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John W. North High School, Riverside, CA

Holmes Middle School, Livonia, MI

All here have something in commonThese superb QuickReads all have tons of people in them. That’s the key to a great QuickRead. People. And lots of them.

At the top of this page, don’t miss the senior cost feature, and on the left, the Back in the Day feature. Both are almost “must do’s” for your book. They are outstanding!

Rocklin High School, Rocklin, CA

Each month, new ideas that will make your yearbook life better. Please post this where everyone can see it.

Ideas Graphics Understanding Design Layout Formation Brainstorm Concept Impression Interpretation Flash Feeling Solution Purpose Scheme Arrangement Doodle Construction Viewpoint Suggestion Plan Clue Guess Hint Inkling Object Theory

Jostens Pullout Idea Poster • November • 2010 ideas

New ideas for your…

CreativeCoverage 2

Great QuickReads from great yearbooksWe went through a bunch of great yearbooks and came up

with a few great QuickReads to help get you sarted think-

ing up your own. We have attached comments to them.

Feel free to use them as idea starters for your yearbook.This comparison QuickRead from the 2003 Finest Hours at Churchill High School in Potomac, MD is a great exam-ple of getting more people on each page of the book. Each DPS in the people section featured a point-counterpoint sidebar like this one.

Below is a QR from Bay High School in Bay Village, Ohio. It is a fun to read True Confessions piece about dating. The people sec-tion featured tons of QuickReads that were similar to this.

The QuickRead above is from the 2004 Gusher produced by the staff at CE Byrd High School in Shreveport, LA.

The entire yearbook staff used this “way back when…” theme featuring pictures of students now and some-place earlier in their academic careers. Not all were the same, some were from 8th grade, some first grade, etc.

QuickReads The QuickRead at left is from the Middletown HS, 2004 Chestnut Burr. We are sure this great matching quiz was a ton of fun for the readers. There were dozens like them all throughout the book.

The top QR from the Westmore HS 2004 Prowler in Oklahoma City, OK features some great cutout photos that have been done the right way with well feathered edges. These 15 seconds of fame fea-tures were scattered throughout their mug sections.

Directly above is a QR from the 2004 Etruscan at Glenbrook HS in Glenview, IL. QuickReads like these were found on every other DPS in the clubs section.

At left is a great set of quotes from the 2004 Sammamish produced by the year-book staff at Issaquah HS in Issaquah, WA. Sidebars like these on different top-ics were found in the academics section.

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QuickReadTopics6

QuickRead topics you can useJust for you we have amassed a whole bunch of QuickRead topics right out of the best yearbooks we could find. Feel free to use them as is or as idea starters.

Religious Diversity (Poll results done as an infographic.)

Freshman vs. Senior (Two views on homecoming from a single frosh and single senior.)

Handin’ It Down (Advice from seniors to freshman entering school.)

Jargon (A compilation of theatrical terms used by drama students.)

The Hard Facts (Comparison of hard facts between arch rival schools.)

Energizer Bunnies (Schedules of students who spend weekends working.)

Scout’s Honor (Students who were still involved with scouting, either boy or girl scouts while in high school.)

Superhero (If students could be a super-hero who would it be?)

Fear Not (What is a student’s biggest fear?)Brushed by Fame (Students relate brush-

es with famous people.)Find a Million (What would students do if

they found $1million?)Don’t Hide It (Students relate hidden

talents they have or wish they had.)Get Elected (What would be the first thing

they would do if elected president?)Life on TV (A quiz to find out what your

life would be like if you were on TV.)My Anti-Drug (A story of four students

who have chosen to be drug free.)Do you know South? (A quiz to find out

how much the students know about the physical aspect of their school.)

Traffic Jam (Interviews and quotes about school parking lots.)

Worst Habits (Students reveal their worst habits they have gotten rid of.)

Pal Personality (A quiz to find out what

kind of friend you are.)Different Breeds (A quiz to find out what

breed of dog you would be if you were a dog or a cat.)

Welcome Back (Teachers return to teach in the same classrooms in which they were students.)

Not Working on the Weekend (Faculty shares what they do in their time off.)

How to Tap (A four part lesson in how to tap dance.)

Anatomy of a Golf Swing (A photo mon-tage that dissects the golf swing of a student golfer.)

Calorie Counting (Sports feature about wrestlers trying to make weight.)

What to eat…the day of the meet (Follow up to the Calorie Counting feature.)

Rivals then Teammates (Students who tranfer from arch rival schools.)

A Testing State of Mind (Student reaction to state competency testing.)

10 Lists (A series of lists of 10 things found throughout a Student Life section. They detailed everything from ten places to go on your summer vacation, to the ten best homecoming restaurants. The staff used them every other DPS.)

