Any quality yearbook theme makes good use of both verbal and visual effects. The theme should relate to the school, its activities, and the year's significant events. It should be clear to the readers and embrace the personality of the student body. 

Coming up with yearbook inspiration can be tricky, so it helps to work using a defined process. Start by looking up award-winning yearbook themes and note how they’re put together. 

Start with the visuals, such as the font, color, shape, and texture. Create a consistent thread throughout the yearbook. The shapes, colors, patterns, and textures should make the yearbook unique to your school. 

When looking up yearbook inspiration, there are no right and wrong answers. It’s all about consistency. Remember, you’re not marketing the book to the broader public. Everything must relate to your graduating class. 

Great yearbook cover ideas cross the whole spectrum of styles. There are no silver bullets that’ll guarantee a successful yearbook lookbook. Some yearbook covers use spectacular photography, student art, or even abstract pieces. 

There are specific yearbook themes to keep in mind when designing a cover. Choose one of the following three to nail your cover: 

Use a longstanding tradition from your school. 

Reflect on the spirit and uniqueness of your school. 

Find an overarching theme that spans the publication. 

Think about what’s unique to your school. Relate it to one of the three directions outlined above. When designing your cover, look up yearbook theme ideas and run them through a committee of students. 

Get feedback on your cover ideas and see what gets the most positive reaction. 

People talk a lot about where to get yearbook theme ideas for 2022, but where should you search for inspiration? 

Try these sources for high school yearbook themes if you’re finding it hard to settle on a defining theme or idea. 

Pinterest – Pinterest is the visual social media platform dedicated to fantastic artwork. Browse through different boards and pin the ideas that speak to you. Several channels specialize in yearbook themes. 

Designspiration – Designspiration is much like Pinterest. The difference is this platform dedicates itself to work produced by professional designers. Again, you’ll find lots of yearbook theme ideas here. 

Instagram – Search by hashtags on Instagram. Great sources for inspiration include #yearbook and #yearbookdesign. 

Blogs – Design blogs can show you the ins and outs of putting together a yearbook design. It’s helpful to learn about not only what works but why it works. Understanding the design processes and the technical aspects of creating a yearbook can help you avoid many pitfalls that will set your project back. 

Current Events – Focusing on current events can help you memorialize the year. Popular music, famous quotes, and viral videos are all examples of things that could inspire your yearbook. Don’t worry about your yearbook design being outdated in the future. It’s supposed to capture a point in time. 

You should also consider going over yearbooks from previous years. Although you might find that many of the themes look dated and out of fashion, all modern high school trends are built on what came before. 

Get your whole team to present ideas for your yearbook well before coming up with the final draft. Keep an open mind, and you never know what you might find. Yearbooks should always be a collaborative effort. 

Everyone should feel involved in their yearbook. 

Are you searching for great yearbook themes for 2022? 

Considering your subject (a.k.a. the graduating class) should be central to the process of designing your school’s yearbook. However, you can get inspired by the work of others, extract the elements you like and create a design that’s truly unique to your school. Keep in mind that this is something they’ll hold onto for the rest of their life. 

Don’t fixate too much on current trends or specific clubs, though. It’s more important to develop a design that embodies an experience they all share and that your whole school will enjoy. 

Retro Design 
Nostalgic designs are firmly in fashion. The whole point of evoking the memories of the past is to create emotion. Pairing nostalgic fonts, colors, and imagery from past yearbooks mixes with a blast from the past and the new generation of students. 

Retro themes from the 1990s are especially popular right now. 

Organic Design 
Modern design trends have focused on returning to the basics. Organic design is all about focusing on living things. Flora, fauna, and wildlife themes are the height of this contemporary theme. 

Consider incorporating line art and hand-drawn images rather than futuristic design trends. Get your class to add some of their own pictures of the natural world. 

Organic design is one of the best yearbook ideas because it gets everyone involved in the process. 

Neon Symbols 
Neon is an authentic piece of Americana. It causes those feelings of wonder to bubble up and harkens back to the glamor of the 1950s. Think Electric Youth perfume and riding around in classic cars. 

The neon trend combines those nostalgic days and symbols, such as hearts and the thumbs up. These symbols guide readers through the yearbook and help them get excited about what they’re about to see. 

The Outside 
Similar to organic design, exterior images fit in with the feelings of the youth of today. After a year spent inside due to the pandemic, people dream of the outside world. Industrial interior design is firmly out of fashion. 

Focus on nature backgrounds and include more images of your classmates enjoying the outside. Modern yearbook inspiration focuses on the freedom the wider world brings. 

Incorporate light yet bold colors. Greens, blues, and yellows are incredibly trendy at this point because they lighten the mood and make people feel a sense of joy. 

Cartoon Illustration 
Technical line art tends to feel drab, so check out yearbook ideas focusing on line art illustration. Sometimes the world can feel all too serious, so break it up and bring some joy to students with your 2022 yearbook. 

With bold, bright coloring, whimsical cartoon illustrations offer a more playful and fun yearbook theme.