Quite a few of my recent school visits have involved discussions on new yearbook profile ideas . Yearbook staffs have planned space on their portrait pages, or full pages, or entire spreads, or, in some cases, dedicated mini-magazines to these individual stories. There is a lot to consider when planning these pages, and so, what started out as a short blog post to help inspire creative layouts and writing has turned into a 2-part series on the trend of personal profiles in yearbooks. In this post we’ll focus on design, and in part 2 we’ll focus on the copy.
So, let’s get started:
- If you don’t have profiles in your yearbook, why not? It’s a great way to increase coverage. Focus on students who are not usually in the spotlight. Do some digging–find those students who quietly go about the business of doing amazing things, either on or off campus. Highlight the true stories of your campus’ unsung heroes. Every school has them–ask around.
- Yearbook profiles can turn your faculty and staff into real people. Yes, the adults on your campus are all real human beings with real lives and real stories, too. And what better way to share how amazing some of them really are than with a creative profile.
- Profiles are a great way to showcase some creative photography, introduce eye-poping graphics, play with typography, and a great way to add some creative writing to your book. These are the pages where you can break all the rules, break out of the box, break away from the status quo and break into pure creativity. There are no “right” ways to present amazing people with amazing stories to your yearbook readers and school communities.
Here are some examples of awesome profile creativeness:
2009 Skjold, Corning-Painted Post West High School
Expanding on the idea of personal profiles, this book featured a special magazine section that included 25 profiles of both students and staff. A photo composite made up of sections of all their faces served as both introduction and table of contents.
2008 The Buzzer, Brookville High School
The staff took students off campus and photographed them in settings that enhanced their stories. The integrated visual and verbal elements created strong, emotional pages.
2008 Scandia, Inglemoor High School
2008 Scandia Student Profiles
The Scandia staff chose this colorful, playful way to profile their selected students on one spread.
2008 Teresian, Santa Teresa’s Academy
2008 Teresian Profiles on student portrait pages.
Santa Teresa’s Academy chose to have students fill out a profile sheet which they then scanned and printed throughout their portrait pages. This allowed the profilees to show their personalities in their own voices.
2010 Carillon, Bellarmine College Preparatory
Page from 2010 Carillon Senior Profiles
Bellarmine chose to print a short trim supplement to profile their seniors. They called it The Blue Standard, and each spread was designed around the personality and activity of the profilee. You can see the entire supplement here.
Some questions to consider as you begin to design these pages: Who are you profiling? Why? How can you visually present them to your audience that reflects their uniqueness (or the reason you chose them in the first place)? How are you going to tell their story?
Stay tuned for part 2 to help answer that last question.
If you have any ideas to share, please comment below. Have some great photos? Click here and post them on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear and see your awesome ideas!
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