Brief 15 // DFGA // Yearbook Versions

As the yearbook is digital and there is no print element to the yearbook. We decided that the yearbook would be used within the end of year exhibition, for this they are going to display the yearbook on a touchscreen within the space. For this to work, the PDF needs to have the video content embedded within the document so that it plays on the touchscreen and it one whole document.

This will look more profession on the display and will be easier for the users to navigate through the document and seamlessly play all the video content whilst being within the document.


In the document the video content is embedded and appears as it is shown below. The box is shaded to show there is content, but its not shown until the document is exported to the PDF. The template that was created at the beginning was designed to fit both image and video content, so it still works within the current template, which means all the yearbook will stay still within the same design and hold the consistent layout throughout the full yearbook.

Testing the PDF spread. 

To make sure that the PDF works with the video content, I have exported one of the spreads of the document. When it loads, both videos show up on screen, but the top one automatically plays when the page is loaded. 

Hovering over the videos, a control skin appears and gives the user the option to play, stop, skip forward and backwards. This gives the user full control of the videos and document. 

To activate the bottom video and start it playing the user simply click on the video and it will start, again hovering over the video will bring up the controls. 

For the purpose of the touchscreen monitor this works much better as a document because it puts everything together in one place and creates a free flowing document that the user can take advantage of in the one seamless document. The advantage of having the embedded videos on the monitor will mean only the one document has to be open and it will work better on the screen. 

Yearbook for distribution

The yearbook that will be given to all the students and used as the distribution version is the same as above, except the videos will be created as links within the document. The video will be displayed as a screenshot from the video itself and have a play button displayed on the image. When the user clicks on the play button / video, it will link them to the video which is hosted on Vimeo. 

Videos are displayed within the document as above. The videos have a screenshot image to show the content and the play button is displayed in green, to carry the branding of the document. 

Once the user clicks on the video link it will redirect them to the video which is hosted on vimeo. Here the user can watch the full video. 

Creating the document is this way, means that the file size will be much smaller and it can be accessible for anyone as it will be small enough to be sent within an email. The only disadvantage of the document being created in this way, is that anyone viewing it has to be connected to the internet in order to watch the videos. The rest of the document will display fine, along with all the interactive elements.