discoveries vol 20 iss01

DISCOVERIES5 DESIGNERS

2 EDITORS

5 PROOFREADERS

8 SETS OF REVISIONS

THE PROCESSCREATING A MAGAZINE IS A PROCESS, MUCH LIKE CREATING A YEARBOOK. TAKE A LOOK AT HOW THE ISSUE YOU’RE HOLDING WAS CREATED.

EDITING, REVISIONS, PROOFINGWITH CONTENT AND VISUALS ON THE PAGES, WE CONTINUE TO MASSAGE, EMPHASIZING VARIETY, CONSISTENCY AND EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION.

INSPIRATIONWE COLLECTED IDEAS, CONSIDERED FONTS AND CHOSE COLOR PALETTES. AFTER WEEKS OF RESEARCH AND SKETCHING, WE WENT TO THE COMPUTER TO COMP PAGES, SET STYLES AND CREATE MASTER TEMPLATES.

START

FINISH

9 CONTRIBUTERS

220 PHOTOS TAKEN IN-HOUSE

10IN-HOUSE PHOTOS INCLUDED

83 IMAGES PROVIDEDBY SCHOOLS

65SCHOOLSINCLUDED

HOURS OF PRESS TIME

POUNDS OF PAPER

4,402 POUNDS

OF INK

1 1 9 6PRINTING

PLATES

24MAGAZINE

COPIES

14,250SPICE UP PAGES WITH VISUAL DATA

SPRING AWARD WINNERS APLENTY

BENEFITS OF A SENIOR PARENT AD EVENT

V O L U M E T W E N T Y I S S U E O N E

YEARBOOK

FIND THE STORIES THAT REALLY MATTER

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFAnn Akers, MJE

DESIGN EDITORKatherine Morgan

DESIGNERSBrandon Lee, Heidi Lilly, Martha Moye and Greg Rutkowski

COPY EDITORKristen Creed

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSCarrie Faust, MJE, yearbook adviserSmoky Hill HSAurora, CO

Charla Harris, CJE, yearbook adviserPleasant Grove HSTexarkana, TX

Erinn Harris, CJE, yearbook adviserT. Jefferson HS for Science/TechnologyAlexandria, VA

Anastasia Harrison, CJE, yearbook adviserLegend HSParker, CO

Debra Klevens, CJE, yearbook adviserParkway West HSBallwin, MO

Yvette Manculich, yearbook adviserPowell MSLittleton, CO

Stephen Moore, yearbook adviserA.W. Dreyfoos School of the ArtsWest Palm Beach, FL

Heather Nagel, CJE, yearbook adviserChrist Presbyterian AcademyNashville, TN

Linda Puntney, MJEHerff Jones Special Consultant

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERSStaff photographs from Christ Presbyterian Academy, Nashville, TN; A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts, West Palm Beach, FL; Smoky Hill HS, Aurora, CO

HJ LOCATIONSKansas City, [email protected]

Logan, [email protected]

Montgomery, [email protected]

Winnipeg, [email protected]

Herff Jones‘ Yearbook Discoveries Volume Twenty Issue One was produced electronically using Adobe® InDesign® CC, Adobe Illustrator® CC and Adobe Photoshop® CC. This magazine was created on a Mac Pro, 2.66 GHz with 6 GB of RAM and printed by Herff Jones, LLC, at its Logan, UT printing facility. The cover was printed on White Vibracolor endsheet stock and the magazine itself was printed on 80# matte stock using four-color process inks. The font used in this issue was AHJ Urbano. Herff Jones and the Herff Jones logo are registered trademarks of Herff Jones, LLC. Apple and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc. Adobe and Photoshop are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc.

YOUR QUESTIONS. OUR RESOURCES.

The resources available to you don’t stop at the end of this magazine. Make your yearbook go above and beyond. Navigate through our Pinterest boards to find how-to’s, inspiration or staff fun! Check out the best of the best showcase and an array of checklists and other resources on our website, follow us on Facebook or search through previous editions of Yearbook Discoveries — the sky is the limit!

VOLUME T WENT Y ISSUE ONE

YEARBOOK

06 THEME COPY THAT WOWSThere’s so much more to the best theme copy than solid prose, details and quotes; it’s all about attitude and specifics.

08 NEW ANGLES TO COVERAGEThis three-step process makes great brainstorming for fresh story ideas easy.

10 MIDDLE SCHOOL MARVELS Don’t assume that the expectations and quality are lower just because the staffers are years younger.

12 APPEALING VISUAL DATACreative displays of survey results and other facts add both a fun twist on design — and new layers of coverage.

14 IT IS YOUR BUSINESSIn a perfect world, everyone on campus would covet the book you work so hard to create.

WHA

T’S IN

SIDE 16

SENIOR AD NIGHTSARE GOOD FOR EVERYONEPlanning to delight parent tribute ad buyers means more pages done promptly, early ad revenues and a chance for many staffers to contribute.

18 CREATING UNDERSTANDING WITH ADMINISTRATORSInvesting energy in helping your principal and others know more about media law can pay off for you and your students.

20IT’S THE LAWJust because you can find information and images doesn’t mean you can use them. In the simplest of terms, it’s just wrong to use someone’s work in your yearbook without their permission to do so.

22 FOSTERING FAVORABLE RELATIONSHIPS ON CAMPUSInvesting in the emotional well-being of your staff makes life easier now and later, and remembering to appreciate others pays lasting dividends.

24 WE HOPE YOU’LL SHAREHelp us include more voices and ideas on our blog at yearbookdiscoveries.com;we’re always looking for ideas and stories that speak to yerds from coast to coast.

WINNERS GALORE! LOTS OF 2014 BOOKS WERE RECOGNIZED FOR JOURNALISTIC EXCELLENCE IN LAST SPRING’S CROWN

AND PACEMAKER COMPETITIONS.

