When it comes to picking the yearbook company that works best for you there are a few things to think about. One of those being accessibility; using Shutterfly to create a yearbook is very simple in the sense that you can go on their website, get an instant quote, make your yearbook, and then continue on to order them. Their site allows you to create a log-in and continue working on your book at your own pace, it also allows you to pull photos from social media platforms along with any files on your computer. Something that can be a concern is that Shutterfly only allows one person to work on the book at a time, so if you have a yearbook club or multiple people working on your book this could serve as a challenge.
Another thing to consider when picking your yearbook company is formatting. One of things that schools may not like about Shutterfly is that their books are printed with their logo on the back of the book. The company charges you $10.00 if you wanted to get that logo removed. Another concern for yearbook advisors is even though you can pay to get the Shutterfly logo removed there is a barcode that will be printed on each book that is located on the bottom right corner of the front cover and also the bottom right corner of the inner back cover. Their reasoning for the barcodes is that the books are easier to keep track of and ship when they are ready to go. However, having barcodes on your book may not be what you want and may take away from the overall feel of your book. Shutterfly yearbooks only go up to 110 pages so if you are making a yearbook for a large school or just need more pages than that, Shutterfly is probably not for you.
A major concern for any yearbook advisor should always be how the company’s editing process is. Some questions you might be considering are: it easy to use, does it look good, how will my pictures come out, etc. One of the great things about Shutterfly is their picture quality; which are printed on nice glossy paper. These pictures always seem to come out with the best resolution; there are options for you to edit each picture as well including fixing things like red-eyes, diminishing or enhancing the color, add filters, and rotate and resize the photo. Another cool feature they have in regards to picture editing is if the resolution on the photo is too low Shutterfly will warn you right away with an exclamation mark signaling you to either use a different photo or rework the photo in order to better the resolution. Shutterfly offers a wide variety of layouts and clipart for your book which could add some creativity to your book. Now when it comes to text editing Shitterfly is lacking slightly. The font selection was limited, certain special characters are not allowed, the software is slow in switching fonts, and the copy and paste for the text boxes was not very easy. Another concern with the text editing is that letters can be cut off in your final print even when you stay in the lines that you are supposed to. Overall, their editor software could definitely benefit from some sort of revamping.
Something else you might be considering when it comes to selecting a yearbook company is pricing. If you were to order an 11×8 hardcover book with selecting the option of having up to 100 pages each book would cost approximately $55.42 including fees and tax. If you chose a 11×8 softcover book with the same amount of pages the cost would approximately be $50.64. When comparing that price with other yearbook companies such as Walsworth, Taylor Publishing, and Entourage Yearbooks; Shutterfly is more expensive than the others.
Along with accessibility, formatting, the editing process, and pricing; one more thing to consider is the deadlines companies have in order to have your yearbook delivered in the time frame that you choose. When using Shutterfly to build your yearbook, your completed yearbook should be submitted two weeks before the date you want them to be delivered. This might serve as an advantage for your school since a lot of other companies, for example Jostens, that would like to have your completed book by the end of February. Using Shutterfly can be nice because it can include most of all of the school year instead of missing most of the spring.
Overall, there are advantages and disadvantages of each yearbook company that your school may be selecting. It is important to weigh the pros and cons with what aligns for you. If price and formatting are the most important thing to you then pick your company accordingly. If price doesn’t matter but photo quality does then pick the company that works best for your school.