Need Yearbook help!

[Ideal08]

I have been asked to take over the yearbook committee at my school. I didn't work on the yearbook in high school, so this is a new task for me. I know that much of the layout and content is completed, but some things need to be changed. I would like to be able to help the students in their creative process when making changes and adding new things. If any of you have worked on a yearbook staff, or if you just have ideas, please post them! Also, are there any important Do's and Don'ts that I should know?

Thanks!

[AKA2D '91]

Good Luck, Soror!

[CrimsonTide4]

Have fun.

[2Tuff2Quit]

I worked on yearbook staff my senior year in high school. It is VERY important to get alot of advertisments from companies in the area to go in the back, because the more sponsors you have the better you can make the yearbook. It is also really good to stick to the deadlines and don't put things off because it easily piles up and then you all will be rushing to finish, and then mistakes could happen. Make sure that you tell them to get up close on the pictures that they take, in our yearbook some of the pictures were off because they were too far away. For the people doing the sports, make sure that they get alot action shots, and maybe some close ups and interviews with players. For out sports layout we had three to four pictures then the group pic with names, and the story and interview down the side on the left or right. We put what clubs ever senior was in, in the back of all the pictures. Also a good idea, I don't know if you all do this or not, is to sell pages to the graduating seniors. Give them a layout and have them make their own page, sometimes a parent might want to make a page as a surprise for their child. People like a cool cover too, we had a hologram on our of a door and when you turn the book..it open to outside, but make sure it goes with the theme. Well I hope something I have said will help you. Lata!

[NOWorNEVER]

Originally posted by Ideal08
I have been asked to take over the yearbook committee at my school. I didn't work on the yearbook in high school, so this is a new task for me. I know that much of the layout and content is completed, but some things need to be changed. I would like to be able to help the students in their creative process when making changes and adding new things. If any of you have worked on a yearbook staff, or if you just have ideas, please post them! Also, are there any important Do's and Don'ts that I should know?

Thanks!

Hmm. Well I was on the yearbook staff my sophomore and junior years in high school before I got fed up with the entire staff and advisor (they were WACK ). Anyways, I know you said most of the content was already done but some here are some ideas you may be able to use this year or next:
-Guess the teacher page (pictures of teachers when they were babies/children)
-Then and Now (older pictures of a fashion style, hair, etc. compared with newer pictures to show how times have or have not changed)
-Quotes from freshman or 6th graders (What were you afraid of before you came to high/middle school? or What won't you forget about your first day?)
-A page on the best/most popular classes to take at that school
-A picture page of the 2002-03 fashion trends
-TEACHER superlatives
-Silly polls
-collages
-Have a catchy theme throughout the yearbook
-CLEAR pictures
Even if it's a little more expensive, color makes all the difference in the world. The main thing I remember that I'm sure you already know is to take LOTS of pictures of EVERYBODY...even the school losers/quiet people/thugs/students no one really knows. With a wider variety of people pictured, more are likely to buy the yearbook. Besides that, it's extremely annoying to have the same popular people on every other page of the whole yearbook just because one of their parents teach there, or because their grandpa donated XXthousand dollars to the booster club ...sorry. Flashback. Hope this helped a little bit!
Good luck and have fun!

[FeeFee]

Originally posted by NOWorNEVER

-TEACHER superlatives
-Silly polls
-collages
-Have a catchy theme throughout the yearbook
-CLEAR pictures

For our junior high school yearbook, we did a Last Will and Testament for our teachers - that was pretty cool!!!

[yasava]

I was on yearbook in high school too, and everyone has been right so far. Color will make a big difference, even if it's not the whole book. At my school, our People section and of course, the seniors were in color. Everything else, except for people who bought color ads, was in black and white.

Also, we were taught to take our pictures slightly off center. This was just in case that picture became your main picture that ran across the entire 2 page spread. The center of the photo will be in the gutter of the book. If the object of your pic is in the center, then it/she/he/they won't be seen or severely deformed , so we always took ours a little to the right or left.

Like 2 tuff said, stick to the deadlines. Some of us on the staff gave up a day of winter break to get our color pages in on time.

[Ideal08]

Thank y'all so much!!! I knew I could count on my GC family.

Now, here's the thing. The school is for 7th grade and up. However, we don't have seniors yet; it's a new school, so the first class of students are in their junior year. Should they have Junior Superlatives, or just wait until next year?

I like the Guess the Teacher idea... would the answers be somewhere in the yearbook as well?

I never thought of ads... I don't remember if our yearbook had ads or not. CT4?

FeeFee, what is a last will and testament? Where the teachers "leave" something to pass on to the students? Would this only work if we had a senior class, or does it matter?

What y'all think about a Remember When? This part would be for bringing up funny stuff that happened over the year(s)?