02

0 2 V O L U M E T W E N T Y I S S U E O N E

2014 PACEMAKER WINNERSTITANIUM, ANTELOPE (CA) HS • WINGSPAN, JAMES C.

ENOCHS HS, MODESTO, CA • RAMPAGES, CASA ROBLE

HS, ORANGEVALE, CA • SUMMIT, SMOKY HILL HS,

AURORA, CO • THE PROWL, POWELL MS, LITTLETON, CO •

WESTWIND, LEWIS-PALMER HS, MONUMENT, CO • LOG,

COLUMBUS (IN) NORTH HS • PARAGON, MUNSTER (IN)

HS • PAWESEHI, PARKWAY WEST HS, BALLWIN, MO •

WESTWIND, WEST HENDERSON HS, HENDERSONVILLE, NC

• SKJÖLD, CORNING-PAINTED POST WEST HS, PAINTED

POST, NY • LION’S ROAR, CHRIST PRESBYTERIAN

ACADEMY, NASHVILLE, TN • TOUCHSTONE, STONY POINT

HS, ROUND ROCK, TX • THE HAWK, PLEASANT GROVE HS,

TEXARKANA, TX • NUNTIUS, ALTAVISTA (VA) COMBINED

SCHOOL • CRAG, TURNER ASHBY HS, BRIDGEWATER, VA •

ODYSSEY, CHANTILLY (VA) HS • SENTRY, ROBINSON MS,

FAIRFAX, VA • THE JOURNEY, HERITAGE HS, LEESBURG, VA

• COMPASS, NORTH CROSS SCHOOL, ROANOKE, VA • THE

QUINAULT, ABERDEEN (WA) HS

AWARD WINNERS

HATS OFF TO THE TOP OF THE HEAP

LONG AFTER THE SHRIEKS OF

JOY AND FIRST-LOOK TEARS,

SOME STAFFS HAVE ANOTHER

EMOTIONAL PEAK TOGETHER.

EACH SPRING, CSPA AND NSPA/

ACP HONOR TOP VOLUMES WITH

SOME ADDITIONAL LOVE. AS

ALWAYS, LOTS OF HERFF JONES

BOOKS WERE RECOGNIZED.

WEST HENDERSON HIGH SCHOOLTop Honors 19 Years in a Row

ROBINSON MIDDLE SCHOOLTop Honors 18 Years in a Row

Y E A R B O O K D I S C O V E R I E S . C O M 0 3

2014 PACEMAKER FINALISTS SUNSET, CORONA DEL SOL HS, TEMPE, AZ • HISTORIAN,

McCLINTOCK HS, TEMPE, AZ • NUGGET, CUPERTINO (CA)

HS • LION’S DEN, HYDE MS, CUPERTINO, CA • PILOT,

REDONDO UNION HS, REDONDO BEACH, CA • REFLECTIONS,

BRIGHTON (CO) HS • EPIC, LEGEND HS, PARKER, CO •

TELEIOS, MOUNT PARAN CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, KENNESAW,

GA • LINC, UNIVERSITY OF EVANSVILLE (IN) • ROYAL

PURPLE, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY, MANHATTAN, KS

• EBB TIDE, CARLSON HS, GIBRALTAR, MI • TERESIAN,

ST. TERESA’S ACADEMY, KANSAS CITY, MO • TOWER,

NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY, MARYVILLE,

MO • LEGEND, LAFAYETTE HS, WILDWOOD, MO • LOGOS,

CORNING-PAINTED POST EAST HS, CORNING, NY

NOT THE SAME OLD, SAME OLD. A full 20% of the 2014 Herff Jones-printed yearbooks recognized made their debut on the Crown and Pacemaker Finalists lists this year. Honored books from Greeneville HS, Carroll County HS and Parkway West HS show a variety of conceptual, design and coverage approaches.

CROWN AWARDS39 Herff Jones schools were awarded Crown Awards —

15 earned Gold Crowns and 24 received Silver Crowns.

PACEMAKER AWARDS36 Herff Jones schools were named Pacemaker Finalists; 21 middle schools and high schools won Pacemakers.

DOUBLE ACCLAIMSix Herff Jones schools

won top honors from both groups, winning both Gold Crown and Pacemakers.

1ST TIMERS12 Herff Jones schools were

new to the national lists, earning their first Crowns or

Pacemakers ever.


2015 GOLD CROWN WINNERS (2014 BOOKS) ASH-A-WUT, GABRIELINO HS, SAN GABRIEL, CA • CALUMET,

ARAPAHOE HS, CENTENNIAL, CO • CAYUSE, WALNUT (CA) HS •

DRAGON, ROUND ROCK (TX) HS • LA PANTERA, PALOS VERDES

PENINSULA HS, ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, CA • SENTRY, ROBINSON

MS, FAIRFAX, VA • SPOTLIGHT, LAWTON C. JOHNSON SUMMIT

MS, SUMMIT, NJ • SUMMIT, SMOKY HILL HS, AURORA, CO • THE

BUZZER, BROOKVILLE HS, LYNCHBURG, VA • THE CLAN, McLEAN (VA)

