Great for magazine and poster design, this effect works best when you have dense text on a page. If you need to, brush up on the basics of creating a text wrap in InDesign here.

What You’ll Need to Create Your Text Wrap Effect

You’ll need access to a trio of Adobe programs—Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and, of course, Adobe InDesign.

You’ll also need a photo or vector graphic with a strong silhouette and preferably no background or a white background, so it can be easily removed. 

Here, I’ve already created a layout for a magazine, complete with columns of text. You can easily apply this effect to any similar layout you have created.

1. How to Prepare Your Image

You can use either a photo or vector image to create your text wrap effect, but if you’re using a photo you will need to follow a few extra steps using Photoshop and Illustrator. To allow text to wrap around a silhouette, you will need to create a vector shape. 

If you have a ready-to-use vector shape, skip ahead to Step 4.

Step 1

You might have a part of the image you’d like to maintain in the final effect, such as the umbrella handle. In this case, you will need to isolate the handle in Photoshop. To begin, open the original photo in Photoshop. 

To remove a white or plain colour background, go to Select > Color Range. Click once on the background to pick up the colour, before adjusting the Edge Detection slider in the Properties panel that opens. 

When you’re happy with the tightness of the selection around the edge of the shape, click OK. Then hit Delete on your keyboard to remove the background. 

Step 2

Use the Lasso Tool (L) to loop off any part of the image that is not the handle (the part you’d like to keep as a photographic image in the final result). 

Then hit Delete to remove the selection. 

File > Save As the image as a Photoshop file, which will preserve the transparent background. 

Step 3

Open Illustrator and File > Place, choosing the original photo, as before, and opening it. 

Go to Window > Image Trace. 

In the Image Trace window, set the Mode to Black and White. Check the Ignore White box at the bottom of the window.

Check the Preview button, and then experiment with the Threshold, Paths and Corners sliders, until you’re happy with the traced result. 

When you’re done click Trace to exit the window. 

Go to Object > Image Trace > Expand. 

Select the Eraser Tool (Shift+E) and use this to separate any parts of the image that you won’t want to use in the text wrap effect. In this case, this is the handle of the umbrella, which will be substituted with a photo version. Delete any parts of the graphic you won’t use. 

Step 4

Your vector shape is ready to use—you can either save this as a vector file (e.g. Illustrator, EPS), or Edit > Copy the vector directly in Illustrator, ready to Paste into your InDesign document. 

2. Create the Text Wrap Effect in InDesign

Step 1

In InDesign, expand the Layers panel, and lock the layer which contains all the text in your document. 

Go to New Layer from the panel’s main menu, and create a new layer for the text wrap image to sit on. 

Step 2

If you have a photo element to your image, use the Rectangle Frame Tool (F) to create an image frame on the layout. 

File > Place the edited image you created earlier [in 1.1, above]. 

Step 3

File > Place or Edit > Paste (if you’ve copied the vector in Illustrator) the vector shape, and position it on the page. Use Shift and your mouse to scale it proportionally.

Expand the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches), and set the Fill Color of the vector shape to [None].

Step 4

Go to Window > Text Wrap to open the Text Wrap panel.

Select the shape and choose the third option along, Wrap around object shape, from the set of icons at the top of the panel. You can experiment with the Offset value to make the text wrap tighter or looser. 

For these ‘invisible’ wrap effects, it’s usually better to have a tighter text wrap, and therefore a low offset value, such as 0 mm. 

Pro Tip

You may also want to create a subtle text wrap around some photographic elements on your layout. 

To do this, you can create a quick vector shape directly in InDesign using the Pen Tool (P). Trace your way around the element you want to wrap text around, lopping it round to create a complete shape. 

Then apply the Wrap around object shape option in the Text Wrap panel, and ensure the Fill Color of the shape is set to [None]. 

Great Job!

Your ‘invisible’ text wrap effect is finished. 

Why not try using this technique for a variety of different shapes to create interesting and stylish concepts in your magazine and poster designs?

Ready to get creative? Discover more great InDesign tutorials here, or brush up on your type skills with these typography tutorials.

The post How to Create Invisible Text Wraps in InDesign appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Here, we’ll look at what widows and orphans are, and share some quick and easy tips for banishing them from your typesetting.

What is a widow?

A widow is a lone word or short group of words that appears at the bottom of a paragraph, column or page.

They tend to make long sections of text look unbalanced and messy, as well as leaving too much excess white space at the end of a page.

What is an orphan?

