Yearbook FAQs
Yearbook Creation
Q. When will I receive my portrait CD?
A. You will receive a corrected student CD two and a half weeks after you submit your corrected MugBook. We need an appropriate amount of time to make the corrections, update our database and send you a corrected CD.
Q. I don’t have my Student Portrait CD yet, what can I do for the yearbook in the meantime?
A. There are a number of steps you can take to make your yearbook layout process smooth and efficient. We recommend:
- Fill out the page ladder so you can organize how your book is going to be laid out. You can start preparing the pages by placing backgrounds, clipart and text on the pages you intend to flow the students on.
- Make sure you have pictures for each class, clubs, sports, and organization that you want to dedicate space to in your yearbook. It’s always good to have an activity or a group shot of each class so you can decorate your page with diverse images.
- Make sure you have extra activity shots and field trip pictures for your montage pages. To keep a book interesting, you will find that you have to create montage pages to end a section or fill pages in the yearbook. If you have extra pictures and you don’t know if you can use them or where to place them, consider these pictures for your montage page, you’d be surprised what you can come up with!
- Organize all your pictures in a structured manner. Please see the section in the provided manual on Organizing Candids. The Pelican layout software imports your images based on the name of the folder you’ve stored your images in, so give thought to how the images all relate to one another and where they will be placed in the book.
- Get your hands on a few yearbooks. They could be from a previous year at your school, or yearbooks from other schools in the area. This will give you ideas and provide a loose guide to follow while laying out your yearbook.
- Most importantly, make sure you receive and check your MugBook! The sooner the MugBook is corrected, the sooner you can start laying out the most important part of the book- your students!
Q. The school has finished laying out the yearbook using the software. Once I submit my yearbook, when will I receive a proof?
A. A proof of your yearbook will be delivered four weeks after submission of the book. We need time to process the book, check for errors, and evaluate our printing schedule.
Q. Strawbridge Studios is laying out our yearbook at their lab. Once I submit the materials for my yearbook, when will I receive a proof?
A. A proof of your yearbook will be delivered eight weeks after submission of your materials. We need time to organize the digital materials, scan submitted materials, and lay out the book.
Q. Once my proof is returned, when will the book be delivered?
A. This depends on the number of corrections that need to be made, and when the book was submitted. We will make our best efforts to deliver the book before your last day of school, but if the book was turned in late or if there is an overwhelming number of corrections, we cannot guarantee a delivery date. If you submitted everything on time, communicated a due date to us, and don’t need to make a lot of changes, we should be able to deliver the book at your request. Please call us after you send in your proof to schedule a delivery date.
Q. How should I mark proof corrections?
A. Please mark all corrections in red ink. Write out clear, concise instructions for the changes that you want made. Once the corrections are marked, or if there are no corrections on a page, please place your initials in the bottom right hand corner.
Pelican Software
Q. What kind of images can I use in the software?
A. We recommend using images that are sized appropriately (4.5×6 inches, 2241×3000 pixels), and have 300 DPI. If you want an image to cover an entire page, the size will have to be closer to 8.75×11.25 inches. To check the dimensions on your computer, right click on the image and select properties. Click on the Summary Tab, then click on the advanced button, and information about the images dimensions will appear. Images can be resized in programs like Gimp Shop, but the production quality of the image goes down, making it blurry and unrecognizable.
Q. What’s the difference between a panel page and an activity page?
A. A panel page will have the student’s pictures on it, an activity page will be composed of pictures the school has taken. Panel pages are laid-out using the Panel Wizard in the software. Your school’s activity pictures are laid out using the candid images the school has collected.
Picture of an Activity/Candid Page
Q. How do I import candids?
A. We recommend organizing your school’s candid images in folders on the desktop of the computer you are using. Name the folders after identifiable subjects, such as Field Trip, Mr Smith’s Class, or Page 2 Candids. When you import your candid images into the software, they will be grouped by these folder names. This makes it easier to find images on your computer’s desktop and in the software program.
Once inside the software, follow these instructions:
- Click on the Images button on the left side of the screen.
- To import a folder full of pictures you’ve taken, click on the Import Folder button on the right of the screen.
- A Windows browser will appear on screen, and you’ll have to navigate to the folder of images you created earlier.
- Highlight the designated folder, and click on open, and the software will start importing all the candid images in the folder.
Q. How do I go about selecting a cover for my Yearbook?
A. Most schools will submit a picture of the school, a student’s artwork, or a piece of clipart of the mascot. We also provide a catalog of our stock covers with your kit. We recommend trying to find a cover that follows a prevalent theme for the year, or that represents your school as a whole.
