USING A PAGE LADDER FOR YOUR YEARBOOK
You will need to develop a page ladder that shows what is on every page of the yearbook. The ladder will help determine how many pages to issue to sports, portraits, organizations, academics, advertisements, and student life. Review last year’s yearbook to give you a guideline. Your ladder will also help you organize the sequencing of your sections to give a nice flow to your yearbook.
Your ladder can be used as a checklist during the year to help track your progress.
BEGIN TO COLLECT PHOTOS Of EVENTS & PEOPLE
Begin collecting images as soon as possible. We encourage the use of a digital camera that takes photos of at least 3-5 megapixels in size, for easy sorting and management of digital images. Film cameras work well and can be used, but we encourage your development of the film to include a photo CD from your film development store. If no photo CD is available, invest in a scanner that will allow you to scan photos of paper prints for yearbook use.
Make sure you are having all major events and important functions photographed for proper coverage. We encourage you to speak to all club sponsors and coaches and ask them to have a parent or student associated with their organization or team to provide you a list of important events, functions, rosters, and some digital images of multiple functions. Your staff will need to photograph “planned and targeted” events, but any amount of images help. The more coverage you have, the more interest will develop in the yearbook.
ORGANIZE YOUR FILES AND IMAGES
Once you have started collecting your photos and content for pages, make sure to organize a simple tracking and management system for the data, so you will know if you have enough data and images to complete your pages. One great method is to have page envelopes. Invest in some 10”x 13” or 9”x12” envelopes. Have one for every yearbook page. Keep all your notes, content, photos, images, etc. in the envelope. Our Resource Section has a “note sheet” form you can reproduce and staple to the outside of the envelope. The form tracks data and notes like page #, deadlines, etc. Keep photo envelopes sorted and stored in a key location for all staffers to access.
KEEP YOUR PAGE DEADLINES!
Plan your yearbook progress to meet your submission deadline. As your ladder develops, list next to each page the expected month when each function will occur. This allows you to plan for page completions every month. Allow time for proofreading and review of each page, so if there are errors you will have time to fix them. Planning deadlines will assure you submit your yearbook on time without feeling last-minute pressure.