How it looks

The Binders

The new binders are made using an A4 box-file - these are strong cardboard boxes that are about 370mm high, 245mm wide and 75mm deep. One of the largest sides is on a hinge so you can open the box and get the contents. The magazines are held in place by a spring-loaded flap that presses all the magazines against the side of the file - this allows you to store the files on their end without harming the magazines.
    Each file holds a year's worth of magazines. However, as the magazines that came out in 1992 and 1993 are very thin (sigh...), you can store all of those in just one file.
    All I've done is create a spine for each of the boxes that displays the YS logo, the year, and the covers of all the magazines for that year. I've also created a spine that spans 1986/87/88 and 1989/90/91 that displays the YS logo across three binders. It's a very nice effect, but it does mean you'll need all three year's worth of magazines to be worthwhile!

What You'll Need

1. An A4 box-file for every year's worth of magazines
2. An A4 printer, preferably one that can print in colour
3. Pritt Stick
4. Sellotape
5. Sticky-backed plastic (optional, but protects the printer paper nicely)
6. Something to cut the paper in as neat a way as possible - I used a combination of a steel ruler and stanley knife
7. An image of the spine you want to print out (see below)
8. A graphics program that can handle PNG images, and can print out the image scaled to fit onto a piece of A4 paper - I used Paintshop Pro

1. Choose which years you want to bind together, and whether you want to use the three-year-wide spines.
2. Download either the high or low resolution image for that spine:
   

   Three-year-wide spines Hi-res: 1800x2400, 2.8Mb Low-res: 900x1200, 770k 1986/87/88: Hi Low 1989/90/91: Hi Low

   One-year-wide spines Hi-res: 600x2400, 1.2Mb Low-res: 300x1200, 330k 86hi 86lo 87hi 87lo 88hi 88lo 89hi 89lo 90hi 90lo 91hi 91lo 92/3hi 92/3lo

3. Print out the image using your favourite graphics package, making sure that:
   • Page margins are as small as possible
   • The image is scaled to fit the page
   • The image is not distorted, so that the aspect ratio is maintained
   • That you're printing in colour
   • If you have a choice, that you're printing at the highest possible quality
4. Let the page dry for a minute or two.
5. Now to stick the paper on the spines...
   • If you're printing out the one-year-wide spines:
     1. Trim the excess of paper so that there's an identical amount of white space either side of the YS logo and magazine images
     2. Smother the underside with Pritt Stick
     3. Press the paper firmly onto the spine of the box-file ensuring that the top edges meet and that the paper is as centred as possible
   • If you're printing out the three-year-wide spines:
     1. Smother the underside with Pritt Stick
     2. Arrange three box files together so that they're laying on the side opposite the side you're glueing onto, make sure that the bottom sides line up precisely, and press the sides together so that the files are as tightly pressed together as possible. The three spines should form a perfect rectangle
     3. Press the paper firmly onto all three of the spines, ensuring that the top edges meet and that the paper is as centred as possible
     4. Using a single, swift cut, slide a blade down between the files, separating them again into three parts
6. You should now have individual binders with paper glued onto the spine. To protect the edges of the paper, put of piece of Sellotape along each edge, wrapping the tape around the corners of the box-files so that they're neat.
7. Trim off any excess tape - you only want to cover and shield the edges of the cut paper.
8. If you have any sticky-backed plastic, you could cover the entire piece of paper with it if you'd like.
9. That's it!