The Program Works

Coverage

Coverage: A new approach to an old topic.

What goes in a yearbook?

• Big events• Class portraits• Sports• Organizations• Academics

What makes a yearbook different year to year?

• Decisions made about what to cover• How events and topics are covered

Make your yearbook a record of the year.

• Cover 12 months by selecting certain summer events• Cover students’ lives inside and outside of the school day

How to divide a yearbook.

• Traditional yearbook sections include:—Student Life—Academics—Sports—Clubs & Organizations—People—Ads— Index

How much space for each section?

• Student Life 25%

• Academics 12%

• Sports 18%

• Clubs & Organizations 12 – 15%

• People 25 – 30%

• Plus Theme pages, ads and the index

How much space for each section?

Example• Book size: 240 pages

– Theme pageso Title page: 1o Opening: 4o Student life divider: 2o Academics divider: 2o Sports divider: 2o Clubs and organizations divider: 2o People divider: 2o Ads and index divider: 2o Closing: 3

How much space for each section?

Example• Theme pages total 20 pages• Subtract that from 240, leaving 220 pages

How much space for each section?

Example• Other pages removed from the percentages

– Ads: 30 pages– Index: 6 pages– This leaves 184 pages for content

How much space for each section?

Example• Using the percentages given, figure the number of pages per

section. You’ll have to round up or down to even numbers since sections are done in double-page spreads.– Student life: 184 x 25% = 46 pages– Academics: 184 x 12% = 22 pages– Sports: 184 x 18% = 34 pages– Clubs and Organizations: 184 x 12% = 22 pages– People: 184 x 30% = 56 pages– Total: 180– This leaves you four pages to add to a section as needed.

How much space for each section?

Example• But these percentages are just guidelines. Apply the formula to

your school’s unique situation. Examples may be:– No clubs?– A high percentage of the students involved in sports?

What goes into a section.

• Student life is the most fun and flexible section– Contains big events such as homecoming, talent shows and

dances– Contains everyday life activities such as what students wear,

daily habits, living with siblings and the like– Contains spreads on issues, both fun and serious such as

teen-age dating, community service, having to work

What goes into a section.

• Clubs and Organizations is the record of the people involved in these groups– Can be club by club, perhaps with a fast-fact bar about each

club– Can be organized and covered by looking at similarities

between clubs and grouping them togethero Fundraisingo Partieso Community serviceo Meetingso Field tripso Leadership

What goes into a section.

• Academics is the “student life” section of the yearbook– Should be interesting– Should be different year to year– Should cover the entire curriculum– Need not be organized by department or class– Can be covered in a variety of ways

o Skillso Time (period by period, A and B days)o Topics including labs, hands-on activities, presentations,

communication, experiments, field trips and others

What goes into a section.

• Sports is the section people read or ignore, requiring planning to get more people to read it– Cover all sports fairly– Show the tensions and competition of the sport– Arrange chronologically or by importance at your school– Don’t cheerlead – report the highs and the lows objectively– Even losing seasons have positives– A scoreboard is a must– Avoid “sportuguese”

What goes into a section.

• The people section is three sections in one: seniors, underclass and faculty– Portraits in a solid panel– Stories and coverage that works in the limited space left by

portraits– Surveys, profiles, quote boxes and other coverage

How to plan placement.

• Create your ladder diagram– First place theme and divider spreads on the chart

– Leave content areas open until after brainstorming sessions

Things to consider while planning coverage.

• Feasibility of topics for specific deadlines• Which stories lend themselves to good action photos• Possible focus or angle of stories• Color and spot color placement on flats and signatures• Completing signatures

Ways to brainstorm.

• Considering important priorities• Creative section approaches

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING ONE

Ask the staff to make a list of the 20 most important priorities in

each of their lives (ideas, issues, possessions, decisions,

fashions, goals, etc.)

1

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING ONE

Expand the list to include the 20 most important matters in

other teens’ lives

2

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING ONE

Expand the list again to include the 20 most important ideas to

the school community

3

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING ONE

Group the answers in terms of which ones might go together,

which ones are photographically possible and which ones

make you think of possible secondary covers — a poll, a

survey, a Q&A.

4

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING TWO

Ask each staff member to write each letter of the alphabet on a

half page of paper. Give the students 30 seconds per letter to

write down as many words as they can think of that start with

that letter. Make it a competition for the most words and the

most unique words.

1

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING TWO

Review the words and decide which might develop into

spread ideas.

2

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING THREE

Divide into groups and take a walking tour of the school. Make

a list of what each staff member observes. Have one student

act as a tour guide and point out what things she or he knows

about the school. Consider repeating the activity in the school’s

neighborhood and hangouts.

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING FOUR

Make a list of possessions or experiences that cost $5, $50 or

$500. Discuss how they fit into a student’s life.

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING FIVE

Ask staff members to make lists of things that drive them crazy,

make them happy and make them mad. Talk about how these

ideas can be developed into content for the book.

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING SIX

Develop a list of incomplete sentences that students could

complete and expand on:

I was most scared when…

I was happiest when…

I was most surprised when…

I was proudest when…

Student Activity

BRAINSTORMING SEVEN

Look for unique ways to cover a section and then come up with

10 or more spread ideas for that section.

Student Activity

Putting Together the Ladder Diagram

1. Take all the ideas you’ve developed and organize them by

the section of the book.

Student Activity

Putting Together the Ladder Diagram

2. Make a list of potential story angles, action photography

and possible secondary coverage for each spread.

Student Activity

Putting Together the Ladder Diagram

3. Organize the spreads in the order they will appear in the

book and put them on your ladder. Think about when the

staff could complete a spread so signatures can be

completed.

Student Activity

Putting Together the Ladder Diagram

4. Double check the ladder to make sure you haven’t left out

an important event, group or team and to make sure it is a

12-month ladder.