Yearbook Tips for the Pocket Scrapper: How to Write a Clever Headline

All Year Round: Jubilations by Traci Reed and Jady Day Studios, Pocket Life: November Alphas by Traci Reed

I’m 90% Pocket Scrapper, so I’ll admit that I don’t invest too much energy into writing headlines. On my pocket pages, headlines are functional – they serve purpose: Week #38 or San Diego, CA. In the yearbook world we call these types of headlines, labels, not headlines and they break all the journalism rules.

So when I scrap a traditional page, I like to exercise my creative headline writing abilities and there are a few great ways to get you started.

First: The key to a powerful headline is to make sure there is a strong connection between the dominant photo/topic on the page and the headline.

In my example below, you can see that the key word of the headline directly connects to the largest picture on the layout.

Nerdy by Nature by Traci Reed and Tickled Pink Studio

Once you’ve figured out what your dominant picture is, list some key words that relate to your dominant picture/topic to help get your creative juices flowing. 6-10 words ought to do.
Then try one of these techniques:

• Alliteration (Turkey Time, Wiggle Worm)
• Rhyming
• Pop-culture references
• Puns and word play with common sayings

In this next example, my headline is very close to a label (it is a pocket spread, afterall) but I made it fun to say out loud by finding two words that both stressed the “aww” sound. Naughty Dog!

You Did NOT Just Do That Kit & Cards by Traci Reed

In the next example, I used a popular song (also the name of the kit) Rub a Dub Dub and then stressed the fact that the bath tub was unusually large by putting ‘GIANT’ in the middle of the phrase. I put even more emphasis on the ‘GIANT’ by making it twice the size of the other text and by using a different alpha.

Rub A Dub by Traci Reed

An example of alliteration (Perfect Pick) from Hawt Mama Kim, how fantastic is this? I really like how it plays off the Cutest PUMPKIN in the PATCH card… the letter P just POPS!

All Year Round: Jubilations by Traci Reed and Jady Day Studios

To really impress people with a clever headline use your key words in a 3 step headline writing process.

A popular yearbook example is this:

You’re making a spread about Science class and your dominant photo is of a group of students dissecting a frog.

1. List key words. Let’s pretend your favorite key word is: frog.
2. Brainstorm rhyming words for frog: bog, cog, dog, jog, log, smog, nog, agog, polliwog, you get the idea…
3. Take your rhyming words and think of words or phrases that creatively capture the excitement of your page.

For this example, our favorite rhyming word is: dog because we thought of the song:

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Finally, re-insert your key word back into the new phrase and voila! You have a clever headline:

Who Let the Frogs Out?

Now, let’s put this picture of my dog to the headline test.  If this picture were selected to be the dominant picture on the page, we’d want to make sure the headline played off of it.  We can brainstorm words that relate to the picture:

• Ball
• Dog
• Snow
• Winter
• Play
• “Oliver”

Once one of the words speaks to us, we can choose how to use it.

Alliteration: Winter Wonderland

Rhyme: Play Day

Or my personal favorite for this one, a pun: Snow Big Deal or Snow Place Like Home.

About the Author: Laura Zhu, CJE, advises the Jamboree Yearbook in Northern California. Mrs. Zhu’s yearbook students have earned several state and national awards. Laura is passionate about following rules, knowing when to break them, and documenting each week of her family’s escapades.