I happened to be flipping through an old yearbook the other night and noticed something … BAD layout. For those of us still in school, it has started up again. And although we’re months away from the handout of yearbooks, the process of brainstorming yearbook layout design ideas has begun. It’s not so much the actual picture pages, but the pages in between where the structure falls apart. In most yearbooks, the layout and design are done by the students themselves and I know when I was in high school I didn’t have the best ideas about yearbook layout.

Here you can find a quick 3-part tutorial for using grids for designing a layout.

And here’s a guide to designing to make sure your layout passes the C.R.A.P. test.

Even if you aren’t a budding designer, articles like these aren’t a bad refresher.