed media effect. The yearbook theme focuses on photography.

The included tapes, papers, and cutouts provide textures and layers. These elements play a major role in enhancing the tactile and visual appeal of the pages. Different textures—like the smoothness of a photo, the roughness of a paper-cut effect, or the subtle grain of a background—can evoke emotions and draw the eye to specific elements. The layers also help to break the monotony of flat images that a traditional grid structure may give a spread.

"Picture This" Spotlights Students

From the opening act to the closing credits, this vintage Hollywood-inspired yearbook theme is part glamor, part photojournalistic chronicle. 

Some fun spin-offs can include:

• Movie-inspired superlatives
• Renaming your portrait section “cast of characters”
• School hall of fame with science fair, spelling bee, and speech contest winners
• Adding a section of behind-the-scenes fun from picture day and yearbook club meetings

Add in Treering’s custom pages, and every student is truly a star!

"Sketchbook"

It’s a challenge to create a yearbook that appeals to both kindergartners and sixth graders. Or even one that captures the essence of a K-12 school without being too young or too old visually. In one of our focus groups, a Treering editor suggested a yearbook theme that “grows” with students. “Sketchbook” was born from this idea.

The diversity of designs is perfect for young learners in kindergarten and young adults in middle school. The graphics offering “grows” in maturity from chunky to streamlined.

Highlight Digital Design with a Cyber Yearbook Theme

As esports continue to grow in popularity as an NFHS-recognized sport, the digital design trend will heighten on pace. Ascend to the top of the leaderboard with the included graphics: neon color borders, glitch effects, and digital grids. This creates a striking visual impact that reflects the cyberpunk aesthetic, emphasizing vibrant, high-contrast visuals and futuristic elements.

If your school’s focus is on advancement, Cyber may be the 2024 yearbook theme for you

"Organic Retro"

This design trend blends the charm of vintage aesthetics with a modern, natural twist. It's characterized by earthy tones, organic shapes, and a nostalgic vibe that harkens back to design styles from the 60s and 70s. With retro yearbook themes continuing as a trend in 2024, the “Organic Retro” theme is modern despite its “old school” roots.

The soft, welcoming color palette and bold, organic shapes are non-intrusive and can complement a wide range of photos and content. It can be playful and energetic for casual moments like the Fun Run or more subdued and elegant for formal events like awards night. This flexibility allows the yearbook to capture the full spectrum of school experiences. 

An Unfiltered Yearbook Theme: "Be You"

The design team spends all year cataloging design trends. Social media is usually at the top of the list. To focus on authenticity and the in-the-moment aspect of yearbook reporting, once again, they took inspo from a trending movement and created the largest collection of layouts (90!) attached to a Treering theme. 

The designers love promoting positive messages, thus creating a series of “Be” statements, such as “BeKind,” “BeCurious,” “BeResponsible,” or “BeImaginative.” Pair these with the included emojis to react to the activities and efforts of students on campus.

"Together We Can"

A puzzle visual as a unifying yearbook theme is a powerful metaphor for the school community, emphasizing how each student, teacher, and event plays a crucial role in completing the overall picture of the school year. Piecing together individual contributions to academics and activities with a small cluster of pieces reveals the larger picture as readers turn the pages. This approach can represent how the school year builds over time, with each event, achievement, and memory contributing to the final, complete image at the end of the year.

Bold colors and oversized graphics showcase the big moves and bright spirits across campus. Enjoy pre-designed, drag-and-drop templates for clubs, events, and academic subjects.

How do I Use a Treering Theme?

Applying a Treering theme is as easy as click, drag, drop, and done.

After applying the theme, you can customize it by adjusting colors, fonts, and layouts. You can also mix and match elements from different themes or the extensive graphics library.

Treering Yearbook Heroes is a monthly feature focusing on yearbook tips and tricks. 

As an elementary student, Yearbook Hero Arinna Fang volunteered for the yearbook team as soon as the opportunity opened. Publication design became a form of self-expression. The future English teacher served as an editor for her middle school yearbook, where she became the youngest winner in the Treering Spread Design Contest.

What did it mean to have your design win national recognition?

It was quite unbelievable. My teachers were really supportive, and my yearbook adviser showed the whole class.

What advice do you have for other students getting started in yearbook design?