HS • THE CRIMSON, duPONT MANUAL HS, LOUISVILLE, KY • THE

EXPLORER, SIERRA MS, STOCKTON, CA • THE HAWK, PLEASANT

GROVE HS, TEXARKANA, TX • THE PROWL, POWELL MS, LITTLETON,

CO • TOUCHSTONE, STONY POINT HS, ROUND ROCK, TX • WINGSPAN,

JAMES ENOCHS HS, MODESTO, CA

2015 SILVER CROWN WINNERS (2014 BOOKS)ARIES, GRAYSON HS, LOGANVILLE, GA • AUCTIONEER, GREENEVILLE

(TN) HS • CARILLON, BELLARMINE COLLEGE PREPARATORY, SAN

JOSE, CA • CAVALIER CLASSIC, CARROLL COUNTY HS, HILLSVILLE,

VA • DON DAYS, AMADOR VALLEY HS, PLEASANTON, CA • EAGLE

EYE VIEW, SIERRA MS, PARKER, CO • JAMBOREE, TOBY JOHNSON

MS, ELK GROVE, CA • LA VISTA, MOUNTAIN VIEW HS, MESA, AZ •

LACONIAN, SALEM (VA) HS • LION’S DEN, HYDE MS, CUPERTINO, CA

LOG, COLUMBUS (IN) NORTH HS • NUGGET, CUPERTINO (CA) HS •

NUNTIUS, ALTAVISTA (VA) COMBINED SCHOOL • ODYSSEY,

CHANTILLY (VA) HS • PELICAN, PELHAM (NY) MEMORIAL HS • PILOT,

REDONDO UNION HS, REDONDO BEACH, CA • POW WOW, CHEYENNE

MOUNTAIN HS, COLORADO SPRINGS, CO • SKJÖLD, CORNING-PAINTED

POST (NY) WEST HS • TECHNIQUES, THOMAS JEFFERSON HS FOR

SCI/TECH, ALEXANDRIA, VA • TELEIOS, MOUNT PARAN CHRISTIAN

SCHOOL, KENNESAW, GA • THE CLAW, ARVADA (CO) WEST HS •

THE QUINAULT, ABERDEEN (WA) HS • TITANIUM, ANTELOPE (CA) HS

books printed by Herff Jones delight their buyers, impress other yerds and wow some tough judges. Here are some stats you might find interesting:

YEAR AFTER YEAR, GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND

There were 114 yearbooks recognized this year

between the Pacemaker and Crown Awards; 60

(53%!!) of those were printed by Herff Jones.

53%

18%

13%11%

5%

HERFF JONES BOOKS COMPRISE

54%OF ALL PACEMAKER

WINNERS.


52%OF ALL CROWN

AWARD WINNERS.


41%OF AWARD WINNERS

ON BOTH LISTS.

DOUBLE THE ACCLAIM: PACEMAKER & GOLD CROWNJames Enochs HS, Modesto, CA • Smoky Hill HS, Aurora, CO • Powell MS, Littleton, CO • Stony Point HS, Round Rock, TX • Pleasant Grove HS, Texarkana, TX • Robinson MS, Fairfax, VA

FIRST TIME WINNERSArvada (CO) West HS• Cheyenne Mountain HS, Colorado Springs, CO • Legend HS, Parker, CO • Grayson HS, Loganville, GA • Parkway West HS, Ballwin, MO • Lafayette HS, Wildwood, MO • Lawton C Johnson Summit MS, Summit, NJ • Pelham (NY) Memorial HS • Greeneville (TN) HS • Round Rock (TX) HS • Carroll County HS, Hillsville, VA • North Cross School, Roanoke, VA •


SHARING YOUR PASSION FOR AMAZING YEARBOOKS, HERFF JONES AGAIN CONGRATULATES SCHOOLS

RECOGNIZED IN CSPA’S CROWN AWARDS AND NSPA’S PACEMAKER COMPETITIONS LAST SPRING. WE'RE

HONORED TO PRINT THE BOOKS OF YOUR DREAMS. YOU MAKE US ALL LOOK GREAT!

TWICE AS NICE! Just 11 yearbooks worldwide won both a CSPA Gold Crown and an NSPA Pacemaker... and six of those were printed by Herff Jones. You’ll see more of these double winners — and many others — in the spring when Ideas That Fly, Herff Jones’ annual inspiration showcase arrives.

TO SEE MORE OF THESE AWARD-WINNING BOOKS, GO TO WWW.YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM/MAGAZINE/


However, it’s not enough to just look good. You’ve made a great first impression, but your readers do not really KNOW your book without theme copy.

Writing theme copy isn’t a last-minute process. You can’t wait until the final deadline. And you can’t really write it on the first day of school (or at summer workshop) either. You have to spend some time with your book.

FINDING THE VOICEWRITING AMAZING THEME COPY

by CHARLA HARRIS

YOUR BOOK IS BEAUTIFUL. YOUR READERS OOH AND AH OVER THE

COVER AND THEME. THEY ADMIRE YOUR DESIGN AND YOUR SPOT-

ON FONT CHOICES AND COLOR PALETTE. YOU’VE CREATED A LOOK,

A FEEL, AN IDEA ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL.

A BEAUTIFUL BOOK DESERVES A PROPER

INTRODUCTION.

MAKING THE PERFECT INTRODUCTION REQUIRES SOME WORK:

SAY WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY

You’ve picked a great concept. It fits your school and your year, so try to sum it up in one sentence (even if it’s kind of simplistic). You’ll expand it later. If you can’t articulate your theme statement, you need to keep working or think of something else. Then provide examples and details to make sure your readers “get it.”

GET AN ATTITUDE

Make sure your book talks the way it looks. In other words, create a voice. Is your book fun, clever, serious-minded or classy? Snarky or arrogant? The book’s voice should come through. Is it an Urban Outfitters or J.Crew kind of book? Don’t confuse the reader by having one look and using another voice.

GET PERSONAL

Make your book distinctive to avoid having a long-lost twin somewhere out there. Give your readers the scoop on your school and the year with specific details and anecdotes. An overview of an event, group or team is important, but personal stories will help you capture those memories forever.

WES

TWIN

D, W

EST

HEND

ERSO

N HS

, HEN

DERS

ONVI

LLE,

NC

WIN

GSPA

N, E

NOCH

S HS

, MOD

ESTO

, CA

Y E A R B O O K D I S C O V E R I E S . C O M 07

KEEP IT LIGHT

High school is not that big of a deal. Avoid references to roads, paths, journeys and other clichés about changes, life, clocks, memories or the passage of time. Don’t make it sound like a graduation speech — you’ll definitely get a chance to hear about all of those journeys at your commencement ceremony.

TWEEK IT

Theme copy is different than other copy in your book, but it still needs to be good writing. You have to engage the reader. Read the copy aloud. Listen carefully, and then revise. Theme copy is more than a “Hello, My Name is” tag. It’s your one and only chance to make a powerful first impression.

THE

HAW

K, P

LEAS

ANT

GROV

E HS

, TEX

ARKA

NA, T

X

TO READ EVEN MORE AMAZING THEME COPY, GO TO WWW.YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM/MAGAZINE/


When my staff starts brainstorming angles for the topics in the book, they generally start with the same old angle you could hear anywhere: who won the Homecoming game, who works at what job, who has the best fashion sense. It is not until they really look for the actual stories that matter that they start coming up with truly strong angles.

