Walsworth Yearbooks

Theme copy throughout the book is written from the first person, plural point of view. Each piece of the copy captures moments, feelings and experiences that affected the entire student body. These things, more than anything else, were what made the students at The University of Texas at Austin a community; these were the things that allowed each student to say, “We’re Texas.”

The 2010 Cactus begins with three full-spread photos. The first shows a crowd of Texas fans at a football game. The next two show students celebrating and the school’s mascot in a huddle. Each of these spreads includes a faded bar across the bottom with the theme logo on the bottom right. “We’re Texas,” these spreads proclaim — literally and in the visual impact of the photos chosen.

The fourth spread of the opening section presents theme copy. Each sentence of the opening copy is presented in its own paragraph, and each starts with the word “We.” From memories of tailgating to shared sadness after the tragedy at Fort Hood, these nine sentences sum up the moments students at The University of Texas at Austin shared.

A solid background sets the theme pages apart from the rest of the book. A grid of squares filled with photos that capture Texas state pride and University of Texas school spirit. This photo grid style is repeated on theme pages throughout the book.

Some stories span more than two spreads. These stories begin with an opening spread that contains a full-spread photo and a headline package. This introduction to a story about the Texas state fair features a photo of students on a carnival ride. The quality of this photo is typical of the 2010 Cactus — photos with sharp focus, bright colors and excellent composition appear throughout the book.

More beautiful photography appears on story pages. This spread, the second in a series of spreads about the Texas state fair, is typical of the story spreads in the Cactus. The staff uses white space intelligently to set stories apart from the photos and to guide readers’ eyes around the page.

The athletics division spread features a solid burnt orange background with reversed-out letters, fitting as the school colors of the University of Texas are burnt orange and white. The copy wastes no words in getting to the heart of Texas athletics: “Athletics is serious business at Texas. And not just Texas football, the team that grosses more annually than any other sport in the country,” the copy begins. The last paragraph relates this pride to the book’s theme. “And through the thrilling winds and through the devastating losses, we kept our horns up. We’re Texas. And we bleed burnt orange,” it reads.

The first spread in each section presents statistics about things relevant to that section. This spread, “athletics BY THE NUMBERS,” shows the sizes of the athletic stadiums at The University of Texas and the costs of tickets to sports games. Similar infographics appear in other sections, providing important information to help date the book.