The Yearbook Cover is a First Impression

A Yearbook Cover is the First Impression

A yearbook cover is the staff’s initial opportunity to make a great first impression. It introduces the voice of the book, provides essential details for the reader and defines the book’s personality. Covers can employ strong verbal statements and simple graphics to introduce a classic concept. While silkscreened covers offer the most traditional look, litho covers allow staffs options galore, including the inclusion of photographs.

Before you and your staff begin mind-melding for your next book’s cover, take some tidbits of inspiration from some examples taken straight from Ideas That Fly! While we plan to showcase more ITF inclusions on the blog this summer, we chose to kick it off with a variety of black and white examples.


WHITE YEARBOOK COVERS

Choosing an all white cover can allow for simplicity, yet boldness at the same time. You could include thin type and simple graphics, bold,  large type and even employ a single color to deliver an intended impact.

 

North Forsyth High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones


This simple cover doesn’t prepare readers for the unexpected: almost 200 full-color photos of students that line the front endsheet. The triangular shape suggested on the cover becomes a predominant design element within the book.


NORTH FORSYTH HIGH SCHOOL
Carpe Diem, Cumming, GA

 

Greenfield Junior High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones


The Ingenium chose the stark contrast of black and white to illustrate the two parts of their theme statement. Throughout the book, they use vertical headlines and the split 20 to enclose mods as they did on the cover.


GREENFIELD JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Ingenium, Gilbert , AZ

 

Brentwood School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones

Alluding to the idea that the four years of high school fly by, the theme statement sits on a background of matte white litho. Bold modern type is accented by sky blue, and the statement is embossed to add emphasis.


BRENTWOOD SCHOOL

Aerie, Los Angeles, CA

Albany High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesEdwardsburg High School | 2014 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones Waterford Kettering High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesLyons Township High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesLeigh High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesCrown Point High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesDiamond Bar High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesMayfield High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesCanyon Crest Academy | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones

BLACK YEARBOOK COVERS

Black covers are a bold move, too. Include geometric patterns, an array of photos or keep it plain and simple with thin type and simplistic graphics.

 

Lawton Chiles High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones

A geometric pattern of tessellated triangles, randomly embossed, debossed and UV coated, creates the visual introduction to the theme. The pattern continues through the book in lines on photos and as backgrounds.


Lawton Chiles High School

Wolfpack, Tallahassee, FL

 

Mark Keppel High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones

To celebrate their 75th yearbook, the staff chose to fill the numbers with student photos, gloss laminated to provide contrast. The actual theme, “From 7 to 5,” seeks to show the lives of the students throughout the school day.


Mark Keppel High School

Teocalli, Alhambra, CA

 

De Smet Jesuit High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones

Circles connected by lines with UV coating on the black matte litho cover form the graphic element that carries into the book. The theme phrase becomes an opening to the numerous quotes used in the copy on the theme spreads.


De Smet Jesuit High School

Olympiad, Creve Couer, MO

 

West Ottawa High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesPines Valley Middle School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesHolt High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesMiami Lakes Education Center | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesHaslett High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesNorthville High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesAlameda Hgh School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones New Trier High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesGrayson Hgh School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesThe Hun School of Princeton | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesCottage Grove High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesJohnsonville School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesKings Mountain High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesCentral High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesSomer Hgh School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesStroudsburg High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesTokay High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesLambert High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesLadue Horton Watkins High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesAlexander W Dreyfoos School of the Arts | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones Turner Ashby High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff JonesOld Mill High School | 2015 Yearbook Cover | Black & White Cover Inspiration | Printed by Herff Jones

 

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HERFF JONES YEARBOOKS
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