Just heard from a school that there is some Yearbook software going around which crashes your network and uninstalls itself when you go back to try and work on your book. Take care where you install this kind of software, even if it is only for a trial, it could give you a bit of a headache. Best option is use an online service and then you don’t need to worry about a thing. If it’s on CD it’s not for me!

What’s the quality going to be like? You don’t want your Yearbook to look terrible and we all know that putting a poor image in a Yearbook is going to end up pretty poor in print. The printing process can’t really improve a poor image, but you need to be sure it doesn’t make it any worse. Imagine you have beautiful high resolution shots from a great camera and then your Yearbook Company uses little more than a glorified photocopier to print it for you. Find out what kind of printer they use and ask to see some real samples, not the one they did specially for the sales team. We use a range of print engines at one of the UK’s leading print groups. Each machine is in excess of £500,000 to buy and are used by big names such as L’Oreal, Mercedes-Benz, Sainsbury’s etc. Don’t let a duff printer let you down

Maybe using one of the platinum, bespoke or premier services at your Yearbook supplier could be not as flexible as you think. Potentially you will get it designed for you, no hassle, but there’s a limit to how many times you’ll be allowed to change things. Eventually they could get grumpy with any indecisions or you missing deadlines. Through no fault of your own you might be late with things and then the 3 or 4 designers they employ will be overloaded with late schools and having to get 40+ schools designed all at once. Comments like, ‘we’ll do what we can’ and ‘ well because you’re late we can’t promise’ will be commonplace.  Take control yourself and do it online in your own timeframe and you won’t be disappointed.

Imagine you are working on your 2009/10 Yearbook Project, getting all your info collected, emailing friends and collecting Digital Images. Then, in the age of the Internet, your Yearbook supplier asks you to print it all out and stick it on a paper grid of some sort. They then asks you to send it to them so they can SCAN it. Can you believe it, what’s that going to look like when it’s printed? Watch out out for the dinosaurs out there and make sure you work with someone who is happy to send you samples of previous Yearbooks so you can check the quality.

CD or not CD?  Do you really want to install Yearbook software on a computer?

Yearbook software can be ok, but apart from the fact that you have to choose which PC to put it on, how you can work on the Yearbook from home or another location.
Installing software on a PC at school is old hat and not very effective, once your book is complete you then have to get the gigantic files to the printer somehow.

I think Internet based Yearbook creators are the only way forward and the best way to share the load, ideas and you can do it from anywhere you like.

Watch out for the delivery times quoted from your Yearbook Supplier. Sometimes you need to finish up to 3 months before delivery. Crazy! Not exactly Print on Demand is it.

Last year we had to print 45 copies of a perfect bound book and deliver them in 2 days. We did it, wouldn’t offer it as standard, but we’ll always do what we can to get your books done even if you are running a bit late.