Joel Sutton

Desktop Publishing is a wonderful and highly rewarding field of study. While many are quick to point out the decline in newspapers and other print publications, they often don't recognize the vast and expanding opportunities that desktop publishing skills present. When I teach desktop publishing, I focus on the design cycle,  page layout, understanding aesthetics, audience needs, logo and content creation, image management, etc. New technologies and the internet are still pushing the rapid expansion of e-publishing though Kindles, iPads, Android tablets, mobile phones, computers, phablets, and so on. Desktop publishing as a skill set has not decreased in value or practicality, it has, if anything increased in value. The same concepts used to build a yearbook or magazine are every bit as applicable to building a website, an app or a digital publication. 

Yearbook! At Will Rogers HS and Shanghai Community International School in Shanghai, China, I had the exciting opportunity to sponsor and direct the development of 7 school yearbooks. Together, my students and I have produced more than 1,500 pages of memories. Each book is a remarkable undertaking and requires a tremendous amount of planning, focus and effort.

2020-21 Samples: Busy Bees

2017-18 Samples: This is Who We Are!

2016-17 Samples: Memories

2015-16 Samples: Adventures of the Amazing Dragons!

2014-15 Samples: dis[ORDER]

For a couple of years, the Middle School Desktop Publishing class produced and distributed 500 copies of the Dragon Tales student magazine each quarter. The publication was designed, written, and edited exclusively by the class’s 7th and 8th grade students. The goal of the magazine was to communicate and share student related topics of interest to their peers. As an educational tool, developing the magazines helped to teach students the design cycle, explore and develop skills in page layout, graphic design, understanding and evaluating aesthetics, enhancing student communication, and much more! Each issue was designed around an original theme.