Digital
publishing:
Getting Started on Adobe InDesign Software on the Macintosh (CC2021)
(By Ross Collins, professor of communication, North Dakota State University.)
Bullet points for review.
Part One: Basics.In-text link index
A beginning project: certificate.
What we use
InDesign is part of the powerful (and expensive) suite of Adobe programs that generally has replaced QuarkXPress, the once-dominant pagination software of the publication business. Its integration with Illustrator and Photoshop offers designers a choice of the world's favorite publishing and web design software. If you learn InDesign--and the learning curve is admittedly somewhat steep--you'll be able to adapt fairly easily to other pagination programs. You can even go back to to PageMaker, Aldus's original "desktop publishing" program that began the revolution in the late 1980s. (Okay. I realize you'll be unlikely to find that anymore, but I include it as a tribute to design history.)
This is the "could-be-published-as-a-Dummy's-Guide" introduction, which we all probably need, even if we know a little bit already. However, it's a bare-bones introduction for the class. If you want to learn more (and you ought to!), buy a guide to InDesign. And yes, the "Dummies guide" isn't bad, although for designers not as thorough as some of the more comprehensive guides. YouTube offers many tutorials, but take care that the one you're watching covers your version of the software. InDesign has changed a lot in recent years.
Platform note: While this tutorial is based on Macintosh, PC versions of InDesign are generally almost identical in most ways.
InDesign is best able to manipulate
three graphic elements:
• type.
• line.
• shape, mostly circles and rectangles.
Web design with InDesign
In principle it's not a web design, illustration or photo manipulation program. But updated versions include some powerful features to make InDesign more than just a really great publication design program. You can even convert to a website! Generally, though, many graphic designers work in the other programs, notably Photoshop, to design professional websites. Dreamweaver is Adobe's powerful web design application, but many websites, even some pretty sophisticated ones, rely nowadays on WordPress, the open-source software, to build websites. Website-building is beyond the scope of this class, but WordPress and other tutorials are readily available on the internet. You can teach yourself.
Many InDesign commands described below can be found under a pulldown menu at the top of the screen, calleded the contextual menu bar, but InDesign encourages us to work with its panels (also called palettes) as described below. After you become used to using common commands, you'll work faster (and look more professional) by memorizing keystrokes to shortcut pulldown menus. Tricky note:to see the bar in recent versions of InDesign you need to be in Essentials Classic workspace (Window pulldown, and Workspace). Highly counter-intuitive.
Panels anchor in the dock at the right side of the workspace (see illustration at right). The toolbox is at the left, defaulting to a single row. (You can change it to double by clicking on the double arrow at top). Click on panel icons to draw them open. Click on horizontal line icon at top right to see more options. Click on double arrows at top right to close, or click on new panel to automatically close other one. This all is pretty intuitive, really.
Left-clicking the mouse on a PC is generally similar to Control-click on the Macintosh. Keystroke combinations using Macintosh Command key usually convert to PC Control key.
To Begin
If you are not saving to cloud-based storage, insert a flash drive into a USB port. Just a handy first rule to remember, because in a classroom cluster you need tosave your work to your own drive.
If you save it on the student desktop folder on the Hard Drive (the internal
disk in the computer), someone is liable to come by later and throw it out.
Make it a habit to SAVE OFTEN (memorize the Apple key+s keyboard shortcut);
if the system goes down, you won't lose all your hard work. And while you're
at it, you could spring for a NEW flash drive from the bookstore. You'd be surprised at
what some students try popping into a computer directly from--what?--the cat
box? Another alternative: email your
documents to yourself as attachments. Good way to archive your work, unless the file is too large for your email provider. NDSU's max is about 10 mgs, and InDesign files tend to get large.
If working at an NDSU cluster, first log into the system using the now convoluted NDSU ITS requirement apparently worked out with the ever-mighty Adobe company. Ready? Go!
Let's get started
The InDesign application icon will appear on another dock, this one at the bottom of the screen. You undoubtedly know that you can multi-task, that is, move between programs, by single-clicking
on them from the dock. You know what program is active by looking at the name
on the top left menu bar or dock at bottom. You can also change applications by clicking on an
open window in back of the one that's active.
