The Yearbook Blog

(Pronounced pie-ka) It’s the measurement of all those little squares on your layout grids. One pica has 12 points in it. Pica measurements are represented like this: “5p6” (or “5 picas and 6 points” or “5 1/2 picas”). But what IS a pica? According to Dictionary.com, a pica is…

• “A printer’s unit of type size, equal to 12 points or about 1/6 of an inch.”

• “An equivalent unit of composition measurement used in determining the dimensions of lines, illustrations, or printed pages.”

• “A type size for typewriters, providing ten characters to the inch.”

• “An abnormal craving or appetite for nonfood substances, such as dirt, paint, or clay.”**

(**Okay, that last one has nothing to do with yearbooks, but thought you might want to know!)

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “P” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

A picture is worth 1,000 words…but only if it captures a moment, contains action/emotion, and is cropped correctly. So, remember the “ABCs of Photography” when shooting/choosing photos:

• Angle - A view from above or below provides a stronger center of interest or different perspective than a straight-on shot, while a wide angle or fish-eye lens can create a dramatic effect.
• Balance - It’s all about the rule of thirds. This is achieved when the center of interest lands in the upper, lower, left or right third of the photo.
• Candid - Great photographs tell a story, whether through physical action or at the peak of emotion. Avoid shots of students smiling or waving to the camera.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “P” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

Also known as strokes, these are graphic lines used to enhance the look of a page design or to help with the hierarchy of elements. Elements that are framed draw more attention and thus demand that we look at them first. Rule lines can also denote connection, separation, movement, mood or emotion. For example: rule lines can be used to separate two columns of text or different bodies of text within a single column; or when used as a frame, they can connect all the elements of a secondary story; thick rule lines combined with large point type can mean “start here”.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “R” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

A quick read is a trendy way to include additional coverage packages in your yearbook. The quick read is something the reader can quickly scan and get another piece of the story that makes up an event or season. Some schools are putting two, three or even four quick reads into a spread.

They can be anything from a pull quote to a scoreboard, Q & A boxes to polls, profiles to graphs–anything that gives your readers little bits of information in a very concise way. They are also fun and one more way to record the unique history of your school’s year, not to mention another way to get people covered and into your yearbook!

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “Q” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

If you’re afraid to use quotes in yearbook copy, you shouldn’t be. In fact, quotes are a great way to get more coverage in your book. According to the AP Style guide, here’s how to quote correctly:

• It should be it’s own paragraph.

• It should have attribution - who said it.

• It should have correct punctuation. (See example below)

“I love working with The Yearbook Ladies. They are so much fun, and they know everything about yearbook,” said Susie Q, adviser at Herff Jones High.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “Q” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

Not the kind tied up in pretty paper and bows, but the kind that tie elements of your layout together. Every spread should have at least a picture package and a copy-headline package. Here are some ideas for additional packages to help layer your coverage:

• Polls - Ask a random sample of students a few questions about your spread topic and present the results as a colorful bar graph, pie chart, or a Top 5 list

• Quotes - Get several students to share their reactions to and event. These can be random, or have some fun and make it a “He said/She said” or a “Point/Counter Point” quote story.

• Profiles - Present a different angle by interviewing someone behind the scenes of the event, like the team trainer, the play’s lighting or set designer, the teacher’s aid, etc.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “P” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

It refers to how easily text can be read. Line spacing (or leading), line length (the number of words per line), and font choice can affect the readability of text. Here are some tips to ensure the readability of your text:

• While the default leading is fine in most cases, you might want to play around with leading to see the different results. For regular copy, try the 2x’s rule: increase the leading to at least 2 points larger than the point size of your type.

• For line length, take the type size of your body text and multiply it by two. For example, 12 point type would have an ideal line length of  24 picas.

• Avoid low contrast or uncomplementary colors when placing text on a color background.

• Never use a “headline” font for copy blocks. Can you imagine if we wrote this sentence with the same font as the word “readability”?

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “R” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

Producing a yearbook is a lot of fun, but it also carries a great responsibility. A yearbook lasts forever and cannot be reproduced once the year is over. Because of this, every picture, every caption, every quote in every story, and even every graphic has to be true and accurate. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you record the year’s memories for your school community:

• Check and double check names. No one wants their name misspelled forever.

• Captions and Senior Superlatives are a part of the coverage. They are not a place for inside jokes.

• It’s our place to record history, not make it up. Make sure your scores, quotes and sources are verified.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “R” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

We know you’ve got ‘em: “When’s the next deadline?”, “What happened to my pictures?”, “Does anyone know this person?”, etc. But here are a few questions that good designers and copy writers should continually ask themselves and each other as they work. Keep these in mind as you look over your spread/copy before you call it “done”:

• Is it fresh? Current? Original?

• Does it relate to the theme? the year? the school?

• Is it specific to the theme? the year? the school?

• Is it my best work?