Everything starts with a vision. For my spread, it began with the Einstein quote. I wanted the design to flow from there. If it were a math spread, I would have kept it more organized and angled.

When my classmates get stuck, I help identify the problem and fill the need. Sometimes there’s no inspiration; sometimes no flow.

Music is a help. I have playlists that I cycle through to get inspiration. I use the emotions in the music to pull into my designs.

How do you organize your yearbook team?

My adviser let us be like adults. My co-editor and I directed the design. My adviser let us be like adults, and my co-editor and I directed the design. I always think 400-something people are buying these yearbooks, and I don't want to let them down.

Regularly, we did Yearbook Updates, a slideshow with everyone’s current spread status. This helped us examine the entire book. Everyone benefited from the responses because we taught them how to speak in uplifting ways by emphasizing the positive with “This is what we want” and coaching others with  “This could be improved.” 

We validate each others’ voices by creating a safe place to share ideas.

How did you develop your theme visually?

We didn’t have a style guide. Everything we used came from the power of communication. When people would submit their spreads, my co-editor and I would add theme elements if warranted. This enhanced and honed the design and made it part of the overall look.

What’s the best way to get a quality quote from a middle schooler?

The biggest thing is to take a chance. I tell people to start interviewing their friends before approaching others. Ask questions about feelings. People love what they do and love to share.

Additional Middle School Yearbook Resources

(In case you don’t have a student leader like Fang...)

• Running a Yearbook Club
• 60 Yearbok Bell Ringers
• Yearbook Job Descriptions

Fun fact: most Treering employees are the yearbook coordinators for their children’s schools.  Our staff compiled this list to distinguish “just” a mom with a camera (TIA for all the pics you share) from an all-knowing yearbook aficionado. These first four are the yearbook coordinator starter pack for this club.

• You organize past school years by yearbook themes.
• You’ve perfected the art of bribing motivating people with pizza and Red Vines to meet deadlines.
• You are suddenly everyone’s best friend come May when they forgot to order.
• Your kid’s yearbook has 30 custom pages (only because you ran out of time).

You’re in the Know

If you’re an old-school journalist, you have the scoop on all that’s happening on campus: events, field trips, games (even the rescheduled ones), and parent-teacher conferences. And chances are, you’re in the midst of the action. Couple that with your yearbooking (yes, it’s a verb) know-how, and you’re an indomitable force.

• You know the hex codes for the school colors.
• You know the difference between a point and a pica.
• You’ve memorized every student’s best angle.
• You know the names of most of the students at your child’s school, even the ones that aren’t friends with your kid or in their grade.
• You’ve attended more school dances than any student ever will.
• You know the principal’s catchphrases by heart.
• You’ve debated the perfect theme more times than you can count.
• You refresh the yearbook tracking number every five minutes.

You Stress Over These Yearbook Woes

Spoiler alert: if this is your first year as the yearbook coordinator, there will be some stress. After you laugh your way through this list (rimshots not included), check out a more serious one our team did: 10 Ways to Relieve Adviser Burnout.

• You have nightmares about misspelled names.
• You cringe at the sight of Comic Sans. Papyrus too.
• You can spot a typo from a mile away.
• You wake up in the middle of the night to question whether you added that kid who wasn't there on picture day.

Boundaries You Don’t (Yet) Have

We are all works in progress. (Read: no judgment here.) 

• You have over 3000 photos sorted into folders by school event.
• You consider caffeine a major food group.
• Your evenings and weekends are spent at school events with a camera glued to your hand.
• You have a note on your phone with headline ideas.
• You have contacted friends on social, neighbors, your bunco group, gym friends, and random parents at the grocery store to add photos and order their books.
• Your idea of a vacation is a day without a deadline. Conversely, you’ll pay for airplane wifi to finish that last spread.
• You consider the yearbook room your second home.

Did we miss any? Message us on Facebook or Instagram.

Avoid the pitfall of waiting until the yearbook is complete to begin selling. Keep reading for reasons you should begin marketing the yearbook now.

Financial Incentives to Sell Yearbooks Early

Back-to-school time is when everyone is excited about the new year. Parents know there are a lot of expenses for clothes, school supplies, and yearbooks.