Stories that matter from our 2015 book: Fernando Govea performs magic tricks at Live in the Library, the Homecoming game: Nathan Loibl’s last game, a Criminal Justice crime scene in the teacher’s lounge, Mr. Brian Buxa teaching English to the Chinese exchange students.

Why are these stories that matter? They are stories about people that tell a specific story.

When covering the stories of the year, staffs need to look for the stories that matter. My staff follows a specific process to help get to the best stories. Each year we are looking for stories that matter in that

specific year, as opposed to the stories that mattered last year. There is always something new to find; your staff just has to be willing to seek it out.

Our process for brainstorming stories that matter involves three steps: brainstorming as a team, brainstorming as a staff and page brainstorming.

Our staff works in teams all year, so each team gets a brainstorming sheet and brainstorms as a group for topic ideas for each section. This usually takes a class period, sometimes even less.

Brainstorming as a staff involves a two-part process. First, we take a day to brainstorm all of the possible topics that could go in each section. After completing team brainstorming — whether we are doing a chronological book, a traditional book or umbrella book — the next step is a relatively standard process where we have pieces of butcher paper around the room with each traditional section labeled. Any and every idea the staff can think of is written down. Then,

YEAR AFTER YEAR, IT IS THE SAME OLD STORY. FOOTBALL STRUGGLES TO MAKE IT TO PLAYOFFS.

HOMECOMING’S THEME THIS YEAR WAS UNDER THE SEA. JOHN SMITH WORKS AT GAMESTOP. MATH

PROBLEMS WERE SOLVED IN ALGEBRA. WHERE ARE THE UNIQUE COVERAGE IDEAS?


ALL ABOUT

COVERAGE

by ANASTASIA HARRISON

the editors take all those ideas and type them up into a Word document and, in teams based on that book’s structure, they choose the strongest topics. The staff’s process is only based on the previous year’s book in that we try to choose different topics than the year before. If the staff chooses a topic from the year before, they agree to find an angle specific to this school year in order to make it different than the previous volume.

The final step in the process is the actual page brainstorming. The form we use was designed by editors who modified a brainstorming sheet that our newspaper staff used. We call ours the “Epic Think Sheet” since our book name is Epic. We know that not every staff gets the benefits of the great play on words, but that’s an added benefit for us.

The point of the page brainstorming sheet is to come up with the actual angle for the topic and figure out the coverage. This is usually when staff members find the stories that matter. They start talking to people and find out what would be an interesting angle for this year. With events like Homecoming, they start talking to people before the event to anticipate the story, but then also talk to people after the event to make sure they have found the strongest story. The think sheet is approved by the editor during a discussion the team and editor have together. The think sheet is then the springboard for coverage on their page.

Of course there are times where a story just falls in our lap, like everyone suddenly completing the ice bucket challenge and challenging other school groups or when we find out about a cool project a teacher’s class is doing, but most of the time it takes a little more work to find the story of this school year. While it may seem like a lot of work to cover a topic, in the end our three-step brainstorming process results in unique stories each year so our staff has coverage specific to our school this year and not just things that could come from any school, any year. This is just one way to help your staff find the stories that matter.

STAFFS NEED TO LOOK FOR

THE STORIES THAT MATTER.

EPIC

, LEG

END

HS, P

ARKE

R, C

O

FOR HELPFUL FORMS TO IMPROVE YOUR COVERAGE, GO TO WWW.YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM/MAGAZINE/

IT IS NOT UNTIL THEY REALLY LOOK FOR THE ACTUAL STORIES THAT MATTER THAT THEY START COMING UP WITH TRULY STRONG ANGLES.

10 V O L U M E T W E N T Y I S S U E O N E

YES, WE CAN AND YES, WE DO

by YVETTE MANCULICH

WE’VE HEARD IT ALL BEFORE. IT’S LIKE DÉJÀ VU.

WHEN SOMEONE FLIPS THROUGH THE LATEST

PAGES OF THE PROWL YEARBOOK, WHETHER

FOR THE FIRST TIME OR NOT, HE OR SHE OFTEN

ASKS A FAMILIAR QUESTION, “WOW, MIDDLE

SCHOOL STUDENTS PRODUCED THIS?”


has become our unofficial staff motto, “Yes. Yes, WE CAN. And WE DO.”

While it seems cliché to admit it, it’s commonly true that a great middle school yearbook staff has a chip on its shoulders. Each year, we must dispel the myth that middle school journalists can’t compete with high school publications. We must strive to produce a book that exceeds the expectations of our student bodies, our communities and most importantly, our own staffs.

At Powell, we do so by setting the highest expectations of journalistic excellence. Whether it’s scouring magazines and websites for the latest design inspiration or learning the ropes by interviewing, writing, photographing and designing from scratch, our rookie staff of 60-70 students has something to prove and we won’t stop until we do.

We’re lucky; we owe much to other Colorado award-winning publications. We can study these local books as models of superiority. We read Brighton High School’s book for its brilliant theme copy, we glean ideas for chronological coverage from Smoky Hill and we note the stunning composition of Cheyenne Mountain’s photography. These publications and others have set the bar high and that provides the inspiration we all need to create and maintain a sound journalism program year after year.

Just as critiques and awards provide us with essential feedback that allows us to regroup, refocus and renew our purpose, it was a recent compliment of an esteemed colleague that has made all the difference for my editorial staff.

While attending a workshop, my editors sat silently as a high school adviser they idolize flipped through our book. It was in that moment that they received the single greatest compliment we could hope for as journalists. “This isn’t a great middle school yearbook. This is a great yearbook,” she said.

And that is how we choose to measure our success, creating the best yearbook that WE CAN and WE DO. Middle school books need to work toward the same standards of theming, coverage, reporting, design and photography as any other competitive book does. A great yearbook is a great yearbook.

