Yearbook Terms You Should Know
Byline: line at beginning or end of copy giving name of person who wrote it.
Caption: Explanatory material that not only identifies the who, what, when, where, why and how of a picture, but also tells something extra to amplify the message. May tell the reader what happened before or after the picture. Should tell the reader something s/he does not know from looking at the picture.
Colophon: A statement giving publishing credit and technical information: type faces and sizes used, paper stock, layout styles, graphic devices, number of copies, cost to students, printer, professional photography and honors earned, membership in professional organizations.
Copy: To a journalist, the words written to tell a story or describe an event; to a printer, all written materials and photos to be printed.
Copy block: The layout space allocated for the written text, as distinguished from the space allocated for captions, titles or headlines or photos.
Copy editing: The processing of proofreading copy and making necessary corrections and changes.
Copyright: The exclusive right for the creator or owner of original literary, artistic or photographic material to make, distribute and control copies of that work for a specified number of years, as guaranteed by law. Copyright registration materials are available by writing the Register of Copyright, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Cropping: Editing and marking a photograph to indicate to the printer the area to be included in the yearbook. Also the editing out of a background, foreground and sides of a photograph that remove parts that distract from the center of interest.
Die: An engraved metal plate for cutting or embossing an image on paper or on a cover.
Die Cut: A pattern or design that is cut out by a die and removed from a page or cover so that part of the next page is visible.
Dominance: When an element or elements attract immediate reader attention. Usually achieved by making a photo or visual package two-and-one-half to three-times larger than any other element on the spread; also occurs with use of color, isolation and extreme shape or cropping.
Dots per inch (DPI): a measure of screen or printer resolution; the number of dots in a line one inch long. Abbreviated dpi.
Double-page spread: facing pages with continued subject matter.
Drop cap: a large initial letter used to introduce copy, caption or headline
Edit: To change, manage or supervise for a publication.
Editor: any leader in charge of the yearbook or a portion of the book.
Editorializing: When a reporter draws a conclusion for the reader, it is considered an editorialized statement. The reporter should remain objective and allow readers to establish their own opinions based on the information presented by the reporter.
Element: Copy, headline, art – anything to be put into a layout.
Embossing: Process which produces a raised design on a cover or paper with a die.
Endsheet: Heavy sheet of paper that attaches the book to its cover. There is an endsheet in the front and back of the book.
Eyeline: To unite a spread, a horizontal line is established across the spread above or below the center mark to give movement to the reader’s eye. Should be broken by a photo element.
Folio: A page number, best located at the bottom of each page to the outside and parallel to the bottom of the page.
Folio tab: Line of type near the page number which identifies the section, chapter or text appearing on that page.
Font: the complete set of all letters, numerals, ligatures and punctuation marks of a type face.
Gutter: The inner space between the two pages of a spread where the paper runs into the spine.
Headline: A line or large type used to tell the reader what is to follow, introducing the main point of interest of the copy.
Ladder diagram: A chart representing the pages in a signature or a book, used for planning book sections, page content and color placement.
Layout: A plan or drawing which shows size and position of all elements.
Lead: The opening paragraph of a story which sets the tone for the article giving it purpose and direction.
Lead-in: The first words of a caption or story which draw attention to the copy and which are often set apart typographically for emphasis.
Pica: a unit of measurement equal to 12 points or 1/6 inch; used to measure column widths, photo elements and internal margins.
Pixel: short for picture element. The smallest element in a digital image.
Primary headline: The main headline of a spread which first captures the attention of the readers.
Pull-quote: Words “pulled” from text and displayed as quotation.
Resolution: The sharpness or clarity of an image.
Sans serif: A type style distinguished by characters that have no short finishing stokes at the end of the main strokes, such as Helvetica. (without “feet.”)
Serif: A small finishing stoke at the end of the main stroke of a letter, such as Palatino, Times Roman, etc.
Signature: all the (16) pages printed on a single sheet of paper.
Spread: Two facing pages in a publication.
Stock: paper.
Template: A master page that maintains consistency within a design or section.
Theme: a central idea or concept.
Tip-in: an insert, often on a different paper stock than the rest of the book, glued to a bound page of the book.
Title page: a page (usually page one) containing the title, year of publication, school name, location (address, city, state and zip code), phone and fax, student and staff population of the school and volume number in Arabic numbers.
Trapped white space: (now referred to as unplanned white space) an area of white space more than two picas by two picas separating two or more photographs or copy blocks and giving the appearance of disunity to the layout page.