Lorem Ipsum

Want to know all the facts about Lorem Ipsum? I found a cool website that explains it all! So now when your students ask "Why do we have to use that random text?" you can give them a valid explanation.
It also generates paragraphs for you when you need some! http://www.lipsum.com/

10 things to do before you leave for summer break!

THEY'RE HERE! Yaaay!!!

Here are 10 things to remember to do before the end of the year:

1. If you don't use your over runs, let us know. We can take them off your bill and credit you back. Once we pick them up we use them as samples for other schools.

2. Make sure you square away all invoice questions with us if you have any.

3. SIGN UP FOR YEARBOOK CAMP! www.walswortheast.com

4. Pick a theme for next year and get started on designs and colors.

5. Cover the end of the year (prom and graduation) even if you don't plan to put anything in next year's book. It's always good to have just in case you change your mind.

6. Fill out your critiques for CSPA and NSPA and send them in.

7. Purchase things for next year like cameras or waycom boards.

8. Let us know what InDesign you plan to use and if your tech people are going to install a new version over the summer. We need to make sure you have the correct enhancements!

9. Start planning how you're going to market next year's book in the summer. Make flyers and put up posters to buy early. Find out when registration is and BE THERE with a table to sell ybks.

10. Start selling business Ads for next year's book. That way, they can't say they already bought an AD from another school. The sooner you get in there the better. Have sign up's for the summer and who will go to what business.

Until next time!

-K

WOAH! Check this yearbook out!

Go ahead and read the article below. I know many yearbookers want to use new material in their book and this is how one Florida school did it. They show amazing design in their layouts and did extensive research for their articles.

REMEMBER this, they received approval from the adviser and principal. There is also a bit in there that says a school board member stands behind them.

http://beacononlinenews.com/news/daily/4920

Enjoy!

-Kat

Yearbook insert.

Hey everyone-

I was searching through pinterest and found this great insert for your yearbook. The link went to google so I can't tell you who created it but whoever did was a genius.

-Kat

Oh no!

Oh my, we are so sorry we haven't been posting. Shame shame. We promise to post more from now on!


On a fun note...Kat just joined pinterest and has been going CRAZY pinning random yearbook things. Go ahead and follow her so she'll be happy :)


www.pinterest.com/katphillipsybk

GET YOUR YARD SIGNS!

One of the best ways to promote your yearbook sales and spread awareness about the yearbook is by using public signage in very visible areas.
Many schools have done this with yard signs that carry a yearbook message. The signs can be placed on the front lawn of your school, or positioned at high-traffic locations such as the entrance or exit to the school.
Walsworth offers plastic, double-sided yard signs that are 18” tall and 24” wide. Each kit comes with two signs and two stands. The first sign reads “Your life. Your memories.” There are two options for the second sign: “Buy a yearbook at yearbookforever.com” or “Buy a yearbook at ________” (blank area to write your sales location).
The cost is $10 per kit, plus $6 for shipping, and orders can be placed by emailing kit.department@walsworth.com. Make sure to include your school name, quantity and if you want the version with the yearbookforever.com URL or the blank version.

Walsworth celebrating 75 years of printing excellence in 2012

Kansas City, Mo. (Feb. 15, 2012) – It’s a Diamond Jubilee for Walsworth Publishing Company, as the family-owned company will spend 2012 celebrating its 75^th anniversary.
Walsworth Publishing was started by three Walsworth brothers – Don, Ed and Bill – who began printing playbills in 1937. That venture led the company from its beginnings in the railroad town of Marceline, Mo., in north-central Missouri, to its status today among the 50 largest printing companies in the U.S., among the top 10 book printers and among the top five yearbook printers.
The company recently was named a Fast Track firm by Printing Impressions magazine, which cited Walsworth as a company in growth mode and aggressive about keeping pace with technology and best practices to better serve customers. Current company leadership is under the second and third generations: Don O. Walsworth, CEO, and his son, Don Walsworth, president.
“Not many companies make it to their 75^th anniversary. I know Walsworth made it to this milestone because of the loyalty, support and passion our customers and employees have for the company. Another reason for the company’s longevity and strength is the bond that exists between our employees and customers. It is this bond that makes up the Walsworth family, and it will be this bond that will take us to our 100^th anniversary, and beyond,” Don Walsworth, president, said.
“I am grateful to every employee and customer of Walsworth over the past 75 years. My family and I look forward to a future full of promise and success – not just for my family, but for the entire Walsworth family.” Walsworth said.
Walsworth Publishing operates from administrative offices and printing and binding facilities in Marceline, Mo., a prepress facility in Brookfield, Mo., a sales and marketing office in Kansas City, Mo., and a printing facility in Saint Joseph, Mich. The Donning Company Publishers in Virginia Beach, Va., a specialty book publisher, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walsworth.