Preferences
You can set some default choices before opening a new document. This is handy,
because then you won't have to re-set each time you start something new. Working
in InDesign, from the InDesign pull-down menu (for Macintosh; Edit on PC) at left, choose Preferences, and General or Text. Toggle on "typographer's quotes," if not chosen
by default. (A toggled choice goes on and off at each mouse click.) Almost all
published documents should be prepared using professional ("curly-cue")
quote marks, and not the "rabbit ear" straight marks a typewriter
would use. (I know this web document uses rabbit ear quotes, but I can't help it:
it's web text.) Under Units and Increments, choose Picas for vertical and horizontal
rulers. Graphic designers and printers usually work in picas, not inches or
centimeters, for obscure historic reasons. Who are we to argue with tradition?
(Well, okay, we've dumped most every other tradition in publishing this past
decade, but measurement systems change slowly. For example, why is the United States the last country in the world to use Imperial measurement? But that's another debate.)
You may also wish to change the pasteboard color that surrounds your document. I prefer light gray or white, not the default dark. From Preferences, choose Interface, Appearance, and one of the Color Theme icons.
When you first open InDesign you will see a splash screen inviting you to create a new document, and displaying icons of other documents you've been working on, if any. Alternatively, without the splash screen choose the File pulldown menu to see choices. Or to keep the pulldown menu open, click
on it instead of dragging. (Choices in grayed-out type are not current options.)
Drag the arrow to choose New and Document. (Open opens a document you've previously saved
in InDesign.) As a shortcut, skip the menu and use keystroke combination Command+n.
Defaults and Documents
Let's Create New document. You'll first be asked what page setup you'd like. Preset templates are available, but in this class we do our own designs. The default setup normally on the upper left of the dialogue box
is U.S. letter size (eight and one-half inches by eleven inches, or 51 by 66 picas), Vertical format, two
pages. Toggle off Facing Pages for a one-page document. Change elements as you need to, either by typing in the boxes, or scrolling
among the arrows. You may also double click to highlight the box, then just
type in the new information. To move from box to box, you can shortcut with
the Tab key (Shift-Tab to move backwards), or click with the mouse. Any menu
command followed by three dots (ellipses) opens to a Dialogue Box like the one
described above. This allows you to make choices regarding your document.
After opening your new document, decide which View (pulldown menu) you'll be working in--that is, how big your
document shows on the screen. Or try the Zoom Tool at bottom right of toolbox
(looks like a magnifying glass). The + sign zooms in; hold down the Option key and the
- sign zooms out. Often you'll work in Actual Size view so that you can easily
read the type. Fit Page in Window gives you the overall view. Entire Pasteboard
gives you a view with workspace around it--sort of like a real desktop. It's handy to memorize a few zoom keystroke combinations. I like Command-1 for full size, or Command- 5 for whole pasteboard. Command-2 zooms to double size.
From the Layout pulldown choose the Margins and Columns. Margins sets up white space around your page, Columns sets up your grid, and Gutters sets up the amount of space between columns. When you're ready, OK. Note you can always change specifications later from Document Setup (File pulldown) or Margins and Columns (Layout pulldown).
Experiment moving from page to page. After setting up a multi-page document, move from page to page by double-clicking icons on the Pages panel. Or choose a page number from the bottom menu bar. Or Drag on the right-side scroll bar. Or choose the Hand Tool and drag around. InDesign gives you way too many ways to do most everything, leading us to waste time pausing as we decide which tool we want to use. Or so it seems to me.
To add more pages (or delete pages), roll out the barrel...sorry, roll out the Pages panel from the dock. Click on the upper right to bring up the flyout menu. Choose Insert Pages. Note that panels often give you more options through their right corner flyout menus.
The Undo Command
Oops. In the real world we can't turn back time, much as we'd like to. You'll
never erase the shame of giving a subscription to Weight Watchers
to your mom for Mother's Day. But in the digital world of InDesign, you need
only to press Apple-z. Or choose the Undo option from the Edit menu. Keep undoing
as far as you want (up to RAM memory capacity). If you always kinda liked amusing
yourself running video backwards, press and hold down Apple-z. All your work
comes undone. Don't worry. You can choose Redo from the Edit menu to take it
all back again.
Your Pasteboard and
Toolbox
Choose the Selection Tool (solid arrow) to move objects around your document. Note you have lots of blank space surrounding your document. This is the pasteboard. Graphic artists used to work on a real pasteboard to ready elements for pasting
into a document. In InDesign, use the pasteboard to write headlines, draw boxes,
or experiment with elements before dragging them into your document. A note on pasteboard and InDesign them color. It defaults to black. I thank it's hard to work in the dark. So I change that color to light gray as explained above regarding Preferences.
