Yearbook Peeps....HEEEELP!!! - Page 2

epchick · #16 09-02-2010, 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

ETAA: What are you going to be using to design the pages? Like AOII Angel said, we practiced on grid paper, but ended up actually designing the book in Quark. I think Quark and InDesign are two programs that'd work well (depending on your budget).

They are using Publisher, and from what I understand the kids like it (although I don't think they've tried anything else).

I was thinking about 'splurging' for something a little better like Photoshop or something diff, but right now i'm iffy.

We had talked about paperback books, and we'll go that route if it's more economical, but right now many students are saying they'd pay the extra $$ to have a hardback book.

IrishLake · #17 09-02-2010, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Ha ha! I was photo editor of my HS newspaper and LOVED to skip class to work on our next edition! Our darkroom was a great place to hide out.

my senior year, i couldnt fit the regular yearbook class into my schedule. but I had a study hall with a nun who hated me in the first place. every day i had study hall, i had to take her a pass note from the english teacher who was our advisor that excused me from the class for the period. the nun HATED having to let me out of her study hall. then i'd just hang out in the yearbook room, or walk around the school and take pictures, or go goof off somewhere. lol... good times!

When Doves Cry · #18 09-02-2010, 11:32 PM

Mine wasn't a class. It was just a Yearbook Club. All we really did was:
1. Vote on a cover design, layout, etc.
2. Take pictures at every event that existed at our Jr High.
3. 8th Graders went to every homeroom to vote on 8th Grade Bests (Most Flirtatious, Romeo & Juliet, Future Valedictorians, Class Clowns, etc)
4. Made sure names matched up with the students photos.

That was it. It was Jr High, we didn't do much!

knight_shadow · #19 09-02-2010, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epchick

They are using Publisher, and from what I understand the kids like it (although I don't think they've tried anything else).

I was thinking about 'splurging' for something a little better like Photoshop or something diff, but right now i'm iffy.

We had talked about paperback books, and we'll go that route if it's more economical, but right now many students are saying they'd pay the extra $$ to have a hardback book.

OK, Publisher is very easy to understand (it's very WSYIWYG), so I guess that works for middle schoolers. The programs used in HS are what's used in the 'real world' though.

The only thing I remember using Photoshop for was image correction for the color photos, but if this is going to be in B&W, you shouldn't really need it. Plus, IIRC, Taylor corrected files that were too dark/light/contrasted/etc when we sent everything in and got our proofs (We would add a note to the proof saying 'page 4, image 2 - needs to be lightened' or something).

ComradesTrue · #20 09-03-2010, 06:36 AM

This early in the year the class can be spent doing:

-- grammar/writing assignments to brush up on those skills. Even though the submitted work won't make it into the yearbook it is great practice and should make the actual work easier later in the year

-- kids who are new to the class will need to learn the computer/publishing system. Kids who were in the class last year may need to learn more advanced skills that what they did last year. (not sure about this since we did ours on paper grids, but seems there are always more things that one can learn on a computer, and there were always kids in our class who could do more advanced things)

-- does your school do a theme for the yearbook? Your publishing company can help you brainstorm some ideas, and it certainly makes the book more cohesive and interesting. Fall is the time of year when you want to select your theme and start brainstorming how it can be incorportated in the various sections of the yearbook (sports, clubs, activities, class pics, ads, etc)

-- along those lines, typically a yearbook will have the same layout for all title/section title pages. You can start planning what that layout will be

-- there are certain "rules" when designing a page that have to do with white space, direction that eyes are looking in a photo, "eye lines," and where copy can go. This is a great time to have them practice making their own layouts with magazine photos, copy, etc. Someone above mentioned having an assignement where students bring in layouts that they like/don't like.

-- to continue, kids these days are so myspace focuses and used to things being uber-busy. Help them understand that less can be more!

-- I spent 7-12th grade on yearbook and served 3 of those years as editor. I will have more thoughts to share later, but the munckins are awake and I must go tend to that.

