A spread from start to finish

Brainstorming ideas

The staff gets together and talks about ideas, who  to talk to, who not to talk to, different approaches, how it’s been covered in the past (so we don’t do it that way again), etc.

Research

After a story has been assigned at the weekly staff meeting, staff members individually and collectively go out and research new angles, find new sources, talk to people to get background information, etc. The staff gets together and finalizes and approach, an angle, a plan.

Writers have two to three days to plan interview questions and find background information on the event or feature.

The writer should contact the assigned photographer and discuss specific angles of coverage.

Report

This is what you are “paid” to do. Reporting means getting out and talking with people in person. Finding out why things are the way they are. Visual reporting is just as critical as reporting words. This is where you should spend the most time—talking with people and getting their impressions. Get all sides of the story from a variety of viewpoints.

Writers should interview people at the event in person. Never conduct interviews over e-mail. Speak to at least five people to get a broad range of comments and impressions. Get extra information, quotes, fun facts and other infographic material. Stories should include dates, facts and other numbers about the event to provide a wider range of coverage.

Photographers should conduct interviews of their own to compliment captions. Captions are stronger when more information or quotes are included.

Write

This is the easy part. If your brainstorming, research and reporting have been done well and in an organized fashion, the story will write itself.

Finished stories should be e-mailed to the respective section editor. The writer should meet with the section editor and bring a hard copy of the story so it can be edited.

Edit

We don’t do enough of this. Editing is a team process. Writers should sit down with section editors, the assigned photographer and a production assistant to go over the story.

The story will be passed between the section editor and writer until the section editor finds no corrections to suggest.

The story is then passed to the managing editor and editor until there are no more suggested corrections.

Finally, the story is passed to the adviser for a final proofing.

Layout

The production assistant places the photos, captions, story, and headline style on the spread. The writer is responsible for submitting a headline suggestion in the appropriate style for the section. The production assistant is responsible for running spell check, checking sizes of photos and proofing the lay out. The photography editor is responsible for color correcting and sizing the photos to fit the lay out.

To enhance captions, the writer should read over captions and add additional information if possible.

The lay out is proofed the managing editor, editor and adviser before it is deemed complete.

pdf

The final step in the process is to .pdf the spread for submission to the publisher. Open the spread and export the document into the ‘Pages Done’ folder. Use the pre-defined .pdf profiles to ensure correct and consistent .pdfs.

Deadlines

Getting the pages done on time

Agromeck’s success depends on meeting deadlines. There are deadlines on all aspects of production, including photography, stories, designs and submissions to the publisher. Every member of the Agromeck staff is expected to make deadlines. A missed deadline can cause delays in other areas of production as well as the final shipping date for the yearbook. Any staff member that misses a deadline may be subject to a warning, docking of pay, withholding of pay for the assignment or dismissal.

Meeting deadlines requires managing time, planning ahead and being prepared for problems which may arise. When reporting, be sure to ask for the contact information of the people you interview in case you need more information for an article. Photographers, be sure to take plenty of photos so there will always be a good option.

Just meeting deadlines is not enough. We have to meet deadlines with quality content of which we are proud of. Do not wait until the last minute to start an assignment, take pride in your work and do not be afraid to ask for help.

Ladder

What Goes on the pages

The ladder is the template of the book. It shows the page numbers and what content is featured on those pages. The ladder contains information about every spread including who is writing the story, taking the photos and when the pages are due.