Color plays a big part in yearbook desgin. We have to think about it regularly and how it impacts the tone of a page. 

For example imagine your looking at a page about swim and it has a dark green background. How does it feel or make you think of?

I wouldn't say it makes you think of a refreshing day in the summer in the pool. Id say most would lean towards thinking of a swamp or some kind of not so clean water source. Where on the other hand if we used a neutral lighter color, like a light blue or a very pale yellow or plain white. Most would lean towards being neutral or feeling like they're at the pool on a warm summer day. 

Dominate elements are how you catch someones attention and get them to keep scanning for something just as intriguing as the dominate.

Dominate elements catch the viewer's eye and attention. That's where their eye goes to first. So what is most important their eye goes to next? Probably a good captions (around a paragh) detailing the page and its importance or detailing a photo. 

Your main dominant element should catch someone's eye but not so much that it takes away from the rest of the page and the lay out or other elements or captions or photo's. 

Proximity is how the things around or next to each other make sense. 

Say you made your spread but one half is just captions and the other half is photos and elements. That would be confusing and incohesive.

It would make more sense if you put photo down or a photo press and write a caption about it and put elements next to or behind the text or photo so it creates dimension.

Repetition should be done with elements and wording. There should be elements that are repeated in the background or on specific pages.

There can be many different ways to include repetition in the way elements are placed and move across the pages. 

This is a subtle way to draw people in. There can be (for example) a faded star behind a photo or 2 on each spread and do that each page or every other page. It pulls people towards that photo subtly just by the star being there. 

Grid structure is how you space things apart. There should be a consistency between the space and size of caption, photos and elements. 

It plays a very big role in the page flowing sna being one cohesive piece instead of multiple projects put on one page that don't look well together or mesh well. 

There shouldn't be a harsh line of where one thing starts and a new one starts a whole spread should be one and the only "harsh line" should be when the page ends and you have to turn it and get to the next.

Eyeline is what their eyes are drawn to first. 

Dominate elements really ties along with dominant photo or caption or info press because you cant have an eyeline without one of these things. If you have an eyeline without one of these things there is just a free for all in a way because nothing stands out. 

It all becomes flat.

Levels of white space can positively affect your page or negatively affect your page. 

Lots of white space the spread can feel empty and as if something is missing or if there is just a lack there.

Middle amount is an improvement but how does it make it less empty and lacking? will there be a fill in the blank or space for people to doodle or write their thoughts?

Little can be very good when done correctly. But more times then not, it can feel crowded and overwhelming having too many places to look.