School yearbook

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Boomerang had a thread about this very topic not too long ago

Funny how Im doing the same thing. Embarrassed

My question / issue / point of conflict

My daughters day care has a year book they put out for the 5 year olds who are going off to kindergarten.
I have already signed up to do the pictures. I love this place, and I love alot of these kids.
It just falls inline that I would do this for them. ( it is a free gig so... eh )

Well, I asked a few mothers if they had anyof the older year books around so I could take a look at what works with the 'style'

and I have to say............... they suck.

Sorry.. but they do.

There is a really GREAT idea in them. There is a page with their picture, some quotes from the child, and then another page of art they made just for the book.

But.. uh.. the pictures suck.

They are done very grainy on someones home printer with no attention to picture or printing quality.

I want to do them.
Photo quality paper with really nice pictures.

Tell me if that is too arrogant?
Because quite frankly, people will be looking at this book for a long time.
I would like it to reflect on ME .
I would also like to see them get nice books.

eh?

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Nothing wrong with wanting to do something well. With the new home printers it becomes easier to do quality work than it may have been in the past.

One thing to keep in mind is the quality of the paper and the durability of the ink. I'm not saying you need to use museum quality standards but what good is it if the ink fades in 2 years.

You might also consider burning a CD of the pictures as well. At $.50 a pop for cheap CDs, it will probably be cheaper than the ink you use to print it out.

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Arrogant? Not at all. There's nothing wrong with doing things correctly, even if no one else has done it that way before. Reflecting on you? Well, don't know about all of that, it's really about having a nice keepsake for the kids and their families but, IMO, it's a simple matter of undertaking a task and doing it in a professional manner as opposed to unprofessionally.

Is there a cost factor involved?

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If you can keep the cost structure similar then why not. But dont slag off on previous years. Whoever did them was just doing the best they could in the circumstances. Use it as advertising. Do the job free but reserve some space on a few pages as advertisng space.

My kids made plates they drew pictures on the plates which were then sent off for sealing. We still use them.

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As others have said, there is nothing wrong with wanting to do the job right and producing a quality product.

I've seen a few of these things and just assumed that the quality was inferior because people aren't going to be willing to pay for a quality product. A parent will pay $5-$10 for a pre-school yearbook. They aren't going to pay $75.

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Yep. There is no shame in wanting to do something well. If you can afford to do it, then do.

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Find out what people are willing to pay to start off with. That'll influence a lot of decisions.

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Yeah. We had one of those, it was free. Much appreciated, but I think people would have bristled at being expected to pay anything in particular.

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Ohh.. I think I might have not made my point too well.

First-noone will pay for it.
The book is free to the parents. About 30 in all.

What they pay for, is the individual pictures IF they want a copy of the picture of their child in the book.

It is THOSE pictures I am doing.

My problem is that, ( and I do not mean this as any insult to anyone )
Is that the printing quality is such that it LOOKS bad.

The pictures are not clear.
They typing is not clear, and the art thekids do dont really show what they were trying to make. Because they are just paint smears done in black and white, noone can tell if there are any colors in the kids art.
They cant see colored dots, nothing.
It just looks like a blob.

What I am thinking of doing is making the books.
\
Printing in color.

Printing the pictures where they show the child better.

does that make sense?

Cost factor? yeah.. a little shy of 100.00

But a small garage sale will cover that.
Or, if I ask the director, maybe there are current funds to help cover production. ANd I could just give the difference from what they offer ( wich might be why they dont look so hot ) for what I WANT to see done.

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Do you have any sense that parents want to buy additional photos of their children? What would they be willing to pay for those photos?

If you think a roughly $100 investment on your part would pay off with $100+ orders, I'd say go for it.

~~~~

ok - just to clarify - are you doing the book - or simply the photos which you hope will lead to photo print orders?

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Parents always order copies of the pictures they like in the yearbooks here.

Part of the requirement for anyone to volunteer to take the pictures is that they are able to have them printed and for sale to those who want them.

I do those pictures.

I am NOT doing the yearbook, but I want to.

I want to be responsible for the production of the book because I just think the ones they give out now are not GOOD.

They are photocopies of kids art that just doesnt look right.
Pictures are grainy and you cant see the child.

besides that, I love this school and I want to give to them as much as they have given to Jillian.

Not to mention the personal aspect for ME..
Parents who liked the pictures in the yearbook will not only order copies of the pictures ( 15.00 a piece ) but .... later on in the kids life, they might call me back to take some more pictures since they liked my original work. WHICH will be displayed in their day care year book Smile

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From a business point of view it is a great idea: you initially pay for the
advertisement (yearbook) and hopefully get a great return (many clients)
for years to come.

Check with the school first (what they would pay) and a reasonable print ship and go for it. Plus this would be considered a donation to the school and a tax write-off to you.

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Perhaps create a comp of the book, maybe a few sample pages and a slambam cover design for 'the client' to see how wonderful it would look if they would just let you do it.

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