OUR STANDARD RESPONSE

JAMBOREE, TOBY JOHNSON MS, ELK GROVE, CA

PROWL, POWELL MS, LITTLETON, CO

TO SEE MORE GREAT MIDDLE SCHOOL BOOKS, GO TO WWW.YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM/MAGAZINE/

“THIS ISN’T A GREAT MIDDLE SCHOOL YEARBOOK.

THIS IS A GREAT YEARBOOK.”


TAKE YOUR INFOGRAPHIC

GAME TO THE NEXT LEVEL.

Give your reader an accurate

count of how many people

you surveyed.

Print the date the survey

was taken.

Maintain the visual/

verbal connection. Design

infographics that fit with your

theme pages. It should all look

like it belongs together.

Look to the pros for

inspiration and never design

from a blank page.

Always remember scale.

An infographic on a traditional

spread should be the smallest

element on the spread so as

not to overwhelm the reader

or take away from the power

of your photos.

TESSERAE, CORNING-PAINTED POST (NY) HSEvery infographic offers several opportunities for sharing data visually. The best staffs are experimenting with an array of options. The example above showed favorite social media platforms — and examples above the copy show other ways the same data might have been represented.

TECHNIQUES, TJHSST, ALEXANDRIA, VA THE CLAN, McLEAN (VA) HS

TESSARAE, CORNING-PAINTED POST (NY) HS

ASH A WUT, GABRIELINO HS, SAN GABRIEL, CA


with all of the tools journalists and designers have at their disposal, there is no reason to feel tied to the ordinary, “the way we’ve always done it.”

Over the last few years, infographics have morphed from a way simply to display poll results, to a tool that allows us to visualize all kinds of data. In the world of yearbooks, this may sound blasphemous, but from statistics to timelines to ratings and everything in between, infographics are now used to tell stories when pictures just won’t do.

There is a danger in the possibilities and a fine line between infographics and clip art.

Visualizing data requires designers to use graphics

in order to convey meaning. Does your student body prefer Dunkin Donuts over Dutch Bros.? Don’t just include a cut-out of each coffee cup. If 87% of the population thinks Dunkin is king, make the cut-out of the DD cup proportionally larger than the Dutch Bros. cup. It’s easy to decorate a spread with clip art and call it an infographic, but it takes a thoughtful designer to make that art actually tell a story.

Everything you put on a spread should tell a story. Every photo and every caption. Every statistic and every poll. If you move beyond clip art, bar graphs and pie charts, you’ll draw the reader in and teach them something they didn’t know before.

TRADITIONAL BAR GRAPHS AND PIE CHARTS ARE DEAD.

AT LEAST THAT S WHAT I VE STARTED TO TELL MY STUDENTS.

WHILE THIS MAY SEEM HARSH,

MAKE YOUR

DATA VISUALby ERINN HARRIS

37% 31% 19% 7% 6%

Instagram Twitter Tumblr Facebook Other

Instagram

Twitter

Tumblr

Facebook

Other

Instagram

Twitter

Tumblr

Facebook

Other

Instagram

Twitter

Tumblr

FacebookOther MY OTHER SPACE

With dozens of sites and apps to choose from, 214 students weigh in where

they log in.Instagram

Twitter

Tumblr

Facebook

Other

14 V O L U M E T W E N Y I S S U E O N E

NEVER STOP SELLINGby DEBRA KLEVENS

WHEN I WAS HIRED TO TEACH YEARBOOK 17 YEARS AGO, I CAME

FROM AN ASSISTANT BUYER’S BACKGROUND.

I had majored in journalism education, but wanted to set the business world on fire and make a lot of money. What I quickly learned was that while I loved the thrill of the sale, I was extremely unfulfilled.

Advising a yearbook gave me the opportunity to help run a small business. At the time, I didn’t look at it like that, but as the years have progressed I have learned. To me, journalism is so much more than teaching AP style, the elements of design and photography techniques. Selling our product is equally as important as producing good books.

Remember, folks, without a consumer, we have no reason to document the year.

In a world obsessed with social media and the latest and greatest apps, it is our job to educate our consumer as to why they cannot possibly live without the 2016 yearbook.

Before I get ahead of myself, I’d like to share our 2015 sales campaign. Choose what you want to adopt, but promise me you will choose to teach the art of selling yearbooks.

We began the year by offering a back-to-school Early Bird special. We sold the books for $10 less than retail ($65). Choose your wording carefully. When talking about the yearbook price, the price is always $65. It’s never on “sale.” We never want to discount the quality or passion that’s put into creating this incredible book. For this reason, our Early Bird special is $55, $10 off of the retail price. We advertise this price on the school website, parent newsletters and the grade-level Twitter handles. Plus, we have students working to sell books at back-to-school events. We maximize sales when the back-to-school enthusiasm is strong.

Many staffs have added videos

and extra galleries of images to their

printed yearbooks using Aurasma,

a free app which allows them to

incorporate additional content to

complement the coverage in the

yearbook. The process is simple;

just follow the steps below to make

the marked image come to life.

You can add extras to your

book using augmented reality

too. There’s a handy section of

resources on our website at http://

yearbookdiscoveries.com/

augmented-reality/.

We’ve collected instructions and

samples to help you decide whether

this is something you want to do.

BRING THIS PHOTO TO

LIFE USING AURASMA

Download the Aurasma app.

Tap on the small arrow at the

bottom of the screen.

Tap on the magnifying glass.

Look for our Aurasma channel

Herff Jones Yearbooks.

Tap the follow and like tabs.

To view auras, simply tap the

camera and hold your phone

over the image in the iPad.


During last year’s Early Bird pricing, which ran from July 1 through September 30, we sold 39 percent of our yearbooks. This year, we added something new, and offered a free name stamp to everyone who purchased an Early Bird book.

We are trying to drive sales on the front end of the selling cycle versus begging for them on the back end. We would obviously make more money having students wait, however; making money is not our only goal... we understand that selling early means we might be able to sell even more books.

