The Yearbook Blog

Granted, we trust you are all responsible and thoughtful students, but sometimes yearbook programs do things that just make you say, “What were they thinking?” Things like allowing student to put grisly hunting pictures in their senior ad or use a quote from Hitler for their personal statement. Some schools have even landed in the news for seemingly insignificant things, like the female senior in Florida who wanted to wear a tux for her senior portrait and the superintendent said no. All this leads to one point: have policies for your book to avoid controversy. A few suggestions:

• Dress code for senior portraits?
• How would the yearbook handle a student’s death in the middle of the year?
• What kinds of pictures can be used in a baby ad?
• How does the yearbook select the person for a dedication?

The more you have in writing, the less likely you’ll need to scramble for an answer when the situation arises.

We already told you why we don’t like orphans (if you forgot, just look at the O card). Now, we are delighted to tell you why we hate widows, too. What is a widow? It’s the last line of a paragraph that falls on the beginning of the next page or column, thus separated from the remainder of the text. The moral of the story: Don’t leave a sentence hangin’. Make sure it always has some company so it isn’t left stranded at the the top of the page all alone.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “W” 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…

Yes, we know, YERDS and Advisers are very under appreciated, but there are other individuals on campus who deserve some appreciation, too — whether it’s a note, a gift card, or a nice acknowledgement at a staff meeting.

• The custodian (who cleans up the classroom after the pizza parties on your late work nights)
• The secretary (who answers a million and two questions about yearbook)
• The counseling department (who runs off all the class lists and always knows what class someone is in)
• The IT person (who answers all your panicked phone calls when the computers are whacky)
• The bank clerk (who collects all the money from book sales, ad sales, parent ad sales, and fundraisers AND pays your bills on time!)

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “U” 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…

OK, we know today’s students were born with a computer mouse in their hands, but when it comes to school technology, you’re pretty limited due to necessary restrictions from the school district. That’s why establishing a positive relationship with your school and/or district IT person can make a HUGE difference in the success of your year. As soon as possible each August, contact the school or district IT person and discuss the following:

• Any newly installed firewalls
• Installation of all software necessary for page production (including fonts, Adobe Flash, and any supplementary program software)
• Permissions
• Yearbook server locations, accessibility and size

Then, remember to nurture this relationship throughout the year with a birthday card, a thank you note, or an offer to buy lunch. It’ll go a long way in keeping your computers glitch-free!

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “T” 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…

Deadline just around the corner? Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Here are some tips to help you keep it simple:

Ladder (rhymes with ladder) is your organizational road map. Make sure yours is complete, accurate, and where everyone can see it.

• Don’t just use the same ladder year to year. Recreate it every fall with a new staff and fresh ideas
• Ask yourself if your particular theme needs a different approach to organization (e.g. chronological approach? Three sections instead of five?)
• Include all pertinent information on the ladder: topic, due date, student(s) assigned, etc.
• Cool tip: laminate a fresh wall ladder and use overhead projector pens to write on it. It is much easier to make changes/corrections that way

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “L” 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…

In the words of G. I. Joe, “Knowledge is Power”. This includes the knowledge of what NOT to do as well. We’re filling these cards up with yearbooks do’s, here are 7 yearbook don’ts:

1. Don’t put faces or text across the gutter.
2. Don’t use too many fonts. Choose just a few (or one font family) that match your visual theme.
3. Don’t trap your captions (putting them between two photos).
4. Don’t have unplanned white space.
5. Don’t have a theme that’s too complicated for your school to understand.
6. Don’t fill your book with images/photos that are unrelated to your school.
7. When selling, don’t ever beg someone to buy a book.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “K” 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: the yearbook classroom isn’t just another set of four walls with cutsie kitten posters inside. Find ways to make it your “Home Sweet Home”:

• Make sure you have a place for communication, using stacking plastic holders, envelopes, or actual mailboxes for each staff member (or team)
• Add a room mascot and name it. Of course we’ve seen the standard stuffed animal, but also a growing ball of stickers, a store-bought piñata, and fish on a stick (made from construction paper, of course)
• Make room for a “rant wall” where staff members can write funny sayings, quote other staffers during the year, and doodle.

