Walsworth Yearbooks

The morning announcements serve as a framework for details about 2008 at Andress High School in the opening copy. These announcements begin each school day, so they make a fitting start to a yearbook with the theme “IT ALL BEGINS NOW.”

Notice the folio on the bottom left of the spread. Each page has a similar folio — a student holding a piece of paper displaying the page number. This photo is always a square, a circle or a triangle. These folios work in another student on every page, making the book feel inclusive.

This student life spread is typical of the section. A full-page dominant photo with a quote on top of it commands attention, but the double-headline structure of the opposite page helps balance it. On each student life spread, one headline labels the page with the topic (here, self-expression) and another provides a specific display headline (Ideals that shape identities).

Many of the stories in this section weave together the varied interest of several students, and include quotes from each. Here, an artist who has drawn several of her friend’s tattoos, a musician and a student who dresses uniquely are featured together under the heading self-expression.

The Talon staff is not shy about contrast! Very large dominants work with groupings of smaller photos to guide the reader’s eye around each spread. Squares in the background help add a theme-related design element to every student life spread.

Divider pages use white space and details to draw the reader’s eye into the copy and around the spread. Notice the table of contents for the section in the top left corner of the spread. Here, the section is clearly labeled and readers are directed to specific pages. The theme shapes — circle, square, triangle — remind readers that they are still reading “IT ALL BEGINS HERE,” even though those words do not appear on every page.

The copy on each divider spread focuses on one aspect of one topic, using that aspect to relate the theme-related phrase for the section to the content. On this spread, words of encouragement to one swimmer from his mother are used to convey the message of this section: Give it ALL you’ve got.

It is clear that the Talon staff was committed to getting each student at its school into the book and using the voices of students at Andress High School to tell stories. Each spread in the book has quotes in stories and captions and most spreads have additional display quotes. Nowhere is this more apparent than on sports spreads.

Every sports spread has at least two pull quotes in addition to the quotes in captions and stories. This design decision has allowed the staff to feature two additional athletes on every spread.

Carefully designed scoreboards, all-caps headlines and subtle squares in the background help sports spreads fit in with the theme of the book and the designs for the rest of the sections. Notice the skillful use of white space that guides the reader from photo to photo and indicates the relationship between elements. This staff varied its internal margins to explain how elements go together. For example, extra space is left between the photos on the left page and the pull quote because these elements tell different parts of the story. Photos that go together, though, are touching.

Every page of the 2008 Talon is a part of a cohesive package. This includes senior tributes. Photos that touch, planned use of white space, a font consistent with the rest of the book and subtle squares help these pages fit seamlessly into this book. The senior tributes or “ads” section is easy to forget when planning a theme and setting design styles, but the staff worked to include these pages in their planning, and the result is a book that encourages readers to look at every page, cover to cover.