August 29, 2016 / Cover Spotlight / Marketing / Theme

Let students color their yearbook cover

Written by Elizabeth Braden, CJE

Coloring books for adults remain popular, and one way for students to have fun now and remember the trend later is to create a yearbook cover they can color.

The yearbook staff at Blackhawk Christian School in Fort Wayne, Indiana, jumped on that craze early with their 2015 yearbook, with the idea evolving from their theme, “in color.”

Adviser Jessica Clayton said the staff “decided that having the black and white with our theme would be somewhat ironic, but really cool if we could color them in.”

Editor Elizabeth Coats and her younger sister, Olivia Coats, created the design for the matte lamination cover based on a concept created by the yearbook class.

Clayton purchased colored Sharpies in 24 and 28 packs to provide a variety of colors. Students got to choose one marker when picking up their yearbook.

Yearbooks were handed out during lunch, and most students used that time to trade markers and color. Some teachers allowed time in class for students to color, and some teachers let students color their books so they could do a second one.

“We wanted to encourage our students to sign each other’s books and trade colors with each other to color their books. Handing out yearbooks in the fall sometimes means our students do not sign yearbooks,” Clayton said.

Students and staff were excited about the books, and a group of students suggested the yearbook have the same style of cover every year from now on, she said.

Blackhawk Christian is a small school, with about 350-400 students annually in grades 7-12. Whether your school is small or large, a “coloring book” cover is still trendy for 2017.

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Elizabeth Braden, CJE

Elizabeth Braden, CJE, is the former editor of Idea File magazine. Before retiring, she was a copywriter for Walsworth Yearbooks for more than 15 years, writing articles for various marketing materials, and proofreading copy for the Yearbook and Commercial divisions. Her career included reporting and editing for United Press International and editing for Knight-Ridder Financial News. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Media News from the University of Tulsa.