Spruce up your Swim page!

Quince Orchard High School had an awesome idea! Their editor, Jordan, borrowed an underwater camera and took pictures of their swim team at practice. He was in the pool with the camera under the water and took some amazing shots. He's even giving them to the swim team coach so he can critique his swimmers. That's pretty cool.

What type of new ideas did you have for this years yearbook?

-K

Namestamping!

Hello eveyone! Welcome back to school! We'd love to hear about any of the fun things you did during your vacation. Feel free to shoot us an email. The best email gets a retweet on our twitter (@metroyearbooks) and a $5 Starbucks card!

I'm sure you're all gearing up to complete January deadlines, begin your exams and move into the next semester.

We've been really excited to see the progress you all are making and some of the creative, unique and extraordinary work you're doing! Keep up the good work!

January means namestamping lists are due soon, so we can make sure they get printed into your cover correctly. This year our process is more streamlined and easier than ever before. To train you and/or your staffers on the new process, Kat and I will be holding virtual training sessions next week. This is new for us, and we're so excited to debut it!

If you can attend one of the following meetings, please send us an email so we can send you an invititation!

Tuesday, January 17th at 7:30am
Wednesday, January 18th at 12:30pm

If you need any help or have any input, please feel free to contact us anytime!

Deadlines coming up!

Hey guys! There are some important deadlines coming up and we need you to remember them!!! We will also be sending out an email a week before each deadline to remind you again :)

January 28th - Online sales Final page and book count due (email us at metroyearbooks@walsworth.com for this one!)

January 28th-  Namestamp lists submitted online (email your CSR for this one! Cheryl.Ball@walsworth.com or Dana.Davis@walsworth.com)

March 15th-  Itag list due (email your CSR!)

Customized Marketing at Walsworth

If you aren't taking advantage of our customized marketing, you're CRAZY!!!

Walsworth will create a PDF for you and your school that is customized from pictures of students to the price of your book. You can print them in color for free and put them all over the school. The number one spot right now is to put them next to the student sign out area in the main office. Parents and students signing out will see it and HOPEFULLY grab one when they leave to go home.

Talk to Whitney and me about this so we can get you started.

Walsworth Welcomes Mike Taylor!!!

Walsworth Publishing is very proud and excited to announce that Mike Taylor has joined our company in the role of Journalism Specialist/Key Accounts.

Mike most recently worked in a key accounts role with Balfour/Taylor Yearbooks, and has been a respected instructor at yearbook workshops and conventions all over the country.

Mike was an adviser for 13 years at Lecanto High School in Lecanto, Fla., and he guided his staffs to CSPA Crown and NSPA Pacemaker awards. He is, quite simply, a yearbook guru and we’re thrilled to have him on our team.

You can read more about why Mike made the decision to join Walsworth, the work he is going to be doing for us, and our commitment to yearbook in this article on our website.

As always, feel free to contact us with any questions

How Do I order a Yearbook?

I was looking around at everyone's school websites and I noticed it was hard to find out how to purchase a yearbook. If I (your favorite yearbook rep) can't figure out how to buy a yearbook, how will your parents know?

Make sure you're using a very visible picture or link to yearbookforever.com. Go on to your members only website and click on marketing central. There you will find website banners, customized marketing and marketing resources.

