How to Add and Format Spine Text on Your Yearbook Cover
Add school names, dates, titles, and other custom text to your yearbook spine using the Cover Designer.
Written by Nicole Lipnitz
Updated at August 25th, 2026
Table of Contents
📖 Overview
Spine text allows you to add custom information along the spine of your yearbook cover.
Common spine text includes:
- School name
- Yearbook title
- School year
- Graduation year
- School motto or slogan
Spine text is added and formatted directly within the Cover Designer.
⚠️ Spine Text Availability
Spine text is available only when the book has enough pages to create a spine wide enough for text.
📕 Hardcover Books
Spine text is available on all hardcover books.
📘 Softcover Books
Spine text is available on softcover books with 70 pages or more.
⚠️ Important: Final Page Count
Finalize your book's page count before completing your spine design. Adding or removing pages changes the width of the spine and may affect text placement.
✏️ Add Spine Text
- Open your project cover in Creator Studio.
- Select the Spine Text tab from the left-side panel.
- Enter your text in the Type Spine Text field.
Screenshot Placeholder: Spine Text tab in the Cover Designer
Screenshot Placeholder: Type Spine Text field with sample text entered
📐 Choose a Spine Layout
Two spine text layouts are available.
Centered
Places the spine text in the center of the spine.
Top and Bottom
Provides separate text areas at the top and bottom of the spine.
Select the desired layout from the options displayed beside the cover preview.
Screenshot Placeholder: Centered and Top and Bottom spine layout options
🎨 Format Spine Text
Use the available formatting controls to adjust the appearance of your spine text.
Formatting options include:
- Font family
- Font size
- Font color
- Bold
- Italic
- Underline
Note: Spine text uses supported fonts to maintain proper positioning and rendering.
Screenshot Placeholder: Spine text font and formatting controls
◀️▶️ Adjust Spine Text Position
Projects created on or after March 4, 2021 include horizontal adjustment controls for spine text.
Use the left and right arrow controls to move the text horizontally and fine-tune its position on the spine.
Screenshot Placeholder: Left and right spine text adjustment controls
🖌️ Add a Background Color
A background color can be added behind spine text to improve contrast against photographs, patterns, or other cover elements.
To add a background:
- Select Show Background Color.
- Choose the desired background color.
Screenshot Placeholder: Show Background Color option and color selector
✨ Apply Additional Text Effects
Projects created on or after March 4, 2021 include additional spine text controls:
- Shadow
- Stroke
- Text Spacing
Use these options to further customize the appearance of your spine text.
Screenshot Placeholder: Shadow, Stroke, and Text Spacing controls
✅ Before Finalizing Your Cover
Before submitting your cover:
- Finalize the book's page count.
- Confirm that the spine text fits within the available space.
- Check the text direction and alignment.
- Verify that the text remains readable against the cover background.
- Review the spine carefully in your final cover proof.
If the page count changes after the spine has been designed, review the spine again because its width and text placement may have changed.