One day last year, I gave students a task - use various column layouts to create a yearbook design. I shared examples from the Guides page on this website and just let them go. The students created magnificent puzzle pieces. All they needed were guide lines to get them started.
Today Google Slides guides helped me redesign the 2017 Basic Yearbook layout. The simple change gives the SlidesYearbook a more professional look.
Since I used a white background, I used 8.5 x 11 inch Page setup. The printer will not need to trim the pages. This information matters when creating a SlidesYearbook as it changes the guide line measurements. Click here to view the measurements for a basic yearbook with no color bleed.
Guide lines will be used on multiple pages, which is why I add them to the Edit master. You can find Edit master under the Slide menu.
The slide that controls the entire slide deck is called the Master. Because the horizontal guides are the same on the odd and even pages, I added the horizontal margins and guides to the Master slide. I used red to mark the margins and gray for the guide lines.
I deleted all Layouts except two. One layout is named 2-Column EVEN and the other is called 2-Column ODD. Even when I added a 3-column layout, the layouts appear side by side in alphabetical order.
Update August 10, 2022
When you make a copy of the Basic Yearbook template, look at the different Layouts to find the newly updated Image Placeholder pages. Image Placeholders, which are added by going to Slides -> Edit Theme, allow students to add images with the correct placement and aspect ratio.
On the template itself, you will notice merge tags for the portraits section. This two-page spread will be used with the future add-on.
Conclusion
In its most basic definition, a yearbook is a book of images with captions that tell a story. That is exactly what this template does. The guides give the design a professional look without the professional cost.