Jim Jordan's 40 Things To Do After The Yearbook Is Done

START THINKING ABOUT NEXT YEAR’S STAFF TRAINING 24. HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE TRAINING Depending on the responsibilities of each staffer during the year, you will need to significantly advance their knowledge and skill with both the hardware and software you use to produce the book. In the organizational structure of my staff, most of the design work is done by the editorial team. So an average staff member has little knowledge of how both our computers, our network and InDesign work to the level necessary to produce a book at the level we demand. This time of year is a perfect time to begin that in depth training process. If you are using Online Design, it is also a great time to begin teaching how to create and build pages for submission. The first assignment to begin the training process is to find an ad that relies on type and photos, and to recreate it using the hardware and software. 25. MAKE A MINI YEARBOOK The best way to learn the hardware and software is to have an assignment to create something. This project was the major focus of the returning staffers for the entire end of the year. Each staffer is required to create a 16-page mini yearbook that they print out and paste together in thumbnail format. I start them copying several award-winning yearbook spreads that are fairly easy to understand and emulate. This process teaches them how to set up a spread template; place, size and move page elements; and understand the use of columns. There is a weekly assignment to help ensure the project gets done by the last week of school. If you aren’t strict about this, you will have too many staffers rushing to finish during the last week of school and even after the final bell on the last day.

Photo by Alexus Cleavenger

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