• Early bird discounts: Better than a worm, Treering families save 10% on the cost of their yearbooks from August to October. Schools that purchase in bulk also enjoy the extra savings.
• Start accumulating your fundraiser: Schools using the yearbook as a fundraiser will have extra time to meet their monetary goal.
• Earn four free yearbooks: Treering customers who sell five books by September 15, earn a free yearbook. They earn a second if they sell 25 books by December 15, and two more if they sell 50 books by January 31.

Build Hype

Create excitement about the yearbook on day one. When families see the yearbook team out and about, it tells them two things:

1. I need to buy a yearbook.
2. The yearbook team is committed to covering the whole year.

Early sales encourage students to participate in yearbook-related activities. It also offers the yearbook team extra time for teasers and keeps them accountable for progress. That said, take advantage of this added engagement for crowdsourcing opportunities. If students know they are in the yearbook, they will buy the yearbook.

Help Parents

Let's face it, we need reminders too.

• Customization: Families can purchase their yearbook early and have until the purchase deadline to work on and finish their custom pages.
• Reduce stress: Let's face it, Maycember is real. And who doesn't love adding a fat checkmark to the to-do list?

How Do You Begin Early Yearbook Sales?

Begin sales—like all things yearbook—with a plan. An easy win is to include a yearbook flyer in the registration packet that goes home with every child. Level up your approach with a school calendar and your team and create a yearbook presence at

• Back-to-school events
• Parent group meetings
• A staff meeting (or three)
• Picture day
• Homecoming
• Fall festival

Sell early, sell often. Treering's order processing and tracking make for one less paper trail for advisers to chase. You won't regret the momentum.

Treering Yearbook Heroes is a monthly feature focusing on yearbook tips and tricks.

Every year, Laura Dauley writes her kids a letter. Part recap, part encouragement, these letters get tucked away in a treasured collection. This year, the mom-of-two switched things up and added it to the yearbook. And entered it in a design contest. And won said contest. We asked Dauley, as the K-8 division winner of the Memory Marvels 2024 Custom Page Design Contest, to share her tips for creating an authentic, memorable custom page design… that won’t embarrass.

How did you come up with your design?

Harper’s moving on to high school. I wanted to commemorate 11 years at the same school, from first days to playground memories. Digging through photos from the same time every year was emotional. I included our dogs and her brother, who’s been with her every step of the way, to remind her of all they shared.

It was a fine balance to not select a pic she wouldn’t be embarrassed over. There are many memories and experiences, so I also didn’t want it to be chaotic. 

What does it mean for your daughter to have space dedicated to HER in her book?

What’s cooler than your eighth-grade yearbook? 

This was in the context of something she was already excited about: her friends, and her memories. And I got to tack on to that. Only she had this. When they pass around the yearbooks, she has something special and unique. Her custom pages allowed me to make an emotional connection with her.

She also thought it was cool that her pages won. She’s always been proud of me making things for her along the way.

You’re a designer by trade. What advice do you have for parents getting started with their custom pages?

Less is more. Keep it simple. Focus first on what you want to feature and then add graphics. Don’t start with flashy, arbitrary graphics. Here’s the process for Harper’s custom pages:

• Images first
• Then the letter
• Then years, color scheme, and typefaces

It could be a daunting task. Even if you don’t know design, you can make a really cool page. I told all my friends to go online and start with the Treering templates. I was surprised with the flexibility and that I could create something from scratch.

Making a yearbook is unlike any other subject or volunteer committee. Yearbook coordinators/advisers/sponsors/heroes manage people and processes. They record history and achievements. They are marketers, photographers, designers, and party planners. And we're here to help. Consider this the first-year yearbook adviser guide to organization to help you however you scored the gig: if you showed up last to the PTA meeting or you are excited to use your background in journalism.

If you need to fast-track your yearbook journey, check out our four-part series Yearbook in 60 Days. 

Understand Your Contract (*non-contract if you’re in the Treering Community)

Expectation vs. reality is a powerful meme thing. We crafted this list of questions to help advisers choose a yearbook company. If one was chosen for you, use the list to clarify the relationship between your school and your publisher. To quote my mom, “They work for you.”

Treering doesn’t do contracts or order minimums. You tell us when your one deadline is.

Determine Your Page Count

The best planning nugget this adviser received is to start with the end in mind. A yearbook ladder does just that. A ladder is a chart that represents the pages in a yearbook. Use it to allocate sections and page content.

Start with the last few years’ yearbooks, the latest school calendar, and your team.

