Blog 22: Three Column Chart

And here it is!

Blog 19: Senior Project and ESLRs

• I think that I have excelled as an effective user of technology.

•  Over the course of the yearbook making process, I've become so much better at working on a computer. I've managed to learn how to run InDesign and some of Photoshop. I have also become better at using a camera while taking pictures for the book.

 Ok, so, I didn't exactly design this, but I put in the pictures and  copy, messed with the headline, put in the cutouts, and re-sized the mod. Trust me, it's a lot more difficult than it looks.

Blog 10: Senior Project Update

      So, the yearbook is well under way! After hours and hours and HOURS of working on our cover and endsheets, they are all turned in and complete. And, if I do say so myself, they look pretty lovely. 
      I have to say, my second interview with Mimi was awesome. In addition to that interview, she always helps so much when she comes to school and teaches my fellow editors and tells us everything that we don't know. And because of it, our book is going to be SO much better.
      I would post a picture of the cover, but I kind of want it to stay a surprise for when the book comes out. BUT! Here is the picture that yearbook is using on Facebook. The cover is along the same lines, including the color and the overall concept of the picture.

Blog 9

"What is the most important aspect of creating a yearbook?"

I don't plan on changing my EQ this time around. There are so many answers to this question, it's insane. Let's list a few, shall we?

• consistent theme
• great photos
• witty copy
• solid desing
• awesome adviser
• a Herff Jones rep like Mimi Orth
• money (does that sound shallow?)
• capturing the story of the year as it pertains to the student body

Blog 2: Yearbook

I know. That came out  of the blue.

       Believe it or not, I'm going to be focusing on yearbook for my senior project. I have no choice, seeing that the EiC of the yearbook has to research it as their topic, but to me, it's much more than that.

       Yearbook has become my life. I'm a little bit more obsessed with it than any normal teenager should be, but it's the stress inducing details that come with the territory that I live for. Really, I wouldn't want to be focusing on anything else for my last year of high school.

       Though a majority of the next nine months of my life are going to be spent sitting in the corner of Strand's room, while angrily telling the freshmen who are unlucky enough to have his class during fourth block to stop talking so much, yearbook will really help me to become more involved in our school. Think about it: I will be picking apart bad copy that sophomores turn in about iFest, photoshopping underexposed pictures of winter formal, or tweaking a mod design over and over until it's just right. I'm going to be forced to attend every event, and stalk the other people that are there, too. And at the end of the year, most of our small iPoly family will be holding my product in their hands. As a yearbook staff, we capture the year, and turn it in to something beautiful so that everyone can relive it whenever they fancy.

        I really do pity any sorry soul that gets stuck with me as an interviewer. I like to think that I have a bubbly personality, but to most underclassmen, it really just comes off as scary. As I continue to perfect my interviewing skills, I will be talking to a LOT of iPolyians. Therefore, my communication skills will grow along with every question that I ask, and the conversation that follows.

        Like I've said previously, I don't feel like I know all of the answers; I still have huge amounts of information that I need to learn about yearbook. Trust me, I'm going to be hanging on to every word that Mimi says when she comes to check out our progress on our book (p.s. Mimi is our representative for Herff Jones, and she's fabulous. Once you see her shoes, you'll know). Working with Mimi is certainly going to teach me incredible amounts of invaluable information that I'm going to need in order to make this perfect book in my brain become a reality. As I learn from her, it will open my mind to realize that no, I'm not perfect, and I need to sometimes get over myself and listen to what other (wiser?) people might have to say. Consider my mind to have been opened.

        Though I can't say that I've become an expert when it comes to InDesign, I CAN say that I am able to successfully navigate the program. It's way harder than it might appear. Trust me. Aside from the fact that I can operate Microsoft Word and Paint, I have trouble with most other computer-y things (that's a technical term). But once you've sat at a computer for long enough with InDesign open, while you try to move those stupid little gray boxes with the 'text' tool, you learn a few things. Since a basic knowledge of running programs like Photoshop is essential, it is vital for me to reach out of my technological comfort zone, and learn how to do more than press CTRL Z.