Chapter 10 Glossary

Yearbook Curriculum & Adviser Guide A reference guide to train your yearbook staff

- Chapter 10 -

Glossary

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Glossary

of yearbook journalism terms

Alternative coverage:

Glossary • 1

Coverage that allows yearbook staffs to tell their students’ stories in multiple ways. Can include surveys, Q&A, top ten, quizzes and charts.

Business plan:

Angle:

Candid photo:

The overall approach to a story, as opposed to a one-sentence statement or thesis.

An activity photo in which the subjects are informal, spontaneous and un-posed.

Ascenders:

Caption:

Letters that rise above the baseline of type (b, d, f, h, k, l, t).

Text that explains the who, what, when, where, why and how of a photo.

Baseline:

Center spread:

An imaginary rule where lines of text sit.

See Natural Spread.

Bleed:

Clip art:

An element or picture extending off the page.

Artwork that enhances the yearbook page or cover.

Body copy:

A plan that sets out the future strategy and financial development of a business.

The text of the story on the page.

Closing:

Bold:

The last few pages of the yearbook, typically where the yearbook staff shares the final reinforcing message about the yearboook theme.

A typeface with thicker strokes than regular. Bold is used for emphasis to make certain words and phrases stand out from surrounding text and is often used for caption lead-ins.

Budget: A plan of expected income and expense during a particular time period.

CMYK format: CMYK can relate to the four-color or full color printing process using a mix of cyan, magenta, yellow and black to make full color pages. It also refers to a file type that photos must be changed to before they can be accurately printed in full color. Also called process color.

Colophon: An inscription page found at the end of a yearbook listing the publication’s specifications.

Column rule: Tool line used to separate columns of type or other elements.

Columns: Vertical separations on a spread that allow the designer to know where to place elements.

Contrast: The range of tones between black and white areas in a photo.

Copy: Text in a book. It can be body copy, caption copy or headline copy. Every yearbook spread typically includes a copy block to tell a story, but the story can also be told through quotes, lists or surveys.

Copyright: The exclusive right to make copies, license, and otherwise exploit a literary, musical, or artistic work, whether printed, audio, or video. Works granted such right by law on or after January 1, 1978, are protected for the lifetime of the author or creator and for a period of 70 years after his or her death.

Copyright infringement:

Descenders:

The use of copyrighted material without first obtaining permission from the copyright holder.

Letters that fall below the baseline (g, j, p, q, y).

Cover:

Type sized to 14-point and above.

Thick cardboard (binder board) covered with printed or silk-screened materials that protects the pages. Usually includes the first representation of the theme or concept, as well as the name of the book, the name of the school and the year.

Coverage: Topics that will be featured on individual spreads as well as how the topics will be highlighted.

Crop: To eliminate (opaque, mask, cut or trim) portions of an illustration or photo to fit a specific area or to capture only a portion of the photo on a yearbook page.

Custom template: Original page template created by the school.

Deadline: Date when something is due (i.e., covers, stories, layouts). A deadline should be considered an immovable date rather than a target to attempt.

Depth of field: Area that is in focus in a photo or video shot.

Less depth of field is great for one to three subjects. Greater depth of field is suggested for group photos.

Display or decorative type:

Glossary• 2

Divider: A single-page or double-page spread used to separate each section of the yearbook, relating the section to the theme.

Duotone:

Dominant photo:

Process whereby an original black and white picture is printed in black, plus one additional color for a special effect.

Photo that is two to two-and-a-half times larger than any other picture.

Endsheet:

DPI (Dots Per Inch): Measurement scale for resolution of output devices such as monitors, laser printers and image setters. The more dots the device is able to print per inch, the better reproduction to the original.

Heavy sheet of paper that attaches the book to the cover. There is an endsheet in both the front and back of the book. These can be printed or left blank.

EPS (Encapsulated PostScript File): File format used for graphics and images.

Double page spread (dps): The left and right side pages of a yearbook that are visible at one time (e.g., pages 2-3 or pages 4-5) Also referred to as Reader’s Spread.

