12th Grade — Designing Yearbook Layouts

⏰ Do Now — Start Here

Look at 2 different pages from a past yearbook. Which one uses hierarchy and alignment better, and how can you tell?

🎯 Today's Big Question

How do we design a finished, print-ready layout for our assigned yearbook section?

📈 By the End of Today, You Will Be Able To

Apply design principles (hierarchy, alignment, contrast, consistent type/color) learned in earlier grades to a real yearbook spread.
Build a complete page layout for their section using Photoshop, Canva, or Figma.
Export the finished layout at print-ready specifications (300 DPI).

🧰 What You'll Need

Computer with Photoshop, Canva, or Figma
Section's collected photos and text (from Drive)
Class style guide (fonts/colors, if established)

📋 Your Plan for Today

Day 1: Plan

Do Now (5 min): compare 2 pages from a past yearbook -- which uses hierarchy/alignment better? Mini-lesson (8 min): review design principles for a yearbook spread.
Sketch (27 min): sketch a rough layout for your section's spread(s) on paper, deciding where photos, quotes, and headers go.
Peer check (5 min).

Day 2: Build — Structure

Do Now (5 min).
Demo (8 min): set up the digital canvas at correct print size.
Build (27 min): build the grid/placeholder layout.
Save progress (5 min).

Day 3: Build — Content

Do Now (5 min).
Build (35 min): place real photos and text, applying consistent type and color choices.
Save & screenshot (5 min).

Day 4: Finalize & Critique

Do Now (5 min).
Peer/teacher critique (10 min): consistency and print-readiness.
Final revisions (20 min).
Export (10 min): export at 300 DPI.

🖥️ Today's Slide Deck

Short, on-the-board pacing slides — project these to follow along. (The full details are in the handout above, not here.)

📚 Key Words

Spread: A two-page layout (left and right page together) in a printed book.
Print-Ready: A file exported at the correct resolution and color mode for professional printing.
Consistent Visual System: Using the same fonts, colors, and layout grid across every section so the book feels like one product.

✅ What Your Finished Work Should Include

Layout scored with a rubric: applies design principles correctly, print-ready export, visually consistent with the rest of the book.

Exit Ticket: What is one design principle you deliberately used on your spread, and where does it appear?

📊 Before You Leave

Quick, anonymous class check-in -- takes less than a minute.

Class Check-In

📁 Portfolio Update — Once a Week

Once a week, add your best finished or in-progress yearbook (or, later, studio) work to your portfolio with a 1-2 sentence caption -- and once you're in the Design Studio phase, a photo of the piece in its real, installed location if possible. This is the same evidence trail you'll use for Archive & Portfolio and any PBAT/portfolio review.

✍️ Example description for your Google Sites portfolio (fill in YOUR blanks -- don't just copy this):

For this piece, I made ______________ (name what you made) for “Designing Yearbook Layouts.” This project asked: “How do we design a finished, print-ready layout for our assigned yearbook section?” I used Spread by ______________ (explain how you used it in THIS piece). The hardest part was ______________, and I solved it by ______________. I'm proud of ______________ because ______________.

🔗 Want to Learn More?

Adobe Photoshop Tutorials

🚀 The Extra Mile

Cross-Class Connection: The same grid-and-hierarchy layout skill from Grade 11's Swiss Style lesson, applied to a real deadline.

Career Connection: Editorial layout is the core, daily skill in Web Design and magazine/print design work.

Go further -- turn this into a portfolio piece:

Design a full magazine-style spread (not just a yearbook page) for a hypothetical school magazine, as a standalone portfolio piece. Start here: place your grid guides in InDesign or Illustrator before dropping in a single piece of text or imagery.
Take your finished layout and mock up a digital version as a website page, applying the same hierarchy to a different medium. Start here: screenshot your finished print spread and use it as a background reference layer so the hierarchy transfers exactly instead of being redesigned from scratch.