The Yearbook is a collaboration made by students, for students of all grade levels. The journalism elective gets to design the yearbook to their liking, as long as it’s not too many or too few pages. This article will ask our journalism class about their yearbook pages. I’d like to start with mine, as an example. I created the Staff Introduction, Student Film Fest, Club Leaders, E-Sports, and Personal Finance pages. I chose to create my yearbook pages as if an extrovert was keeping memories, and as if they were running out of resources in the process. My favorite aspect of the yearbook was its scrapbook theme, which made a lot of ideas flood my mind, especially after I watched Spider-Man: Homecoming’s end credits. Corny but true. My main challenge for the yearbook was trying to make the pages a combination of a scrapbook and that club or elective’s theme. I’d say that I had a blast creating the yearbook, and I wouldn’t change a thing about how I created my pages. I would recommend joining Journalism for a designing yearbook experience!
Present Designer Interviews:
-10th Graders
-Starting with Ethan Fam designing both the Freshmen Candidates and Elective Introduction pages. For his strategies, he used Canva and looked at other people’s yearbook pages for some inspiration. His favorite aspects of the project were that it was scrapbook-themed and how everything came together. He had trouble trying to get the pictures for the yearbook because not many people were taking photos. He likes how his pages turned out, but he feels he could have done better with the pages because he had less time to work on them since he was gone for most of the semester. He would definitely recommend joining the yearbook next year to make it even better.
–Kristina Mikhaylova made 4 pages in total, two of them being Student Fall Fest, and the other two being Student Candidates. Her main strategy to create the pages was communication. Her favorite aspect of the yearbook was how the pages looked like a collage. Her biggest challenge was her pages glitching, sending her back to ground zero. She thinks her pages turned out well, and would 100% recommend the yearbook if you’re the type of person to communicate and wants to help out with these types of projects.
–Jason Castro made the Sophomore Candids page. His strategy for the page was to be creative but also keep its scrapbook theme, and use social media stuff such as Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok for inspiration. His favorite aspects of the yearbook were everyone’s creativity on their pages, and especially placing Polaroid pictures in the yearbook since he owns one. His biggest challenges were gathering pictures for the yearbook and also trying to be creative because he didn’t want to copy. He likes his page, but he feels that it could be improved. But his being able to see his page in Pictavo, with all the other pages, put his work into perspective. If you are creative and able to take any criticism from Mr.B for one mistake, then yes, he recommends joining Journalism for the yearbook, and you can also experience talking to people and taking photos with other people.
–Luna Torres created Child Development and Sophomore Introductions. Her strategy to create the pages was to follow and stick to the theme of the yearbook, like placing pictures into some kind of scrapbook format. Her favorite aspect of the yearbook was to look at the pictures in the yearbook come together in one piece and just work. Her biggest challenge was turning it in on time and gathering ideas. She feels very proud of her pages because she stayed on theme and felt that she was very creative. She recommends joining the yearbook because it is fun to be able to get to know other people, talk with them, and get their opinions on the yearbook throughout its creation.
-11th Graders
–Isabella Chukulyan designed the Junior Introduction, Campus Life, and the Film Club pages. Her strategies were to have it match the theme of this year’s yearbook, mostly using Pinterest as her main inspiration for her pages. Her favorite aspect of the yearbook was seeing others put their own aesthetic and style on their pages. Her biggest challenge she had was trying not to have the same photos repeated on different pages. She is really happy with how her pages turned out because she feels like she has put her personality into them. She would recommend joining the yearbook if you’re creative and want to express yourself somehow.
–Janelle Bohanan designed Freshmen Candidates, Elective Introduction, Junior Candids, and the Arts and Media pages. Her strategies were to make her style of page since one of the clubs was hers, Arts and Media. Her biggest challenge was trying to texture pages in a short amount of time and also getting photos. She thinks her pages turned out good, she likes the Junior Candids page, and says that her other ones are still pretty good. She believes that if you don’t want to do the yearbook, then don’t join journalism, since everyone has to help create the yearbook, but if you want to help with the yearbook, then she recommends joining the class.
–Anahit Mkhitaryan created the Student Life and HTLA Siblings pages. Her strategies for the pages were to incorporate the pictures with the scrapbook theme. Her favorite aspect of the yearbook was the freedom to design the pages as she liked. Her biggest challenge was finding photos that weren’t already in the yearbook, because we don’t want reused photos in the yearbook. She is proud of her pages, and she would recommend joining Journalism for the yearbook if you want to write articles and be creative.