Exposure:

Dummy layout:

Eyeline:

A rough draft of a layout showing the amount of space to be occupied by copy, photos, and artwork. It is used for roughing layouts so corrections and changes can be made. It’s also used to organize ideas and photo requests.

To link a spread, a horizontal line is established across the spread above or below the center to give movement to the reader’s eye. Elements are hung or set on the one-pica line.

The amount of light collected by the sensor in a camera during a single picture.

Fair use:

Ghosted photos:

Publication of a representative example of material copyrighted by someone else without paying royalties, provided the work and its creators are credited.

Photos with an overall light appearance so that words or autographs can be printed over them and still be readable. A ghosted photo will only print in a range of 3 to 40 percent of color (percentage is approximate).

Flat: One side of a signature; the eight pages that are printed on one side of a press sheet.

Focus: The sharpness of the subject.

Folio: The page number along with a possible graphic element at the bottom left or right of the spread.

Font:

Glossary • 3 Index:

Crease in the center of the book between two pages.

A complete alphabetical listing, along with corresponding page numbers, of all students, teachers and administrators featured in the yearbook.

Halftone:

Intellectual property:

Gutter:

Reproduction of a continuous-tone image made by a screen pattern to convert a color image into various size dots to create a reproducible one-color image. This is easily seen if you look at a printed photo with a magnifying glass.

Property that results from original creative thought, such as patents, copyrighted material and trademarks.

Eyeline:

A complete set of type characters or typeface in a Font family, such as Times or Helvetica used consistently within a section.

Headline: The large text that introduces the story on the page.

To link a spread, a horizontal line is established across the spread above or below the center to give movement to the reader’s eye. Elements are hung or set on the one-pica line.

Four color process or printing:

Histogram:

Internal margins:

Also called process color. The process to produce color pages on an offset press. The four ink colors are Cyan (Blue), Magenta (Red), Yellow and Black. All other colors are obtained by mixing these primary colors.

A graphic representation of how bright and dark pixels are distributed in an image.

Spacing between columns on a spread. A one pica separation between elements is most common. Other separations may exist but should be part of an overall plan.

Framing: Surrounding the subject by other objects such as people or things to shift the focus to the subject.

Hue: Each primary color (red, yellow, blue), secondary color (violet, orange, green) and tertiary color (red orange, yellow green, blue violet or blue green, yellow, orange and red violet) at its full saturation.

Job number: The number assigned by the publishing company to the school. The number must appear on every piece of artwork or photograph submitted to the plant to be scanned.

JPEG:

Low resolution (lo-res):

Most common file format used in digital photography. When the image is saved, data the human eye probably won’t see is removed.

This is called compressing the file.

A scale of measurement that applies to resolution needed to print and enlarge graphics and images.

Monitors typically display images and pages in low resolution of 72 dpi. In order to obtain high quality printing, a higher resolution of 250-300 dpi is recommended for images.

Kerning: Adjusting the letter spacing between pairs of letters in type. Use kerning for display type above 14-point.

Ladder diagram: The overall map that shows the placement of every layout in the yearbook. The more complete and detailed a ladder is, the easier it is to complete the book.

Margins: The empty border that creates a frame around a spread. Consistent margins should be established on each page.

Marketing: The business activity of presenting products or services in such a way as to make them desirable.

Lead-in:

Megapixels:

The sentence or paragraph that catches the attention of the reader; the first few words of a caption, usually emphasized in some way, such as all caps.

One-million pixels: a unit of measure (small dots) in the digital world for cameras. The number of megapixels is directly related to the size the digital image can be enlarged to. The more megapixels, the larger the image size that can be printed.

Leading: The amount of white space between lines of text.

The standard leading (computer auto leading) is the point size multiplied by 1.2. Standard leading on 10-point type is 10 times 1.2, or 12.

Libel: A published or broadcast defamatory statement that damages an individual’s reputation.

