Every school is different.. .some schools have a yearbook class that includes the creation and sale of the yearbook, while others have a group of students that meet outside of class or before and after school. Some even have just one faculty or parent volunteer handling it all. Whatever the case may be, our guide will help you organize your team so you know exactly what (and who) you’ll need to create a great yearbook – even if that team is just you!
ROLES DEFINED
As the yearbook adviser, you have been chosen to be the project manager of the publication. As project manager, your primary responsibilities lie in two areas:
PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT (the creation of the yearbook) and
FINANCE MANAGEMENT (the sales and finances of the yearbook).
Production managers usually have to do or assign someone to the following tasks, along with a completion deadline for each item:
- Decide what will go onto each page
- Photograph key school events
- Write headlines, stories, and captions
- Choose a cover design
- Choose page designs
- Choose type/texVfont specifications
- Troubleshoot production issues
- Establish design custom page design
- Review/proofread page designs and stories
- Complete pages in a timely manner (if applicable)
- Complete advertisement pages
- Work with your yearbook representative
- Work with your school photographer
- Work with club sponsors and coaches for photos and more!
Tip:
Don’t overlook possible professional assistance from your portrait photography studio and the technical support team of your yearbook publisher. They can be great resources to share examples of what has worked for other schools.
Develop a small focus group of students that represents everyone on campus. Pass ideas by them if you do not have a student staff to rely on for input. What adults find appealing versus what students find appealing can be different.
Finance managers typically have to do or assign someone to the following tasks, along a completion deadline for each item:
- Balance the yearbook budget
- Develop and implement a plan for yearbook sales
- Develop and implement a plan for advertisement sales (if applicable)
- Develop and implement, if necessary, a plan for fundraising
- Track all sources of income
- Manage and track production and operation expenses
- Promote and sell yearbooks to the school population and parents
- Fundraise if necessary and more!
CHOOSING YOUR TEAM
Creating a yearbook can be a monumental process. An organized team can help you manage deadlines and milestones so it doesn’t feel so overwhelming. There are about six basic responsibilities in most staffs, but how you organize your staff to best meet your style of management is up to you.
Depending on how large or small a team you have available for your yearbook staff, there may be one or two people with the same responsibility, or one person responsible for many areas. Below is a breakdown of some of the most common responsibilities:
- Overall Yearbook Production
- Finance, Marketing & Sales
- Design
- Pagination
- Reporting
- Photographing
TRAINING
Most students have not had experience running a business, marketing, selling or creating a product within a specified deadline. Returning yearbook staff members could be used in key leadership positions to assist in the management and training of new members.
To train new students, identify senior-level students or teachers with skill sets that translate into yearbook creation and sales. Set up times where tutorials and teaching sessions can be run for things like desktop publishing, yearbook software, photography, writing, sales and marketing.
Of all the positions in the yearbook staff, the most important one to fill is the
business manager role. Learning sales and marketing, as well as the tracking and
reporting of both advertisement and book sales revenue, will probably require the
most amount of work. If you are going to put a student in charge, ask your fellow
colleagues to recommend a student who might do well in this role or look for a
student who may have taken accounting, business or marketing classes.
Make a check list of all events in previous yearbooks. Are there any added events this year. Any removed?
Are there any special events this year? School anniversary? Time capsule opening? Significant retirements? Visits from dignitaries? Get them in the book.
Get a list from the office of every teacher and make a check list to ensure all teachers pages are complete.
Print each teacher’s class page and have them review each name and image. Is the name spelled correctly? Does the name match the face? Anyone there that shouldn’t be? Anyone missing? Be sure to have the teacher sign his/her page to verify it’s been reviewed. In the business we call it C.Y.A.
Create a checklist of every ad sold. Cross check to be sure all ads are in the book. Missing an ad that was paid for is gut wrenching to a parent of a “graduating” student.
Have more than one person check for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Actually have at least three. Include the English teacher or an administrator. Princiapls hate to see these types of errors in the yearbook. It reflects badly on them.
Try your best to get every student in the book somewhere. The more students in the book the more likely parents are to purchase the book.
Happy yearbooking!
Here’s what YearbookLife offers:
BINDING
Standard hard cover binding is typically the least expensive of the hard cover binding options, and works well for books with smaller page counts (as low as 24 pages, up to 220 pages). The signatures of the yearbook are gathered together into a book block and then bound into a hard case. This type of binding is also known as library binding because it is very durable.
