Walsworth Yearbooks

Endsheets

An impressive attention to detail helps the reader take in the information presented on the endsheets. The layout mirrors that of the cover, with a dominant image that’s a mixture between photo content and a filter that edges the design with overlapping squares. Three horizontal pictures also appear on the bottom left side, with three captions; on the right is the caption for the dominant and three that go with the photos on the front cover. A simple list of months in the school year with page numbers reveals the book’s theme structure to be chronological. The back endsheets contain the same layout but without the section list and page numbers.

The spreads contain so much secondary information, it makes sense to use only one opening spread. The theme “As One” is revealed throughout the book, using several dividers — one for each month plus the reference sections — so several opening pages are not necessary. The theme spread’s elements are consistent on these two pages and familiar to the reader by now.

Great feature stories remain the heart of a yearbook’s narrative, and these often take the form of personality profiles that detail a particular student’s challenges and accomplishments. Teachers typically are not as covered (especially outside of coach profiles), so it is wonderful to see examples of this done well. Here, writer Taylor Runion reveals how the uniqueness of three teachers is reflected within their classrooms, and is often more memorable to students than course content. These specific quirks are shown in detail shots, but the dominant art that runs across the spread captures the story’s tone. Three ghosted images of teachers in front of a chalkboard stare out past a line of students with their backs to the reader. The headline reads, “The Lessons Live On.”

All too often, sports coverage is trapped in a pattern of low-expectations. Sure, the photography is expected to be compelling — filled with great angles and intense emotion. But many staffs set a lower bar by thinking a main story, detailed captions and a scoreboard is good enough. The East staff aims higher and clearly is taking some cues from broadcast game coverage by merging details and explanations with catchy, creative visuals. On this boys basketball spread, a computer-drawn breakdown of “the play used to make the winning shot by sophomore Vance Wentz at Substate” is more direct and informative than a couple of sentences describing sports action. Another info box breaks down the stats of the team’s top four players instead of bogging down the story’s narrative.

Divider pages are used for each month in the school year (August through April), which means the meat of the book is 129 pages at the front. Other sections (Portraits, Clubs, Senior Ads and Index) are used as reference and comprise pages 130 through 496. Instead of taking a contemporary theme and trying to weave it through traditional sections (and almost 500 pages) without losing the reader, all of the coverage is right up front. This allows maximum creativity without having to sacrifice for mechanics. Staff chooses what’s most important and interesting; and by not having a set number of inside pages per month (some have five spreads, others have 10 or more), readers are left with consistent, high-quality, fast-paced coverage.

After several reference and senior ad pages, the three-page closing is necessary for the reader to be reminded of the theme’s structure. Like the opening, the closing pages are light on copy and strong visually. The final page offers a nice mirror of the theme page, with one dominant and two secondary images.