Natural spread: Two facing pages in a book that are in the center of a signature. A natural spread allows for photos to go across both pages making for dominant photos and great layouts.

Noise: The digital equivalent of film grain. Noise shows up as small colored blotches, usually in the darker areas of an image. It is often overlooked, but becomes noticeable in enlargements.

Glossary • 4 Opening: The first few pages of the book, where the yearbook staff typically reinforces the theme introduced on the cover for the first time.

Photojournalism: Telling the story with photos.

Pica: A unit of measurement used in yearbook production. Six picas = one inch.

Pica separation: The most common separation between elements.

Pixel: A very small physical point in a graphic image; expressed as a unit of measurement in capturing and displaying digital images.

PMS colors: Pantone Matching System. An established set of standard colors commonly used among printers and publishers.

Point: A unit of measurement used in yearbook production to measure type and tool lines (72 points to an inch, 12 points in a pica.

Proof:

Rule:

A printed version of a spread that is used for editing and making corrections.

A straight line rendered in solid color. The weight or thickness of the line is measured in points. A rule line may be used around the edges of a picture.

Public domain: Creative work or an invention that has an expired copyright or patent, or that never had such protection.

Pulled color: CMYK (cyan/magenta/yellow/black) color that is matched from a color photo. This provides a more unified look on color pages, because it blends colors already within the photographs.

Resolution: The measure of the number of pixels in an image. The resolution of a digital camera is measured in megapixels. Higher resolution yields more detail and the ability to enlarge images without losing quality. High quality print images require high resolution photos.

The plan reinforces the sales goal and determines the various sales activities to attain that goal.

Section:

Spread:

A subdivision used to organize the yearbook for the staff and reading audience. Typical yearbook sections include Student Life, Academics, Organizations, People, Sports and Ads.

Two facing pages in a publication. A spread should take into account what the eyes see on the two facing pages (for example pages 2-3 or 4-5 versus unplanned. single pages, printed side-by-side).

Sales plan:

Signature: Sometimes called sigs. Sixteen pages that are printed on both sides of one press sheet on an offset press. In a smythe sewn book, signatures are sequential pages 1-16, 17-32, 33-48, 49-64.

Smythe sewn binding:

Type appearing in white (color of the paper) on a black or color background, or in a dark area of a photograph.

A binding method where 16 pages are printed on one sheet of paper, then folded and ultimately sewn together with other signatures to build a complete book.

Color file format meaning Red, Green, Blue.

RGB digital images must be converted to CMYK before they are printed.

Spot color: One color that is printed on a page, usually black and white pages. Metallic inks are also considered spot color because silver or gold cannot be mixed from the CMYK colors.

Reverse:

RGB:

Glossary • 5

Spin-offs: Phrases and logos that come from the theme concept and are used for each section of the book.

Subhead: A small headline contained within copy.

Table of contents: A listing of page numbers for the sections of the yearbook, including opening, closing, divider pages and index. It is usually printed on the endsheet.

Theme: A verbal statement and a visual look that bring all parts of the yearbook together. The theme should exemplify your student body, school and the school year.

Tint:

Width rule:

White added to any of the primary, secondary or tertiary colors to result in lighter values.

When copy gets too wide, readability drops off.

Copy should be no wider than an alphabet-and-a-half, or 39 characters.

Title page: First page of the yearbook that includes name and address of the school, yearbook name, volume number and year. It could also include the URL of the school’s website and telephone number.

Transition: Compare the thickest stroke of a letter to the thinnest. This is the transition. For example, serif fonts generally have thick/thin transitions, while sans serifs have no thick/thin transition. Versatile faces such as Garamond, Franklin Gothic and Futura offer several variations of weight and posture in the same typeface.

Weights: The stroke of the type such as light, medium and bold. Book or Roman weights are traditionally used for text. Light and bold are best used for contrast in display type.

White balance: A function on the camera that reproduces white objects in a photo or video as white under different colors of light being emitted by various light sources.

X-height: The height of the main body of lowercase letters.

Most sans serifs have large x-heights.

Glossary • 6