September 14, 2017
Yearbook Theme Part 2 – 4 Steps to a Great Theme
Working on your theme is a great way to start the year, its an important foundation for your yearbook and its a great way to start building your team.
To get started have the class conduct a brainstorming session – a process that encourages the development of innovative ideas and problem solving through unrestricted and uncensored discussion. Remember there are no bad ideas.
Step 1: Generate Ideas
- Tour the school at different times
- Check Bulletin Boards & Posters
- Bring popular magazines, books, music to look at
- Use a thesaurus, dictionary and other reference material
- Remember there are no bad ideas….this is not the time to judge.
Step 2: Record all ideas
- Take out a stack of sticky notes and record all the ideas
- Record ALL the ideas without censorship or omission
- Remember there are no bad ideas…this is not the time to judge.
Step 3: Discuss ideas
- Take the sticky notes and put them up on the wall in similar groupings
- Some will quickly sink others will float
- When thinned to three or four ideas, see how well they relate to the yearbook outline
- If promising, imagine a cover, dividers, and individual pages with this theme applied
- Chances are good that after this discussion the winning theme will be obvious.
If you don’t have consensus:
- Create small groups, one for each competing idea, and have them present their theme to the class.
- Take a vote for which theme should be used
- Unanimous agreement is important to maintaining a high level of enthusiasm
Click here to download our Theme Proposal Worksheets to help you with this process.