A yearbook is NOT just a book full of awkward school photos, it’s a time capsule of growing up. It’s where braces caught the light of a school photographer’s camera, hand-written inside jokes lived forever in Sharpie, and half your friends scribbled “HAGS” on the back page like it was a sacred tradition.
Flip one open years later and it’s not just about the hairstyles or questionable fashion choices, it’s about remembering who you were and the friends who were right there beside you.
But what truly is a yearbook? And why are they so important? In this guide, you’ll get a comprehensive definition of yearbooks and a breakdown of their core sections and purposes they serve. Let’s dive in!
| Key Takeaways – Yearbook definition: A printed or digital school publication that captures student portraits, school events, and memories from a specific academic year. – Core sections of a yearbook: Key yearbook items include student photos, faculty portraits, senior quotes, class photos, sports teams, clubs, and special events like prom or homecoming. – Personalizing your yearbook: Senior superlatives, candid photos, and blank pages for messages help individualize each yearbook and preserve meaningful student experiences. – Popular yearbook themes: School colors, retro designs, nature, Hollywood glam, comic book styles, and urban cityscapes all contribute to overall yearbook design. |
What is a Yearbook?
A yearbook is an annual publication from schools (elementary, middle, and high schools, and sometimes colleges) that captures photos of all of the students and key moments throughout the school year.
Every student has an individual photo taken at school that is featured in a dedicated section for each class year, and there are various additional sections dedicated to faculty photos, extracurriculars like sports and clubs, as well as blank pages for friends to write hand-written notes to one another.
Why Do Schools Create Yearbooks?
Yearbooks are a way of capturing key moments of the student body’s formative years that they can cherish for years to come.
Behind each yearbook cover is individual and group photos that capture that moment in time, hilarious and sentimental senior quotes, as well as personalized messages that can be sacred as people reminisce about the glory days and old connections.
What are Common Sections Within a School Yearbook?
Specific sections featured in a yearbook can vary from school to school, but many core sections are staples that are used universally, including:
Title Page & Opening Section
The title page commonly features the name of the school, township, year of publication, and other relevant information. The opening section commonly features a message from the principal or editor as well as a table of contents.
Student Portraits
Every student gets their photo taken by a professional photographer to be featured next to their peers within that class year in alphabetical order based on their last name.
Senior Quotes
In the senior class section in high school yearbooks, each senior typically gets to pick a senior quote with special meaning that will be featured along their student portrait. Seniors often choose witty, funny, or sentimental quotes.
Class Photos
In addition to individual photos, schools often feature a group photo of the entire student body taken in the auditorium.
Faculty & Staff Portraits
Who could forget those special teachers and staff members that helped shape your life in your formative years. Every staff member, from the principal to the teachers to the janitors has a photo taken and featured in a ‘faculty photo’ section as well.
Senior Superlatives
In high school yearbooks, the senior class typically votes on a wide-variety of categories about the personalities and qualities of their peers and assigns winners based on who receives the most votes.
Popular senior superlatives include:
- Most likely to succeed
- Most likely to be president
- Most likely to be famous
- Best dressed
- Best hair
- Best smile
- Best musician
- Class clown
- Most unique
- Most changed
- Most school spirit
- Most talkative
- Most athletic
Sports Teams
Many students learn as much about who they are as a person on the sports field as in the classroom. A section dedicated to the sports teams captures team group photos as well as moments like winning the high school football championship to a track runner shattering a school record.
Clubs & Organizations
Extracurriculars allow us to embrace our passions alongside others with similar interests. This dedicated section captures special moments from every club and organization, from the yearbook club itself to student government to the school newspaper.
Blank Pages for Signatures / Messages
Every yearbook has dedicated pages for students and their peers (and teachers!) to write special messages to each other before the school year ends. The last few days of school are often dedicated to passing around each other’s yearbooks to sign.
While some people might just sign their names or sign a classic ‘HAGS’ (Have a Good Summer), for those that are close to one another, it is a chance to write something meaningful about cherished friendships and memories.
Senior Advertisements
Oftentimes (especially for seniors) parents will take out ads that are full or half-page dedications to their child, highlighting their accomplishments, interests, and future plans post high-school. It is a special way to celebrate and congratulate their kids that they can look back on in the future.
Events (Prom, Homecoming, etc.)
Every school year is filled with special memories of dances, pep rallies, and field trips. This section features everything from the prom king and queen to students repping school colors ahead of a big sports game.
