The Colophon - Balfour Yearbooks Blog

8 ways to make sure your index is not 'just a list of names'

Written by Kel Lemons | Mar 19, 2015 10:46:00 PM
Great Falls High School
 

When the yearbook arrives, the first thing most people do is look for themselves. The index plays a vital role as a reader service and assists in locating information. But it can do so much more.

The index can also be used as a sales tool and a resource for planning content and coverage for next year’s book.

For the present, though, here are several ways to make the most of your index pages:

1. Include all proper nouns and topics, groups, teams, courses, and events covered in the book.

2. Carry your theme into the index. Maintain font and graphic consistency in this section just as you do in all the others.

3. Use the index to highlight additional people or facts about the year. The alpha dividers can be used for this purpose.

Harvard-Westlake High School
 

4. Incorporate anything that was left out or any last minute surprises.

5. Add local and national news and current events to capture things that happened outside of school that impacted students.

6. Increase space on sports/club pages by moving team/group photos to the index.

7. Place candid and action shots throughout these pages.


McKinney Boyd High School

8. Add theme-related quick reads and packages to help tell the complete story of the year while providing the reader something extra.

If your index is already almost done or you are a months away from working on it, you can incorporate some of these ideas to put the icing on your yearbook cake.