HOW TO CREATE A YEARBOOK. WITH TreeRing

Transcription

1 HOW TO CREATE A YEARBOOK WITH TreeRing

2 How to Create a Yearbook with TreeRing By Ray Mina and Tracie Neiswonger Ray is the Vice President of Marketing at TreeRing, where he drinks too much coffee, naps under his desk and is made fun of for looking like a kid despite being north of forty-years-old. Still, he is here to inspire and the mark of inspiration is what he ll leave. Tracie is a Graphic Designer at TreeRing. She has an obsession with paper, loves movies and music, and occasionally makes up mini songs to help her remember things, even though she s still in her 20s. She s here to help you read between the leading when it comes to designing your yearbook. 2

3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 4 GETTING STARTED CONFIRM YOUR BOOK DETAILS 5 ADD YOUR COMMUNITY 10 HOW TO DOWNLOAD A FLYER 18 CHOOSE A YEARBOOK THEME 22 PLANNING CREATE YOUR FOLDERS AND ADD PHOTOS 27 PLAN WHAT CONTENT WILL BE INCLUDED 34 INVITE STUDENTS AND PARENTS TO CONTRIBUTE 37 ADD YOUR PORTRAITS 40 CREATING HOW TO CREATE A YEARBOOK PAGE 51 HOW TO ADD A CUSTOM YEARBOOK COVER 71 ORDERING A PDF OR PRINTED PROOF 77 SEND OUT A PURCHASE REMINDER 82 DECIDE ON YOUR PAGE ORDER 85 REMIND EVERYONE OF THE DEADLINES 91 SET YOUR BOOK TO PRINT READY 94 SIGN UP FOR NEXT YEAR 99 CONCLUSION 102 3

4 CREATING A SCHOOL YEARBOOK THE EASY WAY. Are you a full-time yearbook advisor paid a handsome salary for your efforts? Probably not. With cutbacks in school budgets, keeping the yearbook tradition alive relies heavily on parents and teachers like you, volunteering valuable time. We invented TreeRing with you in mind. Online yearbook software that takes the hassle out of planning, designing and creating your school yearbook, so you can get on to a beautiful result in less time. We ve created this ebook to serve as your personal guide in creating a memorable yearbook for your school. Enjoy. 4

5 Chapter 1 CONFIRM YOUR BOOK DETAILS 5

6 DOUBLE-CHECK YOUR BOOK DETAILS Before we get started, double-check the following book details: price, fundraiser amount and deadlines. You can access these details by going to your Dashboard. You can also change your community s Custom Pages Ready Date and All Pages Print Ready Date. If you need to change Pricing Details or your Book Delivery Date, please contact cesupport@treering.com. 6

7 CHIEF EDITOR DASHBOARD The Dashboard gives you a snapshot of your book details, along with an up-to-date report on books sold, fundraiser collected and photos uploaded to your account. 7

8 CONFIRM YOUR DEADLINES In the Status section you can confirm your Custom Page and Print Ready Deadlines. 8

9 CHECK YOUR YEARBOOK PRICING In the Book Details section, make sure your pricing and fundraising amounts (if applicable) are correct. You can request changes to your fundraiser by contacting 9

10 Chapter 2 ADD YOUR COMMUNITY 10

11 I am a reflection of the community. - Tupac Shakur ADD YOUR YEARBOOK TEAM If you have a team of volunteers, or your working with a yearbook class, you ll want to start by adding them as members of your yearbook team. 1 CLICK ON PEOPLE/ORDERS 11

12 2 CLICK ON YEARBOOK TEAM FOLLOWED BY ADD NEW TEAM MEMBER 12

13 ADD STUDENTS The best part about TreeRing is giving students and parents the ability to personalize two free yearbook pages. Remember, they only show up in each person s unique copy of the yearbook. You ve got to get the word out early to give your community a chance to add memories as the year goes on. People can buy the yearbook at any point during the year, but those precious memories go flying by every day. 13

14 1 CLICK ON ADD STUDENT(S) 2 CHOOSE HOW YOU D LIKE TO ADD STUDENT(S) 14

15 ADD ROSTER OF STUDENTS & PARENTS Wouldn t it be great if you could upload a roster of students and parents, and automatically send out an invitatition to get started? Well, you can. You ll just need to download a copy of our roster template and get your school administrator to fill in the fields. 15

