Yearbook Tutorial: Crafting Your First School Yearbook with Mixbook

Creating a school yearbook is a big deal, especially if it’s your first time being in charge of it. The project comes with major rewards – imagine that joyful last day of school when the students are thrilled to look through the yearbook, collect signatures, and take home a treasure trove of memories.

If you’ve been put in charge of a yearbook for the first time (ideally with a team of volunteers to help), this yearbook tutorial will help you get started. As with any big project, breaking it down into small, simple steps is key. Plus, Mixbook’s free online creation platform makes every one of those steps a breeze.

Mixbook offers all the tools and guidance you need from start to finish. When your awesome yearbook creation is complete, it will be delivered to you in less than two weeks! The process is simple and stress-free, and most importantly, results in a high-quality product that will wow everyone – students, parents, and educators alike.

Mixbook’s dedicated yearbook team is ready to help

Mixbook’s dedicated team works with hundreds of yearbook creators every year, many of them first-timers. The first step in your yearbook project is to contact a yearbook representative.

Fill out the school yearbook volume form to get a speedy quote plus a dedicated yearbook representative to help you from start to finish. If you don’t know your order details yet, fill out your best guesstimate or email sales@mixbook.com for guidance. Your rep can answer any questions and guide you to the best options for you and your budget.

Start your yearbook in the free, easy-to-use Mixbook Studio™

The Mixbook Studio™ is our free design platform for creating custom yearbooks and any other photo books you can imagine. Get started in the studio using the following steps:

1. Visit Mixbook.com and create an account
2. Click on the “Photo Books” tab at the top
3. Browse and select a yearbook theme, or start with a blank canvas template
4. Choose your book size and format (you can change these options at any time)
5. Get started on your project!

Read more about how to make an amazing custom yearbook and check out these fantastic yearbook ideas.

All about yearbook themes

We strongly recommend choosing one of Mixbook’s 75-plus yearbook themes. They are all 100% customizable.

The yearbook theme collection includes options for every type of school, including preschool, elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and even homeschool. The themes also offer diverse aesthetic styles.

Here are some of our favorites:

• Preschool yearbook with bright colors and whimsical illustrations
• Traditional Elementary School Yearbook with neat color blocking and fun fonts
• Modern High School for a refined, stylish look
• School Colors Yearbook, easily customized with your school colors

These themes not only offer expert design details, they all provide a smart structure with prompts to follow (or customize), making yearbook creation a breeze.

Tip: Browse through a range of yearbook themes and note down any inspiring ideas for structure and contents e.g. features like “student spotlight” and “highlights of the year.”

Get started with a Mixbook yearbook tutorial

If you’re new to Mixbook, check out this comprehensive yearbook tutorial video. It shows you step-by-step how easy it is to create your yearbook!

How to design your yearbook

When you start with a yearbook theme, most of the design work is already done! You just have to plug in your own photos, edit the text elements, and customize the yearbook to fit your vision. You have total creative control over layouts, backgrounds, text, colors, stickers, and more.

Here is an overview of the essential steps:

1. Collect photos and art

This step makes up the bulk of the work that goes into creating a yearbook. Ideally, collect photos throughout the school year and save them in one master file.

Gather photos of the following:

• Portrait shots or headshots: of every student, faculty, and staff member.
• Campus life: day-to-day classroom activities, academic achievements, fun at recess, after-school programs, first and last day photos etc.
• Special events: field trips, camps, dances, awards ceremonies, special visitors.
• Extracurriculars: sports, arts and music, clubs, performances.

If you find you have too many photos, use the extras for collages at the end of the book.

Your yearbook can also include artwork that needs to be photographed or scanned. Student-designed cover pages are a popular choice.

Tip: Share a Google Photos link (or similar) and then upload the photo files directly to the Mixbook.

2. Write the text

The text elements of a yearbook typically include:

• Page and section headers
• Titles for the cover page and spine
• Captions (including student names)
• An introductory message from the principal
• Quotes, lists, personal messages, and short essays.

Assign a volunteer to be in charge of proofreading all text and confirming that all names are correct.

3. Put it all together

Upload all your photos to the Mixbook Studio™ and get started on designing the pages. This is the fun part! Be sure to include a special dedication to the graduating class, and plenty of blank pages for autographs.

To make your yearbook creation faster and easier, try out the Auto-Create and Auto-Layout tools.

Check out: Create a school year photo book in five simple steps

4. Collaborate with your team

Invite members of the yearbook team to collaborate on the project directly on Mixbook. Learn how with our Complete Guide to Collaborative Photo Book Creation.

Pay attention to your timeline

Your Mixbook rep will help you plan a timeline to ensure you receive your yearbooks on time. You will receive your books within two weeks of ordering, so mark the deadline in your calendar.

The final steps before holding your yearbook in your hands are:

Proof the book

Order a proof. This is a hard copy of your project to review before placing your bulk order – a final chance to make sure everything is perfect!

Finalize the order

1. Place your final yearbook order with your custom coupon code – you will receive this from your Mixbook yearbook representative.
2. Check with the appropriate person about payment procedures – who will be making the payment and with what method? Establish this prior to your order date.
3. Ask if your school is tax exempt, and pass that information on to your Mixbook rep.

Plan an event to celebrate your memories

All your yearbook team’s hard work is worth celebrating! Plan an event at school when you will hand out the yearbooks and give everyone a chance to rejoice in the end of another amazing school year.

Leave a review

Mixbook already has 35k five-star reviews, and we would love it if you wrote one, too! We want to know how we did, and how your yearbook experience went from start to finish. Share your customer story, use #mymixbookstory on social, or email social@mixbook.com.