It's all about whether the kids will want to do ANY of this, you know how they are. But at least they will have some ideas for fun stuff. I have a feeling that right now it's probably boring.

[NOWorNEVER]

Originally posted by Ideal08
Should they have Junior Superlatives, or just wait until next year?

I like the Guess the Teacher idea... would the answers be somewhere in the yearbook as well?

I never thought of ads... I don't remember if our yearbook had ads or not. CT4?


What y'all think about a Remember When? This part would be for bringing up funny stuff that happened over the year(s)?

Well, if y'all don't have seniors yet, you might want to wait until next year. If you have junior superlatives, it wouldn't be fair to do it again with the same class next year...unless you want to make it a tradition to do junior superlatives from now on.

Yeah, the answers to guess the teacher would be somewhere in the book.

Ads are cool and help with expenses but its better if you start asking for ads when school starts. On my yearbook staff, every member was required to get at least $500 in ads starting in September. I went to every business I could find. It was like $25 to be on the patronage page, $50 for 1/8 page up into the hundreds for a full page.

The "Remember When..." sounds cool too. I'm sure they'll like the idea.

[miss priss]

I was the advisor for the yearbook at my school....
Here"s some points I learned when they just threw me out there

*Stay on time!
*Double check the publisher of the book work.--Even though you submit the layout some how they manage to screw things up. I submitted a request for a hardcover book and got a soft cover...go figure!
*Double check the students work. Allow them to have say in the book;but, be mindful of "ghettoisms" that they love soooo much.
*Consider making a video yearbook. It's cheap, fast, and affordable. We sold videos for $5 (and no we got no monetary help from the school ....) Kids LOVE this idea! If you choose to do this pre-sale the videos first. If your school has a "student" broadcast you could possibly show clips.
*Color is very expensive per page. It really depends on the look you are going for ...like maybe opt for color pages with a soft cover, only upperclassmen in color, maybe delete staff to substitute color pages with students on them .
*ADVERTISE ADVERTISE ADVERTISE!!! Not just businesses but students too because sometimes when you order companies ask for a specific amount of books to be ordered and YOU will be stuck with a bill if the students don't pay.
Good Luck!

[abaici]

Originally posted by Ideal08
I have been asked to take over the yearbook committee at my school. I didn't work on the yearbook in high school, so this is a new task for me. I know that much of the layout and content is completed, but some things need to be changed. I would like to be able to help the students in their creative process when making changes and adding new things. If any of you have worked on a yearbook staff, or if you just have ideas, please post them! Also, are there any important Do's and Don'ts that I should know?

Thanks!

We are in the same book this year Soror. In addtion to my duties as Student Council Advisor, I was roped into yearbook this year. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT YEARBOOK! I was on the high school and college newspaper. It seems like a lot of work. I think the most important thing is having a group of hard working students who do not need yo uto hold their hand.

[FeeFee]

Originally posted by Ideal08

FeeFee, what is a last will and testament? Where the teachers "leave" something to pass on to the students? Would this only work if we had a senior class, or does it matter?

Ideal, our Last Will and Testament was something that we the students left behind for the teachers (I have to look at my yearbook to find some examples for you). This would probably work best for a senior class, who would be the ones that are leaving the school. We also had superlatives, which you can never go wrong on.

[Miss. Mocha]

I was on the yearbook staff as a highschool senior (many, many moons ago).

One of the best things we did was a page of Top Tens. The Top Ten had polls for best singles; actors; actresses; groups; television shows; movies; slow jams...and so on. I die laughing every time I look at that page and see Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam as one of the favorites.

It brings back so many memories to know we were jamming off of "Pleasure Principle" and "How You Like me Now?". Which we thought was hard rap at the time. I LOVE looking back at that page.


Another thing that we did was maintain the tradition (that seems to be popular with schools in Chicago- where I'm from) of having the initials of the school's name spelled phonetically across the book.

Our advisor told us that we could put any word in that spot, and we elected to maintain tradition. That means a lot to me a decade+ later. It reminds me that while our class was soooo different from the class graduating this year, they also have some of the same memories as us, having had the same teachers, and experienced events in the same classrooms, hallways and all.

[FeeFee]

Originally posted by FeeFee
Ideal, our Last Will and Testament was something that we the students left behind for the teachers (I have to look at my yearbook to find some examples for you). This would probably work best for a senior class, who would be the ones that are leaving the school. We also had superlatives, which you can never go wrong on.

These are some examples of what I was talking about:

We, the graduating class of 1984 (I'm getting old ), leave to our Beloved Teachers the following:

(our history teacher) - A built in desk water fountain
A book on child psychology

(our spanish teacher/chorus teacher) - A trip to Spain
A singing contract

(our science teacher) - Some scientists
A trip to the Smithsonian Institute

We kept things clean and respectful, and the teachers loved it!