⏰ Do Now — Start Here
If you were judging yearbook covers, what's the first thing that makes you pick one book over another before you even open it?
This is a community project
Unlike a solo studio project, the yearbook only works if the whole class communicates, follows through on assigned sections, and treats classmates as teammates rather than competitors. Build in real check-ins, not just a due date.
🎯 Today's Big Question
- How do we design a front cover, spine, and back cover that work as one wraparound design representing the whole book?
📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To
- Explain why a book cover is built as a single wraparound canvas (front + spine + back), and why spine width can't be finalized until the page count is locked.
- Sketch and build a print-ready cover concept that represents the whole year and school identity, not just one section.
- Get the cover concept formally approved by the teacher before interior section layouts begin production.
🧰 What You'll Need
- Computer with Photoshop, Illustrator, or Canva
- Final (or best-estimate) page count, for spine width
- Class theme/mood board, if one exists
- Printer/vendor's spine-width chart (reference)
📋 Your Plan for Today
Day 1: Concept & Sketch
- Do Now (5 min, above).
- Mini-lesson (10 min): why a cover is one wraparound canvas (front + spine + back), not three separate designs, and why spine width depends on the final page count.
- Sketch (25 min): sketch 2-3 rough cover concepts by hand, each representing the whole year/school identity rather than any one section.
- Pitch & vote (8 min): pitch concepts to the class (or a cover committee) and settle on one direction.
Day 2: Build the Wraparound
- Do Now (5 min): what page count are we estimating, and what spine width does that give us? Demo (8 min): set up one canvas sized for front cover + spine + back cover using the estimated spine width.
- Build (27 min): build out the front cover design in full.
- Save progress (5 min).
Day 3: Finish, Approve & Export
- Do Now (5 min).
- Build (20 min): complete the back cover and spine text/logo.
- Teacher approval (10 min): submit the finished concept for formal sign-off before it locks in.
- Export (10 min): export print-ready at the vendor's exact specifications.
📚 Key Words
- Wraparound Cover
- A single continuous design spanning the front cover, spine, and back cover as one canvas, instead of three separate pieces.
- Spine
- The narrow edge of a bound book connecting the front and back covers -- its width depends on the final page count and paper thickness, so it can't be locked in until the page count is.
- Cover Concept
- An early visual direction for the cover, pitched and approved before full production begins -- since the whole rest of the book's visual system usually takes its cue from whatever the cover establishes.
✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include
Cover scored with a rubric: works as one cohesive wraparound design, spine sized correctly for the estimated page count, represents the whole book rather than one section, and formally approved before interior layout production begins.
Exit Ticket: What's one way your cover reflects THIS specific year, rather than yearbook design trends in general?
📊 Before You Leave
Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.
🔗 Want to Learn More?
🚀 The Extra Mile
Cross-Class Connection: The same "represent the whole thing in one image" thinking a Book Cover unit in English class covers.
Career Connection: Cover design is a named, direct Illustration and Advertising & Marketing skill.
Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:
- Design three genuinely different cover concepts and run an informal poll among classmates to pick the strongest — real audience testing. Start here: thumbnail all three concepts at business-card size, five minutes each, before developing any one of them further.
- Illustrate a book cover for a novel you're reading in English class, applying the same wraparound-design thinking. Start here: pick the single scene from the novel that would make the strongest wraparound image, not just the first scene that comes to mind.