There are five major parts of a yearbook that can have a significant impact on your
budget. They are as follows:
• Endsheet Specifications
• Type of Paper
• Binding of Pages
• Special Inserts
• Add-On Options/Features
What you choose in each of the areas listed above can raise or lower the cost of your yearbook. In each category there is usually a standard feature for the yearbook, and a custom or “additional cost” option. The more “customization” you do, the more increase in budget you will have to plan. (The more customization, the higher the price you may have to charge your students, or the more advertising you may have to sell or fund-raising you will have to do to underwrite these costs.)
COVER DESIGN & APPLICATION
• Full-Color Printed Cover: This is the most popular type of cover since it is easy to create and can produce stunning visual results. For a HARD COVER the design is printed in the 4-color process on a thin sheet of paper which is coated and glued to thick cover cardboard. Schools create full-color covers with sophisticated design programs such as Pictavo™, Adobe® Photoshop® and Adobe® InDesign®. Make sure to review your layout with your yearbook representative and publisher. Hard cover layout specifications are included in the kit you will receive.
Designs can also be used for SOFT COVER books, which are printed in the 4-color process on a thick, rigid sheet of paper before being attached to the book. Soft covers are very economical.
• Embossing: This is the use of hand-carved or machine-carved dies and pressure plates producing decoration that is raised above the surface of the cover. The opposite —Debossing—lowers the decoration below the surface of the cover. It is possible to use these features on EITHER a hard or soft cover book. Schools who traditionally use hard covers often choose to have a vinyl or leather-like material to cover their books with, and typically use foil stamping (see below) and embossing or debossing to accentuate their school name and cover design. These covers have a powerful appearance, but often involve the creation of costly dies and additional processing which make them more expensive. The larger the design size, the more expensive the cover will be. Embossed and debossed covers will require a specific price quote from your yearbook representative because of their custom nature. Note: If the school creates a design that is used year after year, some cost will be eliminated because the embossing/debossing die can be reused.
Costs are also considerably reduced if using one of your yearbook publisher’s standard dies.
• Foil Stamping: This is the process of applying a metallic “foil” by heat and pressure to the yearbook cover. This, too, can be used on both hard and soft cover yearbooks. As with embossing, a custom or stock die is needed to “stamp” the foil into the cover material. These dies can also be costly, and will require specific pricing from your yearbook representative. The die is reusable.
Instructions for creating the artwork for a foil stamping die is included in your kit. Talk with your yearbook representative about your proposed designs.
ENDSHEETS: Endsheets are the thick paper glued to both the inside front and back covers of a hard cover yearbook, and are attached to a reinforced fabric strip which in turn is glued to the flyleaves (first and last sheets in a book before and after your yearbook content). The quality of the paper is usually different than what is used in the rest of your yearbook. For additional fees, printing can be done on the endsheet and fly sheets of your yearbook. Review this option with your representative.
PAPER: The type of paper your yearbook is printed on can have an impact on the price of your book. Yearbooks are traditionally printed on a coated glossy paper. The paper is glossy because the coating (clay) has been calendarized—a process whereby the paper is pulled over several steel drums to polish the coating to a shiny finish. The clay coating helps give the paper opacity, which keeps the printing on either side from showing through to the other side. Standard paper weight for yearbooks is 80 pound paper, which provides excellent opacity and durability. 100 pound paper is another weight which is heftier and gives a yearbook a more distinctive, durable feel. You can request 100 pound paper for an additional charge. Since 100 pound is heavier paper stock, it will also cost slightly more to ship your books. Changing to heavier weight paper can go unappreciated and unnoticed by students, so make sure it is a necessary upgrade for your yearbook.
SOFT SADDLE-STAPLED BINDING: This binding method involves gathering folded signatures over a “saddle” where they are stapled together on the spine of the yearbook. This feature comes standard on most soft cover books, and is very durable for books under 96 pages. It is not recommended for yearbooks over 96-pages. A new method of squaring the spine on these books makes them look similar to Perfect Binding, but they are more durable because of the staples.
SOFT PERFECT-BOUND: Perfect binding uses a process similar to hard cover book binding, but instead of sewing a book’s signatures together, they are glued on the spine and, at the same time, glued to the cover of the book, usually a soft cover. This is a very common binding technique you see often in catalogs and directories. You can generally tell a book is perfect-bound by the soft cover and square back. This type of binding also allows the books to lie flat when opened.