16 ADD INDIVIDUAL STUDENTS & PARENTS You can easily add invidual students as well. We highly recommend uploading a roster, but if you have to add someone you missed, just click on the Add Individual Student button and enter their details. 16

17 ADD A TEACHER OR ADMINISTRATOR Finally, you can add teachers and administrators by clicking on the Teachers & Others section within Manage & Invite Community. 17

18 Chapter 3 HOW TO DOWNLOAD A FLYER 18

19 DOWNLOAD AND PRINT OR YOUR INVITE FLYER If you re not able to add your school s roster, you can also download predesigned flyers. The flyers include your school name along with pricing and deadline details. Print them out or them to your community. 1 ACCESS THE MARKETING TOOLBOX 19

20 2 CLICK ON DOWNLOAD FLYERS 3 SELECT YOUR FLYER 20

21 4 DOWNLOAD THE FLYER Start with the Custom Page Awareness Flyer. It s a great way to introduce your students and parents to TreeRing. We also have Step By Step Guides, reminders and flyers in Spanish. Download a few to see what s available. VIDEO BONUS: How To Use The Marketing Toolbox 21

22 Chapter 4 CHOOSE A YEARBOOK THEME 22

23 CHOOSE A YEARBOOK THEME Take some time early in the process to choose a theme. This will make adding new pages and building your book a more fluid process. We make it easy for you by providing more than a hundred predesigned themes. 1 GO INTO THE YEARBOOK EDITOR 23

24 2 CLICK ON SELECT THEME 3 BROWSE THEMES 24

25 Ultimately your theme will find you. You don t have to go Looking for it. - Richard Russo 4 SELECT A THEME Once you ve selected your theme, all new pages you add will have that theme applied. 25

26 GET THE WORD OUT! HOW TO EARN FREE BOOKS There are a number of ways to earn free yearbooks for your school with TreeRing. Referring another school, for example, is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get free yearbooks. Go to your Dashboard and click Free Books to see how to start earning free yearbooks. Refer a school or organization Sell 5 yearbooks / 25 yearbooks / 50 yearbooks 26

27 Chapter 5 CREATE YOUR FOLDERS AND ADD PHOTOS 27

28 CREATE PHOTO FOLDERS One of the strongest recommendations we can make, is to make sure you come up with a system for organizing your photos before you start. It helps to stay organized by creating photo folders for all of your activites and events. Start creating your virtual file cabinet early to keep things tidy. Here s how to use TreeRing s folder system to keep your photos efficiently organized: 1 CLICK ON ADD FOLDER 28

29 2 CHOOSE FOLDER TYPE There are three types of folders: Personal Folders (for your personal photos), Editors Folders (viewable only by your yearbook team) and Community Folders (viewable by your entire school). The Community Folders are excellent for inviting parents and students to add photos to specific events. You could create a Halloween Party folder and invite parents to add photographs they captured during the event. It s a great way to crowdsource content for your yearbook. 29

30 ADD PHOTOS Once you ve created a folder, it s easy to add photos. 1 CLICK ON ADD PHOTOS 30

31 2 SELECT WHERE YOUR PHOTOS ARE 3 SELECT THE FOLDER TO ADD PHOTOS 31

32 4 TAG PEOPLE When you upload photos, you have the ability to tag the people pictured. You can also go back to your photo at any time to tag someone. 5 ADD KEYWORD TAGS Keyword Tags are great to add to make finding photographs easier in the future. Music, Sports or Senior Candids would be tags you could add. 32

33 GET THE WORD OUT! DOWNLOAD AND DISTRIBUTE THE THE IPHONE STEP BY STEP GUIDE The TreeRing iphone App allows parents and students to easily add memories to their personal pages. Download the guide from the Marketing Toolbox and or print and distribute to your community. 33

34 Chapter 6 PLAN WHAT CONTENT WILL BE INCLUDED 34

35 DETERMINE KEY ACTIVITIES It s a good idea to create an outline of what will be included in your yearbook before you start building the pages. We like to use Evernote or Google Drive to collect our thoughts. 35

