This is the time we often find ourselves reflecting on moments or trends that defined the year: countdowns dominate TV and radio, your Insta feed is filled with top nine collages, and influencers hype up-and-coming trends. Because the yearbook has the potential to be a campus influencer, below are just a couple of things to consider documenting in yours so students can look back and reminisce. It’s easy to add trends and events that defined the year in the definitive archive of academia: your yearbook.
Current events
Add a trend timeline or spread so students can remember historic events, recall how most students chose to tuck in their t-shirts, or laugh at the social media craze during that time.
When it comes to including historic events to include in your school’s yearbook, it can be overwhelming about which ones to choose. When considering a year-defining moment, consider the impact it had on your local student body. This could be students getting their COVID-19 vaccine or returning to school for more in-person learning.
Natural disasters are also worth including in your year-end coverage. However, editors must do so while also keeping the sensitivity of the issue in mind. Did your school set up a donation drive to help victims of a tornado or hurricane that devastated another area of the country? Was your campus directly impacted?
Finding a local angle is a technique journalists often use when deciding how they plan to cover a specific event and it’s a tool yearbook editors can use as well. After all, you are a journalist who is documenting each school year!
Fashion trends
Historic moments aren’t the only element that defines a school year. Fashion is another key component that can help illustrate a certain time period as many students use this as an outlet to express themselves. To help determine the latest trends, a great first step is turning to Pinterest or Instagram. From there, have your yearbook staff find students who emulate some of those fads.
You could also assign an Outfit of the Day (#OOTD) photographer to capture students walking into school. Then, in your yearbook, you could feature seasonal styles. (Parents also love to submit these photos, so ask away!)
If you do a more traditional fashion spread, be sure to include:
- Mom jeans
- Chunky soled shoes, espcially Dr. Martens
- White shoes
- Athletic gear
- Graphic Ts
- The return of the mullet
- Bucket hats (which we hear will be “out” come summer)
- Over-sized sweaters
- 90s style: neon, flannel, wide legged pants
- Friendship bracelets
Social media trends
In addition to fashion, you can also consider incorporating social media trends that were popular over the past school year. Who knew TikTok would take off like it did? Remember when customizing your background and picking out songs for your MySpace page was all the rage? We do! Be sure to include some of the dances, trends, or popular songs students may be using on their own TikTok pages.
Students will love looking back at these memories 10 years from now, and their kids will love it even more!
