YEARBOOK - PHOTOGRAPHY - RESEARCH

Having already got a good idea of yearbook design from looking at Graphic Design yearbooks, I wanted to extend my research into photography yearbooks/exhibition catalogues so that I could have a better understanding of what the photographers would want from their yearbook.  

Leeds Arts University - Yearbooks  

• Unseen uses a simple cover design with embossing and debossing to subtly tell the reader the name of the show. I like how it uses white ink to highlight the fact that it is "unseen". 
• All of the yearbooks vary in style - which making it appropriate from year to year
• Interesting contents pages that help to make the book different to other places, giving it personal touches like the eyes in Infinity - 2012. 
• Layout throughout all of the books has an image with text - this is unlike a traditional photobook I feel that this may take away some of the focus from the images as people would want to read the text firstly. This is something I think we need to consider as it should flow nicely image to image with no text to break up the images. 
• Size - the older books have gone for a square format which I don't feel is the best format for a photobook as it can be difficult to handle and also for me makes it feel less superior to other yearbooks. 
• Binding - A key part feature of the book should be that it lays flat so that you can see all the images as easily as possible this is something that not all of the books have done. The ones that have done it use an exposed binding with an attached cover which helps the pages to lay completely flat. 
• Paper - Over the years they have used a range of paper finishes the ones that I think work best use uncoated stock as this suits everyones work the best. The ones that use a matt gloss or full gloss finish seem to feel cheap and I would not want to use this style of paper in our book.  

Unseen - 2011 

 Infinity - 2012

 One Thousand and One - 2015

Glue - 2016

Other University Photography Yearbooks 

Having looked through LAU's previous yearbooks I also wanted to see how other universities have approached their yearbooks. in the selection of the yearbooks that I looked at there was a good mix of styles which really help to show off the uni, I think that its all about standing out from the other unis and doing something a little different so that the students get the best publicity they can. It is also interesting to see how they all compare to one another there are some unis that really standout for example Brighton and Coventry have both done something completely different to what Leeds have ever done and this sort of approach to making it look more like a photo book rather than a yearbook seems like a much better idea to me.  

Coventry University

Brighton University

Middlesex University

University of West London

Roehampton University

 Swansea University

 Falmouth University and University of East London 

 University of Westminster

Photobooks 

I also wanted to visually compare the university yearbooks to professional photobooks which are much cleaner and let the work breath which I feel this what out book needs to do rather than having a lot of text on the pages with would distract the reader from the work itself.