36 ADD TEMPLATE PAGES Once you have your outline in place, you can begin adding template pages as placeholders to your book. You can always change layouts or swap out templates later, but adding them now helps you visualize your book. We cover how to create new pages in detail in Chapter 9. 36

37 Chapter 7 INVITE STUDENTS & PARENTS TO CONTRIBUTE 37

38 CREATE SHARED COMMUNITY FOLDERS With so many parents and students carrying smartphones, ensuring that you get enough photos from school events is easier than ever. But collecting all those photos can be difficult to say the least. VIDEO BONUS: How to Get Photos From Your Community Dropbox or are decent options, but with TreeRing you can quickly and easily create and share community photo folders directly from within your account. Parents and students can add their photos straight to your unique folders, making it easy for you to find them later when you re building yearbook pages. 38

39 INVITE STUDENTS & PARENTS TO ADD THEIR PHOTOS TO THE FOLDERS After you create a shared photo folder, it s time to spread the word to your community. Use , your school Facebook page, or your school website to ask parents and students to add their photos. 39

40 Chapter 8 ADD YOUR PORTRAITS 40

41 ADDING PORTRAITS USING AUTOFLOW Creating all of those school portrait pages can be a daunting task with traditional yearbook software. At TreeRing, we ve used mathematics and some magic to make this the easiest part of your yearbook creation process. VIDEO BONUS: How To Add Your Portraits Before you get started, you ll need a PSPA formatted photo CD from your school photographer that contains all of your class pictures. 1 CLICK ON AUTO-PORTRAITS 41

42 2 DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL THE IMPORTER 3 OPEN AND LOG IN TO THE IMPORTER 42

43 4 SELECT YOUR SCHOOL AND YEAR 5 LOAD YOUR SCHOOL PORTRAIT CD Insert the PSPA CD provided by your school photographer into your computer and locate the index file. 43

44 6 SELECT PORTRAIT ORGANIZATION 7 IMPORT YOUR PORTRAITS Depending on the number of portraits you re uploading and the speed of your Internet connection, total import time will vary. Feel free to minimize this window while you work on another project. Just don t close the importer window until the upload is complete. 44

45 CONFIGURING YOUR PORTRAITS Now that you ve uploaded your class pictures to your TreeRing account, it s time to configure the pages. 1 CLICK ON AUTO-PORTRAITS 45

46 I don t really make decisions. I go with the flow. 2 SET UP SECTIONS Take some time to rename each portrait section if they are not labeled clearly. 46

47 3 EDIT THE PORTRAIT LAYOUT The TreeRing software gives you the ability to change things like number of portraits per spread, positioning of the student names, font type and size, and even the shape of the portrait itself. 47

48 4 ENABLE AUTOFLOW Once you ve configured your portrait section, you ll need to toggle the enable button to on. 5 FLOW Once you ve enabled your section(s) you can close the window to flow the pages into your book. 48

49 CUSTOMIZE PORTRAIT PAGE LAYOUT After the portraits have been flowed into your yearbook, you still have the opportunity to fine tune and customize the portrait pages. TOGGLE PORTRAITS ON OR OFF You can click on any image on a portrait page and turn that image off. The portrait doesn t disappear, but is simply reflowed into the next available spot or page, retaining it s alphabetical order. This is a useful tool for creating white space to insert a candid image, additional text or even a graphic. It can also be visually appealing to create variations of the traditional grid of portraits. Any changes you make can be instantly undone by turning the portrait space back on. 49

50 In this example, we turned off the entire top row of portrait images to fit them better to our template page. 50

51 Chapter 9 HOW TO CREATE A YEARBOOK PAGE 51

52 CREATING PAGES Let s face it, this is the part of yearbook creation that you ll be spending the most time on. There are an unlimited number of options for designing and building yearbook pages, but we ve included dozens of tools to make it easy to get started. We ll cover three ways you can add a page: using templates, adding a blank page, and adding a page created in an offline desktop publishing tool. 52

53 ADDING A TEMPLATE PAGE Adding a template page is the quickest way to get started creating your yearbook in TreeRing. We ll walk you through adding a template page that matches the theme that we selected in Chapter 3. 1 CLICK ON THE ADD PAGES IMAGE 53