If you have a physical image you want scanned, please mail it to us and we’ll scan it to create the cover. If it’s a digital image, like a picture of the school or a stock image, please make sure it’s large enough for us to work with. We prefer 300 DPI, 8.5 × 11.00 inches, but the bigger the better.
Q. How can I make sure all the students who have pictures are in the book?
A. Before you Finalize your book and submit it for proofing, run the Final Checks Wizard. To run the Final Checks Wizard to make sure all the students are placed, click on the Finalize button in the bottom left corner of your screen. You will see there are a number of options you can run, but the one you want to run is the ‘All Students Placed’ check.
Submission Procedures/Production Questions
Q. When I am finished laying out the book what do I need to do to submit it?
A. Please follow these steps for finalizing your yearbook:
- Click on the Finalize button.
- Click on the Next button until you can’t click on Next anymore. This will take you to the Package page.
- Click on the button that looks like a zipper and says Package Underneath. This process will take about 15 to 20 minutes to complete.
- Once the package process is finished, the program should congratulate you and a windows browser will open up with the Zip file.
- The Zip file is what you want to burn to a disc. Please use whatever software you feel comfortable with to burn a disc, or contact your IT department to help with the burning process.
- If you have a large book (over 40 pages; every page has a background; used over 300 candid images), the program might break the Zip files into multiples. Each Zip file will have to be burned to a separate disc and sent to our lab.
- Once you’ve burned the Zip file to a disc, mail it to:
Strawbridge Studios, Inc.
Attn: Yearbook Department
3616 Hillsborough Road
Durham, NC 27705
Q. I’m concerned about my corrections after the proof, what can I do to make sure all my corrections are made?
A. Please do not worry about corrections after the proof. As long as everything is marked clearly, we will make the changes and ensure that your books will be printed as close to the proof as possible. Extra instructions are always welcome, and if you need to print out a list or send us an e-mail of corrections, we highly recommend that. Please DO NOT call to submit corrections! We cannot guarantee corrections over the phone, this method has proven to be unreliable and time consuming to be efficient. If necessary, we will send you a second proof for a minimal shipping and printing charge, or even e-mail select pages to make sure all of your corrections have been made.
Q. We’re worried about selling all the books we ordered, what can we do?
A. For ideas and tips to help sell your yearbooks, please call us and ask to speak to one of our Yearbook Sales Representatives. They will not only help you price your book accordingly, but assist you in the marketing of your book. They can help you create sales materials, organize fund raisers, and share tips that have helped other schools with the sale of their books.
Q. How do I go about making sure my book is delivered on the date we requested?
A. By submitting all materials by the recommended deadlines (list earliest and latest deadline), and requesting the minimum amount of corrections after your proof . We use a variety of press machines, and during the yearbook season (January to June) we run most of these machines for 12 to 24 hours a day. Depending upon the number of pages and the number of books ordered, we have to schedule each book very carefully. If you call with last minute changes or rearrange your whole book after proofing, its priority will be moved to the back of the line.
Q. How do I go about finding out the status of my School’s yearbook?
A. Please call and ask to speak with the Yearbook Coordinator. The Yearbook Coordinator will either find out what the status of your book is, or put you in touch with someone who can determine when your book will be ready for delivery.
Q. What is our deadline?
A. Please have all materials turned into our offices and the book laid out by March 1st. This will give us time to proof and print all of the books we receive before school ends for the year. If you need additional time or need to add a page after this deadline, please call us and we will see if we can accommodate you.
Q. What if I want to change the number of copies we ordered, or lower the number of pages in the book?
A. You can call our offices and speak with the Yearbook Coordinator to change the number of pages or copies of the book, however, this will result in an automatic price increase. The number of books ordered and the number of pages in a book determines the price of printing the book.
Q. What if I want to order more yearbooks?
A. You are more than welcome to call and order more books if the order is placed before the book is proofed, however, we do not print extra copies of the yearbook and we will not run the book again. We schedule our presses to run 24 hours a day based on the average number of pages and the amount of books we’re printing, and to achieve maximum efficiency we cannot make exceptions to our schedule.
Q. What kind of support can I expect from Strawbridge Studios, Inc.?
A. Strawbridge Studios will support all of your technical needs, and some direction for laying out your book. Please call our support hotline or e-mail us at ybsupport@strawbridge.net.
If the software is not acting properly, or you have a question on how to perform a certain function, please call and ask to speak with one of our technical support representatives. A friendly, Support Specialist or Production Supervisor will take your call and talk you through your problem. If the problem needs further attention, we can log onto your computer and try to fix it remotely, send a technician to your school to evaluate the problem, or provide you with hardware and an alternative solution to your yearbook issues. We can’t layout the yearbook for you, but we can provide some guidance and suggestions for how to do your book.
