Decamhian
Del Campo High School, Fair Oaks, Calif.
Theme: “Chance”
Adviser: Jim Jordan
Editors: Madison Nagle, Sarah Noble and Alyssa Williams
Yearbook representative: Reece Ericson
A one-word theme offers plenty of advantages: it’s direct, non-clichéd (as with popular phrases and sayings), it’s open to several interpretations and catches the readers’ attention. This cover is about the most understated you can possibly get. Black matte wraps from the back all the way around to a 3-4-inch-wide strip of color. Running vertical on top of this strip is the word “chance” embossed with a clear silkscreen on top. This strip is of a mustard-colored texture. No wait – the strip is a textured royal blue. No, it’s a dark-tinged primary red. It was all three, and it was by chance that students got one of the three different covers.
On the endsheets, the matte black becomes a royal blue-colored texture, regardless of the color of the cover strip, with a black strip on the right. Inside the strip are the sections and related theme spinoffs, in the three primary colors used on the covers. The word “chance” appears in the lower left corner in reverse white type. Each spinoff is one word: tradition, understanding, belonging, competition, diversity, history and memory, and each section is denoted with either yellow, red or blue.
The textures continue and serve as a backdrop for title page information. The photo is a candid of a girl in a drama production, which is a departure from the traditional portrait of the school building. Having the background in white lightens the tone of the cover and endsheets.
Opening spreads (five of them!) begin the book. After the first opening spread, others feature the one-word theme spinoffs as a mini-preview of the divider pages to come. Because the main copy for each divider page has already run in the opening, each one jumps right into student voices and opinions. The first sentence on each opening spread is the same: “There’s always a chance.” But there’s enough variety between spreads that the writing stays lively and focused.
Opening spreads (five of them!) begin the book. After the first opening spread, others feature the one-word theme spinoffs as a mini-preview of the divider pages to come. Because the main copy for each divider page has already run in the opening, each one jumps right into student voices and opinions. The first sentence on each opening spread is the same: “There’s always a chance.” But there’s enough variety between spreads that the writing stays lively and focused.
Opening spreads (five of them!) begin the book. After the first opening spread, others feature the one-word theme spinoffs as a mini-preview of the divider pages to come. Because the main copy for each divider page has already run in the opening, each one jumps right into student voices and opinions. The first sentence on each opening spread is the same: “There’s always a chance.” But there’s enough variety between spreads that the writing stays lively and focused.
Opening spreads (five of them!) begin the book. After the first opening spread, others feature the one-word theme spinoffs as a mini-preview of the divider pages to come. Because the main copy for each divider page has already run in the opening, each one jumps right into student voices and opinions. The first sentence on each opening spread is the same: “There’s always a chance.” But there’s enough variety between spreads that the writing stays lively and focused.
Opening spreads (five of them!) begin the book. After the first opening spread, others feature the one-word theme spinoffs as a mini-preview of the divider pages to come. Because the main copy for each divider page has already run in the opening, each one jumps right into student voices and opinions. The first sentence on each opening spread is the same: “There’s always a chance.” But there’s enough variety between spreads that the writing stays lively and focused.
The transition between the last of the five opening theme spreads to the Student Life Divider is seamless. “Tradition” runs up the right side of the spread, just as “chance” runs up the right side of the cover. After using several colors and textures in the opening, the staff designer opts for only red in the graphics and type, the same color it is matched with in the table of contents on the front endsheet. With white as the background, the focus of the spread becomes the color photography. Overall, this divider spread offers a nice balance of color and other elements. The internal margins are consistent and perfect.
One design approach the Del Campo staff does well is the use of photo illustrations. This requires strong planning and communication between the designer, photographer and writer. This spread, slugged “Cocoa and Cramming,” uses the photo of a student doing bookwork at a desk. The dominant photo grounds the design: secondary photos run underneath the desk, a vertical column of copy is wedged between a Styrofoam coffee cup and the student. Add details such as the stack of books and the caption lead-ins, which are difficult to sustain throughout an entire yearbook, and the result is superb.
Gorgeous graphic design allows several elements to work together, and gives the spread a masculine feel. Bold, bright red and black, with a colored texture used in the word “ROCK,” works because of the dominant typography choices. The first letter of the story, “W,” is the dominant character on the page, and the story column tilts in opposition. Captions include specifics, and it is clear much time and attention has been paid to every detail.
Only one spread closes the book, but this last one does not disappoint as it incorporates lots of bold color. The textured primary colors red, blue and yellow used on the cover and throughout the book offer a dark enough background to support the reverse white type of the closing copy. News stories and individual achievements from the year segue into the year being about “chances.” “This year was all about chances. But the question is — did you take the chance?