An orphan is a similar unwanted straggler, but this describes words that appear at the top of a page.

Orphans really belong on the previous page, as not only do they look untidy on the page they appear, but they also break the flow of reading across two pages.

OK, got it. Now how do I get rid of them?

There are three quick and easy solutions to banishing both widows and orphans, leaving your typography beautiful and neat.

The directions below are descibed for InDesign users, but you can observe the same general processes whichever design software you’re using.

Solution #1: Slightly extend the edge of your text frame

It’s amazing how even extending the side of your text frame just a millimeter or two can tidy up those widows and orphans, and it’s barely noticeable that the frame is larger than others around it.

In InDesign, take the Selection Tool (V, Escape) and pull the right or left edge of your text frame slightly, extending it until the orphan or widow is pulled into the main body of the paragraph.

Solution #2: Apply optical margin alignment to your text

Optical margin alignment is a method of shifting small text elements like commas, apostrophes and serifs to sit outside the edge of the text frame. As well as being a great way of making your paragraphs look generally more symmetrical and attractive, it’s also a nifty way of helping to get widows and orphans in line.

In InDesign, go to Window > Type & Tables > Story.

With the text frame selected or your Type Tool (T) cursor set in the paragraph, check the Optical Margin Alignment box. You’ll notice a subtle shift across some of the text. If your widow or orphan is a short word this can be enough to make them toe the line.

Solution #3: Apply tracking or kerning to the text

Some designers would argue that reducing tracking (letter-spacing across a group of words or a paragraph) is the lazy solution to banishing widows and orphans, but in some situations it’s simply necessary.

If you’re dealing with only a tiny word that is stubbornly resistant, reducing kerning (letter-spacing between individual letters) slightly between either some of the letters of the word, the preceeding word or in the space between the two final words of the paragraph is a more elegant solution.

In InDesign, use the Type Tool (T) to highlight the whole paragraph, the final sentence or the final few words of the paragraph. From either the Controls panel running along the top of the workspace or the Character panel (Window > Type & Tables > Character), reduce the Tracking (symbolised by a VA on top of an arrow) to -5 initially. Reduce the Tracking further to -10 etc, until you’re happy with the result.

To adjust Kerning, place your type cursor between the two letters you’d like to draw slightly together, then look for the V/A symbol in the Controls or Character panel. Adjust to -5, and repeat between other letters until the widow or orphan is pulled onto the previous line.

Looking for more quick typography tips? These quick and simple tutorials will turn you into an InDesign pro in no time.

The post What are Widows and Orphans? appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Here, we’ll look at some quick and effective tips for fixing overset text, making your documents error-free in no time.

1. I have an error, is it overset text?

The problem: “I have a red ‘error’ flagged up; but how do I know it’s overset text?”
The solution: Identify the root cause in the Preflight panel

You may have noticed a small red circle at the bottom-left of the InDesign workspace, next to ‘x errors’ text. When you go to File > Export an InDesign document, InDesign will also alert you at this point if there are any errors in your document that require attention before exporting.

Errors come in various forms—from missing font files to missing image links—but one of the most common errors you will come across is overset text.

Usually, this is because you’ve been happily occupied tweaking font sizes and leading, without realising that a couple of lines of text have slipped beyond the edge of the final text frame. In more extreme cases, you could have pages of unwanted overset text brought in from a placed Word file, or simply a case of Edit > Paste clicked one too many times.

But there’s no need for tears. Overset text is easy to fix. It all starts with identifying it as the problem in the first place.

Click on the red ‘error’ circle at the bottom of the workspace to open the Preflight panel (or go to Window > Output > Preflight).

In the panel that opens, you’ll be able to see areas of errors capitalised, in the case of overset text this will be ‘TEXT’. Click on the arrow symbol to the left of ‘TEXT’ to expand the error.

Expanding each ‘Overset text’ in turn will reveal the source of the error, i.e. ‘Text Frame’, with a page reference highlighted in blue to the right.

Click on the page number to bring up the culprit on screen.

Now we’ve located the overset text, you can fix it quickly and easily. Read on to find out how…

2. How to find the overset text

The problem: “I can’t see the overset text!”
The solution: View ‘invisible’ overset text

Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether you’re dealing with a single paragraph of overset text or several pages.

To make the overset text visible, place your cursor in the text frame and go to Edit > Edit in Story Editor.

And voila! All the overset text is marked by a red line.

From here, you can edit the overset text, highlight it, Copy or Cut it, or Delete it.

