Best Practices for Using Production Notes in Editorial

Within each editorial section and article, your opportunity to communicate directly with

the designer is via the production notes box. The designer will consider these notes when reviewing your content and designing your magazine each month. Refer to the tips below for how production notes can be utilized in each section.

Cover

• Specifying what cover style to use for the first proof instead of a full bleed image:
  • White masthead
  • Teaser placement
• If multiple cover images are uploaded, stating a preference for what to be used in the first proof
• Asking to use a certain color for the masthead text (only white or black are allowed)
• Clarifying the placement and zoom of an image if it’s not saving in ARC appropriately

City Scene, Business Monthly, and Calendar

• If additional entries are submitted, specifying which are to be prioritized in print and which could be included if there is extra page space
• Leaving notes for cutting a specific section first in case of negative page availability, including which entries can be cut
• Requesting to use a different national content article by listing the [month] [year]
• Stating preference to cut pages in the event of low page availability or expand pages (up to 5 max) in the event of extra pages
• If you would like to use an overall caption for City Scene instead of individual captions, you can include that caption in the production notes.

Articles

• Naming a specific article that can have content cut in the event of low page availability and what copy should be left out, if necessary
• Including preference for a specific article to expand in the event of extra pages (including extra photos is helpful for this case)
• Stating if a specific article needs to stay at the assigned number of pages based on image number, copy flow, etc.
• Identifying a specific article to avoid placing fractional ads on the pages (this cannot be requested for every article)
• If using custom content, requesting a different recipe layout from previous years that is not selectable within the month’s standard recipe layouts, clarifying which recipe to use [month] [year] [department name]
• Calling out which copy applies to the sidebar
• Asking for a different background color if the selected layout has a color background that you don’t prefer. 
• Explaining how you envision your content to be used for a custom content article

Do not use Production Notes for:

• Putting copy that needs to be included in the article (any text in the production notes box would not get pushed to the online articles, and all copy included in the article text box get pushed online)
• Talking about adjustments to contracts
• Expressing frustrations or concerns (those items should to be addressed with your Publisher directly)
• Asking for a recipe to look different from the layout if it isn’t custom.