From October to January, we did not do a great job of advertising. We had a blurb in the parent newsletter, but kind of dropped the ball everywhere else. The customer demand proved my point; we only sold 14 percent of our total volume. This year, we will be offering a yearbook gift certificate for the holidays. Anyone who purchases a yearbook from October 31- December 15 will receive a gift certificate in the mail. Parents can then use this as a holiday gift.

Last year, we kicked off our sales drive again in February. We mailed home letters to our non-buyers. During the same time period, we also hosted what we

called a “Jerry Lewis telethon,” whereby each student was provided a list of non-buyers. They had to make a list of the pages the student was featured on and let the parents know they should purchase a yearbook.

While my staffers had reservations about picking up the telephone, it was something they thanked me for making them do later. It taught them phone skills, how to make a cold call, how to handle rejection and the value of selling a product they spent a year creating. In the end, that energy we created sold through 37 percent of our books.

By April, we only had spring sports pages to complete for our summer delivery book. With a 42-person staff, there was not enough work to support every student having work to do in class daily. We solved the problem by having students create yearbook sales/promotional videos. They had to think about why their peers would want to buy a book and target their ad to the audience. It had to be professional.

The enthusiasm in the classroom skyrocketed; it brought the fun back into the room. I offered a free pizza party to the winning group, the group whose video reached the largest audience. Seeing my students think outside the box about how to get the message heard was priceless. In the end, this campaign helped us obtain an additional 10 percent of our final sales.

I believe we still have room for even more sales growth, though we’re currently selling to 61 percent of our students. This year I am going to empower my students to raise this number to a 70 percent buy rate. With their tech-savvy nature, I am sure they can teach me a thing or two.

The bottom line is to never stop selling the book. If you are like me, and are passionate about your job, commit to your students that together you are going to take pride in selling the book. The skill-set this provides will help propel them to success in any industry when they leave high school.

REMEMBER, FOLKS, WITHOUT A CONSUMER WE HAVE NO REASON TO DOCUMENT THE YEAR.

FOR MORE BOOK SALES VIDEOS, GO TO WWW.YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM/VIDEOS/

PARENTS WERE OVERWHELMED BY THE BEAUTIFUL OUTCOME OF THEIR CHILDREN’S ADS.


THE MARQUEE, A.W. DREYFOOS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS, WEST PALM BEACH, FLABOVE Co-editor Ilani Fernandes experiments with different fonts and background colors in order to create a customized ad. RIGHT Business Editor Marlena Houck discusses the design possibilities with a parent looking to buy a senior ad.


SENIOR AD NIGHT SUCCESS

BECAUSE SENIOR ADS ARE SUCH A BIG (AND IMPORTANT) PART OF THEIR YEARBOOK, THE MARQUEE

YEARBOOK STAFF AT A.W. DREYFOOS SCHOOL OF THE ARTS IN WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA DECIDED

TO TRY TO MAKE IT EASY FOR THE PARENTS TO DESIGN THEIR OWN ADS.

by STEPHEN MOORE

After years of receiving too many/not enough photos and phone calls with questions from parents, the staff decided to invite parents of soon-to-be grads/seniors to campus to design their yearbook tributes. Last year, the staff held three Senior Ad Nights during the first semester — one each in October, November and December. Parents and sometimes their seniors came to the yearbook room and worked with a yearbook staffer to put together their senior ads.

“[The staff was] very helpful, and they had great suggestions,” said Janna Zaidspiner, a parent of a 2015 senior. “It really takes a lot of the stress off when you have this service available. It’s much nicer to sit down with the designer and leave knowing you have an excellent product.”

Parents were overwhelmed by the beautiful outcome of their children’s ads.

“I couldn’t have asked for better,” parent Nancy Shiroma said. “Everyone was helpful, patient and kind. She [the designer] had good ideas. I actually started crying because she did so [well].”

The one-on-one sessions with the parents allowed the yearbook staffers to create ads that fit the needs and wants of each individual. When designing the ads, parents were able to select font color, font size, background color, the size of their photos and options. No two ads looked the same.

“We had parents make appointments for Senior Ad Night. They were expected to bring photos and have a general idea of what they wanted the message to say. After that, we designed the ads to the likings of the parent and child,” said Marquee business staffer Stephanie Hartman.

“We ask the parents to bring in a specific number of photos to include in their ads,” said yearbook adviser Stephen Moore. “In the past, we sometimes had parents come in with boxes of photos and spend more than an hour trying to decide which photos to use. So we ask them to decide on photos in advance. That saves some time.”

In order to inform the student body about Senior Ad Night, yearbook staffers used several forms of marketing to get the word out.

“We advertised all over Facebook by posting on the senior class page and we made daily announcements over the intercom,” said business editor Marlena Houck. “Before Senior Ad Night, the staff is trained in using the computer program that we use to make the ads.”

New staffers on the Marquee staff designed senior ads for the first time with success. The least experienced staffers used Herff Jones templates to help in the design process.

“The process worked pretty well,” said business staffer Hartman. “This was my first Senior Ad Night so I was a little nervous at first because I wanted to make sure I didn’t mess anything up.”

The Marquee staff was organized and ready to execute a plan for success.

“During Senior Ad Night, I made sure to answer any questions the staff had while designing ads,” said Houck. “The staff makes sure the parents are happy with the ad before leaving. We take the parents’ vision of what they want the ad to look like and make it come to life.”

FOR CHECKLISTS & TIPS ON SENIOR AD NIGHT SUCCESS, GO TO WWW.YEARBOOKDISCOVERIES.COM/MAGAZINE/


a call like that pretty well distracts you for the rest of the period, so I spent the next 45 minutes or so going through my mental index cards trying to figure out what I/we might have done.

Turns out, an irate parent had called the office to complain that the yearbook staff was taking “inappropriate photos” of students and, further, since her daughter wouldn’t pose for the photos and her story wouldn’t be told, they wanted their money back for the yearbook they had already purchased. In fact, they were certain the entire community would demand refunds after the book came out.

