Common Yearbook Mistakes
Among the craze of all the preparation for classes and grading, sometimes the stress piled on from creating a yearbook can be the straw that broke the camel’s back. And it’s quite the straw! Pressure from parents and the school board, potential bombshells and excessive deadlines… it’s a lot to take in! However, we are here for you with a list of common mistakes new advisors make and how to avoid them using common yearbook companies’ unique way of support!
- Inconsistency
One of the most common mistakes making yearbooks is when your yearbook is filled with inconsistencies. Given that most yearbooks are edited by so many people, it’s easy to lose track of the many variations blessing the English language. If you weren’t aware, this usually occurs with words that have many different spellings such as “gray” and “grey” or “e-mail” vs. “email”. This seemingly small error can make your yearbook seem unprofessional and rushed. Luckily, some of our yearbook companies have some tips to avoid such from occurring!
Company complementaries:
Picaboo – while they do not check every box of text, they do provide an electronic spell check that should catch any big mistakes you make.
Entourage Yearbooks has a constantly evolving software, working to cater to the needs of every customer and advanced enough to provide an extra safeguard against many mistakes that are usually overlooked by other companies.
Unfortuntely, this kind of error is not usually covered by yearbook companies so it’s important to double check everything that is put in the yearbook and have multiple editors from your team proofread as well!
- Busy Fonts
Sometimes, it can be pretty easy to get carried away with the different types of fonts that you can use. By the time you realize that maybe using 20 different fonts was a bit excessive, your page looks like it was signed by the whole school! This can distract readers from the actual content you have written and make it look messy. Remember; sometimes, simple is best!
Company Complementaries:
Simply Yearbooks provides easy templates to use so you don’t have to worry about what kind of design goes with which font. On top of that, there’s also a personal trainer that helps teach users the designing process, and is ready to answer any questions you may have.
For a price, one can have a professional editor look over a book at Book Baby. This can be as simple as checking spelling and grammatical error to as complex as making suggestions to help your tone flow together more. With this help, a yearbook advisor can rest easy knowing that if all else fails, at least their content will be grammatically and syntactically clean!
- Misspellings
Similar to the problem with word inconsistency, misspellings can make your yearbook look unprofessional and undermine all the hard work and effort that you’ve poured into the memory book. However, even reviewing the book can have you overlooking some obvious mistakes. Entourage even jokes that, “We actually had a school submit a book to us with the word ‘school’ misspelled on the front cover!” It’s a good thing that our yearbook companies have our backs!
Company Complementaries:
Lifetouch has a tool known as the “Lifetouch Creation Tool”, where among it, there is also a spell check and custom dictionary that allows you to add some slang and other words to help your editors stay on the same page. As a bonus, there is also a feature that automatically adds students’ portrait names to the custom dictionary. No more misspellings!
Book Baby has a proofreader that goes word-by-word in order to check for spelling and grammatical errors. This is just one check in a three check process, done by a Bookbaby employee to ensure you get the best book you can receive!
- Unbalanced Coverage
One of the greatest fears of yearbook advisors is completing the yearbook and realizing that something is missing. From absent portraits to whole teams left out, that’s a lot of extra stress! But it’s also nerve-wracking when you get the printed book and realize that the same group of friends keep popping up. Nothing can be worse than a parent complaining about their shy child never showing up in the expensive yearbook that was printed. Here’s a couple ways to combat camera-shyness!
Company Complementaries:
Treering provides a guarantee that each student will get two uniquely printed pages that ensure that they make at least a couple of pages so that kids don’t have to worry about not making the cut!
Entourage Yearbooks has taken a unique approach that allows students to not just have their own personalized pages, but their own personalized covers on it! With this, their own portrait can be placed on the front cover, and a personalized message, done in a metal foil, wraps up the unique experience with a child’s name or loving message!
- Low-Resolution Photos
How many times have you ever witnessed a great moment and only had your phone to take a photo? While you may want to include that amazing moment, it may be better to reconsider, especially if your phone camera is not so great. In the end, blowing up low resolution photos for yearbook pages will always create grainy spreads. Even pictures that look good on screen will have you horrified on delivery day.
Company Complementaries:
Yearbook Life has a system that notifies users whenever their photos will no longer show up in good quality, using color-coded borders as indicators. The classic green border shows a good photo which will turn red when the resolution quality changes.
Walsworth offers a pdf that shows how different photo resolutions will show up in a yearbook, even though they may appear fine in regular printing. There are also many articles they wrote on how to take photos with higher resolution.
- Inappropriate Content
The battle between students and the school districts has been going on for generations. In fact, it’s a losing battle for administration as social media transforms slang faster than teachers can register. As such, a seemingly innocent wardrobe choice or hand gesture can have parents demanding your resignation. It doesn’t hurt to be extra careful!
Company Complementaries:
Many companies provide manuels detailing common gang and inappropriate hand gestures, however, there is not much other information that seems to be done. Though this is a crucial detail, this kind of censorship relies more on the yearbook staff and school administration to sort out.
- Budgeting
Sometimes, it can be hard to determine how much a yearbook will be, especially if you want those extra nice details like personalizations or that textured cover. As a result, schools can accumulate thousands of dollars of debt, and if you’re not careful, companies can tack on extra or hidden costs!
Company Complementaries:
Entourage Yearbooks became one of the first yearbook companies to be upfront with their costs, promising no hidden fees. Beyond this, they have also included a yearbook budgeting calculator that allows you to figure out an estimate on how much your yearbook will cost.
Similarly, Picaboo claims lower prices and even provides a price calculator. With them, you can be assured that your books will be cheap and easy!
- Failure to Sell
Similar to the last point, overestimating how many books you’ll need can lead to big money problems. If your yearbook is overpriced or doesn’t catch people’s eye, you can kiss large sales goodbye. All that’s left is a bunch of tacky books that will clutter up your storage room and an angry administration. Yikes!
Company Complementaries:
Yearbook Life gives a number of tips and tricks to help with selling your book, from a dazzling cover to general ideas on how to make your book look professional and appealing to both students and staff.
With Simply Yearbook, there are many software tricks to engage students, including taking photos directly from tablets and social media to create great yearbook pages. There are also many templates that can help generate fun yearbook ideas, while constantly engaging your students.
- Missing Delivery Dates
Arguably, the scariest mistake is missing delivery dates. You have successfully sold more yearbooks than estimated, hit all the deadlines, and have triple checked your book just to have the company tell you the books will not make it to you by the last day of school. To avoid this life-shortener, we have a tip for schools.
Company Complementaries:
The general consensus of many yearbook companies is that it’s best to hit your deadlines consistently. Even if you believe that you can just make up the work later, it tends to backfire, pushing back your delivery date. Overall, it’s best to stick to deadlines and push forward; while the stress is high the reward is even better! Teach your students a little time-management skills and your spring self will thank you later.
- Choosing a Yearbook Company
While this may not always be considered a mistake, or the biggest thing to worry about when making a yearbook, this is actually what catches most yearbook advisors in a catch-22. A good yearbook company is what can decide whether many of these mistakes will be resolved. That’s why it’s important to know these common mistakes, do your research, and pick which company will work for you!