Yearbook Portrait Pages

Perhaps the most challenging pages to create for the yearbook are the portrait pages. If you can get these pages right, the rest of the pages I’ll ask for should be no problem!

There are many yearbooks from past years and other schools available to have a look at for inspiration, if you’d like. You can see some sample pages of different types HERE

When adding elements to your pages, remember what the different areas of the page are for!

The outer box (red area) is the BLEED. This part will be cut off. You extend page backgrounds or perhaps some images or shapes to the edge of the red, but it will be cut off. If you want something to go to the edge of the page, extend it into the red.

Anything inside the black box should be safe, but don’t put anything important too close to that black box.

That’s what the margin (the inner, purple box) is for. That’s your margin and the area that is totally safe to use for whatever you like. Your page numbers sit between the margin and the edge of the page. Again, you could use that area, but it’s kind of a “danger” zone, where things could get cut off.

Between the pages there’s a “GUTTER.” This is the area where the book folds. You probably won’t be able to see or read anything in that area. Backgrounds and shapes should go into that area for sure. Some pictures can go in there, but try to keep faces out of there. Text should NEVER go in that area.

NOTE: I am showing you MY DESIGN. YOUR DESIGN should be different! I do not want a bunch of pages that look exactly like mine! You get marks for creativity, and copying me is NOT CREATIVE!

The first thing you may wish to consider is the BACKGROUND. That place holder image that I put on my Parent page is not designed to be used on more than one spread (a spread is two pages side-by-side). You need to choose your own backgrounds. Those can be fairly plain (colours and shapes), artistic (things drawn/created in Illustrator or Photoshop), or a photo that is fairly plain and doesn’t need to be paid attention to. Look at those sample yearbooks for some ideas.

On my PARENT pages, I have 3 layers. The page numbers are on the TOP layer. I would LOCK THAT LAYER and never put anything else on it!

My background image is on the bottom layer. You can choose whether to keep the layer with the background image UNLOCKED

When I switch to my individual pages, I will put all of my page content on Layer 2 (content)

Switch out of the Parent page and onto one your spread (two pages beside each other)

To edit the background and replace it, activate the Selection tool (press v or click it in the tool bar) then hold SHIFT and Ctrl and click on the background. Now you can place something new in there. Of course, not every page should have a picture in the background, so you could use colours, shapes, or artistic elements instead.

Keep in mind that any changes made on the Parent/Master page will appear on EVERY page. If you make changes to the background or whatever on individual pages, it will only apply to that page/spread.

You may also want Westwood logos somewhere on your pages. You can find those HERE.

The makers of our yearbook, Friesens, have provided some images and clip art that you could use on your pages. It is in the Handout folder. Personally, I think a lot of it is terrible, but you’re welcome to have a look and see for yourself. HANDOUT

If you want to use Westwood logo colours in your design, you can put the following values in when choosing a colour:

Maroon : 9f1c36

Grey : 939598

Once you’ve placed your background into that frame on Layer 1, I highly recommend locking it!

ADDING PAGE CONTENT:

Again, I HIGHLY recommend locking both the Parent Items layer and the background layer

And make sure that you are adding your new content in between.

At the top of the page (or both pages), you should have a title that indicates which pages you are designing. You can choose to do grade 9, 10, 11, 12, or the staff portrait pages.

If your background is plain enough, you could probably write on the page, but it usually looks better if you put a Fill into the Text frame or put something behind, if you prefer. I like to Fill in my Text frame with a solid colour.

Remember that if you do that, it’s good to move your text away from the edge of the box. To do this, go to the Object menu and choose Text Frame Options, or press Ctrl+B on your keyboard:

I like to add some Inset Spacing on all sides. If it’s linked (see the chain in the middle?), clicking one number upward should move them all. You shouldn’t need to move it up more than one or maybe two times. Remember that if you do that, you will have less room for the text, so you may have to adjust the size of your text to make sure that it fits in the frame

I also like to change my Vertical Justification to Center

If you do this and your text disappears or you notice a little red cross on the right hand side of the Text frame, you’ve made the frame too small for whatever text is in there and you now have Overset Text

If you have Overset text or another problem, you’ll notice an error light at the very bottom of your window:

If you have a problem, you should open the Preflight Panel:

On there, you will see whatever the problem is

To fix this problem, I could just make my text smaller or make the box a bit bigger:

Extending the box a tiny bit fixed the problem and now my text appears and there’s no red cross:

Most importantly, there’s no error on the Preflight Panel

If you want the bar/box to go all the way to the edge of the page, make sure that it extends all the way to the outer edge of the red (and beyond.) You can make that as far past that line as you want. I like to make mine extra big. You can press W to see what it’ll look like:

Keep in mind that part of it will get cut off, but without the guides and lines, it looks pretty nice:

Again, all of my added elements will go between the background and the page numbers! You can have as many layers as you like in between, but I’ll keep everything on that “content” layer

I’ve learned through years of trying to solve & fix problems that it’s easier if I take a moment and put the images and the names on separate layers. I’ll add two more layers

Use the plus sign at the bottom of the Layers panel to add more layers, then double click on those new layers and change the names

This step is optional, but HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

My layers look like this:

For the next step, I’ll be working on the “photos layer.” I’ll activate the Frame tool (press F). You can click and hold on the tool in the toolbar if you want frames that are circular/elliptical or polygonal for a more creative and unique design

I’ll drag out a rectangular frame. I’ll have to guess the size.

Make sure you can see your Properties panel. If not, all panels can be found in the Window menu. With that frame still selected, I’ll change a couple of options in order to make life a lot easier.

I’ll open those Frame Fitting Options. I HIGHLY recommend turning on Auto-Fit, setting the Fitting to Fill Frame Proportionally, and making sure that they Align From the centre.

You may wish to add a stroke to your frames. That way the pictures don’t just kind of blend together. I personally like to use Westwood logo colours fairly often, so if you wish to use them anywhere, you can put in those colour values I listed near the top of the page (Maroon : 9f1c36 or Grey : 939598).

Each picture needs a name. I usually do those below each picture, but some layouts have the names in a list on the side. You can choose how to lay yours out. Doing a separate name box with multiple names in it on the side might be a bit easier than doing a name below each student, but I’ll show you both options.

Switch to the “names” layer.

Activate the Type tool (press T) and draw out a smaller box that’s the same width as the picture frame.

I’ll fill mine with school logo grey. Since the picture frame has a 1pt stroke, if I want my text box to be exactly the same size, I’ll add a 1pt stroke to the text box as well.

When I use text frames, I like the text to sit in the middle of the box, not the top. Select the box with the Selection tool and press Ctrl + B. I recommend changing the Vertical Justification to Centre. I also want a very tiny bit of Inset Spacing.

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Still with the Selection tool, I’m going to select the picture frame and the text frame by dragging a box over both of them

I need a lot more of these but I don’t want to go through all of the steps to make them look the same, so I’ll copy those. Press and hold ALT to drag out a copy. To make sure that they line up, press Shift as well. So I’ll hold Shift + Alt, click on those frames and drag a copy to the right.

You can leave a bit of space in between if you like or line them up side by side.

You could keep doing that one at a time OR once you’ve got two, select both and drag those out to make it four.

Once I’ve got four, I like to select again and drag out another 4. 7 or 8 across is probably a good number but you can add more if you like, depending on the layout you’ve chosen.

I’ll turn off my background so it’s easier to see what I’m doing in the images below, but you don’t really need to do that.

I recommend a grid of 7 columns and 7 rows OR you could make it 8 by 6

8 x 6 (names below):