eShare

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(Click on the photo to enlarge)

What if parents and students, coaches and spectators, teachers and staff could get photos to the yearbook crew quickly and easily? Now they can, with eShare, a Herff Jones internet site to which school stakeholders can upload their pics. Advisers gain full control of the photos through a secure adviser log-in and decide which to make available for use in the book.

We’ll provide a flier to photocopy and send home with students, a school code for community members to use, a website banner and a link to put on your school’s website. You’ll provide the cut-off date for photo submission. To the plant, you’ll also provide “up” dates and “down” dates for site activation, and will learn the easy steps for downloading or using the photos.

Now, imagine growing the  culture of your school in which EVERYONE can help  tell the story of the year. The magic just got easier.

Contact Steven or Thomas for more information and to sign up for this powerful new tool.

Book sales

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Need some last minute ideas for book sales? Here are a few.

Tip #1. Despite all our technological sophistication, no sales drive works better than having the yearbook staff ask, face to face. Identify the students in school who have not purchased a book, divide their names among staff members, come up with a cute handout, and make personal contact an assignment with a grade for each of the students. Prior to the sales push, have them practice their approach with each other. Help them with a script, if needed. For a real nice touch, make sure you let the unsold students you are approaching know they are in the book. If your  staff members can jot the page numbers on the flier on which their assigned students are featured in pictures, captions, or stories, even better. Include ordering info on the flier, and the suggestion that students share the info with their parents. Advisers, consider having an incentive for the staff member who makes the most sales this way.

Tip #2. Same as above, but target faculty. It’s much more effective to have students divide up the administration and faculty who have not purchased books and approach them personally – much better than a cold email.

Tip #3. Use your principal. A well-delivered and enthusiastic phone-home or letter home from the the school’s leader can be very effective. Be sure to include pricing and deadlines. Principals, perhaps more than anyone, want the book to be a financial success.

Tip #4. Yearbooks make a great holiday gift. Let parents know they can purchase the book as a present. They obviously won’t get it until late May, so print up a “gift certificate” that purchasers will get now.

Congratulations

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Julie Mancini, the adviser for Dunnellon High School, was named the FSPA District 2 Adviser of the Year for 2007-2008.

Mancini completed her 9th year as yearbook adviser and 7th year as newspaper adviser. She has a passion for photography and has developed an interest for all things related to journalism, especially graphic design and technology. In 2007, she was chosen to participate in the Reynolds High School Journalism Institute by the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Doing freelance work, she has been published in Budget Travel magazine, the Star Banner and the Riverland News. She is a Club Herff mentor and has been a regular fixture at workshops. Congratulations, Julie!

Club Herff

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Education. Recognition. Motivation. Support. All are hallmarks of how Herff Jones and the Yearbook Connection approach schools and the world of yearbook journalism. We are excited about an another element we are adding to the mix: community. This year, the Yearbook Connection is piloting a program to help support newer or less experienced advisers by building strong connections not only with the Herff Jones yearbook team, but also with a network of experienced and tested advisers. Why not take advantage of as many resources as possible?

Contact Steven or Thomas to get more information about becoming a mentor, or getting some help from one or more of our talented advisers willing to share their time and knowledge.


Keep your text frames

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You may have noticed in eDesign that text frames seem to disappear. Once you draw them and then click somewhere else, the frame is no longer visible. It’s really still there, but can be hard to find. From a design point of view, it is sometimes nice to have those frames visible so that you can see and plan for the placement of text elements.

To make the frames stay visible, go to the view menu in eDesign, and select “show frames.” This will make all frames that you’ve drawn remain visible on the spread.

If you need to hide the frames, simply go back to the view menu and select “hide frames.” The same process can be used for guides and columns, too.

We appreciate all the feedback and questions you’ve been directing to us on eDesign, not to mention the layouts and spreads that are taking shape. Keep up the good work!

Herff’s Up!

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Yes, yearbook is a fun and exciting way to capture the magic of school. This year, for many, promises to be tough, though. Schools have faced the budget axe, principals have had to make difficult decisions and many families are having to tighten their belts.

But oh what a year it promises to be, too! China opened itself for the Olympics and we got glimpses of its culture: mania, obsession with image, drive, and power. This will be a historic election year: Barack Obama is the first ever African American nominee and John McCain is a bonafide American hero. Both face a grim economy and protracted war. Our communities will wrangle over these and many other events. Education and experiences and personal stories are literally all around us. Are you up to the challenge?

As we help connect people to their school years, before the memories have faded or been discarded, think of the opportunities and responsibilities that we have: we capture with picture, word and theme the story of the year. Design ideas, content, captions, decisions. There is always much to do, much to plan, but know you’re not alone with Herff Jones and the Yearbook Connection.

We’re up to the challenge of the year, and know you will be, too.

You Oughta’ Be Indexing!

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If you haven’t started already, and you’re planning on doing an index, now’s a great time to start. Although schools sometimes wait until proofs to build an index, the Herff Jones Index Builder makes the task quite easy. In fact, because the program can be run multiple times, it serves as an excellent way to generate a list of who’s been in the book how many times. It also helps catch name spelling discrepancies.

What to index? First of all, all students and faculty should be indexed whenever they appear in the book. This includes portraits and candids, as well as any time their names appear in print. Indexing programs sort through InDesign page files for names in text, so it is important to accurately name the subjects of photos, give proper attribution for quotes, and properly use names within copy. For example, names in captions should always be first name – last name. The first time a name is used in a copy block or caption, it should be written first name – last name and all subsequent instances should use last name only. By-lines and photo credits should not be indexed. Continue reading →

Vignette Photo in InDesign

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A vignette photo allows a portion of an image to be screened or ghosted down to a lower opacity while allowing the dominant or most important part of the picture to remain at full color and brightness. It is an interesting effect that focuses the reader’s attention on one portion of the image. The technique can also be used to screen down a portion of a photo so that type can be more easily read. To download a handout demonstrating the technique, click here.

Method 1

While Adobe Photoshop® is the primary software for photo manipulation, InDesign does allow for some cool photo techniques like a vignette photo. A vignette is an effect where the center of interest, or focal point, of the photo gradually fades into the background, usually in an oval shape.

STEP 1: Place (File > Place) an image from Photoshop or through Herff Jones Image In (Herff Jones > HJ Image In) onto your layout.

STEP 2: Select the Ellipse Frame tool from beneath the Rectangle Frame tool on the Tool palette. You can also use a rectangle, circle, polygon, star or any other frame shape to create the vignette effect.

Continue reading →