Dress to Impress (What do you wear to impress people?)

A Bunch of Lunch (Infographic of what most students bring in their lunch from poll results.)

Pep Planning (What it takes to plan a pep rally.)

Spotlight On… (Students picked at ran-dom from each class are spotlighted with quotes and Q & A throughout the underclass mug sections.)

Learning from Bad Habits (Student study habits they learned from their siblings.)

Way Back When (Comparison in sports section between students who played

a sport in grade school and today. See page three for an example.)

Partners in Crime (Students share stories about fellow workers.)

Road Trip Thrills (Fun and crazy stuff that happened on athletic or club-related road trips.)

Odd Jobs, Odd Stories (Students tell amusing stories about their work-places and their bosses.)

Working with the Man (Students re-flect on their bosses who are other, older students.)

Ultimate Dream Job (What would be their ultimate dream job?)

Stuck in School (Underclass react to not having open campus for lunch as seniors do.)

Testing 1, 2, 3 (How people cope with tests in different classes.)

Worst Weather (What is the worst weather an athlete has ever played in?)

FOUL! (Worst athletic fouls ever called on them or for them.)

Rabbit’s Foot or Smelly Socks (Student athletic rituals and superstitions.)

Required Reading (Student views on summer reading requirements.)

What’s the Best? (A series of Q & A QuickReads throughout a student life section asking for student views on the best of everything from grocery stores to movies, from eye color to shoes.)

Who’s New Here? (Teachers in their first year of teaching.)

Senioritis (What is it and do they have it?)You are what you eat? (What fresh-

men eat for lunch.)In the Fast Lane (Sophomores getting

their first cars.)Don’t forget the #2s (Taking standard-

ized tests with #2 pencils.)

QUICKREADSARE THE “INNEST” THING IN YEARBOOKS TODAY. HERE’S

A BUNCH THAT CAUGHT OUR EYE THIS FALL FROM TWO AWARD WINNING 2009

YEARBOOKS.

QuickRead Credits: 1, 2, 5, 7> 2009, Accipitor, Mill Creek High School, Hoschton, GA.3, 4> 2009 Hornet, Bryant High School, Bryant, AR.

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Graphically SpeakinG

Great QuickReads to AdaptA poster for Designers

Chronological QuickRead

Increased Coverage QuickRead

Interesting ID QuickRead

This outstanding, almost full-page QuickRead is from the 2008 Panther Tale created by the staff at Duncanville

High School in Duncanville, TX. Their staff organized the student life section into chronological coverage

with an actual calendar graphic listing actual happenings on almost every school day. Pull-outs from certain days

gave the staff more opportunities for unique coverage with great photos and captions.

Wanting to get more pictures of each and every student at the school into the yearbook, the staff of the 2008 Titanium at Tesoro High School in Las Flores, CA, put a additional row of candid shots at the top of every portrait page.

Each shot had a fact about the pictured student, and one was enlarged and broken out of its background to create the attention-grabbing headline that carried out the book’s theme— Every 1 counts— throughout the entire section.

To make it easy for readers to know they were in a different section, the background of the candids was changed to a new color.

Using a method to identify the people in photos that we have not seen before, the staff at Fenton High School in Fenton, MI, created a very cool graphic technique to get the reader into their QuickRead.

Their caption features three answers to the headline question (in this case, detailing the students most embarrassing moments) and not only puts the students’ names in bold face within the copy but also circles them graphically with a line back to the photo of those students.

It mimics the way you might do it yourself after you receive your yearbook to make sure you remember exactly who was who. What a fun and creative idea.

Great ideas

First, let’s define a

QuickRead (QR).

It’s a graphically designed

feature that is quick to read. It might be an infographic or an interview. It might be a

profile or a quick quiz.

The QR above shows that remembering how you did something in high school can be very readable.

Combining two quotes, a quick photo quiz and a short feature the QR above does a great job of being fun to read.

Man-in-the street features like the one at left may be old hat but they are made eminently more readable with great design. This one’s use of typography is excellent.

The superb theme-related QuickRead above reflects the theme of the yearbook which was taken from the My Life-My Card Ameri-

can Express advertising campaign. Throughout the book there were wonderful features detailing things that were theirs. In this

one, a student details her reason for changing her life. It is a moving testimo-nial as are many of the oth-ers throughout this book.

No matter what you do

with them, QuickReads are

in today. Plus they are a great

way to get more people in your yearbook.

CREdITs:1—2007 Panorama, North Cobb HS, Kennesaw, Georgia.