Remember, if you can't find it, how will your parents find it?

Friendly Reminder-Proof Holds

Hey Guys! Remember, when you're gone for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Spring break you need to have your proofs held. This way they don't get sent to the school when you're not there. 

You can do this on your members only page under MANAGE PROOF DELIVERY.

Bond. James Bond? No, Yearbook Bond.

Yearbook is hard work. Your staff needs to work well together to get the job done right and on time. It is helpful if your staff can get to know each other so they can understand each others’ strengths and weaknesses.
Spending time together having fun or sharing serious thoughts can lead all staff members to a greater understanding of how they can best work together on this large yearbook project. As school gets rolling in September, consider these activities for bonding.

• Hold a “name that computer” contest for the computers. Once they are named, have the staff design name tags to post on the computers.
• Play with Play-Doh on National Play-Doh Day on Sept. 18. Let them play with a bit of it during a brainstorming session, or keep a few cans on hand for an instant break time. Please immediately pick up any dropped Play-Doh, especially if you have carpeting in your room.
• Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month is a good time to write short notes to these people on your staff, encouraging them for the upcoming year.
• September is Shameless Promotion Month. Have fun brainstorming ways to sell your yearbook this year, or let the school know how cool it is to be on staff. How about a video?
• Take some time for exercise during Line Dance Week Sept. 12-17. Learn a couple of line dances that the staff can get up and do when they need a break during a long work session, or even at the end of a weekly staff meeting.

Bonding can even occur over serious subjects. Here are two diverse topics, one is serious and one is solemn.

• National Love Your Files Week is Sept. 19-23. Discuss with your staff the importance of file management, so that spreads and images can be quickly located. While a good file management plan is important, the key component is that everyone uses it faithfully.
• This year is the 10^th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. While the date is important to all Americans, it is more meaningful to students directly affected in some way. Spend time letting students discuss how the event affected them. Then brainstorm coverage ideas.

There also are activities you can do all year to make staff feel good and give them a quick break. Schedule a Friday Fun activity to let them burn off some energy. Have a different staff member be responsible for planning the activity each week. Also remember to honor staff birthdays every month with a cake or cupcakes. Don’t forget to recognize summer birthdays in May.

Videos can be fun!

Hey Yearbookers!
Go to the Walsworth link below and check out what they wrote about Sherwood and their yearbook video.
Then, WATCH IT! :) and make your own special yearbook video!


http://www.walsworthyearbooks.com/blog/09002/sherwood-high-staff-gets-goofy-in-their-latest-yearbook-video/

Be a Yearbook Trendsetter

Here is an article from our Walsworth Blog that we thought you would love!

Trends burst into the spotlight, and then their star power fades away. Some may be given rebirth, such as 3-D in movies (think “Shrek” or “Saw 7″) and in photography (seen in magazines, including ESPN: The Magazine, and in newspapers, such as the Oct. 31, 2010, edition of The Kansas City Star).

For fashionistas, think of the animal print that has been the must-have accessory. Every year I say I am going to buy something in a leopard print; every year I say it can’t be in style again. And yet, it is.

As an adviser, guiding teen staff members in using design trends can be scary, with pitfalls to be avoided. Will it set up the yearbook as a joke, like the 2007 Bond-themed yearbooks? Will the judges not be hip enough to know the trend and take off points, like getting inspiration from Nylon magazine? Or, will it just fall flat as readers will just not understand, like 3-D?

Using a trend means not using it as-is, but being inspired by it and taking it in a different direction. This should lead you and your staff to being trendsetters, which means using some cool ideas before the rest of the general yearbook population.

For an article on the college football game between Kansas State and Missouri on Nov. 13, 2010, a photo of Kansas State running back Daniel Thomas, running with the ball, was cut out and placed on top of a photo of Missouri players during a play on the field. The photo illustrates the story’s angle of the need for Missouri’s defensive line to stop Thomas. (Missouri photo by Dave Weaver, Associated Press; Thomas photo by Bo Rader, the Wichita Eagle)

Five places to look for trend ideas right now.

