Starting this week, each yearbook template will be updated. Last September, I updated the Quintus Yearbook Layout for the Google Innovator Spark Session. Today, I updated Jachimo, another favorite template. I would have liked to update templates sooner, but I am a Distance Learning classroom teacher. Talk about a busy year! Thank goodness that it is Thanksgiving Break.
I feel that it is important to cite the original graphic designer. The fonts, colors, and original design all come from SlidesCarnival, a free template website for Google Slides and PowerPoint Presentations. Just like the presentation version of Jachimo, the yearbook version is free.
The Jachimo Yearbook layout is a comic book theme. Each page has 1-3 images. Call outs are used for captions. Colors can be used to separate sections such as grade level or school activity. Notice that the background color is used as a shadow on the images to help them stand out.
Page Setup
The Page setup is 8.63 x 11.13 with the expectation that the professional printer will trim the color bleed. Basically, the printer cuts the excess so that the yearbook does not have a white strip along the edges.
Guides
Guides can be very confusing, but I have faith in you and your students. Follow the directions below to understand how I added the guides to the Master and Layouts. Little steps build strong foundations.
Master Slide Guides
The color bleed margins and the Horiztonal Guides are set on the Master slide. Go to Slide -> Edit master and go to the Master slide. Then select View -> Guides -> Set guides to see the margins I set.
Whatever is added to the Master slide is added to all slides. I added the color bleed to both the vertical and horizontal guides. Since the horizontal guides do not change on even and odd pages, I added those guides as well. Remember, less work is better.
Vertical Guides
Guide 1 - 0.06 inches
Guide 2 - 8.56 inches
Horizontal Guides
Guide 1 - 0.06 inches
Guide 2 - 11.06 inches
Guide 3 - 0.56 inches
Guide 4 - 1.56 inches
Guide 5 - 1.81 inches
Guide 6 - 10.62 inches
2-Page Layout
Professional quality yearbooks have an inset margin to create a 2-page layout. Good news, I did the math for you.
My quick tip is to start with only two layout options. Delete all other layouts. Set the guides. Then duplicate the pages to create other layouts.
These guides create a 2-column layout. Use the guides to center in the images.
Odd Page Vertical Guides
Guide 1 - 0.31 inches
Guide 2 - 4.06 inches
Guide 3 - 4.31 inches
Guide 4 - 8.05 inches
Even Page Vertial Guides
Guide 1 - 0.56 inches
Guide 2 - 4.31 inches
Guide 3 - 4.56 inches
Guide 4 - 8.32 inches
The Design
When creating your own design, expect to fail first and often. While I am very happy with the end results, the original design had the images as callouts. It didn't look good. In fact, the Explosion mask cut out way too much of the yearbook photo. After trial and error, I ended up with rectangles and trapezoids for the images and callouts for the captions.
The SlidesCarnival original design included shadows. I changed the idea to photo shadows that reflect that page's background color. I also took advantage of the even and odd look by flipping the shadows on the opposite page.
Paint Formatter
Look in the top left of the Google Slides Menu. Do you see the paint brush? This is Paint format icon. The trick is to click on the model design and then double click on the Paint format icon to format more than one object. Watch the 8-second video to see this shortcut in action.
Update August 8, 2022
When you make a copy of the Jachimo SlidesYearbook template, look in the Layouts to view the Image Placeholders. Image Placeholders help students place images with the correct aspect ratio. Go to Slides -> Edit Theme to add or modify the Image Placeholders. I also suggest that students crop the images into shapes such as the parallelgram and the trapezoid.
Notice how the portrait section was created. Modify it and have fun. The mail merge tags, which are used with the future add-on, have 32 images for a 2-page spread.
Conclusion
I am proud of this new decision. The original 2017 template needed a facelift. I particularly enjoyed the challenge to create even and odd pages with a 2-column layout. The math that I did today will help me revision another template tomorrow.