I’ll pause the story here and tell you that I have been very lucky to have an administration that is supportive of student press rights. Years before this phone call, former JEA Yearbook Adviser of the Year Kathy Daly became the Activities Director at our school. Kathy decided to use her experience as

LAST OCTOBER, I GOT A

CALL FROM OUR ASSISTANT

PRINCIPAL ASKING ME TO SEE

HER AS SOON AS CLASS ENDED.

by CARRIE FAUST

HAVE A DISCUSSIONABOUT SCHOLASTIC PRESS RIGHTS

AS MOST ADVISERS CAN ATTEST,

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end, the girls heard those concerns, but chose to go ahead with their vision. In May, not one phone call came in.

My principals understand the First Amendment and its impact on scholastic press rights. Unfortunately, that is not the case with all administrators. I suspect that mine are in the minority as far as those rights are concerned. Scholastic press law is a tiny little niche in the study of law — even many lawyers know little about it — so it’s not surprising that most administrators don’t understand it. In fact, very few principal licensure programs require any study of scholastic press rights.

As advisers, it’s important that we open the lines of communication with our principals and administrators to help them become more educated in the rights and roles of the student press. We are the scholastic press rights experts in our buildings.

Last fall, the Journalism Education

Association officially launched its new website: principals.jea.org. This site is written for administrators and from their perspective to help them wade through the nuances of scholastic press rights. As time goes on, the site will be updated by members of the JEA Principal Outreach Committee and training opportunities will be presented at national conventions.

Make it a goal to sit down with your administrators and introduce them to this resource and present yourself as an advocate for an open conversation about press rights in your school. Teach your kids to listen to the concerns of their community, but also to communicate strongly and respectfully what their intentions are in their student-run publication.

When yearbook staffs and principals work together, beautiful, journalistically-sound, powerful yearbooks are created.

a yearbook adviser in our district to educate our administration on best practices when it came to the student press. Thirteen years later, my staff and I once again reaped the benefits of those efforts and our own ongoing commitment to excellence and communication between staffers and the administrative team when that phone call came in.

After an initial conversation with me to clarify the situation about which the parent was calling, my three editors-in-chief met with our principal while I observed. The principal explained that the parent was upset about the black and white portraits the staff was planning to include with the profiles in the 2015 book. The parent felt they were too revealing and the principal wondered how the photos were “allowed” within the parameters of our dress code. What followed was an amazing conversation about artistic vision and freedom of speech. The girls presented their reasons for these beautiful photos, how they illustrated the theme and why they were important, and our principal — a man well-versed in scholastic press rights due to his time with Kathy and me — listened and expressed his own concerns. In the

IN MAY,NOT ONE

PHONE CALLCAME IN.

THE PARENT FELT THEY WERE TOO REVEALING

AND THE PRINCIPAL WONDERED HOW THE

PHOTOS WERE “ALLOWED“ WITHIN THE PARAMETERS

OF OUR DRESS CODE. WHAT FOLLOWED WAS AN AMAZING CONVERSATION

ABOUT ARTISTIC VISION AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

WITH EASY ACCESS TO SO MANY RESOURCES ON THE INTERNET,

IT’S NO WONDER A STUDY REPORTED IN THE WASHINGTON POST

SHOWED TEENAGERS SPEND AN AVERAGE OF 7.5 HOURS A DAY

CONSUMING NEW MEDIA, PERUSING CONTENT, PLAYING GAMES

AND, SADLY, ACQUIRING IMAGES FOR USE IN THEIR PUBLICATIONS.

I say “acquiring” rather than “stealing” because the familiarity we have with cyberspace gives us a feeling of ownership.

“It’s my internet and by extension, my content,” we might think. “It’s there for me to access anytime I want and freely use anything I want.” But stealing is stealing and using someone’s photos, MP3s or graphics without express permission is just that — stealing — because we’ve taken their intellectual property and that’s the most valuable kind of property of all.

“I spend considerable time talking with students about what materials can be used and what can’t,” said Brenda Gorsuch, West Henderson (NC) High School adviser and 2013 National Yearbook Adviser of the

Year. “I think it started with music downloading. Now, students often feel if the material is out there, it’s free for the taking.”

The improper use of personal images is challenging too.

“Students may think it’s OK to use an image taken from Facebook or Instagram because they know the person pictured, but getting permission is just as important as getting permission to use a professional publication image,” Gorsuch said.

Pam Tripp, a Herff Jones representative from northern Virginia, deals with the copyright issue every year.

“New advisers often don’t know copyright law so they can’t explain it to their students,” Tripp said. “I spend time every year educating students and advisers and helping them understand that just because they can download an image from the internet to use in their book, doesn’t mean they should.”

The easiest way for a staff to avoid copyright violations is to simply use only those materials they create themselves. For instance, use photographs of students wearing Taylor Swift T-shirts rather than pulling a Taylor Swift image from the internet.

Staffs could also purchase images from sources like Getty

Images, or get written permission from the owner of the material. A credit line should accompany the image with “Used with written permission from…”

Getting permission can take time, so staffs should plan

ahead to ensure permission is received before the images are submitted.

COPY RIGHTAND COPY WRONG

THE EASIEST WAY FOR A STAFF TO AVOID COPYRIGHT VIOLATIONS IS TO SIMPLY USE ONLY THOSE MATERIALS THEY CREATE THEMSELVES.

by LINDA PUNTNEY

MYTH: LOGOS, MOVIE POSTERS AND CD COVERS

CAN NEVER BE USED WITHOUT PERMISSION.

Those items can be used with a news

or feature story on a company/industry.

But you cannot use most logos without

permission, such as using a popular logo

in your theme development.

MYTH: USING ONLY 10% OF AN ARTICLE OR

10 SECONDS OF A SONG IS ACCEPTABLE.

There is no numerical definition for

safe use. This “guideline” is completely

imaginery. If you use any copy, lyrics or

music without permission, you are in

violation of the work’s copyright.

MYTH: GIVING CREDIT TO THE PERSON

CREATING THE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL

MAKES USING SOMEONE ELSE’S WORK OK.

Attributing credit is not a legal defense.

Copyright focuses on the creator

providing explicit consent for use of the

work, not receiving credit for it.