Newspapers. USA Today has great infograph ideas and designs. But check the nearest big city newspaper to see what their designers are up to. The Kansas City Star has excellent photo illustrations in the sports section, and the FYI section is another good place to look. In The StarThe Star did this twice in one week, once in the business section and once in sports. in November, I saw something that I refer to as embedding a photograph in another photograph. One photograph was used as the background, while another relating photograph has the cut-out background feature and is placed in the forefront so that it appears as if the person is coming out of the background picture. I think it helped draw readers into the story.

Magazines. Check out magazines. Besides websites, magazines will be the most current source of trend design you will have at your fingertips.

• Text bubbles: Everyone is using them, from print to web to television. Entertainment Weekly likes to use them in their infographs for a graphic design element. And since we are used to seeing the bubbles to carry conversations, readers can easily relate as the bubble says, “Hey, I am talking here.” Bubbles can be made easily in InDesign, or download several types for free at brusheezy.com.
  

  While dialog bubbles have been seen in yearbooks with comic book themes, they also are popping up in yearbooks without illustrations. The bubble pulls readers into additional pieces of information supplied by the people in the photographs. And they do not have to be white; use theme colors. (Leslie Nielson obituary from Entertainment Weekly)

• Big headlines, big photograph: A large headline with an appropriate font will bring readers into a story, as will an emotional, well-composed photograph on either the right or left side of a double-page spread. Check out ESPN: The Magazine for inspiration.

• Calendars: Chronological books are a current trend for organizing the yearbook. Even though magazines use sections to organize their material, several have started using calendars to give extra information to their public. My staff added a calendar look this year, which will provide another opportunity to include more students as well as recognize events that do not deserve a full page but do deserve to be recorded for the year. This is a good place to also put those unexpected but cool events.

Websites. I have already mentioned using websites but I would like to give a couple of specific ones for inspiration. The website issuu.com is a publishing website where publications can upload their magazine for public viewing. The newspaper staff and yearbook staff at my school use this site daily for trends ideas. Since most publications and their advisers are on a budget, it is hard to buy several new magazines every month. This is a free website and can be budget-friendly.  Another website to use is webdesignerdepot.com.

Look at more magazines and spend less money by going to a website like issuu.com. Here you can look at many different types of magazines for inspiration. A website like webdesignerdepot.com provides great inspiration while also informing aspiring web designers about the world of work in web design.

Advertisements. Creativity is part of the advertising world, and you know this especially if you watch “Mad Men” on AMC cable network. People in advertising must catch the interest of an audience that has no time to be slowly lured in. Target has done wonders with its bullseye, and the Apple iPod silhouette image is so popular that it continues to be copied. Graphic designers also know the power of a big headline with that one powerful image.

Junk mail. This includes any catalogs from Urban Outfitters or Lowe’s Home Improvement Store, which actually have some good infograph designs in them. But another set of pamphlets to keep and peruse would be those from colleges and universities that your staff is receiving. Since the graphic arts departments at these schools usually design these materials, these college students are putting to use what they have been taught, which can help when you are trying to steer to good design trends.

Reading through the list you may have noticed I referred to time periods of several years when talking about trends to use in your yearbook. It is important to start looking in the spring to find those designs that interest you, and continue this cycle until the following spring. Then go to your file, weed out those you used and those you look at and say, “What was I thinking?” In the process, you might find a trend to use once or a trend to repeat. But never stop progressing down the less-traveled path.

I know that leg warmers have made a return, but I have to say that is a trend I just never followed the first time. I do not want a 3-D book because I do not want to take phone calls from people wanting another set of those 3-D glasses. But as for that leopard-print purse? Yes, I think I will just have to finally have one.

Article by Karla Thompson

Karla Thompson, CJE, is the yearbook adviser at Lee’s Summit High School in Lee’s Summit, Mo., where she also teaches senior honors English. She has held offices with local and state scholastic journalism organizations, and was named the Missouri Interscholastic Press Association’s High School Journalism Teacher of the Year in 2006. She teaches at summer workshops and state and national conventions.