And now a word from the toolbox (left side):
• The Selection Tool (upper left) chooses objects or frames in a document.
When you choose a block of type by clicking on it, the frame "handles" will
appear around the type. You can move the entire block, or draw on a handle corner
to make the frame wider or narrower. Try typing your name with the text tool
described below, then experimenting with this feature. The direct selection (hollow arrow) tool selects paths in vector graphics or drawings you make yourself. Paths are lines that make up a shape. It also selects parts of objects you have grouped.
• The "T," type tool; it changes the arrow to an "I-beam." InDesign requires you to drag a text frame before submitting copy to
it, so you just can't click the I-beam anywhere in a new document and start
typing--much to the great consternation of us Word users out there. Drag the I-beam in the document to draw a frame. Doesn't
matter what size--you can resize it later with the arrow tool, as noted above.
Now type ("keyboard?") something for practice.
To move a block of text, you need to drag the Selection tool (arrow tool) in the center of the chosen block; dragging along the handles changes the size of the block.
General note: before moving any object, you need to choose it first with the
arrow tool. For pictures CS5 and later added another feature, the Simplified Object Selection Tool (looks like a donut in the middle of your object). When you mouse over the center, the li'l hand appears and you can drag the element around its frame. I think this adds pointless confusion, but, well, why don't they run these things by me before adding? Dunno.
Before changing text attributes, you need to highlight the text
with the text tool (drag over), or click the text tool anywhere in the text and choose Select
All (Apple + a) from the Edit menu. Experiment with the I-beam.
Again: before styling text you need to highlight it by dragging across it with
the I-beam. Before moving type as a block, however, or moving any other element,
you need to select it.
• Other tools draw lines or shapes, and manipulate elements. Experiment if you want.
After drawing a shape, choose the arrow tool, and click on the shape. You'll
see handles appear, looking like tiny boxes. You can drag in the center to move
the shape, or drag on the boxes to change dimensions.
Any shape-tool object can become a text frame, a shape you can insert text into. The shapes in the toolbox with the X drawn in them are designed to be text frames, but nowadays that's a bit redundant. Any shape can hold text.
Guidelines
InDesign sets up documents on a grid. You normally work with non-printing guidelines to place elements on the page. To explore this feature, choose the selection
tool, and move into the measurement rulers at the top or left of the document.
From the rulers, drag guide lines into the document. (From View, Grids and Guides, choose Show Guides
if you don't see 'em.) From the View menu, Grids and Guides, click on Snap to Guides (if not already
chosen by default); elements on the page will automatically snap to a nearby
guide for accuracy. These and many other menu choices are toggled. To turn them
off, click on them again.
To delete a guide, click on it with the Selection Tool and Delete.
Note CC17 and later also offer automatic suggested guidelines that pop up as you move elements around a page. These help you line up elements, or place elements in the center of a page.
Bringing in Stories
You'll often need to bring in a story composed in a word-processing program,
such as Microsoft Word, called placing in pagination programs. Choose Place (or Command+d) from
the File pull-down menu. Find the story by rummaging through the folders in the dialogue box: if it's on your disk, click on the
Desktop button, find your disk by name, and click to open it. Then choose your
document.
The pointer tool will turn into a little page icon; this is called a loaded
cursor. Place it where you want the type, and click. The type will flow
into the space; a frame is automatically built to house it. Alternatively, draw
a frame first by dragging the cursor, or click with the arrow tool to choose an
already-drawn frame; the Place command will pour the text into your selection.
Want to place some real text? Download
the lorem ipsum practice file from the Principles of Design for Media class
resources page. (To save web text or photos, right click or, on single-button mice, hold down the Control key (lower left) and then click mouse button on the document you want to download.) Alternatively, you can choose InDesign's own placeholding text. Draw a text frame. Then from the Type pulldown, select Fill With Placeholder Text.
A tiny red plus sign at the bottom right of the type block (the "out
port") shows you have "overset" text--still more of the story
to place. You can click on that plus sign to load the cursor again, and place
the next column or page. Or you can drag the frame larger to hold more type. At the
top left of your text frame is the in port. A plus sign here shows you have
placed above the copy you see.
Drag handlebars to change the size of the frame, or drag the whole frame in
the middle to move the text block. For you concise folks out there, the cursor
arrow keys will "nudge" selected text frame one point. Or 10 points
if you hold the Shift key down.
