Organization
Organization is very important to me. These are some of the documents I have that help not only staff members, but myself stay on track to produce the best possible quality book we can.
Mini-Deadline Calendar
This is our mini-deadline calendar, which I create for every deadline. Having a clear, structured calendar helps keep staff accountable by outlining due dates and breaking down the workload into manageable steps. It ensures that everyone stays on track and understands what needs to be completed, preventing last-minute stress.
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This calendar helps set expectations, by letting staff know that while I trust them to manage their work, missing deadlines impacts the whole team. It also reinforces that yearbook requires commitment beyond class hours, just like any other course.
Click on the image to access all of my calendars from this year!
Proof Wall
The summer before this school year, my adviser, Co-Editors-in-Chief, and I created a proof wall, a space to track the progress of our spreads and organize the proofs we receive. This system keeps us on top of deadlines by displaying where each spread stands. We use sticky notes to indicate progress, with green for final submissions and yellow for those awaiting proofs. Not only does this wall help us stay organized and submit the yearbook on time, but it’s also really rewarding to see how much of the book we have completed and how much we still have left to do.
Click on the image to view the picture!
Click on the image to access the Google Spreadsheet!
Spread Tracker
My spread trackers have been incredibly helpful this year. I use them to keep track of what each team is covering and the angle they’re taking, so we avoid duplicates and expand our coverage. They also come in handy for future deadlines, as teams can reference past spreads to see what angles have already been used for a particular topic. This helps maintain variety in our storytelling and provides staff with a useful resource to guide their own coverage.
Folio Quotes Document
Since we are using folio quotes this year, I created a Google Doc where writers and photographers can easily add their quotes. Under each designer’s name, I listed the team members so designers can quickly copy and paste the quotes onto their spreads while also crediting the content creators. This document has been a great way to keep all folio quotes organized in one place, making the process more efficient for everyone.
Click on the image to access the Google Doc!
Coverage Spreadsheet
As a former Coverage Editor, expanding coverage is something I care deeply about. Finding new ways to track how often we feature each club and sport helps us ensure a wider range of students and extracurriculars are represented in the yearbook.
At the start of this year, I worked with the current Coverage Editors to add two new tabs to our Coverage Spreadsheet: one for clubs and another for sports. These tabs allow us to track how many times each club and sport has been covered, what type of mod it appeared in (a dominant or a quote mod), and how many students were included. This system has been incredibly useful in helping us identify gaps, making sure no group is overlooked while also preventing over-coverage of any single activity.