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “H” 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…

Deadline, shmedline: it’s no big deal when you have the proper planning.

• Work backwards, setting up mini deadlines necessary to achieve the final one
• Plan your ladder well, consulting with your school calendar to check for school events and sports seasons
• Always add up to 10% more pages to each deadline to allow for unexpected problems (if 36 pages are due, assign an additional 4 just in case)
• Have deadline parties or celebrate when you’ve successfully met a deadline

*This entry is part of “The Yearbook Ladies’ A to Zs of Yearbook”
project. If you’d like to download the “D” 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’s a new year, new theme, new kids, new ideas… It’s so easy to get caught up in all the fun stuff and lose focus on what really needs to be done. Use this list of the 12 most important things that need to be done by October 1st to help your staff stay focused. (But that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun!)

1. Open Your Kit
   • Your yearbook kit contains all the materials necessary to produce your yearbook.
   • Start with the “Start Here” Envelope.
   • Check the Kit Guide to make sure all items have been included
   • Use the order form on the back to order any additional supplies you will need.
2. Contact Photographer
   • Schedule a meeting with you school photographer during the first few weeks of school.
   • Discuss your full color needs and be sure he understands the importance of deadlines
   • Give him your deadlines. Predate them one week as a safety margin.
   • Discuss what you expect from him and what he can expect from you. Find out what services he is willing to perform and schedule his services for important school activities, such as homecoming.
   • Have senior portraits or DVD delivered to your school at least 10 days prior to your senior deadline
   • Set dates for underclass and faculty portraits and determine when  you will receive your Quick Panel Plus CD
3. Determine Deadlines
   • Check your deadline packet from your reps. Make a note of your deadline dates and number of pages due.
   • Check your deadline packet to determine when your color pages are due, if your book is not all color.
   • Check with photographer to determine when DVD of senior portraits
4. Develop a Theme
   • If you have not yet chosen a theme, select a small group of staff members, preferably returning ones, to work on the theme.
   • Have them discuss what is new and different this year, and have them make a list of these changes in order to find a theme that fits your school and is unique to this year.
   • Conduct brainstorminwg sessions with the entire class and present the group’s ideas.
   • Plan to have the theme appear in some way on the cover, the endsheets, the opening section, the division pages, and in the closing.
5. Make a Ladder
   • Before any pages can be assigned, a page ladder for the entire book must be completed.
   • Check your publication agreement to see how many pages there will be in your book. Obtain enrollment figures for your school from the administration.
   • Decide on the number of pages you will need for seniors, underclass and faculty.
   • Make a list of every club, sport, organization, and event you wish to include.
   • Compute the number of pages needed for each section. Be sure to leave enough space for your opening, closing, divider pages, index and advertisements
   • Use a pencil for your first draft of the ladder; or laminate it and use a dry-erase pen, or use the HJ Planner program.
6. Design the Cover
   • If you attended the Spring Cover Workshop, be sure to finalize your cover design.
   • Consult your yearbook representative to see what types of covers are available and within your budget.
   • Decide on the type of cover that best fits your theme and ask your reps to show you examples.
   • Assign a few staff members to develop a sample design.
   • Once the style and design are decided, determine exactly what type of material you wish to use, the color of the material, the applied color or colors, and meet with your reps to put it all together.
   • Decide whether you will order individual name stamps or name plates for the books, and choose the color for these name stamps/plates.
7. Select Endsheets
   • Several choices of endsheet materials and styles are available to you including company designed full color, colortext, and solid color. Check with your rep to see what options best fit your budget.
   • Select an endsheet that will complement your cover and will carry your theme forward. Be sure that the endsheet colors coordinate with the colors of the cover.
   • Discuss other endsheet options with your reps such as printing on the endsheet, four-color endsheets, die cuts, short-trim endsheets, foil stamping, embossing, and tinted embossing.