If you can answer “yes” with confidence, then your work is complete. When the book arrives, you’ll be glad you took the time to ask these critical questions, because “good enough” never is.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “Q” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

Did you know that Herff Jones has more award-winning yearbooks every year than any other printer? Obviously, we’re quite proud of that fact because we feel we have something to do with the highest quality printing. But an often-over looked factor is the leadership of the adviser running the program. Long hours, giving up summer for camps, and taking critiques to heart are just a few of the things that award winning advisers do to bring fame and glory to their yearbook programs.

Each year, JEA awards the “Yearbook Adviser of the Year” to one amazing teacher and special recognition to seven others. This year SIX Herff Jones advisers will be recognized in April at the JEA/NSPA Portland convention at the Saturday adviser luncheon.

DISTINGUISHED ADVISERS
Carrie Faust, MJE, Smoky Hill High School, Aurora, Colo…
Tim Morley, Inland Lake High School, Indian River, Mich
Nancy Y. Smith, MJE, Lafayette High School, Wildwood, Mo

SPECIAL RECOGNITION ADVISERS
Charla Harris, Pleasant Grove High School, Texarkana, Texas
Pat Hinman, Robinson Middle School, Fairfax, Va
Chad Rummel, CJE, Oakton High School, Vienna, Va

Meanwhile, congratulations go out to our Northern California Herff Jones books who were named as CSPA Crown finalists. Over 1,500 publications were sent in for judging and only 56 yearbooks were selected as finalists. The gold and silver crowns will be awarded at the CSPA convention in New York this March. We are so proud of:

Lion’s Den, Hyde Middle School, Cupertino

The Patriot, Harvest Park Middle School, Pleasanton

Rampages, Casa Roble High School, Orangevale

Titanium, Antelope Valley High School, Antelope

SoYoung Jun, yearbook adviser at El Cerrito High School, noticed that yearbook sales have been on the decline in the past few years. When asked, students told her they could not afford a book. In this current economic environment, this comes as no surprise. However, Ms. Jun decided to do something about it.

On a whim, she sent out an email to parents and staff members through the school e-mail tree. She asked if anyone was willing to sponsor a book for a student. She also asked for name submissions of students who deserve a yearbook, but cannot afford one. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but knew she had nothing to lose.

In one week, she received $50o in donations. This may not seem like a huge amount, but it’s $500 more than she would have gotten and all it took was one email! It also means that about 10 more students are going to receive books that otherwise would not have!

With such success through such little effort, Ms. Jun is now looking at other ways to get more books into more students hands. She plans to send a similar email to their school Alumni Association and offer Gift Certificates as a way for friends and teachers to purchase books for others as gifts (regardless of he recipient’s financial situation).

Great job, Ms. Jun!

Here's Julie getting her $100 American Express Gift Card for coming in 2nd Place in the Ultimate Sales Challenge. (*Excuse our dress. We were sorting yearbooks for distribution!)

When it comes to fundraising and book sales, Julie Fox–yearbook adviser at Central Middle School in San Carlos, CA–is a true guru. In 2009, as a first-year yearbook adviser, she won 2nd place in the Herff Jones Northern California Ultimate Yearbook Sales Challenge.

In 2009, the yearbook staff at Central Middle school not only wanted to increase sales, but they wanted students to buy early. So they motivated them by offering complimentary name stamps to all students who ordered books within the first 6 weeks of school. The price covered the cost of the name stamps and more. Each Monday during the sales campaign, teachers received a list of students who had not purchased. Homeroom teachers encouraged students who had not purchased books and new orders came in every Tuesday. The week the free name stamping disappeared, parents were notified of a last chance offer with order forms and personalized money envelopes in weekly mail folders. Increase in sales: 10%, and for the first time ever, the school was able to prepay, making them eligible for the prepayment discount.

How does she top it for 2010?

For her  2nd year as an adviser, Ms. Fox noticed that Central’s yearbook did not have a name, so she asked the school to help. At a school-wide assembly, the yearbook staff announced their Yearbook Naming Contest. They explained the importance of a yearbook name and shared examples of other schools’ yearbook names. They then opened it up to the entire student population to submit their ideas. The names started flooding in. With Principal Lynette Hovland’s help, the staff narrowed it down to 2 choices: Hoofprints or The Round-Up. (Their mascot is the Mustangs.) Instead of just having students vote on one of the final two names, the staff decided to turn it into a fundraiser. They placed two jars in the school office, one labeled “Hoofprints” and one labeled “Round-up.” They then asked students to vote for their favorite name by placing spare change in the jar.

Three weeks later, not only did Central Middle School’s yearbook have a new name, but the entire school was excited about the yearbook and being a part of creating a tradition that will stay with the school forever. Talk about great publicity! And if that wasn’t enough, the yearbook staff raised an extra $170 by simply placing 2 jars in the office.

What’s the secret to her success?