3. How to fix overset text

The problem: “I can’t get rid of all this excess text”
The solution: Ctrl+Shift+End

Manually highlighting text in the Story Editor and deleting it from here is a good solution for removing small amounts of overset text. But what if you’re dealing with pages upon pages of unwanted text?

This is where a simple keyboard shortcut comes in handy. First, place your text cursor at the end of the text you want to keep. Then:

(Windows) Ctrl + Shift + End to select all overset text, then hit Delete to remove it

(Mac) Cmd + Shift + fn + Right-arrow to select all overset text, then hit Delete to remove it

Problem sorted! Now you can get on with exporting your document, and generally get on with your day.

Want more InDesign quick tips? These quick and simple tutorials will turn you into an InDesign pro in no time.

The post Quick Tip: How to Fix Overset Text in InDesign appeared first on InDesignSkills.

How to Create and Format Vertical Text

Step 1.

I’ve prepared a single-page document in InDesign, set to a standard ‘Architectural D’ poster size, 610 mm (24 in) in Width and 914 mm (36 in) in Height, with a 5 mm Bleed around the edges of the page.I’ve also placed an image of a ballet dancer onto the page, and locked this layer, creating a new layer above from the Layers panel (Window > Layers). When creating your own vertical text effect, you may also want to edit this on its own layer, so you don’t mistakenly move around any other elements sitting below.

Image of a ballet dancer from Shutterstock

Step 2.

Once you have your page and layers prepared, you can get started with creating your vertical text effect.

From the Tools panel select the Line Tool (\) and, holding down Shift, drag your mouse down from top to bottom, creating a vertical line.

Step 3.

Select the Type on a Path Tool (Shift+T), which you can find in the Type Tool’s drop-down menu in the Tools panel.

Click once onto the top of the line to convert the line into a text path. Now you can type in the text you want to appear vertical.

Using the Type Tool (T), you can highlight the text and apply formatting like font, size and color from the Character Formatting Controls panel (running along the top of the workspace) and the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches). The font used here is Charlevoix Pro.

You can also remove the automated black color of the line by selecting the line with the Selection Tool (V, Escape), and choosing [None] from the Swatches panel.

Step 4.

Open the Paragraph panel (Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph), highlight the text with your type cursor and set the alignment to Justify All Lines. This will pull the text across to fill the full length of the line. You can adjust the height of the line by dragging the horizontal lines which appear at the top and bottom of the line when the Selection Tool is active.

Step 5.

To switch the text to a vertical orientation, head up to Type on the top menu and choose Type on a Path > Options.

Under Effect, choose Stair Step. From the Align options choose Center. Click OK to exit the window.

Step 6.

Now your text is aligned vertically you can tweak the formatting to suit your layout.

Here, I’ve adjusted the kerning between certain characters to reveal the dancer’s face on the poster and create a more interesting typographic effect. You can adjust this from the Character panel (Window > Type & Tables > Character).

I’ve also created a faded effect to the text by repeatedly copying and pasting the vertical text line, and reducing the opacity by going to Object > Effects > Transparency.

I also applied a gradient (Object > Effects > Gradient Feather) running at a 0 degrees angle to enhance the fade effect.

Building a complete layout around your vertical text effect can be really fun—try teaming vertical text with rotated type and standard left-to-right text to create contrast and interest. Alternatively, creating a layout solely with vertical text can look amazing, and is a technique that was often employed by the Swiss School, who were interested in the qualities vertical text brought to grid-based layouts.

Want to update your typography skills? Our beginner tutorials page is a great resource for fun and easy-to-follow typography tips and tricks.

The post How to Create Vertical Text in InDesign appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Here you’ll learn how simple it is to create stylish arrows in a range of styles directly in InDesign.

1. Creating Arrows Using the Stroke Panel

The first step of creating an arrow is to create a stroke. Let’s take a look how…

Step 1

With the InDesign workspace open and a new document created go to the Tools panel and select the Line Tool (\).

To create a line at a perfect horizontal or vertical angle, hold down Shift, and drag your mouse onto the page from side to side or top to bottom. 

Step 2

Go to Window > Stroke to open the Stroke panel (if you have your workspace set to the default Essentials setting, you will find the Stroke panel docked on the right side of the workspace).

In this panel you can adjust the Weight of the stroke, making it thicker or slimmer. Step 3

From the Stroke panel’s drop-down menu you can select Show Options, which will expand the panel.

In the bottom section of the panel you’ll find options for styling the Start and End of your stroke. Click on the Start drop-down menu and you’ll see a range of arrowhead options for applying to the start point of your stroke. Here I’ve opted for SimpleWide.