Oops! Decide you don't want to Place after all? Click on the Selection Tool in the toolbox,
and the "loaded cursor" will disappear. Or just choose Undo from Edit pulldown (Keyboard shortcut to memorize: Command-z).
Checking spelling: Choose Spelling and Check Spelling from the Edit pulldown. Edit in Story Editor opens a mini word processor if you prefer to more quickly work on your story editing.
Printing a copy
You have to print to a PostScript laser printer capable of handling InDesign
documents. Most of them nowadays, actually.
To print, choose that command from the File menu. We'll cover some of the dialogue
box options later. You may have to choose a printer type from that window
if one is not already chosen.
After you're done working, you can leave InDesign by choosing Quit from the
InDesign menu, far left on the menu bar. Note that on the Macintosh the red close button at top left will close the window, but leave the program open. So, to recap:
A note on PDF files
Printers and websites nowadays usually want editors and designers to submit PDF (Portable Document Format) files instead of "live" InDesign files, because they include fonts and illustrations. These files may be attached to email messages, and are smaller than live files, so easier to send. Blackboard, the class management software, will only open PDF files, so you'll need to export before submitting your documents for grading. To export your file as PDF in InDesign:
Beginning
InDesign: Continuing On
Most of the time you'll want to set up a multipage document, with certain features
common to all pages. These may include a common grid, headers, footers, page
numbers, etc. Instead of setting up each page separately, Master Pages offers
you the opportunity to set up common elements.
Open a new document of at least two pages. Click on the Pages panel, and double-click "A-Parent." (Note this was called "A-Master" until version CC 2021. Why make a gratuitious change? Is the use of "master" somehow no longer politically correct? Dunno.) Set up columns, by choosing Margins and Columns from the
Layout menu. Try two columns, 2 picas between each column (gutter). Double-click
to page one. The column guides are transferred, as is any text or other elements. From the upper right flyout menu, choose Apply Parent, and select pages you want to see your master elements moved to. Note if you did not toggle off Facing Pages when you set up a multipage document, you'll have to make changes to both pages on the A-Parent for transfer to all other pages.
You can set up as many Master Pages as you need and apply to different parts of a longer document. Choose New Parent from the flyout menu at upper right.
Don't forget to move out of Master Pages when you place elements on individual
pages. Otherwise placements will be repeated throughout the selected pages.
Note you can go from page to page by double clicking on a Page panel icon,
clicking the arrows at the bottom, scrolling, or about a half dozen other ways.
More about InDesign
Text
Most graphic designers bring text into InDesign from a word processing program
using the Place command. But you also can copy and paste text. If you want the text block wider or narrower, you need
to drag the edges of handles. Lengthen or shorten the block by dragging on top
or bottom window shades. Remember, the red plus sign at bottom right "out
port" indicates that you have more text left to place. With the pointer
tool, click on it to load your cursor again, and place in the next column, or
move to the next page to place. When no more text is left to place, the plus
sign disappears. If it is replaced by an arrow sign, that means threaded, but
already placed, text continues to another block, column, or page.
Styling Text
With the Text Tool chosen, the menu bar at the top gives you many options regarding the appearance of your text. Note the menu bar changes depending on what tool you've chosen; this is called a contextual menu. For text, you may choose, most importantly, the typeface or font, size, leading (space between lines), and a wide variety of other options; hover your cursor over each to see a description. Note you can't choose a variation of a font (such as bold, italic, etc.) by just highlighting and typing command+b, etc., as you can in Word. InDesign makes you actually chose the option from the menu bar.
Alternatively you can choose text options from the Paragraph panel or Character panel. If not showing at right, go to Window pulldown, choose Type and Tables, and Character or Paragraph.
Threaded Text
InDesign automatically keeps text together, in order, no matter how you place
it. This handy feature keeps your text from turning to word mush as you manipulate it. Again,
note that if you wish to shorten, say, the first column of two in threaded text,
you drag the window shade shorter, and the text is pushed to the next column,
and vice versa. To see how your text is threaded, choose Extras, and Show Text Threads from
the View menu.
Copying
For many future exercises, you'll need to repeat blocks of text or shapes. No
need to place or draw more than once. For text, highlight, and choose Copy (Edit
menu). For elements, click to choose and then Copy. This places the copied material
on an invisible Clipboard. You can Paste it from the Clipboard as many times
as you need to. The Clipboard holds your material as long as you want--even
if you leave InDesign and move to another application, such as Word.
