In addition to your awesome theme design, there are certain pieces of information that should be included on the front "lid" as well as the spine of your cover. The front of the cover should include your publication's title and the year, but doesn't need to have your school name--after all, what other school could it be for?
Though often a bit overlooked in the past, designing the spine area of your cover might be even more important than the front, since it's the only part that will be seen for most of the book's "shelf life." The spine should include your school name, city and state along with the publication title, volume and year along with some element of your theme. Depending on your design and theme words, you might not be able to fit the entire thing on the spine, but there should be something that represents the theme.
Here's more information on spine design from Discoveries Vol. 13 Issue3:
"Within weeks after distribution, all of your hard work may be relegated to the bookshelf. Often overlooked, the spine is perhaps the part of the cover which is most visible long-term.
Though often a bit overlooked in the past, designing the spine area of your cover might be even more important than the front, since it's the only part that will be seen for most of the book's "shelf life." The spine should include your school name, city and state along with the publication title, volume and year along with some element of your theme. Depending on your design and theme words, you might not be able to fit the entire thing on the spine, but there should be something that represents the theme.
Here's more information on spine design from Discoveries Vol. 13 Issue3:
"Within weeks after distribution, all of your hard work may be relegated to the bookshelf. Often overlooked, the spine is perhaps the part of the cover which is most visible long-term.
There are guidelines listing “requirements” for content to be found on the cover of the yearbook. Many educational materials tell staffs that the year and the name of the book should be on the book’s front flap. The list of information found on the spine is longer; in addition to representation of the theme, to make the book easy to locate from its place on the shelf, you should also include the name of the book and publication year, the name of the school with city and state and the volume number. If all of that appears on the spine, even the thinnest of volumes are easy to locate for easy reference (or memories) in the future!
It's all connected
In the past, it often seemed that information was slapped onto the spine almost as an afterthought. But today, more yearbook staffs are investing energy into the design of the spine, carefully repeating type treatments (including fonts, capitalization patterns and alignment), colors and art so that the spine is a quick visual representation of things to come. Two considerations for highest impact:
In the past, it often seemed that information was slapped onto the spine almost as an afterthought. But today, more yearbook staffs are investing energy into the design of the spine, carefully repeating type treatments (including fonts, capitalization patterns and alignment), colors and art so that the spine is a quick visual representation of things to come. Two considerations for highest impact:
- Don’t forget the importance of scale. The elements on the spine shouldn’t compete for attention or overpower the space; they should work together to send a singular message.
- When possible, continue elements from the front flap onto the spine to make the entire cover a more unified package."