Applying a different style to the End of your stroke can create a stylish look. Here I’ve opted for Circle to give the arrow a sort of retro, mid-century look.

You can also adjust the Type of your stroke, which adjusts the style of the stroke’s line between the arrowheads. Here, I’ve chosen Left Slant Hash and also increased the Weight of the stroke to create a chunkier, more graphic arrow style.

2. Editing Your Arrows Further

Now you have a basic arrow shape you can start to develop the arrow using color and effects.

Step 1

You can adjust the color of your arrow from the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches). Click on the Stroke (X) hollow square symbol at the top-left of the panel to adjust the color of the arrow (you won’t need to apply any Fill Color).

You can also have flexibility over the position of your arrow by using the Selection Tool (V, Escape) to move the arrow, or hover over one end to Rotate it. 

Right-Click (Windows) or Ctrl-Click (Mac) to access other transform options, such as flipping the arrow vertical or horizontal, or rotating the arrow to precise degrees.Edit > Copy, Edit > Paste the arrow to build up designs, and team with typography set in text frames created using the Type Tool (T) to demonstrate data concepts.

Step 2

You can add more interesting effects to your arrows using the Effects panel (select the arrow, then go to Object > Effects). From here you can add a Drop Shadow.…..more specialist texture effects, like Satin, Bevel or Emboss……or create a graduated effect by applying a subtle Gradient Feather to the arrow.

Looking to refresh your InDesign skills? Our beginner tutorials page is a great resource for fun and easy-to-follow InDesign lessons.

The post InDesign Basics: Creating Arrows appeared first on InDesignSkills.

You can achieve the effect directly in Adobe InDesign—here we show you how!

1. The One-Image/Multi-Frames Effect

This effect is beloved by professional designers for adding interest and creativity to photos.

Once you know the basics of creating the effect, you can build up the design to create incredibly intricate collage effects.

First, let’s start out simple…

Step 1

Open up Adobe InDesign and create a New Document.

Set the Page Size to A3, Portrait orientation. Deselect Facing Pages. Keep everything else set to its default values and click OK.

Step 2

Expand the Layers panel (Window > Layers) and double-click on the default Layer 1 name to open the Layer Options panel.

Rename the layer Guides and click OK.

Create a new layer so that it sits above Guides, and rename it Images. Lock the Images layer and stay on the Guides layer for now.

Step 3

You now need to choose a suitable photo for your design. Any high-resolution photo will do, but try and look for interesting details in the image—generally, portraits and close-up shots will work better for this effect than landscapes, which tend to lack strong detail.

I’ve gone for this image of a flamingo.

Take a look at the photo—is it more portrait or landscape, or even square? My photo is square, so I make a mental note of that, and head back to my InDesign document.

Take the Rectangle Tool (M) and drag to create a shape that’s either roughly portrait or landscape to match your photo (it doesn’t need to match the exact dimensions or proportions). I hold down Shift to create mine, to create a perfect square shape.

Center the shape on the page.

Step 4

Now it’s time to think about the kind of shape effect you want to create. Let’s start here with a basic example, using squares to create a ‘windowpane’ effect.

Return to the Layers panel and lock the Guides layer. Unlock the Images layer above.

Take the Rectangle Frame Tool (F) and, holding Shift, drag onto the page to create a square, and sit it inside the a corner of the rectangle guide.

Go to File > Place, navigate to your chosen photo, and click Open.

Double-click inside the image frame to directly select the photo and, holding down Shift, resize the image until it matches the proportions of the guide shape.

Step 5

Select the image frame and Edit > Copy, Edit > Paste.

Place the pasted frame somewhere inside the guide shape, like in the top-right corner as I’ve done here. You can either resize the image frame to meet the edge of the first image frame, choose to leave a little gap between the frames or even overlap.

Whatever you go for, the guide shape is your constant. So, double-click inside the pasted image frame to select the photo and pull it into the same position as the guide shape sitting below.

You’ll start to see that the images are beginning to look correct, gradually making up a whole image.

Step 6

Repeat the process of copying and pasting image frames, and resizing the pasted frame if needed…

…then grabbing the image inside the frame and adjusting its position so it sits within the guide shape.

Once you have filled the whole area of the guide shape with image frames, you should see your whole image has taken shape.

 2. Creating Advanced Designs

Step 1

Once you’ve experimented with the effect using simple shapes you can start to get more creative. Circular image frames are accessible from InDesign’s Tools panel (Ellipse Frame Tool), and look great when layered over each other in a venn diagram style.

