Yearbook 2020

Design

I worked on creating IIT Guwahati's yearbook "Memoir of a Lifetime" for the graduating batch of 2020. we created a nostalgic illustrated diary documenting some of the locations on campus dearest to the student community.

Type : Part - Time
Date : 2020
Location : Guwahati
Client : Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati
Team : Neha Dargar, Arpan Datta Gupta, SAIL IITG

Student Alumni Interaction Linkage (SAIL) is a voluntary cell of IIT Guwahati under the office of Alumni Affairs and External Relations. SAIL acts as an engaging and mutually beneficial link between IIT Guwahati and its Alumni community.

We were approached by SAIL to create the 2020 edition of IIT Guwahati's yearbook. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the team collaborated virtually to produce a unique and memorable yearbook.

Brief : Design spread layouts, Design for automation

Role : Lead Visual Designer, Illustrator

Deliverables : Digital Yearbook, Printable Yearbook

Book Dimensions

The book was designed in a horizontal format to give it a cinematic feel. Scanning information side-to-side is generally more efficient for the eyes than up and down. Given the book's bulk and the need to present information about each student on campus, a horizontal layout allows the pages to lie flat more easily.

Dimensions : A4 Landscape

210mm x 297mm

700~ Pages

Layouts

The layouts were modular and symmetrical, with each page featuring a different background style for variety. The symmetry facilitated easier automated data placement in Illustrator. Speech bubble shapes were used to add a comical and lighthearted touch, complementing the whimsical illustrated backgrounds. They also helped create bounding boxes for bite-sized information.

Tools used : Illustrator, InDesign

Illustrations

The illustrations were inspired by the most nostalgic locations around campus, where students spent most of their time. From the iconic IIT Guwahati entrance gate, to the midnight food truck parked centrally on campus, we rendered these locations into comic-like digital illustrations. These illustrations evoked bittersweet emotions for a batch of students who lost their time on campus during the pandemic, creating a stronger sense of connection to the places they can no longer visit.

Tools used : Photoshop, Watercolor brushes

297 mm

210 mm

3 mm bleed

20 mm gutter

10 mm margin

Lounging at the Student Activity Centre - New SAC

"Memoir of a Lifetime"

The coding team assisted in filling in the data into the Illustrator files, resulting in a beautiful time capsule filled with people, memories, testimonials, and illustrations.

Scarlet Springs - Gulmohar Blooms

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Takeaway

The project was insightful, providing hands-on experience with print design and its nuances. We encountered challenges in selecting fonts, supporting emojis, and accommodating unforeseen characters entered in the digital form. It was also our first time importing a dataset into an Illustrator file, which required significant effort and assistance from the coding team to populate and export pages for different profiles. Throughout this process, we gained valuable technical knowledge on print design, including gutter spaces, bleeds, margins, and grids. It was a great learning experience in discovering new tools and their features.

Acknowledgements

It was a delight working with my classmates Neha and Arpan. Neha is an excellent illustrator with a keen eye for composition and texture, while Arpan is a smart visual designer who provided valuable feedback and criticism throughout the project. Both contributed to a positive working environment, maintaining high spirits even during challenges. The coding team was also generously patient, learning their way around Illustrator to make the process more efficient.

Mentions : Mayank Singla, Anurag Kakustham ( Coding and SAIL team)