Before you dive headfirst into the planning of your yearbook, armed with your camera, creativity, and caffeine, it's important to get fluent in the language of yearbook. Trust us, once you know your gutters from your folios, you'll be chatting like a seasoned editor in no time!

COVER

Think of the cover as your yearbook's handshake. It's the first thing people see, and it sets the tone for everything inside. A great cover shouts your school name and theme loud and proud, and looks sharp!

SPINE

The spine is the book's backbone, where you'll usually find the yearbook title, school name, year, volume, and location. It's like the ID badge of your book!

ENDSHEETS

These are the pages that are glued to the inside of the front and back covers. They can be a solid colour, match your cover design, or create a pop of WOW. Think of them as the stylish foyer to your yearbook mansion.

PICAS

They're a unit of measurement that helps you space things out just right. Forget inches or centimetres...picas are where it's at when you want your layout to look perfect.

SIGNATURES

Your yearbook is made up of 4 to 16 page chunks called signatures. Each one is a single sheet of paper folded and trimmed to create the consecutive pages of your book. It's like origami, but with way more pictures of pep rallies.

BLEED

Want your photo or graphic to go right to the edge of the page? You'll need a bleed. That means your design needs to extend past the trim line, otherwise you might end up with an awkward white border.

MARGINS

It's not always fun to stay inside the lines, but in this case it's important! Margins are the safe zone where your content can live without fear of being chopped off. Headlines, copy, and smiling faces all belong here.

GUTTER

The gutter is the centre fold of your double-page spread. You'll want to avoid putting important text or faces here...they may disappear into the abyss of the binding!

FOLIO

This is like your book's GPS. It's usually found at the bottom of each page, and includes the page number, the section, and sometimes a little design flair.

INTRODUCTORY SECTION

This is where you roll out the red carpet. The intro sets the tone, introduces the theme, and welcomes readers into the story of the year.

SECTIONS

Most yearbooks are divided into sections, like student life, academics, sports, grads, and events. Whether you go chronological or sectional, this is how you keep things tidy and easy to navigate.

DIVIDERS

Dividers are like mini billboards for each section. They usually include a headline, some sort of on-theme graphics, and maybe a sneak peek at what's coming up.

COLOPHON

Tucked in at the end of the book, the colophon is where you give credit where credit is due. It includes details like the printer, paper type, number of copies, and shout-outs to the team.

INDEX

The index is your alphabetical bestie. It lists every person, event, and topic mentioned or pictured in the book, along with the page numbers. It's perfect for finding that one photo of you at the talent show with the ukelele!