1. Brainstorm the non-negotiable events, sections (people, arts, sports), and yearbook traditions
2. If relevant, brainstorm additional features, specials, and theme-related content
3. Decide if you will organize the book chronologically, topically, or a blend of both
4. Assign spreads to your team

We love doing this digitally because it can be fluid. Need inspo? Here are four sample ladders from other schools (use the tabs at the bottom to navigate between elementary, k-8, etc.).

Pro tip: If your page count is looking overwhelming because of time or budget, combine some topics. If it’s underwhelming, return to number two: what additional meaningful content will you add to your yearbook?

Gather Content

Your ladder is worthless unless you can fill those pages. Harsh (and true). Here are three of our favorite resources to go from blank page to showstopping spread.

Pump Your Project

Many schools wait until the last minute to sell books. Starting sales when school begins builds momentum. These early sales fuel you as a first-year adviser. It also alleviates some of the last-minute pressure on parents already balancing the end-of-the-year activities.

From page count to promotion, these tips will help you stay organized as a first-year adviser. Happy yearbooking!

Photo collages get a bad rap. Poorly designed spreads without uniform spacing or an overarching theme are little more than a photo dump. (I actually think that’s how my MIL would describe what I do as a yearbook mom. “She just puts pictures on pages.”) Executed well, they become standout spreads. 

How Many Photos Should I Put in a Collage?

Answering a question with a question: is it even a collage if it has fewer than 15 photos? Too few can make the page look sparse, while too many can make it cluttered and overwhelming.

A good range for a collage spread is roughly 20-30 photos. While you can find layouts with up to 65 photo boxes among Treering’s 1000s of pre-designed templates, more photos mean smaller photos. Smaller photos make it difficult to discern who is in the picture. 

That’s the point of a collage: to increase coverage of events and individuals. 

Two Must-Have Collage Pages

When our team looks at yearbooks, the standout books have collage pages for each class or grade and the major school events. While collage pages are a great way to include many photos, too many can become monotonous. Aim to limit collage pages to around 10-15% of the total page count of the yearbook. This keeps the content varied and engaging.

Class Collages

Pairing class photos with a collage of candids gives each class a spread of their own. It shows how each class is different. This is also an easy way to ensure each student is in the book more than once: their “official” photo and a fun photo.

School Event Pages

A collage page makes it easy to cover all-school events such as the jogathon or an awards ceremony, where you end up with 100s of photographs. Other ideas include

• Fan sections at home games
• Movie night
• Father-daughter dance
• Homecoming and spirit week
• Game faces for student-athletes
• Vacations (summer, ski week, etc.)
• Field day
• Spring musical (include rehearsal photos!)

Should I Include Captions on a Collage Page?

Captions provide context for the photo. At a minimum, you should include ident captions. Below or beside the photos, add the students’ names and grades [e.g. Soren Ham (1) and Evangeline Romero (1)]. 

Middle and high school staffs should aim to add body copy in the form of a story to unite the spread. 

Including collage pages in your yearbook is a popular way to add more photos and showcase the story of your school year. 

Treering Yearbook Heroes is a monthly feature focusing on yearbook tips and tricks.

Few educators willingly take on the yearbook. Greg is one. As a member of the House of Slytherin, he used his resourcefulness to find Treering Yearbooks and make us work for him, not the other way around. He left his previous yearbook companies, frustrated with diminishing print quality and leftover books. Now, because the books arrive before school lets out, Greg’s working to build a yearbook culture at Apprentice Academy.

How do you define yearbook culture?

Building a yearbook culture is difficult. Our old publisher delivered them late every year, so there was never a signing day. This year, I have the first-ever yearbook class. It restored my passion for yearbook. 

The theme was a hit; the cover looked like an iPad. The students reported on more than portraits and sports. There were spreads devoted to style, music, pop culture, and siblings. They used the yearbook to define what makes an Apprentice an Apprentice. They captured the CTE essence of our school culture. 

We still have a ways to go. Mainly middle schoolers and seniors bought yearbooks. I want to get more books in the hands of freshmen through juniors.

What did you do to make your first in-school distribution special?

All the seniors received their books at Senior Breakfast. And one of the seniors that was with us for four years came up to me and said, “Thank you, Mr. Carpenter. We've never got a book before the end of school.”

My son was also a senior this year, so it was cool for him. They all sat around at breakfast, looking through the books, laughing, looking at the pictures, and seeing the superlatives—that made me feel amazing.