Candid Photos
The yearbook doesn’t just capture the current look of each student, but the actual era taking place in real time. Candid photos feature students doing various school activities, showcasing special friendships, fashion and hairstyle choices, and general moments that speak to where culture is at in this current moment (think of a student using a Walkmans in the late eighties).
Popular Yearbook Themes & Designs
While the specific look and feel of every yearbook varies, here are some popular choices that editors tend to use:
- School Colors: it’s always a good idea to design your yearbook to match the theme and color schemes of your school logo.
- Retro: think of the classic looks of each decade. Tap into a fun, vintage yearbook look that matches the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, or early 2000s.
- Life in the City: feature skyscrapers, graffiti, and other common tropes of city-life.
- Nature-themed: if you live in a rural or outdoorsy area, lean into the mountains and popular outdoor activities like snowboarding, hiking, etc.
- Comic book style: Boom! Pop! Lean into the fun, vibrant color schemes of superheroes for a yearbook that sticks out.
- Hollywood: Your class is full of stars! Give them the red carpet treatment with a Hollywood / award show vibe.
What is a Digital Yearbook?
A digital yearbook is an online copy of a school yearbook. With yearbooks having been around for centuries, Classmates ® has created a digital archive of over 480,000 yearbooks spanning the decades for people to access online.
If you’ve misplaced your yearbook, or want to track down a school photo of your family or friends, you may be able to access it online and even get the yearbook reprinted! Learn more in this Classmates guide: What is a Digital Yearbook?
How to Search For Your Old Yearbook
Searching for your old yearbook online is straightforward with Classmates:
- Start from the Classmates yearbook page.
- Scroll down to the Yearbook Library section.
- Select the state you (or your loved one) grew up in.
- Select the city you (or your loved one) grew up in.
- Click on the school’s name.
- Explore all archived yearbooks from over the decades at that school, and see if the yearbook you’re looking for is available online.
- Click on the relevant yearbook to start exploring its contents.
- For access to the entirety of the yearbook, register on Classmates for free to see it (and the entire yearbook archive!) in full.
Tip: Looking to track down a long lost friend? Classmates also offers a directory of people from around the country, allowing you to search for old peers from your high school (or any graduating class!)
Yearbooks: A Historical Record of Your School Years to Cherish Forever
A yearbook truly is a time capsule that captures core moments of your youth. You can hold onto (or purchase a reprint of) your yearbook to explore you and your peers’ student portraits, class pictures, favorite teachers, and candid shots around school and on the sports field in one hardbound book.
Can’t find your old elementary, middle, or high school yearbook? See if it’s available online through Classmates!
Yearbook FAQs
What is the Definition of a Yearbook?
As defined by Merriam-Webster, a yearbook can be defined as “a school publication that is compiled usually by a graduating class and that serves as a record of the year’s activities.”
When Were Yearbooks Invented?
Students in the late 1600s started signing scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings and dried flowers since photographs hadn’t yet been invented.
As for modern yearbooks, according to the Atlantic, “The 1806 class at Yale created the first known official bound yearbook with information about the school year, the students, and the faculty. It was called Profiles of Part of the Class Graduated at Yale College” using printed silhouettes of each student.
What to Write in a Yearbook?
Yearbooks are a clear opportunity to write a special message to someone you care about. Take some time to highlight some favorite memories throughout the year with one another and what you hope to do together in the future.
People oftentimes will just sign their signature along with some classic, quick yearbook slang like ‘HAGS’ (Have a Great Summer).
How to Find a Lost Yearbook?
It can be easy to misplace a yearbook, especially if it’s been a long time since you graduated. Luckily, your old yearbook may be available online through Classmates. Find your yearbook for free by searching for it.
Simply select your state, town name, and school name to get a comprehensive list of all of the available yearbooks from your elementary, middle, high school, or college.
What Are Common Yearbook Pages?
Dedicated yearbook pages commonly include:
- Introductory pages featuring details about school
- Student portraits for each class
- Faculty & staff
- Blank yearbook pages for writing messages and signatures
- Clubs & activities
- Sports teams
- School events
- Senior ads
- Senior superlatives
Sources
- https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/why-do-people-sign-yearbooks/561851/
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/yearbook
- https://www.qinprinting.com/blog/how-to-write-and-design-a-college-yearbook/
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