The Clipboard only has one "page," however; if you copy something
else, the material copied previously is deleted. Warning: you can copy photos
and illustrations from another application into InDesign, but what you get are
low-resolution copies. That's usually undesirable. Better to use the Place command.
Styles, the huge time-saver
I think the easiest way to save a style is to Place a block of text, style it as you wish and, with the text highlighted, choose the Paragraph Style panel from the dock (or if not showing, from the Windows pulldown choose Styles, and Paragraph Styles). Choose the flyout menu (tiny page icon on right of panel) to choose New Style. (see illustration at right). Name the style as you wish, and okay. The text you highlighted will become that style. To change other attributes, choose options from left window. Now when you Place text, you merely Select All of it (Command+a), or with the arrow tool select the frame, and choose your prepared style from the Paragraph Styles panel.
You also can set up a style by choosing New Paragraph Style from the Paragraph Styles flyout menu, working through the choices. Note: New Character Style (Character Style panel) will also set up your type, but for indentations and other paragraph changes you still have to bring up the Paragraph panel (so why not just use the Paragraph panel to begin with? Idk either). Character styles of imported Word documents may override your style choices. If so, Select All again, and while clicking on your prepared style, hold down the Option key.
Reverses,
Fills and Wraps
Geezer designers who learned with X-Acto knives, and light tables (like me)
found Text Wrap to be one of the most exciting features of computerized pagination.
In the old days, wrapping text around an illustration or box could be a genuine
pain in the, um, to quote a former president, s---hole. (Sorry. This is a family tutorial.) InDesign made it as simple as water flowing around a rock
in a stream--and metaphorically, that's kinda what the wrap feature does.
Wraps
Succeeding exercises may ask you to wrap text around a text frame or shape.
Here's one way to do it.
To wrap around a text frame:
a. Draw a text frame or shape about the size you need for a pull quote or other text-based
object. You can always change the size later. Type or copy and paste, or Place, your text
into the frame.
b. Open the Text Wrap panel from Windows pulldown.
c. With the text frame chosen (frame edges showing), select the second (square
box) text wrap icon. This wraps around a square shape. For a circle or other curved shape, choose the third wrap icon.
d. Choose the standoff (how close surrounding text is to the box) for all four
sides. Try about 3 points (pts) to start.
e. Create a border (box), around the text, if you want: with the text box chosen,
select a rule from the Stroke panel.
Note: The stroke (line) is put in under the blue frame line. To see the stroke, choose Extras, and Hide Frame Edges, from the Windows pulldown.
f. From the Text Frame Options dialogue box (under Object pulldown menu), adjust
the Inset Spacing so that the type doesn’t touch your border, if necessary.
g. Drag your wrap into your copy. Important note: should you decide
to put copy later inside that wrapped shape, you need change the wrap specifications
to make it possible. Choose the text you wish to appear in the wrapped shape;
choose Text Frame Options as above, and toggle on Ignore Text Wrap. Now drag
the text inside the wrapped box.
Reverses and fills
A reverse turns a background black or a dark color, and the type, the color of the paper or a light color. You reverse type out
of a filled object, such as a black or darkly-colored square or circle. To do
so:
a. Choose text frame or shape with selection tool.
b. Choose the fill box at the bottom of your toolbox, or in the Color panel (Windows pulldown, and Color, if not shown on the dock).
The fill box is the small box at upper left (hover your cursor over to identify). Usually it's already activated when you choose your object.
c. Open the Color panel. Choose the eyedropper in the white box, upper left
of bottom color ramp. Or, to choose an actual color, open a the flyout menu
at right, using CMYK color (for work to be published; RGB for screen-based).
d. Choose black to fill the box.
Alternative: Choose black from the Swatches panel. This panel gives you color choices. We'll explore it in more detail later.
e. Any type in the text frame will seem to disappear. That's because it's now the same color as the box, black. You need to reverse the type in the box. With Type tool, drag over the type in the reversed box. Or simply click the Type tool in the frame, and choose Select All (Apple + a)
f. Choose the Paper from Swatches panel, or white from Color panel
g. Turn off the color by clicking the "apply none" icon (square with red diagonal slash) in panel or bottom of toolbox.
