Lesson

Structure of a Yearbook

Here are some of the common features that you will find in a yearbook:

Cover

• The cover of the yearbook can be made of a variety of materials and treatments such as embossing, foiling, or cutouts.
• Generally speaking, the fancier the cover, the higher the price. Yearbook companies offer eye-catching stock covers for budget-minded staffs.
• Some schools maintain a cover tradition, keeping a uniform appearance from year to year.

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End Sheets

• The end sheets are usually made of heavier weight paper. They hold the pages into the book binding.
• Some staffs keep the end pages plain white in order to have space for signatures/greetings.
• Some staffs choose to make the end sheets decorative or contain thematic elements.

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Signature

• Yearbooks are actually printed on large pieces of paper that are folded to create a unit of pages.
• For yearbooks, a signature represents a 16 page unit.
• Yearbook companies usually require design work to be submitted as a signature rather than page by page.

Spread

• Two facing pages.
• When people look at yearbook, they look at two facing pages as a set or unit. Yearbook staffs usually design facing pages together as a group for visual continuity.

Gutter

• The "crack" of the book, or the space between two facing pages.
• Although photos can "cross the gutter", or span across the middle of facing pages, you run a serious risk of distortion caused by the binding process.
• Copy should not be placed in or through the gutter. You could "lose" entire words that way!

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Natural Spread

• The center spread of a 16 page signature has pages that naturally face each other. Because of the binding process, the gutter of a natural spread will not be affected.
• Photos and copy can cross the gutter on the natural spread without fear of distortion!
• In the 1^st signature, the natural spread would occur on pages 7-8, the center spread.

Table of Contents

• A page that details the various sections of the yearbook and the page numbers they span.
• Some staffs choose to place the table of contents on an end sheet. Others place it in the first signature, most often on the first or second page.

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Folio

• The page number.
• Wherever a staff chooses to place page numbers, that spot should remain consistent throughout the book. The folio should also be the same font and size throughout the book.
• Some staffs include a small graphic with the folio or copy that indicates the section of the book.

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Divider Pages

• Pages designating a new section of the yearbook. Traditionally, dividers are used as beginning points for people sections, club sections, sports sections, and advertisements.
• Usually, the divider pages highlight the yearbook's thematic elements.

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Bleeds

• Photographs that appear to continue off the end of the page rather than stopping at a predetermined border.

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