I want kids to have access to their year. Something I’ve done for years is a Video Yearbook. It’s a slideshow of behind-the-scenes footage. Students came in and we handed out popsicles while they watched it. The yearbook staff introduces each section and students see photos from their book. They also see outtakes. It is really for the kids who cannot afford a book. They watch it with their friends. I hand out autograph sheets, so if they order a book after the deadline, they can slip it in the back.

How do you structure your staff?

We have a semester system at our school; the kids end up with eight classes a year. So I said, let's do Yearbook 1 in the fall and Yearbook 2 in the spring. It worked out really well. I feel like it's one of the best teams I ever advised, and the website was very straightforward. I use the Treering curriculum modules; with the quizzes at the end, it’s easy documentation for the district CTE.

How else does Treering help?

I should be stressed, but I’m not. Treering handles the trifecta of yearbook stressors: money, minimums, and ad sales. The cool thing about Treering is there are no high-pressure sales, and there is help when I need it. I didn’t need to negotiate a contract because pricing is upfront and haggle-free. It’s like CarMax. Before switching, I had additional cost centers I never saw until the final invoice. 

Treering even gives families two pages.

Let’s talk about that. Some high schools do not offer custom pages to their students.

We look at it like it’s a free ad. Our parents loved the custom pages and bought more after their first two free. It was crazy. They love them. I sent emails home and taught the students how to customize their books. Even the school staff helped and shared them.

I briefly review custom pages because our name is on the cover. It’s also a safety lesson: I remind the students this will be somewhere on the internet. Yes, I can see them. People from Treering see them. Never post anything anywhere that you would want anybody else to see.

At a recent PTO event, we handed out eye masks that said, "No more yearbook headaches." Yes, it was the hottest piece of swag there, and more than that, it was a promise: Treering exists to simplify the yearbook process by leveraging technology.

1. Use Templates

Templates are drag-and-drop designs for yearbooks. Generally, they have frames for photos and may contain text boxes and other design elements. Yearbook staff, often parents and students with varying degrees of design experience, can quickly learn to use templates. Not only does this speed up the yearbook creation process, it also keeps the books looking unified. 

Theme packages contain coordinating fonts, art, and page layouts. You can easily build a book using page templates for sports, events, and classroom activities. 

Select a theme for a whole book look. Templates can often be matched to school themes, colors, and mascots with a few clicks, ensuring the yearbook reflects the school’s identity without extensive custom design work.

Eliminate decisions on bleed, spacing, and typography with professional designs built into your yearbook software. With these design elements already decided, the yearbook team can focus on gathering content.

2. Shared Photo Folders

Crowdsourcing allows individuals to submit photos from events, activities, and everyday school life. It’s the POV for which we all clamor on social media. When students and staff contribute their photos, they also feel a sense of ownership and pride in the yearbook, making them more likely to purchase the yearbook.

By opening up submissions to the greater school community, you also create a broader representation in the yearbook. Allow continuous contributions throughout the year to keep the yearbook team updated with recent events and activities. For best results, do a timely, specific ask to fill your shared folders. If the field trip is Friday in September, get the word out before October.
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Crowdsource Content for a More Equitable Yearbook

We see it all the time on our feeds: pics or it didn’t happen. The same applies to your yearbook. According to adviser Lauren Casteen, Yearbook Hero and leader of Treering’s Teaching Yearbook cohort, there are four reasons to crowdsource content: What Should You Crowdsource? The short answer is anything: photographs, survey/poll responses, and stories, … Continue reading

Treering Yearbook Ideas

3. Choose Digital

Digital printing helps streamline yearbook production. With a fast turnaround, it grants more time for design. Additionally, print-on-demand offers the flexibility to accommodate last-minute orders. (We busy parents thank you!)

Print-on-demand also simplifies things by eliminating inventory management. No extra books means no summer flash sales or hitting up the alumni association years later. This method is cost-efficient for smaller schools as well. No minimums mean no set-up charges. 
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Treering Yearbook Printing: It Lasts a Lifetime

Stunning, Sturdy, Scuff-Resistant Covers Hardcover? Check. Softcover? Yup. Soft-touch matte finish? Mais Oui! Glossy finish? For sure! Want to give your cover something a bit extra? We’ve got silver and gold foil to add a little more sparkle, and embossing options to add a little more lift. Whatever you and your students can dream up, … Continue reading

Treering Yearbook Ideas

The best part: digital printing makes it easier to create one-of-a-kind yearbooks with custom pages.

