Is eDesign flexible and easy to use?

It’s easy to use, amazingly flexible & significantly freeing.

PROOF OF THE POWER

eDesign spreads feature the same diversity as those created in other programs.

You can’t tell an eDesign spread by looking at one. Some books showcase photography with enormous dominant photos and others provide coverage of more students with several photo packages and multiple layers of coverage.
 
In many cases, entire volumes are designed using a single font family with multiple variations in width and weights. Some books choose contrasting pairs and other staffs allow the designers to pick and choose fonts as desired from among the hundreds provided by Herff Jones.

"We really liked the flexibility of not being “locked” in the yearbook room.
NO PROOFS TO RETURN! And the ability to send pages
whenever and in whatever number I would like. My kids love it!"
Chet Ligon
Myrtle Beach HS, Myrtle Beach, SC

AERIE, OAK HALL SCHOOL, Gainesville, FL In addition to the tightly clustered action shots, Aerie’s sports spreads showcased an understanding of purposeful white space and layers of coverage. Each spread also featured a silhouetted photo. Adviser Michelle Runyon says she loves that eDesign is intuitive but likes even more that, since it was designed specifically for yearbook, it keeps her and her editors organized.

WASHINGTONIAN, WASHINGTON HS, Fremont, CA The full-bleed black background, 11 brilliant photos and the spectrum rule line establish the look for the concept pages in this contemporary book. Adviser Audrey Woodsmith previously experienced the nightmare of a district server that crashed in October, so she and her staff really appreciate that eDesign stores their work online. In addition to that security, they like the flexibility to work any time and from anywhere.

ARCHIVES, DESERT MOUNTAIN HS, Scottsdale, AZ This content-heavy sports page has it all. From a powerful dominant supported by a dozen smaller action shots and a pair of team photos to three levels of verbal coverage, the story of the year has been preserved from many points of view. Crisp rule lines and a unifying accent color add to the visual impact.

"I’ve loved it from the start but it just keeps getting better. The additional functions
each year have made something we saw as wonderful even better. It’s simple
to use... so easy to just drag AND drop, copy and paste.
One of the best functions is the notification that you’ve already used a photo.
We always tried to keep track of that before, but it wasn’t easy.
With eDesign, it’s automatic! Love it. We just love it.”
Heather Coffey
Glenn C. Jones Middle School, Buford, GA

PRESENTATION HS, San Jose, CA Group captions utilizing the same pick-up color as the main body copy provide detail for an array of action shots through the sports section of this contemporarily designed book. The flexibility of eDesign was attractive to adviser Barb Purdy, but she also believes that its ease of use allows the staff to concentrate equally on all aspects of the process.

DAEDALUS, NORTHEASTERN HS, Manchester, PA Division pages were set apart by their huge dominant, tighter internal spacing and the introduction of a sectional color that served as a unifier until the next divider. Besides the ease of use, the addition of more capabilities each year and the tutorial videos, adviser Beth Ann Brown says the best part of eDesign is being able to work anywhere. “The staff can spend additional time at home perfecting their spreads,” says Brown, “Where InDesign made the staff slaves to the yearbook room.”

THE RENEGADE, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY HS, Tallahassee, FL In a salute to all things “tech,” the staff of The Renegade created a custom desktop to display content. The cover featured binary code “type as art” with instructions to log on and the password 2010. Throughout the book, desktop icons, familiar fonts, screensaver backgrounds and “Chat Room” sidebars reminiscent of an IM chat developed the concept.

"Work from nearly any workstation, work from home.
Upload photos from anywhere. Submit pages from any
workstation. No mailing proofs!"
Phil Jones
Sutherlin HS, Sutherlin, OR

REFLECTIONS, BURLINGTON COUNTY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, Westampton, NJ Using the professionally designed layouts from Go!Design gives staffs a unified look and the option to make modifications as desired. “We have no excuses for missed deadlines,” raves adviser Karen Gill. “We found it difficult to get the proofs back in a timely manner. Now we proof before we submit. We also like being able to upload our pictures. The convenience of working from anywhere is incredible.”

ROOTS, MESQUITE HS, Gilbert, AZ Imported Photoshop images set the tone on all theme pages, where the posterized images were combined with story-telling photos. “I like being able to monitor my students’ progress from home. It’s easy to see who is on track and who seems stuck,” says adviser Kathy Nicholson. “And it’s easy for me to offer editing and revision advice as they work, rather than waiting until deadline time.”

KNIGHTS' LEGEND, VANGUARD HS, Ocala, FL Using lots of treatments popular in well-designed magazines, the student life section included main visual and verbal packages, layers of coverage and cool detail shots.  The folios are a fun idea for any staff; students held numbered placards which created the page number. What a great way to picture more people in the yearbook: since so many staffs set a goal to be more inclusionary.

"eDesign is easy to use & user friendly. Plus all of the
new “stuff” this year is REALLY amazing! It sounds
like magic! Pages that you can move on the ladder? And templates
that will “bounce” back after being shuffled? Wow!”
Rachel Pappas
Foothill Middle School ,Walnut Creek, CA

Yearbook Discoveries Volume 15 Issue 2