YearBook Publishing And Printing

There´s just something about full color yearbooks that really lets you feel the school spirit. It´s definitely far more expressive than simple black and white. These days, most schools have full-color yearbooks and very few are still running with the older black and white versions. It usually doesn´t cost much more to go with full color and the extra money is well worth it. Chances are that your students will be happy to pay an extra few dollars for a full color yearbook.

Full color yearbooks offer a lot of advantages:

• Incorporate school colors
• Add colorful borders
• Include full-color backgrounds
• Add color coded page tabs

There are quite a few ways to make full use of your full color yearbook options. While the occasional black and white photo is certainly useful for impact, you can spice things up a lot more when you have access to a full color palette.

Full color yearbooks are definitely here to stay, so make sure you take advantage of all that color and make your yearbook pop. School memories can come alive with full color photos and layouts.

Black and white photography just doesn´t quite measure up to full color yearbook pages. When you can capture the moment in full color, you definitely should. With digital cameras or scanned photos, you can always change them to black and white or sepia toned later should the photos lend themselves better to that format.

Full color yearbook photos are really best for bringing out those memories. There is just something about the blue of the school uniforms that helps students recall those days of friendships and classes and creates a lasting memory. If you can possibly swing it, go for full color yearbooks.

Another advantage of full color yearbooks is that you can dress up the pages a bit more. Pages with articles can have colored backgrounds or borders and this really helps to spice things up and keep text pages from being too dull and boring.

When students see the full color yearbook pages, they will be more likely to buy the yearbook, as well. Higher sales mean more profit and that will definitely help pay for the slightly higher cost of going with full color yearbooks.

Full color yearbooks are something that many schools have now, but are you taking full advantage of the opportunities given you? With full color yearbooks, it would be a real shame not to use the color to the benefit of all.

• Pages can gain an extra bit of oomph with colored borders, particularly those that only have text on them.

• Colored lines can help distinguish a special photo and pick out the colors from the photo, as well.

• Color your page numbers for an extra touch of brightness on some of the pages.

• Try colorizing a black and white photo, just the important part. For example, take a black and white photo of a student and color the rose they are holding.

These are all great ways to make full color yearbooks that much better and to fully use what you´re paying for. It will make the book look great, if you use color throughout, even on the text pages.

Let´s face it, we are in a new era. Gone are the days of black and white photos, full color yearbooks are in . . . right?

Not for everyone. Some schools are still stuck in the 50´s with all black and white yearbooks, though they may try to update them with a handful of color pages. It´s all in the name of saving some money, but really, with a little extra fundraising, you can usually spring for full color yearbooks. Many students will be more than willing to help out since the majority are interested in getting full color yearbooks anyway.

With a full color yearbook, you have so many more options in the way of themes, borders and page layouts. Students love to see things in living color, so you´ll get a better response from them, as well. Most won´t even mind if the price of the book goes up a little.

If you still need convincing, why not do a survey of the student body? That way you can see for yourself whether or not they are into the idea and willing to pay more for a full color yearbook. This is something that you can do early in the year to help you decide whether or not you´ll go with a full color yearbook this year or not.

Full color yearbook covers give you the chance to really have fun with the yearbook cover design. Choosing the design is the big problem! Thank goodness we´ve come up with a few idea to help you out in that department.

Full Color Yearbook Cover Ideas

Artwork: Use student artwork as your full color yearbook cover. You might consider running a contest to find out which piece should be used on the yearbook cover.

School: Take a photo of your school from the front and back and use these pictures as the front and back of your full color yearbook cover.

Students: Get a shot of some students studying or hanging out in the hallways and use those as your cover shots.

Composite: If you have the time and patience, it can be a lot of fun to design a full color yearbook cover with tiny squares that contain the photos of individual students. Make sure every single student is included or you could end up with complaints.

Collage: Create a yearbook cover collage using some of your best yearbook photos that weren´t included in the actual book.

Full color yearbook covers really give you a chance to enjoy designing your cover and make it unique to the school, something that can be difficult with plain yearbook covers.

Black and white photos are ok much of the time, but full color yearbooks really capture the essence of the school days that will be fondly remembered for years to come. The use of color in yearbook photography can really be used to bring out the joy and fun of the school events and you can easily use the school colors in a full folor yearbook, turning every page into something with school spirit.