To recreate this design, as before create a square shape on the Guides layer below.

Use the Ellipse Tool to create a circular image frame which has the diameter of one quarter of the guide shape. Place in the corner of the shape and File > Place.

Repeat the process described above, copying and pasting circular image frames until you’ve filled the area of the guide shape.

To add an overlapping effect to the circles, go to Object > Effects > Transparency and set the Mode to Multiply.

You can build up this collage effect to create designs that are simple and striking…

…or intricate and ornate. The only limitation is your imagination!

In this tutorial you’ve learned how to create a collage-style effect in Adobe InDesign using multiple frames to assemble a single image. Awesome work!

Want free InDesign templates? Of course you do! Find a range of ready-to-edit templates for book covers, business cards and more on our Templates page.

Head over to our Inspiration page to browse stunning examples of professional design in magazines, books, stationery and packaging. Learn more about working with photos in InDesign or pick up top tips for improving your InDesign layouts instantly.

The post How to Place One Image into Multiple Frames in InDesign appeared first on InDesignSkills.

This straightforward guide will introduce you to some of the most popular print finishes, and how you can adapt your digital artwork for them.

What are ‘print finishes’? 

When you send off artwork to a professional printer, the process might not only involve printing your design. After the print job is finished, you might also want to add special effects to your printed product, such as bringing in metallic finishes or cutting your document to give it unusual edges. The printer will be able to create most of these print finishes (also known as post-print effects) in-house, or in some cases, can send your printed items off to a print finishes specialist.

Either way, it’s a great idea to wise up on the post-print effects you can ask for and what they might be suitable for. You’ll end up with a beautiful final print product…and a very happy printer!

Read on to learn more about the five most commonly used post-print effects…

1. Die Cutting 

Die cutting works in the same sort of way as a pastry cutter—the printer will create a custom die (or use a standardized one for popular cutting shapes, such as for rounded corners) and attach this to a die-cutting machine. The printed item is placed in the machine, and the die is pressed onto the item, creating a cut-out shape.

Dies are also used for other print finishes / post-print effects, such as embossing and scoring.

Use this print finish for: Business cards which require rounded corners; invitations and greetings cards with cut-outs, perhaps to allow the inside of the card to be partly visible when closed. Die cutting should be used for jobs which involve a particular cut-out shape to be repeated across a large batch of items, as the cost of producing a custom die can be high. For more flexibility, you should check out laser cutting instead (see below).

Design: Ryan Romanes

2. Laser Cutting 

Laser cutting is another method of cutting out shapes and edges, but instead uses laser technology to cut your printed item. The laser-cutting machine is hooked up to a computer, which directs the output of a high-power laser beam, cutting the material in the process.

Laser cutting is better suited to creating ornate, detailed shapes. Because the process is digital, and does not use manual tools as with die cutting, the margin for error is minimal—perfect for items which require a delicate touch. Laser cutting is a print finish often used in exclusive packaging and luxury stationery.

Use this print finish for: Wedding and event invitations which you want to look extra-special; stationery items that need a luxurious touch; arts and crafts items.

Design: Avie Designs

3. Foiling 

This print finish, also referred to as foil stamping or hot foiling, is the process of applying a metallic or colored foil to your printed item. This is done using a heated die placed into a foil stamping machine.

While metallics are more commonly used in the foiling process, producing gold, silver or copper tones, you can also use foiling to apply a particularly pigmented color that might otherwise be difficult to produce effectively through CMYK printing alone—neons or pastels are examples that might benefit from foiling.

Use this print finish for: Any print item to which you’d like to add a metallic or highly-pigmented touch. Foiling often works best in small doses, so pick out a single or pair of elements that you’d like to highlight in foil.

Top Tip: Foiling normally requires vector images and/or outlined fonts of the details that you want to have stamped. Place these on a separate layer or in a separate artwork (e.g. PDF) file to make it clear which elements you would like the foil to be applied to.

Design: Paper Bow London

4. Varnishing 

Varnishing is the process of applying a liquid coating to specified elements on your printed item. The process can add a tactile, 3D finish to your designs, and comes in a variety of options—matte, glossy, satin or UV. Ultraviolet (UV) varnishing results in a particularly high-gloss, shiny coating. It is created on a special machine that uses ultraviolet light to ‘cure’ the coating and achieve the final effect.

