Yearbook Planning

Planning the yearbook can be one of the most tedious parts of the whole project, but it’s also one of the most important.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • calculate the space you need for all the portraits – underclassmen, seniors, and faculty (typically 25-30% of the total page count)
    • some staffs decide to make senior portraits slightly bigger than underclassmen, which means there are less per page
    • if you have sidebars in your student section, be sure to factor this in your calculation, so you can delete boxes to have room for that coverage
  • necessities
    • title page
    • opening
    • dividers for each section
    • closing
    • colophon – sometimes on the endsheets
    • ads – how many pages do you need to sell? how many pages can you sell?
    • index
  • unbiased coverage of all student groups
    • student life (typically 25-30% of the total page count) 
    • academics/orgs (typically 15-20% of the total page count)
    • sports (typically 15-20% of the total page count) 
    • clubs (typically 10-15% of the total page count)
  • look at the annual calendar and plan your deadlines around the events you plan to cover 
  • keep in mind that it is best to submit signatures together, so plan your coverage accordingly, so you’re not waiting on one spread to submit the rest 
  • be intentional with your theme – be sure to incorporate a few spreads that directly tie to your theme concept
  • a yearbook staff page is a great way to build in flexibility. If you need the space for overflow ads or index, you can use it, but if not, you can highlight the yearbook staff. 

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