Full Color Yearbook Advantages

• School colors can be made prominent.
• Events are cheerier in full color yearbooks.
• Black and white photos stand out more against a colored background.
• Color borders add interest to blander photos.
• Use colored backgrounds to create more excitement on a page and spice up an article.
• Photos are more easily distinguished when there are several elements involved.

Full color yearbooks may run a bit more cost-wise, but many students are willing to pay a little more for the benefit of a full color yearbook that has everything in vivid detail. Also, fundraisers and other methods of bringing in a little extra cash can be done to offset the higher costs. More students will buy full color yearbooks, as well, so try to increase your pre-orders so you won´t have to worry about money later on when it is time to order.

Full color yearbooks are every school´s dream. Shades of gray just don´t hold a candle to the vibrant colors available these days with digital photos and glossy paper in the yearbook. However, many yearbook advisers mistakenly think that a full color yearbook would be far too elegant and expensive for their little budget. Not so anymore. With color being a standard theme now, it has gone down a bit in price from the old days when it was a huge novelty. On top of this, you can use fundraisers to offset the price of your full color yearbook.

• Giant Hot Dog Sale. Make a super long hot dog using several tables set up end to end and using long buns joined together. People pay per inch.

• Bad Movie Night. Choose the worst B rated movies you can find and arrange for a viewing of 3-5 movies in the school auditorium. People have to pay to leave. $15 if they leave during the first movie, $10 for the second, $5 for the third, etc.

• Your Principal in Pennies. Weigh the principal and then set up a huge plastic box for people to drop pennies into. If any other coins or bills are added, convert them to pennies. Each week, weigh the pennies and mark the weight on a chart. The idea is to earn the same weight in pennies as the principal earns.

Holding fundraisers doesn´t have to be as dull as car washes or other typical fundraisers. Come up with unique ideas that will entice more people and that the students will enjoy doing. This is a great way to get your full color yearbooks without having to pay more. Your students will appreciate the effort, too!

Full color yearbooks are often priced higher than black and white books or even those that have only a handful of color pages. Because of this, many schools are reluctant to go with a full color yearbook, unsure of whether it would really be that much better.

The truth is, full color yearbooks are far more interesting and capture more than plain black and white. More students will be drawn to a full color yearbook and want to buy, they will even be willing to pay a bit more.

Fundraising is another option to make sure you have enough money to go to full color yearbooks. Have the students run a car wash, bake sale or any other fundraiser that you can come up with. Any amount will help reduce the actual cost of the yearbooks for the students, so everyone can enjoy full color yearbooks.

With full color, your yearbooks will really pop. You can add colored text and graphics to enhance the layouts and the photos can all be in full color as well. This makes full color yearbooks really come alive. With such vibrant photos, everyone will want one of their own.

Choosing between a full color yearbook or a black and white one is often based on price, but with a little extra fundraising, it´s usually possible to make your budget fit the higher priced full color yearbook. Of course, there is always the in-between option, some color pages scattered throughout a black and white book. There are a few other reasons to go with one or the other, though, so here are some things to consider.

Black and White Yearbook

• Lower price

• Some photos don´t translate well to grayscale

• Less design to worry about without the color theme going on

• Design elements need to be carefully chosen

Full Color Yearbook

• More design options

• Higher price

• Catches students´ eye better

• Photos appear higher quality in color

As you can see, there are good and bad points with both options, so it is something your staff will need to discuss thoroughly. A full color yearbook may be the best option, but not affordable, so budget comes into it as well. To help fund your full color yearbook, you may want to sell some small ads in the yearbook itself.

Traditionally, yearbooks have some pages in color while the rest are black and white. This is mainly due to yearbook printing costs, but if you can do a full color yearbook, it is well worth the extra money. However, when color is on every page, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Don´t overdo it. Watch that you don´t flood the pages with too many bright colors. This causes quite a clash and can distract from the photos themselves.

Stick to a simple color palette. A full color yearbook can become overwhelming rather quickly. Rather than using every color in the rainbow, choose a color theme and go with it. You can certainly use different shades of the colors on the pages, but stick to say, blue and white with red accents.

Watch the photo colors. Depending on the lighting, you may end up with some bleached out photos. Don´t just put them in the full color yearbook, take the time to adjust the colors in Photoshop or a similar program. In a full color yearbook, dull hues really stand out.

By following these tips, your full color yearbook will be vibrant and interesting for years to come!