Yearbook Coverage
What Goes In Your Book?
The answer is almost anything that has interest or an effect on students. Have your staff members start by listing everything they can think of that is important to high school students. Some things will be eliminated because adviser and staff may think the content is inappropriate for community standards. Other subjects may be terrific but have limited photographic opportunities. In that case, perhaps the coverage can be placed in the people section or in ads and index where there is less space for photos. Think out of the box rather than going to last year’s yearbook to copy down what was included. Some things, like homecoming and spirit week, will need to be covered yearly but the staff will want a new angle for it. Other things like religion, siblings, odd jobs, diet and exercise could be covered one year and not the next. No matter what, try to surprise the reader with new subjects and new angles on old ones.
Student Life• Focus on students at and away from school.
• Write about the people involved in the events rather than the events. • Use action/reaction photographs. • Plan flexible coverage to accommodate unexpected activities. • Use sidebars to record the details to free up copy for feature coverage. Sports• Include all sports equitably.
• Run a complete scoreboard that includes the overall record. • Include highlights and specifics. • Use player and team stats in sidebars. Cover the Year• Balance section coverage.
• Plan specific story ideas for each spread. • Use the following steps to determine the number of pages for each section: _____Total number of pages _____ Subtract opening/closing/dividers _____ Subtract index pages _____ Subtract advertising pages _____ Subtract specialty section pages _____ Subtotal for determining coverage Use the subtotal for percentages _____ 25%-30% for student life _____15%-20% for academics _____10%-15% for clubs _____15-20% for sports _____25%-30% for people |
Academics• Show what is going on in classrooms.
• Cover the students not the teachers. • Write about captivating lessons that have students involved. • Find unique angles for photos. • Limit the number of photos that have a student at a computer (boring). • Remember that this section is crucial in covering a year. After all, it’s the reason we have school. People• Design portraits in solid rectangles.
• Faculty photos should be the same size as the underclassmen’s. • Spreads should include a feature unless designed as an index. Fill Out The Ladder• Plot sections on the left side of the ladder or on even-numbered pages.
• Record story ideas and the person responsible on the right side of the ladder on the odd-numbered pages. |
Organizations• Include all groups equitably. Equitably does not mean equally. A very active group should have more coverage than one that only meets.
• Avoid group-by-group coverage. • Group like clubs together. • Group like activities together — fundraising, parties, community service, etc. • Attend a number of activities for photographs. • List first and last names in group shots and in the rows they appear. Ads• All ads should appeal to students.
• Parent/senior ads are designed using the rules of good design. Add Specifics For Section Development• primary and secondary headline design
• copy design including width and leading • copy lead-in design • body copy type style and contrasting caption type style • caption headline design related to the primary and/or secondary headline • consistent grid/column width • dominant action photograph • great copy about people involved in activities • sidebar de |