Making a yearbook is a big but exciting job! Every year, our media team works hard to create a book full of memories for students, teachers, and families. Here’s how we do it.
January: Planning & Taking Photos
After the New Year break, we get started by taking photos of students and staff. Each class comes in for both individual and group pictures. It takes about two weeks to finish all the photos, with each class getting a 50-minute time slot.
At the same time, we start thinking about the main theme for this year’s yearbook. This helps us decide how the book will look and feel.
February: Choosing a Theme & Designing the Cover
Once we have some ideas, we create four different design options, each with its own story and theme. We show these to the school principals and also ask students from our yearbook class to help come up with ideas.
One of the most important parts is the cover. We need to finish it first because we use it to start our sponsor and pre-order campaign. From February to April, parents and staff can pre-order the yearbook at a discount. We also sell ad space in the yearbook to sponsors. Since ads can be expensive, we offer to design them for sponsors who buy a half-page or full-page ad.
March-April: Designing the Pages
After finalizing the cover, we begin designing the inside pages. We use Adobe InDesign for the layouts and Illustrator for small decorations and design elements. Every page needs to match the theme and include photos, class pictures, and special memories from the year.
We also collect special messages from homeroom and enrichment teachers. They get a month to write their message, and we ask them to keep it under 1,000 characters so we have space for everyone.
Another fun part is adding all the random, fun photos we’ve collected throughout the year. These pictures help capture the best moments of school life.
April: Finishing Up & Sending to Print
Before Songkran break, we finish everything and send the yearbook to the printing company. They take about 30 days to print the books, so we need to submit everything on time to have the books ready before graduation.
Before Songkran, we also confirm the total number of pre-orders and round up the number for our quote. The payment for printing is split into two parts: we pay 50% after Songkran, and the other 50% when the books arrive. After our first payment, we get a print sample to check the colors and text before they print all the books.
Our Grade 12 students also get a special section in the yearbook. In the past, we had a Spotify theme, where they shared their favorite songs, and a Netflix theme, where they did a fun photoshoot to recreate their favorite movies and TV shows.
May: Printing & Giving Out the Yearbooks
The books arrive just before graduation, and we hand them out to students and staff. It’s always exciting to see everyone flipping through the pages, remembering all the great times they had during the year.
Final Thoughts
Making a yearbook takes a lot of teamwork and effort, but it’s all worth it when we see the finished book. Every year, we do our best to create something special that everyone can look back on for years to come!