54 2 ADD A TEMPLATE PAGE 3 FILTER TEMPLATES BY THEME 54

55 4 SELECT THEME TEMPLATE PAGE 5 CLICK ON THE NEW PAGE TO EDIT IT 55

56 6 DRAG & DROP PHOTOS INTO YOUR PAGE 56

57 7 ADD CONTENT AND ADJUST THE LAYOUT Once you ve added content to your page you can adjust the size and appearance of those images by adding borders and changing font sizes, for example. 57

58 ADDING A BLANK PAGE TreeRing also gives you the power to create your yearbook pages from scratch. To do this, you ll need to start by adding a blank page and building the individual elements on it. 1 CLICK ON THE ADD PAGES IMAGE 58

59 2 CLICK ON BLANK PAGE 3 THE PAGE WILL BE ADDED TO YOUR BOOK 59

60 HOW TO ADD CONTENT TO YOUR BLANK PAGE Now that you ve created a blank page it s time to add your images and text. 1 USE THE GRID FOR THE MARGINS & GUTTER 60

61 2 ADD PHOTOS TO YOUR PAGE 3 PLAY WITH SIZE AND SPACING OF PHOTOS 61

62 4 CLICK ON ADD TEXT TO ADD A TEXT BOX 5 ADD A NEW TEXT BOX 62

63 6 AN EMPTY TEXT BOX WILL LOAD ON THE PAGE 7 ADD TEXT INSIDE OF THE BOX 63

64 8 PLAN WHERE YOUR CONTENT WILL GO 9 ADD A BACKGROUND AND SOME COLOR 64

65 10 FINALIZE CONTENT AND REVIEW FOR ERRORS 65

66 HOW TO ADD CUSTOM PAGES THAT WERE DESIGNED OFFLINE If you re working in another desktop publishing tool to create all or some of your yearbook pages, you can easily import them into TreeRing. You ll want to add a blank page and follow these steps: 66

67 1 EXPORT YOUR OFFLINE PAGE 2 SAVE IT AS A JPEG OR PNG 67

68 3 MAKE SURE THE RESOLUTION IS 250 PPI 4 ADD A BLANK PAGE TO YOUR BOOK 68

69 5 CHANGE THE PAGE BACKGROUND TO PHOTO 6 SELECT WHERE THE EXPORTED FILE IS LOCATED 69

70 7 ZOOM AND ADJUST VISIBILITY Finally, you can fine-tune your uploaded page spread by adjusting for visibility, often termed opacity, and by zooming in on the image. 70

71 Chapter 10 HOW TO ADD A CUSTOM YEARBOOK COVER 71

72 MAKE THE COVER YOUR OWN Adding a unique yearbook cover that captures the spirit of your school is a tradition. Adding things like your logo or school mascot can really add character and individuality to your school s book. Adding a custom cover using TreeRing is easy. Here s how: 72

73 ADD YOUR OWN COVER If you ve created your cover in an offline desktop publishing tool, you ll want to start by exporting it as a JPG or PNG file. 1 EXPORT YOUR COVER AS A JPG OR PNG 73

74 2 ADD A BLANK PAGE TO YOUR YEARBOOK 3 CHANGE THE PAGE BACKGROUND TO PHOTO 74

75 4 SELECT WHERE THE EXPORTED COVER IS 5 UPLOAD THE COVER IMAGE 75

76 6 ADJUST OR ADD MORE INFORMATION You can use the zoom and visibility controls to adjust your image, or add addtional graphics and text using the TreeRing software. 76

77 Chapter 11 ORDERING A PDF OR PRINTED PROOF 77

78 HOW TO ORDER A PDF PROOF As you make progress on your yearbook and build your pages, it s a must to order PDF proofs to check your work. We give you 20 for free, so you can order them throughout the year. Once you submit your request, we ll generate it in 30 minutes and it directly to you! 78