2—2007 Regalia, Hopkins HS, Minnetonka, Minnesota

3—2007 Details, Whitney HS, Rocklin, California

4—2007 Saga, Loudon Valley HS, Purcellville, Virginia

QuIck READS

Polls, interviews, Q & A are all part of 2006

QuickReadsPolls, interviews, Q & A are all part of 2006

QuickReLet’s look at some great QuickReads from the past year. They all feature one thing we love—lots of pictures of students. The more the better, so keep that in mind as you plan yours.

A—We love the simplicity of this QuickRead as it handles a single subject with great captions and four super photos.

B—Directly below you’ll find a cool looking QR that features odd shaped photos, long quotes and an interesting question. These were found throughout the entire student life section.

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B

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D

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C—A super sports QuickRead that was found on every sports spread in this book. Not all the column headings were the same but they all had great quotes.

D—Long, thin (the entire side of the page in many cases) QuickReads seem to be very in just now. Vertical must be the way to go as this great sidebar about iPods™ proves. We really like the split photo at the bottom. The photos in the center were actually part of a photo bar that stretched across the entire page.

E—By combining a poll and a Q & A this QuickRead has it all. It would be a whole lot easier to do this year using Jostens Chart It tool in YearTech for InDesign.

F—We truly love this vertical QuickRead as well. We have seen a million “embar-rassing moment” quotes but we especially like the poll at the bottom. This type of sidebar appeared throughout the entire people section of this yearbook. s

Credits:A—2006 Sequence Pottsville Area HS Pottsville, Penn. B—2006 Mnemosyne Northview HS Duluth, Georgia C—2006 Wawa Wenatchee HS Wenatchee, Wash. D—2006 Excelsus University HS San Diego, Calif. E—2006 Separation Gov. John R. Rogers HS Puyallup, Wash. F—2006 Lariat Riverside HS El Paso, Texas

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QuickReadTopics6

QuickRead topics you can useJust for you we have amassed a whole bunch of QuickRead topics right out of the best yearbooks we could find. Feel free to use them as is or as idea starters.

Religious Diversity (Poll results done as an infographic.)

Freshman vs. Senior (Two views on homecoming from a single frosh and single senior.)

Handin’ It Down (Advice from seniors to freshman entering school.)

Jargon (A compilation of theatrical terms used by drama students.)

The Hard Facts (Comparison of hard facts between arch rival schools.)

Energizer Bunnies (Schedules of students who spend weekends working.)

Scout’s Honor (Students who were still involved with scouting, either boy or girl scouts while in high school.)

Superhero (If students could be a super-hero who would it be?)

Fear Not (What is a student’s biggest fear?)Brushed by Fame (Students relate brush-

es with famous people.)Find a Million (What would students do if

they found $1million?)Don’t Hide It (Students relate hidden

talents they have or wish they had.)Get Elected (What would be the first thing

they would do if elected president?)Life on TV (A quiz to find out what your

life would be like if you were on TV.)My Anti-Drug (A story of four students

who have chosen to be drug free.)Do you know South? (A quiz to find out

how much the students know about the physical aspect of their school.)

Traffic Jam (Interviews and quotes about school parking lots.)

Worst Habits (Students reveal their worst habits they have gotten rid of.)

Pal Personality (A quiz to find out what

kind of friend you are.)Different Breeds (A quiz to find out what

breed of dog you would be if you were a dog or a cat.)

Welcome Back (Teachers return to teach in the same classrooms in which they were students.)

Not Working on the Weekend (Faculty shares what they do in their time off.)

How to Tap (A four part lesson in how to tap dance.)

Anatomy of a Golf Swing (A photo mon-tage that dissects the golf swing of a student golfer.)

Calorie Counting (Sports feature about wrestlers trying to make weight.)

What to eat…the day of the meet (Follow up to the Calorie Counting feature.)

Rivals then Teammates (Students who tranfer from arch rival schools.)

A Testing State of Mind (Student reaction to state competency testing.)

10 Lists (A series of lists of 10 things found throughout a Student Life section. They detailed everything from ten places to go on your summer vacation, to the ten best homecoming restaurants. The staff used them every other DPS.)

Dress to Impress (What do you wear to impress people?)

A Bunch of Lunch (Infographic of what most students bring in their lunch from poll results.)

Pep Planning (What it takes to plan a pep rally.)

Spotlight On… (Students picked at ran-dom from each class are spotlighted with quotes and Q & A throughout the underclass mug sections.)

Learning from Bad Habits (Student study habits they learned from their siblings.)

Way Back When (Comparison in sports section between students who played

a sport in grade school and today. See page three for an example.)

Partners in Crime (Students share stories about fellow workers.)

Road Trip Thrills (Fun and crazy stuff that happened on athletic or club-related road trips.)

