Teaching yearbook: design inspiration from anywhere

Treering’s click, drag, drop, and done tools aren’t for every design team. In an age of visual search, Pinterest, and AI, we advisers are refining strategies for guiding students in visual theme development. For those who take a more hands-on approach, there are generally two blockers:

1. Finding design inspiration
2. Going from ideation to spread design

Where Do I Find Fresh Design Inspiration?

Look at the graphic design on visual media as a springboard for ideas, not as a rigid template to follow. These real-world examples can provide valuable insights into current trends, color palettes, typography, and overall composition. 

Here’s how you do it with your yearbook class or club:

1. Embrace Inspiration: Look beyond the yearbook itself for design ideas. Explore the world, including websites, magazines, and other printed materials.
2. Use Treering's Big Idea Book and Yearbook Ideas and Inspiration Blog: These resources provide theme ideas and design examples.
3. Adapt and Personalize: Don't simply copy designs. Take elements from various sources and adapt them to fit your yearbook's specific theme and style.
4. Master the Software: Familiarize yourself with the yearbook design software and learn how to use its various tools and features effectively.
5. Consider Current Trends: Stay current on design trends and incorporate them into your yearbook designs when appropriate.
6. Guide and Encourage Students: Create a supportive and collaborative environment where students feel free to explore their creativity and share their ideas.

Two Real-World Examples and Applications

Look at the Mendocino Farms' website: its layout, color scheme, and font choices. In the video below, yearbook creator Liz Thompson shows how to recreate similar elements within the yearbook page in fewer than four minutes. 

Through practical demonstration, Thompson translates real-world inspiration into tangible yearbook designs.

Our second example features a magazine layout. White space, typography, and image placement could easily be adapted for a yearbook page. 

Notice how Thompson uses the design's overall flow and visual hierarchy to draw the viewer's eye to specific areas of the page.

Treering-Specific Tricks

Bringing outside inspiration into your yearbook doesn’t have to be a manual process. Treering engineers incorporated tools to simplify the DIY design process. Our top three include:

• Eyedropper (Color Picker)
• Text styles
• Editable shapes

Using the Color Picker Eyedropper

Extract colors from an image and apply them to the yearbook design. This technique allows for a more cohesive and visually appealing color palette. 

Create and Apply Text Styles

Adjust font sizes, line spacing, and text alignment, then save it as a headline, subheadline, accent—wherever you want to name it—a style you can apply with a click.

Add Editable Shapes

Incorporating various graphic elements—lines, boxes, and illustrations—can serve as an accent for emphasis or visual separation if you’re using modular design.

PSA: Use these graphics strategically to support the content and enhance the yearbook theme.

How to Use This at Your Next Yearbook Class or Club Meeting

As a group, watch the two instructional videos above. Follow Thompson's instructions to create a similar look.

Then, have students bring in an object with a design they enjoy. Discuss which principles of design are used. Pick one element you can re-create and add it to a yearbook spread. This can be a group or individual activity. The goal is to embrace a spirit of inspiration and collaboration as you breathe new life into your yearbook design.

This blog is adapted from Liz Thompson’s Design 201 session from TRL 24 POV: I’m on the Yearbook Team. Thompson, a former classroom teacher and yearbook adviser, serves on the Customer Success Team at Treering Yearbooks.