• A word on the little
boxes at the bottom of your toolbox or in the Swatches/Color panels: The upper left box will fill type,
boxes, or other items with a color or gradient. The lower right box ("stroke" box) will color lines and, in the case of type, outlines of letters. When you
drag over type, the fill box should automatically come forward, allowing you
to color the text (choose color options from the flyout menu in the color panel).
If you change to the stroke box, it will color outlines.
Reminder on layers: You may have a problem choosing the element, or the type. This is because InDesign
places text and elements as if they were layers on a page. If one element, say
a type block, is in front of the object, you will be able only to select the
block. To bring other elements up or send them back, from the Object menu select
Arrange, and Send to Back or Bring to Front.
Drop caps
Used to be hard to do this; with computerized pagination, it's absurdly easy.
A drop or stick-up capital letter offers readers a "point of entry" or starting point to story, and a graphical flourish. Usually they are used at
the beginning of a story, that large capital letter hanging into the paragraph
(drop cap) or sticking up above (stick-up cap). To do a stick-up cap you need
to create the letter in its own little text frame, delete the original first
letter, add first-line space (Paragraph panel), and drag the new cap into
it.
To create a drop cap, try the automatic drop cap feature, accessible from the contextual menu bar at top, or Paragraph panel. Place your Text tool cursor anywhere in the paragraph you want the drop cap to appear in. Choose Drop Cap option at lower left, number of lines you want it to drop, and just the right of this option, number of characters affected. Sooooo easy.
Grouping
If you choose to create the reverse, or any element containing several parts, in the pasteboard, you'll find you can't
drag elements in as a whole: the type won't move when you drag the object, and
vice versa. To group elements as a whole, drag a dotted line (marquee) around
them with the Selection tool. Choose Group from the Object pulldown and drag them
together.
A Final Note
Learning to manipulate elements in any computerized pagination program is a
skill; anyone can do it with instructions and practice. The skill is only the beginning,
however. Just as a photographer begins by learning how to adjust a camera, or
a musician by learning the fingerings, a designer learns the software as just
another tool to reach his or her creative goals. A powerful one, true,
but still only a tool. Without knowledge of design fundamentals, and without
the creative spark that goes beyond classroom learning, what you'll get out
of the machine won't communicate very well. It's easy to find evidence of that
in a good share of mundane or worse publications produced today by any office with a computer
and a laser printer.
What's more, tools change. Especially if they are run by computers. The InDesign software you use today has already gone through one version, and that's going to continue. (Boy, don't I know. I started out learning PageMaker, and have since gone through about 10 iterations of design software. Do I get tired of this? But you either keep up with the technology or you shuck your job and move to Bermuda. Don't tempt me.)
Some shops (not many, though, among professionals) don't use InDesign; Microsoft Word is offering more and more options for designers. Other shops don't use Macintosh, but Windows. You won't be afraid of change if you know fundamentals. But if you know only "desktop publishing" (a phrase coined by Aldus Corporation, RIP), using InDesign CC17, you may be inclined to resist changes that could make your knowledge obsolete. This is the value of learning history, philosophy and theory. This is the value of university education.
A
Beginning Project
Create your own certificate or flyer! Way cool. The point of this exercise is
to help you practice styling text and placing simple elements accurately on a page.
If you wish, download a full-sized certificate
for reference (PDF files). Note: pts=points; p=picas.
Note: most design classes will instead complete this alternative certificate project.
Create a certificate (for regular session students; summer session students
can also do this for extra practice)
1. Create a New Document. Choose Orientation: Landscape (horizontal,
second icon). Click off Facing Pages, used for multipage spreads. Specify six
pica (one-inch) margins on all sides, one column.
2.Okay to open.
3. Under Preferences (InDesign menu), choose Picas for both vertical and horizontal
in the Units and Increments option boxes and, from the Preferences and Text
option box, Typographer's Quotes. Leave the other Preferences at their default
settings.
4. Choose Fit in Window (View pulldown) or another view that allows you to see
the entire document.
5. Bring in rules to guide your text placement. Bring in horizontal guides at about
15 picas, 20 picas, 27 picas and 38 picas, dragging them from the measuring
scale at top. These will guide placement of each line of text.
6. Save your document to the desktop or student folder. If you plan on continuing work later, also save to your own flash drive. Name it "certificate" or another name that will make sense to you later, as the default "Untitled.indd" will not.