RaggedyAnn · #21 09-03-2010, 07:06 AM

I was one of the editors on my HS yearbook senior year (staff before that). Each chapter had their own editor (Fresh, Soph, Activities, Student Govt., Sports, Ads, etc.) and there was an editor that overlooked us all. We had staff photographers, but at the time, they developed their own film. There was a yearbook class, but most of us were staff and worked during the 4th lunch period. (Our fifth period class was broken up into 4 parts: 2 parts teaching, 1 part lunch, 1 part free time in the classroom or elsewhere with a pass.) We also worked after school and some Saturdays and drafted everything on paper.

We kept a list of everyone too and capped the number of photos that could be in the yearbook, with the exception if they hit the max, but were in student activities and in group photos. This helped us balance the book with different students.

Every year we picked a theme for the book. We had some really nice books printed.

I do remember at the time there was a trend that less seperate pictures were acceptable, so we had to place pictures in blocks. Class superlatives also weren't current. You might want to do some research on current trends for what is considered to be a 'good' yearbook. I have no idea where the yearbook teacher got this information now though. My memory has faded.

This was 20 years ago. Maybe it would help if you post specific questions you have? That might get the gears rolling.

nittanygirl · #22 09-03-2010, 07:20 AM

We sold ours for like $45 at the beginning of the year, $60 I think at the end.
We also went out a day of class every fall and asked local businesses to buy ads in it. Business card obviously cost less than a quarter page, half page or full page. Lots business bought them. We sold "ads" to senior parents as well if they wanted to include pics/baby pics and a message to their kids we printed those before the ad section.
I can't remember if we had Jostens or Wadsworth. I'm leaning towards Wadsworth. But they had everything set up on the internet by my senior year. We just had to upload the photos into templates. You could adjust the templates to your needs/likes or create your own entirely. This put a virtual yearbook you could kinda flip through online. Everyone was assigned so many pages to do (and certain ones)

We have a day at our school where a photographer comes in and takes all the club pictures & then a contract arranged with the sports photographer to send us the sports team pictures.

I'll have my brother get check the company and get back to you.

ColdInCanada11 · #23 09-03-2010, 07:47 AM

Ours were $35 for 140 page hardcover book in colour. We used the company Friesens that are actually located here in MB. Normally I wouldn't suggest a Canadian company, but most of Friesen's yearbooks are actually from schools in the states, in particular many from Texas and California.
Friesen's has a bunch of resources that they send your school, with great info on how to make a proper layout, how to crop pictures, how to caption pictures,...etc. They were really, really nice and went out of their way to help us!
Fun fact: The Friesen's plant here published the first edition of the North American release of the final Harry Potter book

DubaiSis · #24 09-03-2010, 08:18 AM

My yearbook staff prided itself on winning awards, and we followed the format Raggedy Ann mentioned. In the longterm (and if it's high school) I would recommend sending some of the kids to yearbook camp. Yes, it's a bit like "this one time at band camp" but the kids learn A LOT in a week. And it wouldn't surprise me if they had a teacher's program as well. I googled yearbook camp and found camps and 2-3 day programs. Of course, you'd probably have to talk kids into going and paying for it themselves since you probably don't have the budget for that.

Our books were written through the entire year and published over the summer. You got last year's book in the fall. But it was a fairly large high school. I wouldn't bother with that if it's a middle school and just knock it out in paperback before school lets out.

And ads are I think important. We had regular ads (sold to quite a few businesses around town, not just parents' businesses) and then we had a couple pages of small ads the kids would buy for personal messages or whatever. This was a huge hit and always always sold out early. The process of sales and follow up was a good lesson for all of us (no matter what your department, EVERY kid on the staff had to sell ads) and was a fun project that got us out of school for a couple afternoons in the fall.

The sale of the ads determined how much color we could afford. I don't know the other details of our budgeting, however.

