Why Should You Use a Grid? Grids are the underlying structure to a layout. They are the skeleton upon which you place the text and images. You don’t actually see the grid, but you do see its effects: the elements are organized and aligned, providing consistency and cohesiveness to the layout. Grids are used in the design world, for sure. They can also be found in all sorts of other arenas: maps, city planning, architecture, crossword puzzles, keyboards, stereo equipment, machinery, etc. … [Read more...] about Three Great Ways to Create Grids in InDesign
Adobe InDesign
Multiple Page Sizes in a Single InDesign Document
It's fairly common for a project to have many components, each one a different size. Maybe it's a branding project with a logo, letterhead, business card, envelope, poster, t-shirt, and brochure. Maybe it's a book jacket with 2 flaps, a spine, and back and front cover. One approach is to create a new InDesign document for every separate piece. I would certainly do that for multi-page files like brochures and books. For one-page items, though, you could use another approach: create different page … [Read more...] about Multiple Page Sizes in a Single InDesign Document
Create an InDesign File with Bleeds
Adobe InDesign is my go-to layout program for multiple page print projects, such as magazines, brochures, and books. You can, of course, also use it for single-page documents, and even digital projects. For many years, I used Quark XPress, another fantastic publishing software. I switched to InDesign, because I was already using other Adobe products (Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Acrobat) and liked the seamless integration among the programs. What the heck are bleeds? Clue number 1: … [Read more...] about Create an InDesign File with Bleeds
Preflighting and Packaging InDesign Files
Sooner or later, you will discover that sending an InDesign file to another person or vendor is a bit more complicated than simply emailing the file. You must provide the InDesign document along with all of its associated images and fonts. Otherwise, the recipient won't be able to do much beyond opening the InDesign file. InDesign has two great tools that work in tandem with each other: Preflight Panel and Package. The Preflight Panel alerts you about any prepress issues in the file. If you … [Read more...] about Preflighting and Packaging InDesign Files
Paste in Place: Moving Objects with Power
Most computer users are familiar with the "Paste" command. You copy an object, then place it somewhere else via "Paste": go to the Edit drop-down menu and select it there or use the keyboard shortcut CMMD-V (Mac) / CNTRL-V (PC). Why "V" for "Paste", you might ask? "P" is used for "Print", that's why! There is another, more powerful method of placing objects in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator: "Paste in Place". It was added to the Creative Suite tool chest beginning with CS5 (at least … [Read more...] about Paste in Place: Moving Objects with Power
QuarkXpress to InDesign
QuarkXpress was the industry-standard and my exclusive page layout program for a long, long time. Around 2007, I began the migration from Quark to InDesign CS3. Among the many reasons for the change was the seamless integration of InDesign with the other Adobe products I use, notably Photoshop and Illustrator. Once I made the full commitment to InDesign, I had to find a way to convert all of those Quark files. InDesign CS3 was not capable of opening QuarkXpress v5 files. A colleague told me … [Read more...] about QuarkXpress to InDesign
InDesign Saving Back to Earlier Versions
There is a way to "save back" an InDesign CS5 (or 5.5) file to an earlier version. But, it's not the powerful and flexible "SAVE AS" technique that you use in Photoshop and Illustrator. Instead, you must export the InDesign file using the InDesign Markup format, or IDML. It will be saved with the same name as the CS5/5.5 file, yet with the suffix ".idml" at the end of the file name. When you open the IDML file in CS4, it becomes an "Untitled" document that you need to rename. To export an … [Read more...] about InDesign Saving Back to Earlier Versions
InDesign CS5 and SMALL CAPS
There is a bug in the InDesign CS5 "Package" feature. It's a concern, but not a big deal if you know about it and how to work around it. InDesign small caps may revert to upper- and lower-case after packaging the document. The package tool is useful for preparing files for outside vendors. Its usual process is to create a separate folder into which it collects a copy of the document as well as copies of the document's related files (images and fonts). With CS5, there's a new feature in the … [Read more...] about InDesign CS5 and SMALL CAPS