Smyth sewn hard cover binding has the added strength of overlapped stitches, and can be used on books that have 64 or more pages. The advantage of this binding style is that the book will more easily lie flat when open. Typically, you’ll see this binding style in reference books such as medical books, law books, etc.
PAPER WEIGHT
Yearbooks are traditionally printed on a coated glossy paper with a standard 80-pound paper weight for excellent opacity and durability. Of course, you can always request
100-pound paper for a more distinctive, durable feel.
HARD COVER BOARD WEIGHT
Binder’s board is the most common material used to make book covers. The heavier the board weight, the stiffer the cover will be when trying to bend it. Our standard cover weight is 90-pt. Heavier 120-pt. and 160-pt. board weights are also available on request.
ENDSHEETS
Endsheets are the thick paper attached to both the inside front and back covers of a hard cover yearbook and the flyleaf (first and last sheets in a book before and after the book content). The quality of the paper is usually different than what is used in the rest of your yearbook. If you’re looking for a color not found here or would like to get pricing on the cost of printing your own design on an endsheet, just ask!
HEAD AND FOOT BANDS
Head and foot bands are small ornamental bands, generally made of silk or cotton, which are attached to the top and bottom of a hard cover book block. They serve as a decorative way to hide the binding application or stitching on the spine of a yearbook. They come in a variety of solid and “striped” colors.
AUTOGRAPH PAGES
The inclusion of predesigned autograph pages is an easy and affordable way to enable students and staff to customize their own books with personal messages from others. Don’t miss the opportunity to include this option in your book this year!
YEAR IN REVIEW PAGES
Adding noteworthy national and world events to your yearbook has never been easier. Simply select the 4-page or the 8-page version of a professionally designed insert that can be bound into each of your books without any extra design time on your part!
PERSONALIZED COVERS
Check out the personalization options that one-of-a-kind! Ask us for more details.
FULL-COLOR COVERS
The full-color printed cover is the easiest and most popular cover and is available in both soft and hard covers. It is very popular because of the stunning number of colors and design techniques you can use to immediately capture the reader’s attention. You can choose one of our professionally designed stock covers or you can create your own custom cover design! A durable coating is applied to all full-color yearbook covers to ensure the colors remain vibrant and the books stand the test of time.
LEATHERETTE COVERS
Leatherette covers are made of synthetic materials that are made to look like leather but are much more durable. Typically, leatherette yearbooks use foil stamping, embossing and/or debossing to accentuate the school name and cover design. Choose from this generous selection of leatherette colors to make a great first impression of your yearbook!
EMBOSSING AND DEBOSSING
Embossing is a technique which creates a raised (3-dimensional) image on a piece of paper. It is typically accomplished with a combination of heat and pressure on the paper. Embossing can also be used with foil stamping or on a full-color cover to create an even more unique look. Debossing uses the same technique as embossing, except the impression is heat-pressed into the surface of the paper so that an image is depressed (lowered) instead of raised. As with embossing, debossing can be used with foil stamping or on a full-color cover to create special visual effects and textures.
FOIL STAMPING
Foil stamping involves the use of heat to transfer metallic foil to a solid surface such as a yearbook cover. As with embossing and debossing, a die is needed to “stamp” the foil into the cover material. Foil stamping can be combined with embossing or debossing to create a very striking 3-dimensional image. While gold and silver metallic foil never go out of style, the additional colors shown (at right) are gaining popularity as well—choose colors that give your book a one-of-a-kind look!
STOCK DIE OPTIONS
The dies featured below are available for embossing/debossing and/or foil on your custom cover. By choosing one die or more, you can create a one-of-a-kind look without the expense that often accompanies it. For example: Choose a stock die for embossing and then add a custom die of your school name and mascot to make your book truly unique. Due to the endless design possibilities available, pricing will vary.
PRICING
So you’re excited to incorporate some of these cover options, but are afraid to learn how much they’ll cost? No worries. We can furnish you with competitive pricing. And with some creativity and use of stock dies, you can have the great high-quality look you want for hundreds of dollars less!
TEMPLATES
• Choose from hundreds of single- or two-page spread templates
• Use as-is or as a starting point
• Create and save your own
FLOW PORTRAITS
• All the tools you need with the flexibility you want
FLOW INDEX
• Pictavo automatically identifies names to include
in the index – simply review and edit.