Designer Note: the file extension .indd means an InDesign file. Usually file extensions are not required nowadays, but a PC may require it, so best to turn it on when saving on a Mac.
7. Create a border. Choose the box tool from your toolbox and drag a box around the document borders. Choose the arrow
tool to adjust the size later if you need to.
Designer Note: if the box tool isn't showing, click and hold the ellipse or polygon tool until the flyout menu appears, and drag the pointer to the correct tool. Note that all tools that include tiny arrows at the bottom right have other tools hidden in flyout menus.
Note: Alternatively you can create
a border around the text box itself, using the basic guide instructions above for
text wrap.) The difference between the box tool and the text box is not much; the box tool automatically puts a stroke around the box, but both can contain text.
8. At the bottom of the tool box are the fill and stroke boxes: fill is upper left,
stroke (line or rule) is bottom right. Choose stroke box, if not chosen by default. From the Stroke panel
choose 10 pt, and type: thick-thin-thick. To better see the effect of your work,
choose Grids and Guides, and Hide Guides from the View menu. I actually prefer to leave the guides off, but it does make it more difficult to find edges of elements.
9. Add headline type. Using text tool, drag a frame beginning at the baseline
of the first rule (15 pica). Don't worry if it's not exactly the right size;
you can adjust it later. With the text tool still chosen, from the Character
panel, choose Choose a vaguely old-style serif font: Garamond bold, New Century Schoolbook bold, or
Didot, bold. Size (second box on left): 36 pts. Leading (second box on right):
36 pts. (set solid). Case (flyout menu from panel): Small Caps. Kerning (third box on left) Optical.
From the Paragraph panel, choose the align center icon.
Note: Most of these options are also available from the contextual menu at top.
Reminder about fonts: InDesign offers only styles available for a particular font.
That means some display fonts will include only Regular, with no Bold or Italic
options. You can't just bf (boldface) or ital (italicize) something, a Word or Dreamweaver feature.
10. Type: Certificate of Merit. (Note: alternatively, you can type first, drag
over type to highlight, and choose make changes.) Draw text frames on guides and
keyboard in the rest of the type, laying each on the guide you already drew.
Change Type Specs to 18 pt., no bf, Auto leading, no small caps. Position the
text tool I-beam on each of the lines, and type:
The NDSU Department of Communication
Commends [space for your name]
For
Enrolling in Its Design for Media Course
11. Add a 1 pt. rule (line) for your signature (after Commends). Choose
the Stroke tool from your toolbox, and drag a line along the guideline. With the line selected (little boxes or "handlebars" on the ends, choose the size from the Stroke panel (1 pt is default, unless
you changed the defaults).
To help center the
line,you may wish to bring in vertical guidelines after the second letter in "Certificate"
and before the second-to-last letter in "Merit." Or you can just eyeball it for centering.
12. Create a seal. Choose the ellipse (circle) tool. It may be behind the rectangle
tool.
In the pasteboard, hold down the shift key and drag the crossbar on the ellipse
tool to make a circle about 5 picas in diameter. The shift key constrains the
tool to draw a circle instead of an oval. (If it still looks like an oval, choose
and drag with pointer tool as necessary to adjust.) In the Stroke panel change
Solid to a thick-thin line, and thickness
to 5 pt.
13. With the circle selected, choose the Swatches (or Color) panel. Choose Black. Now change that to a 10 percent screen (tint) using the
slider. Drag the circle onto the bottom center of the certificate, aligned with the 38-pica guideline.
Make sure it's perfectly centered; attention to detail is critical in quality
publication design. You can zoom out to eyeball it for centering, or measure.
14. In the pasteboard, create a small frame using the text tool. Type NDSU, and center align.
Drag the I-beam over to highlight, and choose about 18 pt.; change font as you think
looks formal enough for this very importnat document, bf if you like. Make sure it's centered! The eye can discern an object even slightly off center. Note: It's easier to see if things are centered if you temporarily turn off the frame edges. From the View pulldown, choose Extras, and Hide Frame Edges.
15. Using the Selection tool (solid arrow), click to select this type frame. Drag the type onto
the seal.
16. Review your work: is everything straight? Centered? Correct type style?
Spelled correctly?
Important: check spelling: With type tool in text, Edit pulldown, Spelling, and Check Spelling. Proofread.
17. Save, export as PDF file. Print a copy and sign your name, if you wish; suitable for framing! Otherwise submit to Blackboard. Congratulations!