Compilation Yearbooks are generally compiled by a student club or a yearbook class, usually advised by a faculty member. The yearbook staff usually has one or more editors who are responsible for collecting and compiling all of the information to be contained within the book, as well as deciding the layout and allocation of space for each contributor.
Sections Most yearbooks have a similar format, which includes individual photographs of students, and information on activities, sports, and other activities.
People (seniors, underclassmen, faculty) in Raleigh, N.C. In the U.S., where a yearbook often covers the whole school and not just the senior class, these sections are usually arranged in chronological order by class (freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior), in either ascending or descending order. Normally students will have individual portraits accompanied by their names. Senior photographs are usually larger than those of underclassmen and are sometimes accompanied by text about their accomplishments throughout high school and their plans. Frequently, seniors are polled to nominate their classmates for "superlatives" or "class celebrities" (such as "most likely to succeed", "most athletic", "most spirited", "best smile", and "class clown"), are often published in the senior section. In addition, seniors typically wear formal attire and individuals select
quotes that they feel represent themselves. Some private schools and smaller high schools set aside an entire page for each senior. These pages are sometimes designed by the seniors themselves, with each senior submitting a digital or physical version of the page they would like featured in the book. in North Carolina in 2004 "Picture Day" is the school day in the United States and Canada when
students have their photographs taken by a professional
photographer. Parents can purchase packages of these
portraits to distribute, often accompanied by other items featuring the portrait. The pictures are not inexpensive for the amount of time and effort involved – which can be less than one minute per student – partly because the photography company usually pays the school part of the price for each photo sold in a "rebate" or unadvertised "fundraising" scheme. These portraits often go into the school yearbook, which is usually distributed at the end of the school year. The pictures may also be used on student ID cards. There will also generally be a second day ("retake day") to take pictures if the student is absent. In the UK and other countries, where yearbooks often only cover the final year group and not the entire school, each student may have more space for answers to various questions as well as their photo (or photos). In Year 11 (England & Wales) members are usually grouped by form/class; whilst Year 13 tends not to be grouped in such a way, but instead, just appears alphabetically throughout the book. It is common in these markets for each person to have between a quarter and a whole page each, depending on the budget available for the yearbook (as more pages mean a higher cost). The editorial team chooses questions for members to answer (such as "Favourite teacher?" or "Where will you be in 5 years?") and these answers appear alongside member photos. These photos and answers are sometimes also collected online.
Student life Several pages are often used for pages chronicling activities undertaken by students, such as trips abroad, activity trips, sports, and other special events. This part of the book often covers students' lives both inside and outside of the campus. Sometimes members of a yearbook write editorial and journalistic content about life as a student, current events (local, national, and international), and other matters of interest to the peer group.
Academics/education This section covers the classes, projects, and more educational aspects of the school year.
Organizations This section describes student organizations (sometimes referred to as
clubs) and what they did during the year. These descriptions are often accompanied by a photo or photos of the organization's members. This section sometimes includes a list of the members of each organization.
Sports Often listed by season or club, these pages chronicle the accomplishments of the school's teams. Along with a short article listing the season's highlights, these pages include team photographs and action pictures.
Advertising pages Many yearbooks gain revenue by including a section of ads from local businesses. Some schools sell advertisements for seniors. Parents, other family members, and friends use these ads to congratulate a senior — or group of seniors — for their accomplishments.
Index Bigger yearbooks tend to include an alphabetical listing of everyone included in the yearbook, along with a listing of the pages they may be found on.
Colophon Usually, near the end of the book, the
colophon lists staff members and acknowledgments. The colophon includes technical information about the yearbook such as publisher, the total number of pages, paperweight, and copyright.
Signature or autograph page Some yearbooks contain a few pages that will be left blank for people to write messages about the preceding year and summer. This tradition was inherited from
commonplace books.
Design Students may design yearbook pages themselves or use company-provided templates in most cases. In general, most yearbook pages are designed as double-page spreads and include several items: •
Headline: An abbreviated sentence highlighting the content of the spread, usually involving wordplay along with factual information •
Story/Copy: Staff usually write short stories capturing the highlights of a specific department, sports season, organization, etc., from the past year. Often, yearbook staff members will interview students, teachers, and others for comments. Alternative story formats have gained popularity in recent times, allowing stories to be told in visual ways (graphs, charts, polls, timelines, etc.). •
Photographs: Every spread that isn't a portrait or an ad spread contains candid shots of students, suitable to the page's topic and theme. Included with the photographs are one or more captions, which describe each picture; these often begin with "a". In the past, most yearbooks were laid out by hand, with photographs physically cropped and placed on layout boards. The work was tedious and required multiple deadlines and contact with a yearbook publisher. Today, virtually all yearbooks are published using computers, which allows for shorter deadlines and easier editing. Students typically design pages using a
desktop publishing program, usually
Adobe InDesign. Some schools use a proprietary web-based design program belonging to the company that prints the book.
Publication U.S. printing companies Yearbook printing companies usually have representatives who work with the adviser and staff at each school to assist in the creation of the yearbook. Yearbook companies that use
offset printing require that groups of pages be sent periodically, rather than all at once, to the plant. This is done to stagger the work required to complete yearbooks for all the schools they cover. After the editors review each page and make changes, the pages are sent to the yearbook plant, usually via the
Internet. Yearbook companies that use
digital printing methods may only require one submission since the entire book is printed at once. If the proofing process is not performed online, the adviser and editors receive proofs (typically full-size prints) about a week or so after the submission of pages. This gives the school a final opportunity to make adjustments or changes. After all the proofs have been returned to the printing company the requested corrections are made, and the books are printed, bound, and then sent to the school for distribution. Two examples of printing companies include Balfour and Jostens. Several educational institutions and yearbook printing companies operate camps and summer sessions at which student yearbook personnel can learn or polish the skills they need in their work.
Distribution Often, yearbooks are distributed at the end of a school year to allow students, teachers, and other members of the school to obtain the books and signatures/personal messages from classmates. In the U.S., those that distribute at this time may publish a supplemental insert with photographs from spring sports and milestone events (such as
prom and
graduation) and other important events. Many schools at which yearbooks are distributed at or before the end of a school year have a tradition of having students sign and leave notes on each other's yearbooks. Some schools distribute yearbooks after the end of the school year—such as in July, at
homecoming (US) in October, or at another designated time to include year-end activities. In some cases, yearbooks are mailed to the parents' homes of graduated seniors.
Digital yearbooks A digital yearbook may contain text, embedded images, audio, and video. While a traditional paper yearbook may contain 300+ pages, a digital yearbook can contain unlimited pages. The greatly reduced price of digital yearbooks gives students the opportunity to afford both a print yearbook as well as a digital yearbook that—barring
platform decay—will be accessible anywhere, anytime and can be updated and interacted with for life. The end product of a digital yearbook can be a CD-ROM, a DVD, or is captured in an eBook format. The first CD-ROM yearbook was created by students at
South Eugene High School in 1990. Writing for
Digital Imaging Reporter in 2018, Jerry Grossman, credits Forever Connected with creating the first widely adopted interactive, mobile yearbook in 2014. Traditional yearbook publishers originally sold it as an add-on to print purchases to allow students to sign, sticker, and send videos to classmates right from their mobile devices. ==See also==