ADVANCED PAGE LAYOUT
• Grid view and rulers view
• Set rulers to inches or picas
• Rotate photos and clip art
• Double-click on an image to zoom, crop and resize.
ADVANCED TEXT FEATURES
• Choose from over 100 fonts
• Use multiple type styles and sizes in one text box
• Tab stops make designing scoreboards and grids easy
PICTURE-PERFECT PHOTOS
• Adjust to black & white or sepia-tone
• Adjust the transparency, brightness and contrast
• Add drop shadows
• Flip photos horizontally or vertically
ART LIBRARY
• Hundreds of choices, professionally designed for schools
• Easily add and use your own custom art.
With YearbookLife’s online software Yearbook advisers have may privileges. Some are as follows:
USER/GROUP PERMISSIONS
• Create Individual Users or Groups and assign specific access privileges.
BOOK SETTINGS
• View and edit Overall Book Settings, such as:
• View and edit Cover Settings, such as:
– Page Count
– Book Quantity
– Dimensions
– Binding Type
– Autograph Pages
– Current Events
– Custom or Stock
– Inside Cover Printing
– Personalized Covers
– Custom Endsheets
DESIGN SETTINGS
• Portrait Settings
– Font Style and Size for portrait names
– Flow Type – Teacher or Grade
– Name Order – First Name, Last Name or Last Name, First Name
• Index Settings
– Number of Columns
– Divider Style
– Font Style and Size
BOOK STATUS
• Get a quick glance of project status
– Overall Page Status
– Cover and Individual Page Status
– Main Book Specs
– Overall Book Due Date with Countdown
IMAGE STATUS
• Track helpful information about your photo usage:
– Candids, Backgrounds and Clip Art
– Used/UnUsed in the book
– Tagged/UnTagged with data
-Portraits
– Complete/Missing Data
– Flowed/UnFlowed onto a page
-Community Images
– Received/Used in the book Admin Dashboard
MESSAGES
• Check chats and sticky notes to stay informed.
TEAM
• Easily monitor individual progress
JANUARY – SPRING DELIVERY
• Report and photograph activities and events as they happen
• Meet deadlines and check materials according to the production schedule
• Double-check the progress of the index and make sure that material is accurate; polish and refine the index concept
FEBRUARY – SPRING DELIVERY
• Report and photograph activities and events as they happen
• Meet deadlines according to your yearbook planning schedule
• Have a deadline party
MARCH – SPRING DELIVERY
• Make sure you are on schedule to meet your submission deadline for the yearbook plant—on time yearbook submission assures your book arriving on the date you requested
• Begin compiling yearbook sales lists, and planning a distribution/signing event
• Photograph Spring activities—include all you can in this year’s book; archive the rest for next year’s book, or consider producing a supplement that you can produce this summer, and distribute to students when they return in the fall. (another great fund-raising idea—sell the supplement to raise extra money)
• Start recruiting new prospects for next year’s staff—It will be great help when you return next year
APRIL – SPRING DELIVERY
• Update advertising billing for current volume
• Finalize yearbook sales lists and distribution/signing plans
• Design student-oriented advertising for prospects
• Prepare a reader survey to get immediate student reaction to the book, and use as a tool for preplanning next year’s book
MAY – SPRING DELIVERY
• Distribute books at celebration/signing event; keep notes on any logistical problems
• Conduct and compile results of reader survey
• Complete a staff self-analysis of the yearbook
• Complete final billing of advertisers
• Finalize portrait photography plans for next year
• Conduct an end-of-the-year award banquet for the staff
JUNE – SPRING DELIVERY
• Brainstorm coverage ideas with your staff for the new year
• Make specification decisions pertaining to copies, pages, etc.
• Attend a summer workshop (or two!) to develop theme and section plans, learn new techniques and polish existing skills
• Report and photograph summer activities unique to your students for next year’s book.
• Finalize yearbook sales lists and distribution plans (FALL DELIVERY ONLY).
• Complete final deadline, including last-minute coverage for spring sports, graduation, index
JULY – SPRING DELIVERY
• Launch advertising campaign and develop advertising section
• Follow up on portrait photography plans to make sure you get what you need
• Keep taking summer pictures
• Develop a set of working specifications to use for guided preplanning
TAKE A BREATH BEFORE STARTING OVER AGAIN…next time, it will be easier!
Survival Tip:
Stay in touch with your yearbook provider. He/she will help you in any way
possible.
