The toughest question of the year that can make even veteran yearbook advisers wince – have you run the index? Whether you have a fall or spring delivery book, it’s time to stop running from the index.
It can be one of the most dreaded parts of a yearbook. It’s cumbersome, time-consuming and painful to see all the mistakes. To alleviate some of the heartache, we answer five tough index questions.
For space and time reasons, a surprising number of yearbooks don’t include an index. But we strongly encourage staffs to reconsider. The index is a reader service, much like the table of contents. It provides readers with valuable information about where to find events, sports, clubs and people.
And let’s not pretend students don’t utilize the index. Within minutes of receiving yearbooks, students seek out the index to find out where and how many times they are in the book. It can be an exciting and disappointing discovery.
For those with space limitations, consider moving some less important topics to the people section to make space for an index. In many cases, two to four pages will adequately hold an index, especially if the index is run in five to six columns and in 7, 8 or 9-point type. (Don’t feel obligated to keep the index in the body copy or caption size, just use the same font family, preferably something condensed or light.)
In a word, everything. Names, events, sports and clubs should all be indexed. For names, all individuals quoted, mentioned or photographed should be indexed. This also includes people who are not identified in captions. Often, an image has more than five people and the caption provides a more generic identification of a group or team. But the unidentified people should still be noted for the index. This improves students-in-the-book numbers and buyer satisfaction. It’s easy to miss a photograph a student is included in, but an index listing would ensure pictured students realize all the places they’re included in the book.
In addition to names, academics, clubs, events and sports should also be indexed. Sports and clubs are often indexed, but academics and events are sometimes left out. However, students want to know where the Homecoming spread is or the coverage on pep rallies, dances or performances. It’s also helpful to note where readers can find class coverage (academics is the whole reason we’re in school). Another type of coverage to consider indexing is topics. Schools regularly cover current events, trends, fashion and food, but rarely index those topics. These are also interesting subjects for students and would benefit from being indexed.
As often as possible. It’s inevitable that schools will have mistakes in the yearbook, but indexing early and often can resolve unnecessary errors. We recommend indexing with each deadline. This actually serves as a second way to proofread. Editors have another chance to double-check names by indexing them. (Also, this is a prime opportunity to record students’ frequency in the book to ensure equity in coverage.)
After indexing names, events, clubs and sports, it’s beneficial to run the index. This takes a short amount of time and can quickly make visible glaring errors. If you’re hesitant to run the index with each deadline, consider at least running it after flowing the people pages. This is the single largest place mistakes happen with misspellings and different versions of students’ names. If you run the index early and often, you can usually catch mistakes before they’re printed. (Note, if a signature is not complete but you’ve already submitted pages, you can make changes on proofs. If you don’t receive proofs or already turned them in, you can potentially still fix errors, but it may incur a fee. Call your account executive to discuss options if you’ve already submitted pages. We don’t recommend making changes if the signature is already printed. That’s a costly mistake.) If pages have already been printed, you’ll have to live with the spelling error, but can always fix the name or event mistake to the correct version in the index.
There’s not a set number, but we suggest five to 10 times. This may seem high, but if you run the index once after each deadline and two or three times for the final run, there’s more likely to be less mistakes. As noted earlier, we highly recommend running the index with each deadline to catch mistakes and be able to fix misspellings and other grammatical errors. Running the index multiple times for the final deadline helps catch double names, flipped names and other goofs.
The index can be quite boring with the rows and rows of small text. But there are ways to liven it up. Have fun with the alphabetical dividers by adding photos, color and enlarging the font. Consider including sub-indexes of the academics, clubs, events and sports in separate, additional index lists. This is a friendly reader-service that makes it easier to see specifically what classes or events are covered all in one list. Some staffs even include a people sub-index that notes where to find the faculty, underclassmen, upperclassmen, and even senior ads.
Adding secondary coverage to the index is another way to elevate the design. This can be as simple as running photo bars, Q&As, mugs and quotes or fact boxes. It’s a strategic way to cover events missed earlier in the year and squeeze in students who may have bought a book but are not in it.
The index is also an ideal place to connect to the theme visually and verbally. Alphabetical dividers and sidebars can use the theme’s colors, graphics and fonts. Packages can connect verbally by playing off words in the theme. For example, the theme “Life as we know it,” could use sidebar headlines with the words “life” or “know.” Also, the index is a great place to explain the theme. Too often non-yearbook students are unaware of the purpose of the theme or its links throughout the book. A sidebar in the index could explain the visual and verbal connections to help readers understand the theme.
The index is an integral part of the school yearbook. It provides a reader service for buyers, offers a chance to catch mistakes and creates a way to add additional content in a fun, challenging design. It’s time to run, run, run toward the index.