Odd Jobs, Odd Stories (Students tell amusing stories about their work-places and their bosses.)

Working with the Man (Students re-flect on their bosses who are other, older students.)

Ultimate Dream Job (What would be their ultimate dream job?)

Stuck in School (Underclass react to not having open campus for lunch as seniors do.)

Testing 1, 2, 3 (How people cope with tests in different classes.)

Worst Weather (What is the worst weather an athlete has ever played in?)

FOUL! (Worst athletic fouls ever called on them or for them.)

Rabbit’s Foot or Smelly Socks (Student athletic rituals and superstitions.)

Required Reading (Student views on summer reading requirements.)

What’s the Best? (A series of Q & A QuickReads throughout a student life section asking for student views on the best of everything from grocery stores to movies, from eye color to shoes.)

Who’s New Here? (Teachers in their first year of teaching.)

Senioritis (What is it and do they have it?)You are what you eat? (What fresh-

men eat for lunch.)In the Fast Lane (Sophomores getting

their first cars.)Don’t forget the #2s (Taking standard-

ized tests with #2 pencils.)

Sometimes the hardest

part of writing for yearbook

is coming up with the topic

to write about. So, when in

doubt—borrow an idea that

has been used from some-

place else. Then go a step

further and adapt it for your

own use. To help you do

this, we hereby present our

annual list of QuickReads

and feature topics taken

from other great yearbooks

around the US.

Use them with the knowlege

that these same schools

may be looking at your book

and borrowing some of your

great ideas as well. So, you

aren’t stealing their ideas,

you are trading them some

of yours. Enjoy! ❑

Student Life QuickReadsJust Wear It (Student fash-

ion article)Just Think It (Planning for

the future)Can You Hear Me Now?

(Wonderful title for a sidebar about people working in the back-ground of activities)

“Say Cheese” (A feature on all the different times each year you have your picture taken)

Legally Weird (Strange laws students found while traveling in the summer)

Close-up on Cliques (Includ-ing student interviews, survey results and info-graphics)

Happening HangoutsFood for Thought (How

much do you know about what’s in fast food?)

Piece of Cake (On celebrat-ing birthdays in school)

9 to 5 (Student jobs)

People QuickReadsCell phones—Their Use and

Abuse by Students and Teachers Alike

Breaking School Rules (the consequences)

Glasses or contactsFavorite Chewing Gum Fla-

vors and BrandsFavorite Writing UtensilsSenior Parents (All the

things they do as a group to give their kids a won-derful senior year)

Sleep (Infographic on how much sleep students get and what keeps them up at night)

True Confessions (From stu-dent dating adventures)

Topics in the Teacher’s Room.

How to Walk in the halls (A freshman guide to not getting harassed by the upper classmen)

Match the… (A series of photo essays showing students and items they own and asking you to match whose is whose including glasses, purses, piercings, shoes, etc)

Driving Disasters (Students who have been in ac-cidents. Illustrated with surveys, quotes and inter-views as well as photos.)

First dates—Who Should Pay for Them?

Celebrity Dream DatesPaying the price for Beauty

(How much It costs to stay in style)

Super (What super power would students want if they could have one)

Connect with Cartoons (Freshman tell their favor-ite cartoon characters)

Prized PossesionsPlease Don’t Say That Again.

(Overused slogans and sayings)

Cleaning Out the Closet (What’s the weirdest thing in your closet?)

Late Night Messages (Instant messaging after midnight.)

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (A takeoff on the Enter-tainment Weekly feature that shows trends, people and fashionS that are “in,

out and fi ve minutes ago”)You Look Like… (celebrity

look-alikes in your school)Shotgun (getting the ever-

popular front seat)Name Games (The meaning

behind student nicknames)Multiples (Twins, triplets,

quads share experiences)The Joke’s on You (Practical

jokes and those who play them at school)

Academic QuickReadsBrain Twister (A self-test to

see how much you know about a subject as taught by a particular teacher at the school)

Favorite science labsEdible Education

(Cooking isn’t just for girls anymore)

Sports QuickReadsBack of the Bus (Road trips)Sports How To’s (How to

shoot the perfect free throw, throw a perfect spi-ral, grip a golf club, etc.)

From the Statman (The views of the person who takes statistics for each team)

Sideline Support (How those not in the game, support the team)

Clubs QuickReadsMethods of the March (A

combo copy and photo demonstration of proper marching band marching technique. This school featured this type of QR all the way through their section with other demos including how to make an origami crane, dance with the dance team, etc.

What’s Your Favorite Foreign word? (On the foreign lan-guage clubs’ pages)

What Do You Like (or Hate) About Band Uniforms? ❑