4. Offer Personalization

With Treering Yearbooks, parents can add two pages full of their memories—like vacations, milestones, or hobbies—to their child’s copy of the yearbook. When students look through their yearbooks, they will find their memories and their photos alongside traditional yearbook pages. Each copy is unique. 
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Parents can add those personal touches using integrated online design options for recognition ads and custom pages. (That’s one less thing for the yearbook adviser to do!)

Like crowdsourcing, customization creates coverage. It celebrates each child’s involvement in school and out.

Templates, crowdsourcing, digital printing, and personalization relieve many of the challenges associated with traditional yearbook production. These innovations reduce costs and save time. The result: a high-quality, personalized, and inclusive yearbook that accurately captures your school’s experience.

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We always say we will get started on yearbook planning over the summer. Raise your hand if you follow through. (My hand is down too.) Meet Camp Yearbook, Treering's two-day virtual yearbook planning course. It's part large-group training; part small-group mentoring and idea sharing. And it's 100% live.

The goal: have the first six weeks of yearbooking planned.

What to Expect

Treering's Camp Yearbook is a cameras-on, all-in yearbook planning experience.

Event Structure and Registration

Both sessions will have the same schedule, staff, and support materials. Register via the Yearbook Club webinars page.

Treering Mentors

All attendees will be in a small group led by a Treering staff member who served—or currently serves—as a yearbook adviser. In groups specific to school style and yearbook team structure, you can ask questions about grading, crowdsourcing, club structure, page count, and whatever else you need answered. (Your camp counselors aren't Treering life coaches, but close.)

Grow Together

Breakout groups for parent volunteers, solo yearbook coordinators, educators, and club leaders mean you get meaningful support and specific-to-you resources.

Camp Yearbook FAQs

Your questions deserve answers!

Certain activities and behaviors drain time and diminish returns. If the goal is to do your best book yet, and you struggle through the process, check out the advice below from current advisers on being more productive. Select one or two areas to tackle immediately and watch your yearbook program become more organized and your team more aligned. 

1. Lack of Clear Deadlines

Without clear deadlines, yearbook tasks can drag on indefinitely. This lack of structure can lead to procrastination and missed milestones, ultimately delaying the entire yearbook project.

It’s essential to make a plan for success based on/around your school's calendar. Find out when significant events will happen and assign someone to them to ensure you'll get great coverage (photos and interviews).

Party

OK, party may be a misnomer. 

Celebrate milestones to keep students motivated. Whether completing the first draft of a section or reaching a major deadline, acknowledging these achievements can boost morale and keep the momentum going.

Full disclosure: I used to think when I wrote on the board something like, “All fall sports due 10/18,” students would break that down and create their own copy, interview, and game photo mini-deadlines. I didn’t realize I had to teach project management as well.

By determining productivity milestones such as mini-deadlines for setting up photo folders, getting layouts on pages, and finalizing spreads, students knew the necessary steps. We celebrated every 15 books sold, 10 spreads completed, and when there was a yearbook presence at all-school activities.

2. Inefficient Meetings

Meetings without a clear agenda or purpose can consume a lot of time without yielding productive outcomes. Long, unstructured meetings can drain energy and focus. Short, pointless ones detract from a purposeful project.

“Acknowledge and accept conversations that should be held ‘offline,’” Yearbook Artist Tevis D. said. She also advocates for shorter, more efficient work sessions with a time at the beginning to identify areas of focus.

Stand Up Meetings

Before the thought of another meeting makes you scroll away, consider why some meetings are time sucks: ill planning, no agenda, better off as emails… Now consider an alternative.

Stand-up meetings are brief, daily meetings where team members share their progress and challenges. Their effectiveness comes from actually standing. No one is overly comfortable, so dismissing and getting to work is easy.

Here’s how to make them worth your time: set a timer for 15 minutes and have everyone answer the three key questions:

1. What did I accomplish [since the last meeting]?
2. What will I do today?
3. Are there any obstacles in my way?

Tips for Teachers Leading Students

Teachers can use stand-up meetings with students for accountability and track progress. It helps students develop a routine and stay focused on their tasks because they will each take a turn verbally stating their goals and accomplishments.