79 1 SELECT REQUEST PDF PROOF 2 SELECT QUANTITIES 79

80 3 READ PDF DELIVERY NOTICE 4 FINISH REQUEST 80

81 ORDER A PRINTED PROOF We provide you one free printed proof of your yearbook. While it s a good idea to order PDF proofs as the year goes on, it s wise to save your printed proof until your book is nearly complete. You can order your printed proof by clicking on the proof button on the main page of your TreeRing account. 81

82 Chapter 12 SEND OUT A PURCHASE REMINDER 82

83 SEND OUT PURCHASE REMINDERS How are your yearbook sales going? Remember, you can check on your progress at any time from the Status section in your Chief Editor Dashboard. As you approach the completion of your yearbook, it s time to send out a purchase reminder to your community. You can send an , print a predesigned flyer or use social media. 83

84 POST ON FACEBOOK Post an update on Facebook using the TreeRing Marketing Toolbox located on the main page of your TreeRing account. SEND A TWEET You can also send an update through Twitter using the predesigned messaging in the Marketing Toolbox. 84

85 Chapter 13 DECIDE ON YOUR PAGE ORDER 85

86 HOW TO ARRANGE YOUR PAGES You can change the order of your yearbook pages at any time by simply dragging and dropping them to a new location. 1 CLICK ON YEARBOOK 86

87 2 CLICK AND DRAG THE PAGE TO DESIRED SPOT 3 PAGE WILL NOW BE IN NEW LOCATION 87

88 CREATE ALTERNATE PAGES Enabled personal pages, but wondering what happens if a parent or student doesn t take the time to customize them? You can create Alternate Pages that will automatically appear in the books of your community members who don t complete personal pages. 1 CHECK YOUR YEARBOOK SETTINGS 88

89 2 TURN ALTERNATE PAGES ON 3 SELECT ALT PAGES FROM THE DROPDOWN 89

90 4 CLICK ON THE PAGE TO EDIT IT 5 SET PAGE TO PRINT READY WHEN FINISHED 90

91 Chapter 14 REMIND EVERYONE OF THE DEADLINES 91

92 SEND A PURCHASE REMINDER The end of the year is a good time to remind your community one more time to purchase their personal copy of your school yearbook. 92

93 REMIND STUDENTS & PARENTS OF THE PERSONAL PAGES DEADLINE You can also send a reminder to your parents and students about the personal pages deadline. 93

94 Chapter 15 SET YOUR BOOK TO PRINT READY 94

95 SET YOUR YEARBOOK TO PRINT READY Congratulations! You ve captured your school s memories for another year. Now that you ve completed the design and layout of the yearbook, you ll need to set it to Print Ready to make sure it prints on time. 1 CLICK ON YEARBOOK 95

96 2 FIND PRINT READY SWITCH 3 TURN SWITCH TO YES 96

97 4 DOUBLE CHECK THAT YOUR BOOK IS READY 5 CONFIRM SHIPPING ADDRESS 97

98 6 FINISH! 7 UNLOCK THE BOOK TO MAKE ANY EDITS 98

99 Chapter 16 SIGN UP FOR NEXT YEAR 99

100 SIGN UP FOR ANOTHER YEAR Once you ve completed your book, you can sign up for next year and lock in a 20 percent discount. If you ll be transitioning out as yearbook advisor, it s a good idea to add the new advisor as a Chief Editor on your account. Be sure to pass this book along to them! 1 SET YOUR BOOK DETAILS FOR NEXT YEAR 100

101 2 READ $0 YEARBOOK SERVICES CONTRACT 3 YOU RE DONE! THANKS FOR SIGNING UP AGAIN! 101

102 Chapter 17 CONCLUSION 102

103 Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them. - Bob Dylan Congratulations on successfully completing your yearbook with TreeRing! Not only did you memorialize your school s year, but you gave parents and students something special a place to preserve their memories for the years to come. We ll be working harder than ever to add new tools to save you time and make creating your next yearbook with TreeRing easier than ever. See you soon! 103

104 REFER ANOTHER SCHOOL There are a number of ways to earn free yearbooks for your school throughout the year. Referring another school, for example, is one of the fastest and easiest ways to get free yearbooks. When a friend signs up their school you'll earn free books Refer Another School If They Sign Up, You ll Earn Up To 10 Free Books They ll Get 20% Off We ll All Feel The Love! 104