“The yearbook belongs to the students, not the yearbook advisor.  My role is to help the students create the book that showcases the entire student body,” shares Ms. Fox. “If I help them do a good job, then the students and staff will buy the book.  It’s all about talking the talk beforehand (through advertising) and following through with a great product.”

Herff Jones releases their new iPhone App for Yearbook. That’s right, an iPhone App for Yearbook! No, this doesn’t mean you have to start working on your spreads while you’re in line at the Supermarket. But it does mean that parents, students, and basically, anyone you want can upload photos right from their iPhone to your eDesign photo library. How cool is that!

Advertise this app to your entire school community to increase your coverage. Send out theme requests (i.e. “This week, we’re looking for pictures of your car/pets/bff…”). Have an iPhone photography contest and publish the winners. Run a strip along the bottom of each spread with iPhone submitted photos. The ideas are endless, but either way, you’re going to increase your coverage. And increased coverage = more book sales!

Best of all, it’s all free to Herff Jones schools. For more info, go to www.yearbooks.biz or search “Herff Jones” on your iPhone “App Store.”

Although organization can be boring, it can save a lot of drama come deadline day. Here are some resources you can use/create to make Yearbook a little more organized.

• Create staff Mailboxes. This is a great way for staff members to communicate with each other and keep materials in a central location.
• Use your ladder and post it on the wall. It really can make things easier in the yearbook world. This helps prevent pages or topics falling through the cracks.
• Create a proof binder that has a print out of all the pages you submit. It is a great way to keep track of what you have done and still need to do.
• Create a yearbook finance binder that is separated in 3 parts - business ads,  parent ads, and book sales. This way all of your yearbook money information is in 1 spot.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “O” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

The opening of your yearbook is like a good pick-up line. It should grab their attention and make them want more. Below is a quick list of what your opening should or could have:

• Opening Copy - This should explain the theme and why you chose it for this year. It should be compelling and set the tone or voice of your copy for the WHOLE book.
• Design Elements - Design elements from the cover that you plan to use throughout the book need to appear on your opening pages.
• Photography - The pictures should reflect your theme through their content.
• Table of Contents - If you can’t do this on your endsheets, then the opening is the place to do it. (Try to avoid putting it on your title page!)

For ideas on how to design your Opening Spread, go to Yearbooks.biz and click on “Showcase.”

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “O” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

If you ever hear anyone yell out in a yearbook room, “I hate orphans!”, it isn’t because they are mean and insensitive. It’s because someone wasn’t following journalistic copy standards.

• An orphan is one word at the bottom of a paragraph or column. It is just hanging out by itself and creates awkward white space that makes it hard for the reader to move to the next paragraph or column.
• The moral of the story: Don’t leave your words all alone. Make sure they have some friends.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “O” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

What can we say? If you misspell a name in the yearbook people get upset. If you give them an entirely new name, they aren’t happy about that either. But hey, at least they’re in the book right? Well, maybe there are some things we should keep in mind when it comes to names.

• Obviously we need to make sure names are spelled right - use a list from the office to compare against so you can double check the spelling.
• Correctly ID the grade level (i.e. Joan Smith (12)) and be consistent with it through the whole book.
• All captions have names, so identify people by their first and last names. Yes, we do need both!

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “N” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

Let’s face it, we all love to complain sometimes and we know that yearbook can give us lots of opportunities. So here are the top 5 reasons why being negative (well, negative space–the area on your spread that is void of text and captions) is actually good.

• Don’t always design all the way to your margins.
• Give your pictures room to breath; make sure your internal spacing is consistent in and around photos.
• Set off your secondary packages with wider margins than your internal spacing.
• Use white space as a design element. Leave room for it purposefully.
• And always remember that White Space is your friend.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “N” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

Yearbook is all about numbers: How many people have been photographed?, How many pages are in my next deadline?, How many yearbooks have been ordered?, How many ads have been sold?…Well, you get the idea. Here some strategies to help you keep track:

• 3 - The number of students who should be quoted on each spread.
• 2 - Make sure you are designing in 2-page spreads, even if you have separate subjects on either page.
• 1 - Get students in the book at least 1 more time then their portrait picture.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “N” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…

Now that you know how many more books you want to sell, you’ve got to work hard to sell them. But we say work smarter, not harder! Try one of these ideas:

• Set up a My Space, Facebook or Twitter page for yearbook. Post status updates of current prices and production news. (EX: “Yearbooks now on sale for $25.00. Don’t get left out!”) You can even post “teaser” pictures of a game or a rally
• Plan a big, one-week sales campaign. Then advertise like crazy: email, auto-dial text, post info on the school marque or social media site, and/or create a commercial (see theyearbookblog.com for ideas)
• Post a copy of your working index and invite students to see what pages they are on.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “M” card, go to the “Adviser
Resources” section of www.theyearbookladies.com

We’d love to hear from you! Share your questions, comments, and ideas below…