Developing Theme Tell the story of your students. What’s unique about our year?

Get started early 0 Don’t create templates or design pages without having a solid theme first. 0 The theme unifies your entire book. Make your colors, graphics, coverage and fonts match your theme. 0 Start early. Have a brainstorming session. Invite key members of your school to talk about upcoming issues that will define your year. Take notes, then agree on what defines your school, its students, your year. 0 Without a unifying theme your book will seem disorganized and is less likely to be a history book.

Make it Unique 0 Your book should reflect the individuality of your school. 0 Don’t trade your book off with another school. If you changed the name of the mascot and homecoming queen, would it read just like Central’s book? 0 Your book should relate to your readers in a way that is meaningful. Avoid generic themes like “Beginnings” or “Golden,” for example. 0 Make your theme obvious. Students shouldn’t have to hunt for it.

Once you know your theme… 0 Match the visual and verbal 0 Match your fonts, colors, and graphics to your theme/mood. Are you young and hip? Choose trendy, neon colors and contemporary fonts to show this. Are you sophisticated and traditional? Use subdued colors with a Times New Roman font. You only get two fonts for your theme, a serif and sans serif. 0 Your theme should drive your coverage as much as possible.

Remember that color and fonts set your tone & mood. These should match your theme. This is more serious, sophisticated, clean What do you want your book to say about your school…its students body…the year. What do you want the people to remember you by in 5…10…50 years?

Matching Visual and Verbal How would you develop these themes throughout these books.

Where should we see it? 0 Cover 0 Endsheets 0 Title page 0 Opening 0 Dividers 0 Index 0 Closing 0 Folios

Develop Your Theme 0 Fonts 0 Photography 0 Graphics 0 Packaging – side bars, Q&As, timelines, etc… 0 Color 0 Book layout, order of pages and sections 0 Story content 0 Without being explicit, tell your readers why this theme is important in your opening and closing.

Your theme drives your coverage 0 “It’s the Theme’s fault.” You can blame the theme if there is something you don’t want to cover. 0 Tell stories that enhance or explain your theme. 0 Does your title (verbal) match your graphic (visual)? 0 Don’t make it so specific that it leaves out groups in your school, for example “Connected” for the study abroad trips.

The 5 R’s 0 Is your theme recognizable? 0 Is it refreshing? 0 Is your theme repeatable? 0 Is it realistic? 0 Is it relevant?

Sample of Themes 0 My students start planning our book in the spring. 0 Include people “in the know” to offer ideas about what is happening next year. 0 Have a good idea and develop it at the Herff Jones workshop. 0 Get feedback as you plan. Give your audience what THEY want. Ask their opinion, but your staff has the ultimate say. 0 Theme packet examples: Show theme packets to a panel of judges and ask for their feedback.