THREE COPYRIGHT MYTHS CLARIFIED BY THE STUDENT PRESS LAW CENTER



“Getting permission to use NFL logos for a story on favorite professional teams ended up taking more time than we expected and required several communications with the NFL representative,” Gorsuch said. “It was a good experience for the staff to get the proper permission and to understand the whole process.”

The welcome addition of online coverage to yearbooks brings another copyright issue to the forefront. A number of 2015 yearbooks included coverage using Aurasma, an app allowing a virtual reality aspect to a page. The

Will not lift material (photos or

text) from internet resources without

permission and will give proper

attribution for that material as

suggested by the resource provider.

Will officially copyright their own

work to protect it from use by those

who have not requested permission.

Will make clear when material

not created by the staff is included

in the publication. Because the

yearbook is a student production,

it is the ethical responsibility of

staff members to notify the reader

if pictures have been taken, copy

written or designs created by

someone other than a student

staff member. Photo credits should

be given individually to all photos

and bylines should appear with all

stories.

JEA CODE OF ETHICS

FOR YEARBOOK STAFFS

copyright problem exists when MP3 files are downloaded for use as background music for slide shows with still pictures. The use of the music, without written permission from the copyright holder, is a definite copyright violation. Again, original work from student bands or music taken from the public domain are best practices.

Understanding copyright law, using appropriately acquired content and crediting sources correctly are simply three more real-life lessons yearbookers need to learn in the process of creating their masterpieces.

CALUMET, ARAPAHOE HS, CENTENNIAL, CO While Herff Jones’ World Yearbook eliminates the issue of locating, acquiring rights for and purchasing professional news images and the stories that accompany them, some staffs capture the year’s top stories in original coverage. Calumet staffers presented six mods of sports, pop culture, news and entertainment coverage containing legally obtained and credited news photos.


ORNAMENTS, CHOCOLATE AND COFFEE, OH MY!BUILD GREAT RELATIONSHIPS, IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM, ONE CHOCOLATE BAR AT A TIME

In 1999, my own yearbook adviser gave me an ornament with my name and position written on it. I still put it on my Christmas tree to this day because it reminds me that I was a part of something special. I carry on the tradition by doing this for my seniors, and each year I receive text messages from former students with a picture of it and a “thank you.”

As a homeowner, I have discovered that company stays in the kitchen, because that’s where the food is, and all the good conversation happens there. Taking a cue from this, each student is assigned a day to bring in food for the whole staff. Along with being well fed, we learn a lot about each other — the

health nut brings oranges but others say, “Let them eat cake.” This is a way for everyone to be a part of the team.

Also, who doesn't love chocolate? Around the campus, we say “thank you” to all of the teachers whose classes we interrupt by personally delivering a signed thank you note tied to a big bar of chocolate. Experience has taught me that this yummy endeavor pays off because the teachers appreciate how we respect their time.

So, if you want to build great relationships in your classroom and around campus, make sure everyone feels appreciated and a part of something special.

And bring chocolate.

by HEATHER NAGEL

I LEARNED A LONG TIME AGO THAT I AM NOT ONLY A YEARBOOK ADVISER,

BUT ALSO A COACH. IN THE STAFFROOM AND AROUND THE CAMPUS, I HAVE

FOUND WAYS TO ENCOURAGE MY TEAM AND MY COLLEAGUES WITHOUT

USING A WHISTLE OR ASSIGNING EXTRA LAPS.


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Director of Marketing Bruce Hartley has been a yerd a long time. He’s also been a yearbook adviser, an HJ sales rep, a manager who worked with lots of reps and Herff Jones’ Director of Professional Development. He’s seen yearbook change through the years — and he’s seen the unchanged passion for telling great stories and capturing memories.

When Bruce puts on his writer’s cap and thinks both yearbook and blog, he weaves observations and tips into memorable posts for yearbookers everywhere.

But our vision of the blog isn’t one voice or one type of message over and over. Sometimes you’ll see videos or read quick tips. Other days, the missives might be longer — or more serious. We hope to provide tidbits that make you smile,

OUR BLOG

YOUR STORIES

WHETHER YOU'RE RELATIVELY NEW TO THE WORLD OF

YEARBOOKING OR IT'S BEEN YOUR PASSION FOR YEARS, WE BELIEVE

YOUR STORIES (AND IDEAS!) ARE OF INTEREST TO OTHERS.

make you think and make life easier.We’re thankful for others who

have already shared. Adviser Jeremy Flagg from Massachusetts provided tips on creating a culture of yearbook... and not trying to rush his expectations. HJ Rep Genie Westfall from Oregon shared the ways uncovering her mother’s yearbook altered her own feelings about her job doing yearbook all day, every day.

Former editor Richard Reid from Arizona bid his retiring adviser a fond farewell and remembered all he’d learned in yearbook. And a trio of editors from New York detailed their work volunteering with a local elementary school yearbook club.

We love adviser Debra Klevens from Missouri. Her first post was nearly a year ago now when she shared the impact her students

made on the community with a couple of ambitious — and generous — projects. Since then, she’s been published several additional times and she has shared even more than that! Whenever a new lesson exceeds her expectations, something cool happens in the Pawesehi staffroom or she has a “yearbook moment,” she shares.

And blog content manager Kristen Creed logs those posts into a database designed to yield content for the masses on a timely basis. While there are sales messages, fun ideas and more helpful tips in the queue, we’re always looking for more voices, more contributors, more content. You might remember receiving an eBlast or two along these lines in recent months.

We meant what we said — we’d love to have you contribute to the blog. It’s easy.

If you — or your students — are willing to share ideas, inspirations or tips, we’d be happy to receive them; go to bit.ly/ybkblogsubmit

YOUR YEARBOOK. It’s more than the year’s biggest group project, more than a home away from home. It’s a chance to find your voice and tell stories that matter. And it’s the ultimate educational experience; from writing, photography and design to planning, organization, communication and leadership, yearbook delivers a daily dose of 21st century learning. We’re here to support all of your efforts with powerful tools, flexible programming, unparalleled resources and reps who love the process and the product too. It’s true. Yearbook is

OUR PASSION.

discoveries vol 20 iss01

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