18 Yearbook Trends That Instantly Looked Outdated
Everyone wants to look their best in the yearbook, but some ideas just don’t age well. What was once trendy and unique often becomes an awkward joke years later.
- Tricia Quitales
- 6 min read
Yearbooks are meant to preserve memories, but not every trend ages gracefully. Some styles, poses, and design choices seemed cool at the time but quickly became sources of secondhand embarrassment. While meant to be timeless, many yearbooks reflect fleeting trends that don’t stand the test of even a single school year. Looking back at these moments provides a fun and sometimes cringeworthy snapshot of what once felt like a good idea.
1. Glamour Shot Portraits
Harry H Brewster on pexels
Heavily edited portraits with soft filters and shiny makeup were all the rage in the late ’90s and early 2000s. These photos looked more like magazine ads than school portraits. While meant to make students feel glamorous, the artificial look quickly felt excessive. Many students ended up barely resembling their real selves. The overly polished aesthetic aged faster than expected.
2. Floating Head Layouts
Lisa from Pexels on pexels
Photos of students arranged in clusters without borders or context created a surreal effect. This design choice was supposed to be modern and edgy. Instead, it came off as strange and disjointed. The trend lacked the structure needed for clarity and timelessness. It quickly became one of the most mocked design decisions.
3. Overuse of Comic Sans
Polina Tankilevitch on pexels
Initially, Comic Sans was a playful font often used for captions, quotes, or even entire spreads. What started as quirky quickly turned into a design disaster. The font’s informality clashed with the intended sentimentality of yearbooks. Designers later cringed at how unprofessional it looked. It became a cautionary tale in typography.
4. Matching Outfits in Group Photos
Polina Tankilevitch on pexels
Coordinated outfits for friend groups or clubs seemed like a good idea at the time. Matching denim or themed colors felt symbolic of unity. However, the trend often looked staged and overdone in hindsight. It gave off a try-hard energy that didn’t hold up. Many wish they had just dressed naturally instead.
5. Extreme Dutch Angles
Darina Belonogova on pexels
Photos tilted dramatically to one side were used to add a sense of creativity. While the technique worked in action shots or edgy layouts, it was overused. Many photos ended up looking dizzying rather than dynamic. The intended drama fell flat once the trend faded. It is now more commonly seen as a design misstep.
6. “Most Likely To…” Superlatives Gone Wrong
Yan Krukau on pexels
Superlatives were meant to be fun, but some titles aged poorly or crossed the line. Categories like “Most Flirtatious” or “Biggest Gossip” feel uncomfortable years later. They sometimes fueled bullying or embarrassment rather than lighthearted recognition. Many schools have since revised their approach or dropped these entirely. The humor didn’t always translate well over time.
7. Oversized Yearbook Props
Antoni Shkraba Studio on pexels
Giant sunglasses, foam fingers, and inflatable guitars were common in themed spreads. The props were supposed to make things playful and memorable. However, they would often distract from the people in the photos. As trends changed, the props looked increasingly tacky. What felt like fun at the time now reads as chaotic.
8. Puzzle Piece Backgrounds
cottonbro studio on pexels
Layouts featuring interlocking puzzle pieces symbolized unity and connection. Despite the good intentions, the design quickly became overused and visually cluttered. It didn’t age well, especially when combined with loud colors and random clip art. What was once meaningful soon felt cheesy. Yearbooks moved on to cleaner, more minimalist designs.
9. Fake Graffiti and Spray Paint Effects
RDNE Stock project on pexels
Graffiti-style fonts and effects were added to covers and section dividers for an urban edge. While trendy in the early 2000s, the execution often missed the mark. It gave yearbooks an unpolished and sometimes inappropriate feel. The style clashed with the formal tone many yearbooks aimed to maintain. It became one of the first styles to be abandoned.
10. Excessive Filter Effects
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Sepia tones, rainbow gradients, and fake lens flares were added to give photos more impact. These edits often distracted from the actual content. Instead of enhancing memories, they altered them. Many spreads ended up looking like amateur art projects. Designers learned to favor subtlety over gimmicks.
11. Slang-Filled Captions
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Phrases like “YOLO,” “cray cray,” or “on fleek” were used to seem current and fun. The captions quickly became dated and sometimes confusing to future readers. What felt trendy for that year became unintelligible just a few years later. Many now look back and cringe at how forced it all felt. The timelessness of language was sacrificed for cheap relevance.
12. Fake Magazine Covers
Esra Korkmaz on pexels
Yearbook sections styled as parody magazine covers seemed clever at first. Students loved pretending to be celebrities or cover models. Unfortunately, the joke wore off fast and looked painfully out of place in formal layouts. The parody covers also felt inconsistent with the tone of other sections. It was more gimmick than good design.
13. Overdesigned Collages
George Milton on pexels
Photo collages filled every inch of space with overlapping pictures and no clear focus. Though it aimed to include as many memories as possible, the result was messy. Faces were often too small to recognize, and important moments got lost. The chaos overwhelmed the viewer rather than inviting nostalgia. Clean layouts proved far more effective.
14. Stylized Class Quotes
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Entire graduating classes would choose a slogan or inside joke as their official motto. Phrases like “We out!” or “Class of Lit” seemed funny and cool at the time. Unfortunately, these slogans would often lose meaning outside the moment. Many regret not choosing something more thoughtful. They now serve as reminders of fleeting teenage trends.
15. Emo and Scene Aesthetic Sections
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Some yearbooks dedicated spreads to subcultures like emo or scene styles. With heavy eyeliner, dramatic poses, and dyed hair, these sections felt expressive in the moment. However, the trend was too niche to age well. It ended up feeling more like a Tumblr archive than a school memory. The strong style choices overshadowed the people behind them.
16. Inside Joke References
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Pages filled with obscure jokes known only to a few students alienated the rest of the class. While meant to be fun for a small group, they lacked context for future readers. These jokes quickly became meaningless as memories faded. Instead of inclusivity, they created confusion. Yearbooks eventually shifted toward more universal humor.
17. Pop Culture Overload
Yan Krukau on pexels
Inserting memes, celebrity photos, or viral references directly into yearbook layouts seemed like a smart way to stay relevant. But these references aged faster than any other content. Readers often forgot the context within a year or two. The yearbook ended up feeling like a dated magazine instead of a keepsake. The strategy was too dependent on short-lived cultural moments.
18. Faux-Candid Photo Trends
Darina Belonogova on pexels
Staged candid shots, where students pretended to laugh or walk naturally, were everywhere. The intention was to capture genuine emotion, but the setups felt awkward and forced. Looking back, the lack of authenticity stands out. These photos lacked the charm of real moments. Authenticity proved to have much more staying power.