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1This session will introduce you to the basics of InDesign,
which is a design application for creating and editing page
layouts.
In this session you will learn:
1 - Setting up a document in InDesign2 - Creating columns3 -
Inserting text boxes into your document4 - Inserting picture boxes
into your document5 - Placing images into your document (using text
wrap)6 - Using layers to arrange and position items7 - Adding
specific colour swatches for CMYK colour8 - Using transparency and
tint to alter colour appearance9 - Typing along a desired path of
your creation10 - Adjusting the appearance of your type with
kerning and hyphenation.
Once you have been able to complete the exercise found in this
document you should be able to apply what has been taught to your
own work. It will then become a valuable tool for you to either
create work or just to present it effectively.
Toolbar (in order)
Selection tool - selects, moves, resizes items in your
document
Direct Select tool - edits text and pictures
Pen tool - use to create vector paths, either in outlines or
solid shapes
Type tool - creates rectangular text boxes and accesses typing
on a path tool
Pencil tool - freeform drawing
Line tool - creates straight or diagonal lines at any angle
Rectangle Frame tool - various frame shapes for holding
images
Rectangle tool - creates various shapes
Button tool - create button items
Scissors tool - split paths
Rotate tool - rotate objects at angles
Shear tool - distort objects at angles
Gradient Swatch tool - add gradients to items
Free Transform tool - resize and reshape items
Note tool - applies a note to a specified area of the
document
Creating a Magazine Spread in InDesign
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2Hand tool - move around the document
Zoom tool - zoom in or out of your document
Setting up a New Document
Choose File - New - Document from the main menu.
Set up a document with two facing pages, A4 size, portrait, 3
columns, gutter 1p0, margin 3mm.
Setting up Guides and Margins
It is useful to use guides in order to enable precise
positioning of text and graphics in your document. These are placed
from the rulers at the top and sides of the page. If you cant see
them choose View - Show rulers from the main menu.
With your cursor drag the arrows from either the top ruler or
the side ruler to create a guide line that can be positioned in the
document.
If you need to hide the guides at any time choose Apple key and
;.
Master Page Numbering
Go to your A-Master document, which you will find on your Pages
window and create a small text box on each facing page where you
would like the num-bers to appear in your document.
(To select the relevant A-Master page double click on it)
Here, I have used two rulers to help me line up my text box. It
is directly un-derneath the middle column.
While the text box is active, go to Type - Insert Special
Character - Markers - Current Page Number.
- Text Box Tool
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3An A will appear in the text box. You will now need to do
exactly the same thing for the facing page.
Congratulations you have now added page numbers to all of your
pages!
You can double-check you have done everything correctly by
double-clicking on a page and checking that its page number is
sitting at the bottom.
Layers
Layers in InDesign work very similarly to those in Photoshop, in
that the top layer is at the front of the document and the layer at
the bottom is in the background of the document.
The layers pallette can be found by clicking Layers next to the
Pages tab.
Text boxes
When adding layers to a page it may benefit you to create a new
layer when doing so, this enables you to have flexibility in your
design. To add a new layer, right click on Layer 1 and choose New
Layer. For additional control over layers you can assign a colour
to each layer. Just choose a colour from the colour drop down list.
You can also give the layer a name.
In our document we have 3 columns in each page, what we need to
do now is add text boxes in order to insert text.
Select the Type Tool and click and drag over each column
individually.
To link the text boxes so that the text flows, click on the
slightly larger square at the bottom-right of the left-hand column
and then click on the middle column. Repeat this process to link
the other columns.
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4Open the document named text.indd in the folder named InDesign
bits on your desktop. Click on the text 5 times to select the whole
of the text. Go to Edit - Copy (or Apple and C). Now go back to
your original document that youve been working on and double click
in the first column. Go to Edit - Paste (or Apple and V). The text
should now be pasted into every column of your document.
Adding a Background Colour
Adding background colour is simple. Using the Rectangle Tool
draw a rectangle which covers the whole page (including outside the
mar-gins).Now select the Colour pallette and choose CYMK from the
drop down menu. Next change the fill to a colour of your choice.
Lastly lower the Opacity (to, say 25%) so that your text is
readable.
Content Box - Picture
In order to insert images into your document you need to create
a content box of some form in which to place the image.
You can choose content boxes from those provided, including
rectangles, circles and polygons; you can also create your own
shapes using the pen tool to create a joined path.
Create a rectangle frame tool in column 1. Go to File - Place
(or Apple and D) and choose the file named Teacher_writing.psd
inside the images folder inside InDesign bits. This will now appear
in your rectangular frame.
But it will not be the right size, so we need to fit it into the
frame. Go to Object - Fitting - Fit Content Proportionally to fit
the image into the frame.
Text Wrap
Now we need to wrap the text around the image we have inserted.
So we select the image and go to Window - Text Wrap. A new pallette
will appear.
Click on the option to Wrap around bounding box and you will see
that the text separates. You can also set the distance from the
edge of the object that you would like the text to ap-pear.
Experiment with settings to your liking.
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5Next, we will add another image, but to column 2 this time.
Create a rectangular frame in column 2. Go to File - Place and
choose the file named Teacher_writing_no_background.psd inside the
images folder inside InDesign bits. This will now appear in your
rectangular frame.
Again, it will not fit the box perfectly so you can go to Object
- Fitting - Fit Content Proportion-ally to fit the image into the
frame. As this image has no background we can add a text wrap that
wraps around the object rather than the box in which it is
held.
Next, we will add a quote. Create a new layer and name this
quote , click ok. With your Type Tool create a text box outside of
your document (in the white space surrounding your document). Type
something in the box, for example I have typed Heres the quote.
Once again place this box onto your document, this time onto the
third column. Once again you can edit to your liking.
Typing on a path
Create another layer (call it title) and select the Pen
Tool.
Make sure that the fill and outline colours are set to none.
Use the tool to draw a path. I have set 3 points and used these
to create bezier curves in an S shape.
Select the Type on a path tool from the toolbar and click on the
start of the path that you have created. Now just type a title and
it should follow the path. You can Align center (found in your
Paragraph pallette) or leave it aligned to the left, whatever looks
best.
You could also add another text box and type your name into it
to complete the article. Ive also added a larger version of the
Teacher_writing_no_background to the background of my docu-ment
page 1. You can edit the three columns on page 2 as well to
experiment. You can also exchange the text for your own and use
this example as a template for a piece of work. Then... youre
finished!
Click on the image and choose Wrap around object shape from the
Text Wrap pallette. Now choose Contour options and Alpha Channel
from the pallette. You will now see that the text now wraps itself
around the image. You can change the settings, for example, the top
and bottom offsets will either increase or decrease the distance of
the text from the image.
Lastly, we will add a title. To make the title a bit more
interesting we will type it on a swirly path!