6 Yearbook Printing Mistakes to Avoid this School Year

The new school year is still in its infancy, but it’s already time to plan out your custom yearbook printing project. Do you know how to handle it without making any of these critical yearbook printing mistakes?

1. Overestimating Your Yearbook Printing Budget

Do you know the total cost of your yearbook printing project this year? If you don’t budget correctly and go overboard with design, materials, and binding, you could find yourself in the red. Your best bet is to overestimate the cost – that way, you’ll have funds left over once the project is finished. Consider it your back-up fund in case of extra costs that might arise unexpectedly.

2. Low-Resolution Images

School yearbooks are only as good as their images. This is because they’re meant to document a whole school year – the students, the special events, the memories. If you choose low resolution images, people are definitely going to be upset. Instead, only use high-quality, high resolution photos at a dot-per-inch (dpi) of 72 or higher.

3. Weak Bindery

Yearbooks are meant to last. When you pull out your high school yearbook twenty years after graduation, you want it to be in decent condition. At the very least, you want the pages to still hold together firmly and the cover to be intact. This comes down completely to the bindery you choose. The most popular and durable form of custom yearbook binding is hardbound binding, also known as hardcover or hardback. However, some schools prefer spiral bound yearbooks, saddle stitch booklet printing (for lower page counts), and perfect bound binding.

4. Poor Cover Design

Unfortunately, people do judge books by their covers. Especially when it comes to yearbooks. Don’t settle for a simple black or white cover with a small school logo in the center. Be bold with your design and make sure everyone in the school wants to buy one. After all, it’s possible to make all your money back and then some on yearbook sales. However, some schools prefer a more consistent design that matches what has been done in previous years. For the most part, you’ll only have to worry about the spine so they look the same from year to year when sitting on a bookshelf. The cover itself is all yours to play with.

5. Lack of Consistency

When designing the inside of the yearbook, stick to consistent design. This means your headers and footers should be the same throughout, and so should any borders/colors/logos, etc. Many software programs for design include yearbook templates to make this easier on you. Otherwise, you might have to spend a lot of time carefully tweaking each page to match the others. Commercial printing companies also offer yearbook templates, so ask your yearbook printing company if they have one available.

6. Choosing the Wrong Yearbook Printing Company

For your custom yearbook printing project to turn out splendidly, you need to choose the right printing partner. Find a commercial printing expert that offers extreme personalization, yearbook templates, simple software tools, and more. They should also have the very latest in digital printing technology and phenomenal customer service.

Not sure where to find one? If you’re reading this, you’re in luck. At Linemark, we offer the software tools and have the superb printing equipment to handle any yearbook printing project. Contact us today to learn more!