Good luck! Yearbook was a highlight of my high school career.

Kappamd · #25 09-03-2010, 05:40 PM

Talk to Jostens. They are the go-to for yearbooks even today. EVERY hardcover yearbook I have ever had (so every one since 7th grade), including my med school yearbook, has been Jostens. I'm sure they can tell you what you need/need to do to get started.

For advisors:

http://www.jostens.com/yearbooks/ybk_lp_advisers.html

nittanygirl · #26 09-03-2010, 05:49 PM

Ours were Walsworth (brother checked for me!)
All hardcover. My senior year it was all color (b/c apparently color doesn't cost extra & we didn't know that til then). The software is really easy to work with & they give you a rep to come help you get started and to check up with you along the way.
Definitely recommend!

epchick · #27 09-04-2010, 08:27 PM

Thanks everyone for all your advice! It's given me ideas on what to do with the kids. lol.

We did hit our first hurdle, and that is the teacher who is 'helping' me (although I'm ultimately the one in charge) told me that publishing would probably not work, because apparently the school has lost money every year.

I told the kids already, but I'm trying hard to find a place that would publish it where we wouldn't lose a lot of money. We'll see what happens.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

]I would recommend sending some of the kids to yearbook camp.

I actually was reading something about this, and I thought it would be great if the kids could go. But, the closest one was in Dallas (12 hrs away) and idk which kids *might* be able to afford it, our school is located in a more low income area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nittanygirl

Ours were Walsworth (brother checked for me!)
All hardcover. My senior year it was all color (b/c apparently color doesn't cost extra & we didn't know that til then). The software is really easy to work with & they give you a rep to come help you get started and to check up with you along the way.
Definitely recommend!

I was definitely interested in Walsworth!! They were actually the company I was telling the kids about! The rep said they could try and work with our budget, but we'll see what happens.

nittanygirl · #28 09-04-2010, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by epchick

I was definitely interested in Walsworth!! They were actually the company I was telling the kids about! The rep said they could try and work with our budget, but we'll see what happens.

I'm pretty positive they worked with ours. We went to a small school & were close to a loss on yearbooks every year. They're really not about making money. The rep we had was great. Shelly I think. lol

I HIGHLY recommend ad sales day if your administration will allow it. Kids get in groups and get assigned certain areas of town/businesses that might buy ads or have bought in the past. I mentioned what kind of ads we sold in my previous post. I think a half page ran about $45 for the ad. Lots of local businesses participated. More-so probably because they support the school than it actually bringing them business. A lot of them were ads congratulating the seniors and stuff. Fun for the students & actually brought us in money to help fund the book.

epchick · #29 09-04-2010, 09:19 PM

Anyone ever worked with, or know about "Picture This" yearbooks?

According to their quote feature on their website....they charge a fair amount (well compared to what I heard we'd have to pay for ink to produce it ourselves).

But Idk if that company is worth it (or if other publishers cost less, since no one has sent me quotes yet lol).

Quote:

Originally Posted by nittanygirl

I'm pretty positive they worked with ours. We went to a small school & were close to a loss on yearbooks every year. They're really not about making money. The rep we had was great. Shelly I think. lol

Awesome! Thanks for that info!

DubaiSis · #30 09-05-2010, 01:49 AM

A couple of well-known and respected companies have been mentioned here, and I'd go with them. The thing with companies like Jostens is their sales rep will do a LOT of training for you. It is in their interest for your book to be successful!

Ask for examples of books that you could realistically replicate, set a budget and get the kids out making some coin! If this is a low income area, this lesson will be especially beneficial for the kids AND maybe get them through a door where they will one day want to apply for a job. The ads are about supporting the school, even though you sell it as having permanence that the newspaper doesn't, so they can be a bit more expensive. Hopefully your rep can help you set realistic advertising prices.

And if you can sell enough advertising, maybe you can off-set the cost of the books you sell.