Application by Parent Volunteers

For parent volunteers, stand-up meetings can be conducted at the start or end of each work session. This keeps everyone aligned and aware of challenges that need addressing.

“It is always a good idea to follow up on these tasks in an email or handout after the meeting,” veteran yearbook adviser and Treering Yearbook Evangelist Ed G. said.

3. Over-Editing

Constantly revising and over-editing pages can eat up valuable time. While some revision is necessary, excessive tweaking can lead to delays. Establish clear guidelines for when a page is considered "final" to avoid endless editing cycles. Unless your yearbook tradition includes a fall delivery or ship-to-home, you want to make your final deadline.

“If students get the yearbook later than expected, they won't care how perfect it is,” Ed G. said. “They will remember getting it late and not being able to get all of their classmates' signatures.”

He advocates for sharing a disclaimer so students and families know it is a volunteer-driven effort. (You can make it your own by editing it here.)

4. Disorganized Assets

Managing photos, articles, and other yearbook content without a proper organization system can lead to wasted time searching for files. A well-organized photo management system is crucial.

“Upload photos as soon as possible after an event and use tagging and folders to keep organized,” Kate H. said. (She leads two volunteer yearbook teams for her son’s elementary school and daughter’s dance company.) “Bonus points if you can add your photos to the spread at the same time too.”

5. Unclear Roles and Responsibilities

When team members are unsure of their roles and responsibilities, tasks can fall through the cracks or be duplicated. Clear role definitions help ensure accountability and productivity.

“I think every kid on the team was assigned to the same pages this year so it was unclear who was actually in charge of it,” middle school club leader Ali J. said.

Tips For Leading Students

While it’s important to allow students to take ownership of the project, they will still need guidance and support. You can do this by

• Assigning yearbook spreads to one or two students max
• Having pre-assigned job descriptions/roles
• Being available to answer questions
• Providing actionable feedback
• Teaching them to use the Help Center

Application by Parent Volunteers

Clarity in roles helps prevent duplication of effort and ensures that all aspects of the yearbook are covered. Teams should have codified expectations for:

• Who will photograph each event
• When photos should be in their folder
• What activities will be open for submissions and how this will be communicated

Regular productivity check-ins (see stand up meetings, above) either in person or via video calls, keep everyone informed and engaged.

6. Unresolved Conflicts

Interpersonal conflicts that are not addressed can create a toxic environment in the yearbook club, lowering morale and productivity. Addressing issues promptly is key to maintaining a productive team.

Early detection, while uncomfortable, can eliminate problems later on. Address it (kindly) as soon as it happens so your team can press forward. 

When you do get that face-to-face moment, maintain your professionalism:

1. Communicate with specifics: instead of “You’re always unreliable,” try “You volunteered to take Fun Run photos and did not have a backup in place when you were a no-show. What is your plan to get pictures?”
2. Keep it focused: the conversation should center around yearbook responsibilities and not on personal issues. You’re not meeting to be a relationship counselor, life coach, or even a friend. You’re a project manager looking to complete a job.
3. Be proactive: document what will happen next. If your yearbook volunteer wants to remain in the role, write out what it will look like with clear expectations and deadlines. Also include an “out” clause if your volunteer continues to be unreliable. Share a copy with school administration if your volunteer is a student or co-worker.

Teambuilding

Obvious statement: effective teamwork makes for a successful yearbook project. Here are our favorite ideas to improve rapport and trust up front.

Tips For Leading Students

Formal activities, such as an exercise, and informal ones, such as a bell ringer, help students open up. Debriefing can also increase empathy: ask students what they can do to make yearbook interviews less intimidating for students outside of the yearbook team.

Application by Parent Volunteers

Parents aren’t going to want to sit around constructing marshmallow and spaghetti towers. Instead, schedule some forced fun:

• Pickleball and a playdate at the park
• Share team members' baby on the parent group's social media channels and ask followers to guess who (while asking for baby pics for the yearbook)
• Coffee after drop-off
• Yearbook Team Night Out at ax throwing, a driving range, or a craft café

Careful refinement of your workflow and the elimination of yearbook productivity blockers will reduce stress and improve morale. By identifying and addressing these common barriers, you can significantly increase productivity and ensure the smooth and timely completion of your yearbook.