Philippine Science High School Main Campus Yearbook - Batch 2021

6 Years in the making, the Philippine Science High School Main Campus Batch 2021 Yearbook is a project that overcame all the unexpected challenges despite the difficulty of the pandemic severely hindering our capabilities. I can only describe the whole production process of the Yearbook as an adventure, a very wild ride with its ups and downs that was fun to reminisce.

It all started when the Batch Council invited us to nominate Yearbook Committee heads. I wasn't sure of my capabilities back then since I lacked confidence in my leadership skills. But after some short deliberation, I decided to go up for the challenge to become the Yearbook Design Committee Head! It was an eye-opening opportunity I'm willing to undertake to experience and learn unique things! Artistic growth is hard to find during the era of the dreaded pandemic, which is why I wanted to project that idea of constantly improving with my members so that we can grow together as artists. I wanted to become an effective team leader making sure that every one of my members can learn and grow in Design and improve in multiple opportunities by providing thorough feedback. After a year of tedious design work amidst the most challenging school year of the most demanding high school in the Philippines, this is the Pisay Main Campus Batch 2021 Yearbook.

THE SUNRISE THEME

When the Yearbook Design Committee was born, our first immediate task was to assign a theme for the Yearbook. Previous batches utilized a scrapbook theme and a minimalist theme, so we wanted a theme that would conceptualize the identity of Batch 2021. We initially had everyone split up into teams to work on several yearbook concepts, such as the Adventure theme, Summer theme, Combi theme, Levels theme, and the Sunrise theme. Eventually, the Sunrise theme was chosen by the batch.

When I conceptualized the Sunrise theme, the initial idea was formed from a couple of messages with the other Heads and the representative PE Uniform color for our batch, which is Gold. I related the color Gold to the Golden Hour of Sunrise and Sunset. I relayed the idea of looking back on our Yearbook as the passage of time, beginning the day with a Sunrise as a means to symbolize our early years as a Freshman to the midnight dances of Prom during our 11th Year and ending it all as the start of a new day. The end of our days in Pisay as we start a new day with a new journey.

The Adventure Theme was made by Rese Ureta, the Summer theme was made by Anton Bolado and Santi Tiongson, the Combi Theme was made by Chai Taloma, and the Levels Theme was made by Sansan Munar.

Sunrise Promenade Art Concept was made by Laela Sanchez.

Lettering Demos were made by Ate Ros Olmillo.

THE COVER

The cover is one of the essential parts of the Yearbook. Our biggest problem with making the cover was that we didn't have an initial reference point for it. We didn't have access to the previous Yearbooks of the last batches because of COVID-19. So everything was pretty much a fresh start for us. The cover concept was to make the backdrop Pisay but seen at an angle where sunrise colors will be seen. It was a difficult task since the Sun rises at the backside of our school. And we couldn't utilize the school's facade since it was under construction for our last few years. The final illustration was made by Design Committee member Sansan Munar, with the final orange-blue color adjustments made by me afterward.

PERSONAL PAGES

The concept the Layout Unit had for the Personal Pages was unique and straightforward. Member Chai Taloma made the initial idea to have all the colors resemble a sunrise, starting from Purple to Gold in the end. So when you go through all the pages, it will be a seamless transition from Purple to Gold!

Chai, along with Nicole Goce and Santiago Tiongson, the two other members of the Layout Unit, then made several drafts of the Personal Pages, incorporating concepts such as logos for each section of a year and a hand-drawn signature by each of our batchmates. The final layout now includes four dedicated spaces for Graduation Photos, a maximum of three write-ups for each batchmate, a little fun facts corner, a box for the student's awards and clubs, and chibis made by other Design Committee members! The whole layoutting process was done over several months, with members Anthony Bicomong and Anton Bolado soon joining in to help the Layout Unit fill up the personal pages.

Section Logo Design made by Ate Ros Olmillo

STICKERS!

When we approached the Printing Company on amenities that they can offer for the Yearbook, they brought up the idea that they can also print a batch of stickers for us. As eager kids, of course, we took on the task of getting stickers for our Yearbook!

Designing the stickers was made by the Illustration Unit, composed of Laela Sanchez, Ate Ros Olmillo, and Sansan Munar. Laela designed stickers of our Pisay Mascot Siklab while Ate Ros and Sansan designed stickers from the Lab Equipment set and the Typography set! I designed the Pisay outfits sticker sets and made a general Pisay set featuring pieces from older concept art from the Sunrise and Summer Theme. A total of five sticker sets were made with 12 stickers each!

CHIBIS!

With the advent of the pandemic, one touchy subject we feared the most as heads were the opportunity of having a photoshoot. Since COVID-19 is prevalent around the country, we wanted a way to convey a person's character without the danger of having a possible COVID transmission during a photoshoot. So that's when we thought of having a little chibi for each of our 224 Batchmates as an additional piece to showcase for each of their pages!

Heading the Chibi project was Illustration Unit member Laela Sanchez! We both love cartoons, so we decided on using the art style of Disney's The Owl House because of its simple and unique style. We initially had the idea of using Picrew as a medium to make chibis of each batchmate; 224 was a very tempting number for us, so we thought of designing each piece instead to make it much more efficient for us. Unfortunately, this idea didn't pull through since it felt restrictive to work with a pretty clunky website for a year. So we decided to go manual on each of our batchmates! 224 was a challenging number, so we added Sansan and Ate Ros to help us draw each batchmate, each drawing sending feedback to improve our style constantly.

YEARBOOK LOGO

With the Sunrise theme, of course, we wanted the logo to be a Sun. However, we wanted the logo to play in tandem with our concept of looking back into our stay in Pisay. So we aligned every Profile Photo change of the sun to every x/6 Traditional post made by our batch. Starting from Sunrise to Night to another Sunrise to end the day. Sansan Munar made the Final Yearbook lettering with the Final Yearbook Logo variations were created by Me, Anthony Bicomong, and Anton Bolado.

MAGBALIK

Magbalik is a project made by the Yearbook's Online Committee alongside the Logistics Committee headed by Dona Marabe and Prince Soriano. They will hold an online concert to raise funds for Kandili, a community to aid mental health in Pisay. We assigned the Pubmat Unit of the Design Committee to work on pubmats and promotional materials for the Concert. Pubmat Unit member Manuel Macaraig is the go-to design person for the Magbalik fundraising event. He made a unique design that deviated from the traditional Yellow coloration spearheaded by the Sunrise theme by using tones of Dark Blue to help effectively establish the Magbalik identity. So we went on and utilized his initial concept for the whole identity of Magbalik. Manuel and Rese Ureta made multiple Pubmats and Promotional materials for each participating band in Magbalik.