Petit Jean
Harding University, Searcy, Ark.
ACP Pacemaker Finalist
Theme: Our story
Adviser: Jeremy Beauchamp
Editor: Hannah Beall
Walsworth representative: Tod Traughber
A maroon padded cover with silver foil lends a classic feel to the cover of the 2010 Petit Jean. These cover decisions give the book a feeling of seriousness and respect for the students’ stories inside. The font choices on the cover are carried throughout the book.
The design of the 2010 Petit Jean is clean, simple and takes advantage of the photography skills of the staff with large dominant photos. Pull quotes or other quick-read copy appears on nearly every page, adding entry points for readers and making spreads more reader-friendly.
The opening spread introduces five students by way of Polaroid photos. These individuals represent each of the 6,510 students on the campus of Harding University. The opening copy asserts that each person is living his own manuscript, and that, “Our story is something to read about, something to write about but most importantly something to tell others about.”
This concept is carried throughout the entire book with the theme “Our story.” Individuals are featured on nearly every page, with compelling, personal stories drawing readers in and helping them to understand the year at Harding University.
The 2010 Petit Jean is divided into eight chapters. Each chapter begins with a division spread that is similar to this one. A large photo covers the entire spread with a white stripe providing a space for division copy. This spread is for Chapter 2, the people section. The copy here expresses that the mugshots that follow will bring back a flood of memories of moments that made students who they were.
Student profiles appear throughout the people section. These profiles embody the spirit of the 2010 Petit Jean theme, “Our story,” and introduce readers to a student’s talents, passions and interests. An environmental portrait that shows the student living his life and a set of three portraits that reveal the student’s personality accompanies each profile. Through these profiles, students at Harding University have the opportunity to “meet” people they might otherwise overlook.
Organizations pages in the 2010 Petit Jean combine group photos from organizations with personal stories about students involved in them. This spread includes photos of four groups with an in-depth profile of one student. The story adds interest to this spread, even for students who are not involved in any of these organizations.
Visually, this spread is typical of story pages throughout the book. The ripped paper-look of the color bar behind the group photos appears as backgrounds of scoreboards and other quick-reads and large dominant photos are a feature of each spread.
The same brick walkway and Polaroid photos featured on the opening spread reappear in the closing. However, here the photos are viewed from a different angle. The copy on this spread is also from a different perspective. Looking back on the school year, the copy asks, “Does the story end here?” It goes on to say that though the school year has come to a conclusion, the stories of each student will not be forgotten because, “Regardless of where we find ourselves, we can always look back and remember our story.”
