"We Bloom" Theme Development:
Simply put, “We bloom” refers to how we all bloom and grow. Our growth is similar to a flower’s; we have different phases, and like flowers, we endure storms and challenges that are instrumental to our growth. For this year specifically, we are learning to grow in a new way. We must find ways to grow outside of the traditional school environment. We have grown by living through this separately, which can help us grow as a whole. Each flower blooms uniquely and in its own time. But together, flowers create beauty and life. We can create a community, growing and blooming together; finding the good in everything, which helps us bloom." |
The concept of "We Bloom" is meant to emphasize growth throughout the pandemic. When I first began constructing the design formatting and concepts for this book, I was rigid on having this image of literal flowers. The only thing I could think of when I envisioned bloom was flowers. This is shown through the first version of the cover and opening, which features photography of real flowers.
However, after a few lengthy meetings with the other editors-in-chief, my advisor Mr. Harrell, and ELHS's Jostens representative Rianne Pierce and Jeff Moffitt -- I realized that I would have to let go of that conception. Instead of focusing on the literal meaning of bloom, I shifted my design focus towards the concept of growth aspect. This shift in perspective was an integral part in establishing the design theme elements of the book. |
Here is the progression of the cover design:
Here is the progression of the opening design:
Thematic Design Elements:
Once myself and the other second year designers finalized the colors, fonts, and reoccurring design elements we waned to incorporate into the theme, I created a style guide. This served as an useful tool within the first few deadlines to help all of the staff's designers get that unifying vision of how the theme should be portrayed through the design. This guide includes everything from theme colors, to fonts, to alignment rules to how to create design templates.
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Getting Designers Inspired:
As a former designer editor, and now editor-in-chief, I understand how it feels to be a new designer. You have no idea where to start, or how to structure your spread. With this in mind, I decided to create a design theme presentation for new designers to draw inspiration from when creating their first spreads. I believe engraining these thematic principles into them from the beginning of the year has helped contribute to the the book's cohesive and clean design energy. I'm constantly encouraging designers to look at good design and get inspired.
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"The Golden Days" Theme Development:
One of my jobs as a design editor for this book was the create the title page, opening, closing, and end page. Since this was the 100th edition of Ceniad, the concept for the opening includes the contrast in student life 100 years ago versus now. The second page with the "2020" givers readers a glimpse towards the golden memories they'll find in the book. The closing however, looks back on the 2020 school year and ends off looking towards 2120. As previously mentioned, this book had a golden line that ran throughout the book. Since I had the first and last page of the book to design, I decided to incorporate the line's beginning and end into the design.