Karla has written 1 article(s) for the Idea File.

Quickly Calibrate your Monitor

Hey guys! I found this website just recently about monitor calibration. What I liked most about it was that a lot of you guys are working with online design and not receiving proofs from the plant. Without a real calibration machine, these simple tests will help you out in getting the closest color match on your schools monitor. Try it out!
http://www.imaging-resource.com/ARTS/MONCAL/CALIBRATE.HTM

Summer time and the livin's easy

Lately, judges and critiques are looking at seasonal or chronological books and asking, "why is summer so sparse?" That's because no one is getting out there and working on yearbook during the summer. You might ask, "Kat, what IS there to do during the summer?" Well guys, I have a few ideas for you.

- If you're trying out for a sport or going to camp for that sport, ask your coach if you can get some pictures of students during that time. You could have a spread about tryouts and camp together or do one for each.

-Did you or your friends go on vacation? If so, grab some of the photos from it to use for a summer vacation spread.

-I bet a few people at your school worked during the summer. Find out where people work by looking at their Facebook or if you're going to be by that place, snap a few photos. You could do a summer jobs spread in the yearbook as well.

-My favorite idea of all needs to happen now...Find out if anyone is going to study abroad or go to a foreign country to teach or help build houses. How interesting would it be to have a feature story page about them?

-Market the yearbook during the summer! At the end of the school year you can hand out flyers suggesting to students and their parents that if they missed out this year to get a yearbook, don't miss out next year. Order it now! You can offer the book for $5 off during summertime only.

-Sell OLD yearbooks. Put out a flyer if you have any old yearbooks laying around during graduation or any other event in the summer. If a parent see's their students freshman yearbook at graduation, they might just want to buy it off of you!

Another important thing to do during the summer is GO TO YEARBOOK CAMP! Here's a list of the things that can be finished before school starts if you come to camp...

- Theme

- Cover

- Endsheets

- Divider pages

- The layouts of at least three spreads in the yearbook

- Marketing ideas for the whole year

- New updated Facebook page for your yearbook

- Folios

- Graphics for the yearbook

- All of your fonts chosen for the entire year

- Finished ladder

- Deadlines sorted out and how many pages you'll be submitting during that time

- Who knows, you might even win a camera or an upgrade for your cover at camp during the auction. 
Go to www.walswortheast.com to find out more about the workshop.

If you have any other ideas and want us to share them, email us or post a comment below. 

Oh and PS- Thats Muggs (my puggle) enjoying herself on the beach.

Have It Your Way

As some of you know I started my yearbook career on the west coast (sort of) in Arizona. While I was there I got to know quite a few of the award winning advisers from California. Jim Jordan is one of my favorite people of all time and turn to him when I'm looking for great ways to better the yearbook programs I work with.

He has a great website through his school. It can be found here.

We know that this time of year it's really easy to take a break and try not to think about yearbook for awhile. This can be seriously detrimental to your program for next year, however, so we'd like to propose some fresh new ideas about how to start developing next year's theme now.

We've all heard about the tried and true method of a "theme packet." Some schools do individual packets, some break their classes up into groups of students, but this is a widely used method of getting the creative juices flowing and the conversation started about next year.

But what about starting the conversation as a class. Below is a link to a worksheet that asks very general questions that can get your students thinking about why next year is going to be different from every year before it. This is a great place to start when looking for a new, unique theme that is relevant to your school for next year.

Jim Jordan's Theme Development Worksheet.

Often doing a group brainstorming session can help your students begin to visualize and unite under a theme that the whole staff can get behind. Now, as with everything else you're never going to make 100% of people happy 100% of the time. If you have some competing personalities, sometimes an executive decision needs to be made, but here are some great Team Building resources for you to use to help get your staff working together.

Jim Jordan's Team Building Exercises. 

Remember a theme needs to be evident in the following places at the very least:

• cover
• endsheets
• title page
• dividers
• folio
• opening/closing

We LOVE doing theme brainstorming sessions, so if you'd like us to come into your class and help with theme development, don't hesitate to contact us!