–Emma Shameyan designed the Thank You pages for the Staff, the Journalism page, and the Homecoming page. She really liked the scrapbook theme, and was able to play around with the images, such as clip art and art that we created for the yearbook, and was able to create the pages as organized as possible, but also it was a little fun to look at. Her strategies were to try to make the photos look clear. Her biggest challenge was also having no photos to put into her pages, but she overcame that challenge by having to take the pictures for her own page on her own. She loves her pages, and she wouldn’t change a thing about them. She would recommend joining Journalism for the yearbook because this project allows people to create something bigger than themselves.
–Omri Cohen designed the Junior and Signature pages. He thinks it’s cool to design the yearbook. His biggest challenge was creating the background and adding a lot of the Junior photos for the Junior page. He thinks his pages turned out great, with them being organized and professional. He would recommend the yearbook to hang out with Mr. Wilkinson.
–Aleksandr Stasjuk designed the SLRA, Spring, and Fall awards pages of the yearbook. His strategy was to just “go with the flow”, because working quickly on the yearbook was pretty difficult for him. His tip to you, the reader, is to make it your own style for the pages because of the freedom it gives when you create them. His favorite aspect of the project was placing the happy photos on their page. He had a problem in which his pages needed a lot of people, and a lot of people equals a lot of photos. This also made it hard to keep the scrapbook mystique when he is squeezing the photos into the page. And then, later on, tagging the photos. He thought his pages could have been better, but the SLRA page was perfect to him. He says that he would recommend joining Journalism, but it would depend on whether or not you care about your grade in Journalism, because some of your grade is yearbook, and the rest is either articles or newscasts/other projects.
–Alice Clark created the Reading Initiative and both of the HTLA’s Favorites pages. Her strategies were also to go with the flow and put things in that felt like a right match for the theme. She went for a simple checker background, fewer images for the Reading Initiative, and something a little cute. But for the food page, she went with neutral colors and a vintage scene to make the different foods and cultures on the page pop. Her favorite aspects of the yearbook were to show off students’ creativity, instead of being automated or modernized, to our school. Her biggest challenge was intermixing the images without covering elements. For example, not overlapping or avoiding pictures from being shielded by others. Her favorite page is the Foods Page, but she also likes her Reading Initiative page because of its simplicity. She would recommend joining Journalism for the yearbook if you’re looking forward to designing it yourself with your own creativity.
–Nicholas Bayramukov made the Halloween Spirit Week and Resilience Elective pages. He looked at examples of scrapbooks and took pictures. He also enjoyed creating and helping his peers. He had challenges settling on his page, so he changed it a lot. He thinks his pages turned out well, and he would recommend joining journalism for the yearbook, especially if a student has never done it before.
–May Shaw created the Q&A and Film Elective pages. Her strategies were to draw some stuff, then try to see if she could add them to the page afterward. Her biggest challenge was that the pages were not meant to be something before, and no one told her to remake her pages. She likes the idea of her pages but feels like she could have done better. She says that it depends on whether you like graphic design or not to join the yearbook. If not, then maybe choose a different elective.
-12th Graders
–Levi Edber created the HTLA Pets, the Senior Babies, the Staff throwback, Senior quotes, and the Senior Portraits pages. His main strategy for his pages was to send some forms to get a bunch of pictures from the HTLA community. His favorite aspect of the yearbook is how everyone interpreted the scrapbook theme. His biggest challenge was balancing yearbook design and other classes. He was really proud of his pages, but he continued to edit his pages even though they were done up until the end of the deadline. He says that you should definitely join journalism for the yearbook because it can express your experiences here at HTLA and provide something for others to enjoy what you helped create.
Mr. Wilkinson
“When you stay ready, you don’t have to be ready.” Pages that he worked on were inspired by magazines, mostly from a magazine that the school has access to. The article is about creating artwork studios, called tape art magazines. And, if you want to read some of them, just come into Mr. Wilkinson’s room, and he’ll lend you one. So, one of the things he did was search up a lot of websites that show public domain resources about stuff created around 100 years ago. Since it’s not copyrighted, you can create cool stuff with it, and he used a bunch of different public domain images and made a cool yearbook page.
