Ilium
Troy High School, Fullerton, Calif.
Theme: "inbetween"
Adviser: Jennifer Weaver
Editors: Cathleen Buzan and Yunsu Park
Yearbook representative: Whitney Moore and Elizabeth Johnson
Recent yearbook design trends tend toward graduated colors, multiple layers and opacities, and vector images using InDesign or Illustrator. The cover for Troy’s book is a study in contrast — and a refreshing throwback to pre-computer design. The white cover provides a stark backdrop for sharp-edged cutouts of captions, headlines and copy blocks, made to stand out with clear silk screen. Those old enough to remember using a composing table to paste these elements onto layouts will recognize the cluttered shapes of blacks, whites and grays. The theme “inbetween” is embossed, with “in” in black and “between” highlighted with silver hot foil.
On the opening endsheets, black and gray shapes are repeated, but a horizontal panel containing colorized, computer-drawn images stretches from the left to the right in the center of the spread. Red is accented within the pictures and provides two parallel, pica-wide eyelines, with the theme “inbetween” running in the middle space. Nine sections are previewed, with page numbers and content listed within each group.
Red and black screens replace white space, and yellow is added to the color palette. A traditional view of the front of the school and its wrought iron gates is fairly conventional for a title page, while the theme repetition and small strip of photos is more design-forward. All of the expected reference information is listed.
After the relative clutter of the theme design so far, the simplicity of the double-page photo is attention-getting. You see the back of a girl, who is staring toward a lone tree that is in the grass in between two paths. The opening copy is only eight sentences, which matches the simplicity of the visual. “Students are poised precariously between a number of firsts and lasts — the last packed lunch from mom and the first car… the last of the playground dates and the first dates with a first love… Welcome to high school. Welcome to inbetween.”
Another double-page photo defines the spread, with a teen boy standing in between blurred figures in the hallway. Another simple copy block explains: “Student Life is what happens inbetween class periods…”
Technically this is a freshman class divider, but it really ties into the theme. A young teen stands between two (presumably) upperclassmen, who are so tall, the top of the spread cuts them off at the neck. The writing is lively: “As a faint but familiar chorus of ‘Go Back to Junior High’ rings out, the freshmen receive their welcome. Shoved wholly into the transition from tweens to full-fledged high school teens, the freshmen embark on a four year journey — a journey of inbetween.”
Fantastic sports action shots dominate this spread, as well as several other basketball pages. The red, black and white of the uniforms compliment the use of gray as a color, which ties into the theme colors. What also makes Troy’s basketball coverage so good is the photographers’ use of lights. The result is crisp action shots that have a 3-D lighting effect.
If you weren’t looking, you probably missed the closing. Forget a spread, or even a page; the closing consists of a 10-sentence copy block at the bottom-right on page 431. It’s a vignette that describes “June 16th, 2011” — better known as the last day of school.
