Garfield Yearbook
Most years, high school yearbooks feature images of band concerts, football games, and club meetings. They are full of countless scenes of students having fun together. Clearly, 2020 was different. As the layout/design editor for my school’s yearbook, I was challenged to deconstruct, reimagine, and repair the process of assembling the yearbook when everything seems broken.
Due to safety concerns, the school did not take student portraits this year. At a diverse school like Garfield where one in thirteen students exerience houselessness, we knew this would present a barrier to participation. So, we proposed a student-run, outdoor photo shoot with appropriate social distancing. To visually reflect our new reality of distance learning, I redesigned the portrait pages to resemble a Microsoft Teams screen. Students unable to provide a portrait appear with their initials in a circle, as if their “camera is turned off.”
Due to restrictions, we couldn’t have typical student life photos. This affected club pages, where I designed layouts in the style of FaceTime—a platform used for club meetings. In other ways, I decided to fully embrace representing life during the pandemic, featuring a tableau of student work spaces instead of groups of students at football games.
When my classmates and I look back on our time at Garfield, I want to remember the consequential aspects of this year—the pain and difficulty, but also the joy and hope. Through design, I was able to repair the yearbook in a year when normal life was turned upside down.
Due to safety concerns, the school did not take student portraits this year. At a diverse school like Garfield where one in thirteen students exerience houselessness, we knew this would present a barrier to participation. So, we proposed a student-run, outdoor photo shoot with appropriate social distancing. To visually reflect our new reality of distance learning, I redesigned the portrait pages to resemble a Microsoft Teams screen. Students unable to provide a portrait appear with their initials in a circle, as if their “camera is turned off.”
Due to restrictions, we couldn’t have typical student life photos. This affected club pages, where I designed layouts in the style of FaceTime—a platform used for club meetings. In other ways, I decided to fully embrace representing life during the pandemic, featuring a tableau of student work spaces instead of groups of students at football games.
When my classmates and I look back on our time at Garfield, I want to remember the consequential aspects of this year—the pain and difficulty, but also the joy and hope. Through design, I was able to repair the yearbook in a year when normal life was turned upside down.
Year
2020
Role
Graphic Designer
Category
Editorial Design
Status
500 Printed Copies
2020
Role
Graphic Designer
Category
Editorial Design
Status
500 Printed Copies
