Great news! Your yearbook kit is on its way. Here’s a rundown of the resources in the production and planning kits. Plus, in case you missed it, how to access the digital version.
It wasn’t just yearbooks that were delayed in the spring. With Balfour’s temporary facility shutdown and schools closed, we were unable to mail your spring planning materials. And with many schools delaying starts or beginning virtual this school year, we’ve held the fall production kits.
But, the wait is finally over. Those kits are headed to your school so keep an eye out for yours. In the meantime, here’s a rundown of what’s in both kits and if you’re needing resources now, the digital versions of all the materials.
Planning Materials
The 2021 planning kit is full of organizational and inspirational materials, including:
- “Start Here” Welcome & Tip Sheet—The perfect place to start your year, this tri-fold has a 10-point checklist and information about marketing, StudioBalfour and color trends.
- Wall Calendar: Keep track of deadlines, work nights, school events and birthdays.
- simplyCreate® Design Brochure: This booklet features 23 cover options, taking the guesswork out of theme, color and font choices.
- Balfour Squares Samples: A Balfour tradition, these 10”x10” educational pieces are a quick resource or starter activity. We’ve included four samples and a brochure showing the other options.
- Staff Recruiting Guide and Posters: This 20-page guide provides recruiting advice, job descriptions and applications. There’s also a set of matching posters to hang at school.
- Font Guide: A visual resource for your type needs, this 96-page guide features all of our font options.
- Ladder: Use the ladder diagram to plan coverage and deadlines for every page in the book. Pro tip: Laminate your ladder and color code it based on deadlines.
- Swag: It wouldn’t be a Balfour planning kit without a few fun items: stylus pen, sticky notes and new buttons.
- Yearbook Yearbook: The annual Yearbook Yearbook is a collection of the best books, including covers, showstopper spreads, design packages and photos.
Production Materials
The fall production kit includes marketing and production tools to prepare you for this year.
- Adviser Guide/Essential Guidebook—This is your playbook to anything, everything and all things yearbook. It includes a marketing plan, design essentials and portrait basics. There’s also a calendar with goals for each month.
- Posters—A font poster displays the type options. In the high school kit, a color chart showcases the color options and a two-sided poster features cover inspiration and yearbook terminology and theme essentials.
- simplyCreate Catalog—This piece showcases Balfour’s line of standard covers and endsheets, along with the thematic design templates and graphics for each of the 13 fully-developed packages.
- Sample Signature—When unfolded, this example of a signature shows 16 pages on a large, double-sided piece of paper. Each page is numbered to help students understand how they are laid out for the printing process. (MS/HS kit)
Uncut or trimmed, this sample signature shows a flat of color pages with a flat of black and ones on the opposite side. The example illustrates why all 16 pages must be submitted before the sig can be printed.
- Software Resources—Your kit includes a reference guide to BalfourTools®, myYear®, StudioWorks+® or Encore®.
- Sales Marketing Resources—Sales posters and a table tent will get you started on promotions.
- Sell it! Marketing Catalog—This marketing catalog features on-campus and digital resources, custom signage, and information about National Yearbook Week.
- Yearbook Sales Manager Kit—Our all-in-one marketing plan features pre-sale, promotional and wrap-up sales ideas. (MS/HS kit)
- Balfour Swag—Your kit features a mesh bag with a Balfour pen and a pad of sticky notes, or a yearbook T-shirt.
No matter what software you’re using, we’ve got a user guide to help you get started.
Digital Resources
For the first time ever, you’ll find digital versions of the kit resources online. These include more than 40 links and documents, and can be accessed via StudioBalfour. Click on the Start Here banner in StudioBalfour, or go to Build a Book > Start Here: Yearbook Adviser & Staff Resources.