8. Sell Ads
   • Make a card file that contains the name, address and phone number of every business that has advertised in your book over the last five years as well as merchants who have advertised in other yearbooks in the area.
   • Add cards for businesses that are owned by parents of students in your school.
   • Expand your file further by adding businesses in your area from the Chamber of Commerce directory for your city and from the yellow pages. Pass out an equal number of cards to every staff member, letting them select those that they know.
   • Students must contact each business. Require that a business card or design is submitted for each ad sold.
   • Give commissions or a bonus to students who sell ads.
9. Plan Full Color
   only if you’re not doing an all-color book
   • Take four Roughing-Its, staple and fold them down the middle. Number them from 1 through 16.
   • Take this 16-page signature and use it to “rough in” your title page, opening spreads and student life spreads and/or any other signatures that will include color pages.
   • Plan the color for one flat or the other or both. Try alternating 4-color with spot color on different flats.
   • Plan to cover activities on your color pages that will occur at least one week before your color deadline.
   • Refer to your “Basics” booklet (in Your Kit) for more explanation on signatures and flats.
10. Make a Style Guide
    • Have each member of the staff make a notebook of graphic and typography samples collected from magazines and brochures. (Ask your reps for a list of good publications.)
    • Review the samples and choose ideas that the staff would like to include in the yearbook.
    • Make a style guide for each section that will include the layout style for that section, the type of headline to be used, and the style for copy and captions.
    • Using Roughing-Its, have staff members use photos and copy from magazines to mock-up double page spreads for each section of the yearbook.
11. Organize Staff
    • Select and Editor-in-Chief who is experienced, knowledgeable, and most of all, a coordinator of people. He/she must be able to encourage others to perform.
    • Choose a good writer with strong personality as copy editor and a good organizer as photo editor. Finally, you should have a financial editor or business manager who is very responsible and who can also motivate people to work.
    • Divide up the remainder of the staff into sections of the book: Student Life, Academics, Clubs and Organizations, Sports, Seniors, Underclass, and Faculty. Be sure that each section has a good writer and a computer expert.
    • If you wish, you may select editors for each section.
12. Sell Books
    • Decide whether to have a one-day sale or a one-week sale. You will sell more books in a short period of time than you will sell all year.
    • Prior to the sale, put up posters, make announcements over the PA, send letters home and in general, try to get the students excited about the yearbook.
    • Remember to include dates and prices in your advertisements.
    • Juat before the sale, have a yearbook rally and have guest speakers talk about the importance of their yearbooks. Be ready to take orders that day.
    • During the sale, assign several students to man the tables at convenient locations.
    • Keep tabs on money and receipts.

Yay! You’re done with your yearbook! All you have to do now is wait for them to arrive. Here are 5 things you should do in preparation for your book delivery:

1. Observe the 48 hour rule - Do not say anything negative about the book or find any errors for 48 hours. You and your students have worked hard and you deserve to celebrate your accomplishments.
2. Remember that it’s the process, not the product - The yearbook is done by students, and it is truly incredible what they have produced. There will be mistakes, and that is OK.
3. Don’t panic - If you find a major error or omission, call your rep! We have quick and easy fixes for many common errors. (Example: If you find inappropriate copy and your book is printed on 100# paper, you can remove type with a pencil eraser.)
4. Secure your books - Yearbooks are a hot commodity, and even the best kids can be tempted. Store your books in a safe location with limited access. Organized, supervised distribution can minimize the potential for theft.
5. Overrun copies - Sometimes, the plant sends extra books to cover damages and additional sales. You are charged for these books on your final invoice. If you find a damaged book or do not sell the extra copies, tear out the title page of those books and return them with your bill for a credit (HJ Customers only. For overrun policy of other printers, please contact your rep).

Here’s to a happy delivery and stress-free distribution! Whatever you do, remember to take time and congratulate you and your staff for a job well done!!!