Typography, Headlines and Infographics

The first page is always the title page. Other pages to set aside include
the division pages at the beginning of each section, ad pages (if the staff
sells advertising), opening and closing sections, and the index. Add the
number of pages needed for these sections and subtract that figure from
the total pages in the book to find the number of pages you have avail-
able to use as you choose.
Yearbooks are printed in 16-page sections called signatures. The lad-
der will show the signatures, but you can figure them out by counting
1–16, 17–32, 33–48 and so on. To get the best value, color pages should
be planned in one or two signatures with early deadlines. Complete sig-
natures should be sent to the printer together whenever possible.
Most yearbooks are organized in sections, such as student life, people,
academics, sports, organizations and special events. Current or world
events may be in a section by itself, be part of an opening or student life
section or be in a mini-mag (see the next section). Ads and the index are
also separate sections.
The staff can figure out how many pages will be needed for mug shots
when they know how many people are in the school and how big they
want each photo to be. To make the mug pages more interesting, many
schools combine some student life stories with the people pages. To do
this, add more pages on the ladder for the people section.
Another decision to be made is the order in which the sections appear.
The theme, placement of color pages, individual school circumstances
and staff preferences influence placement of the sections. The number
of pages in each section, or the percentage of the book given to each
topic, is determined by the staff. (See Figure 18.2 for the guidelines of
the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.) The sizes of the sections may
vary based on the size of the yearbook, the number of students involved
in each area, tradition and special events or circumstances. An athletic
team that wins a state championship, an academic team that wins hon-
ors, a new program, or an unusual event such as an anniversary or an
addition to the school building during the year may tip the ladder more
heavily in favor of one section or another.

YEARBOOKS AND MAGAZINES^409

Source: Adapted with permission from Scholastic Yearbook Fundamentals, 2nd edition,
Columbia Scholastic Press Association, New York, N.Y.

YEARBOOK SIZE 120 pages 240 pages 400 pages

NUMBER OF PAGES ALLOCATED TO SECTIONS

Advertising: 12 32 50

Index: 6 8 12

Remainder: 102 200 338

Typical Allocations

23% Student Life 24 46 78–80

12% Academics 12 24 40–42

25% People 26 50 84–86

15% Groups 16 30 50–52

18% Sports 18 36 60–62

Number of Pages

Staff Will Produce 96 185 312–322

FIGURE 18.2

SUGGESTED PAGE

ALLOCATIONS

signature

a 16-page section of a

yearbook printed on the

same piece of paper during

production; pages one

through 16; 17–32, 33–48 and

49–60 are signatures