Use this print finish for: Print items that aren’t particularly colorful. Varnishing adds wonderful texture and interest to monochrome or single-color designs. Varnishing also adds an extra tactile dimension to packaging designs, being particularly suited to items which will be held once picked off the shelves.

Design: Girl&Boy for Inkmedix

5. Embossing and Debossing 

Embossing and debossing are related processes, both created using a metal plate and a counter. The plate is mounted onto a press and the paper item is stamped between the plate and counter. The pressure pushes the paper into the plate, creating the embossed or depressed effect.

Embossing creates a raised impression on the paper, giving the design a three-dimensional appearance.

Design: Pressure Printing Inc (PPI) for Gold Bug

Debossing creates the reverse effect, pushing the paper downwards to create a depression in the stock.

Design: Studio Thomson for Liberty Fabric

Use these print finishes for: Book covers for hardbacks or special-editions—embossing and debossing add an old-fashioned dimension to books which is less “look-at-me” than foil or varnish. Vintage-style stationery will also be enhanced by a touch of embossing or debossing.

Now you know your way around some of the most common print finishes and post-print effects, brush up on your print preparation skills with our two-part beginners guide.

Or head over to our Tutorials page to pick up more tips for creating print-ready design work.

The post The Essential Guide to Print Finishes appeared first on InDesignSkills.

It’s well worth a look even if you’re using an earlier InDesign version (CS4, CS5 and CS6). But if you’re a user of CC you’ll also be able to import color palettes directly into your InDesign artwork.

How to Use Adobe Color to Create Color Themes

Using the online Adobe Color platform, which you can use to create your own color palettes (or ‘Color Themes‘). You can create themes in the desktop or mobile Adobe Color app, or create themes in InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop.

Let’s learn how to use the app and apply Color Themes to your InDesign documents using the online Adobe Color platform.

Step 1: Browse Color Themes Manually

If you’re working in InDesign CC, make sure to open InDesign CC up and open your internet browser too. Ensure that you are logged in with your Adobe ID to Creative Cloud.

In your browser navigate to Adobe Color’s online color wheel. You can play around with the wheel, adjusting the Color Rule on the left-hand side to different settings, such as Analogous…

…or Compound, to create different color combinations and find colors that work well together as a group.

The wheel translates the colors to RGB format by default, but you can adjust the colors to CMYK by clicking on the RGB values just below a selected color to open a drop-down menu. You can also alter the colors in InDesign directly, which we’ll take a look at a bit later.

Step 2: Browse Color Themes Using a Photo

You can also choose to lift colors from an image, like a more sophisticated version of the Eyedropper Tool in InDesign.

Remaining in your browser, click on the small camera icon at the top right of the screen. You will be prompted to choose and open an image from your computer.

I’ve chosen a JPEG photo of an exotic toucan. The image has a variety of color tones I’d like to pick up in Adobe Color.

Adobe Color will automatically pick up a palette of different colors from the image. You can also adjust the Color Mood of the theme; in this example the tones are picked out in a Colorful mood…

…and this is a Muted combination. Hmmm, what else can we do…

…you can also go for a Custom combination and click to select your own colors from the image.

I’ve decided I like the Muted color combination best. Once you’re happy with the Color Theme, you can save it by clicking on the Save* button at the top-left of the window. Give the theme a name, here I’ve gone for ‘Muted Toucan Colors‘.

*You’ll need to be logged in with your Adobe ID to Creative Cloud to save the theme.

From the menu running along the top-left of the window you can click on My Themes to view your saved theme.

Step 3: Apply Your Color Themes in InDesign

To take advantage of this, you’ll need to have access to Adobe InDesign CC.

Return to InDesign and File > Open the document you would like to apply color to.

Go to Window > Adobe > Adobe Color Themes to open the Color Themes panel. The panel’s made up of three windows: Create, Explore, and My Themes.

Under Create, there’s a smaller, more simplified version of the color wheel that you can use to create new Color Themes as you work.

Under Explore, you’re presented with a library of pre-loaded Color Themes from Adobe, which is a great little tool if you’re stuck for color ideas.

Finally, under My Themes, you will find your pre-saved Color Themes. Here, as you can see, ‘Muted Toucan Colors‘ is waiting, ready for me to use in my document!

Before you start applying color, you can choose to add a Color Theme to your collection of Swatches in InDesign. Go to Window > Color > Swatches to open the Swatches panel.

Back in the Adobe Color Themes panel, under My Themes, click Actions to the bottom right of your chosen Color Theme to open a drop-down menu. Select Add to Swatches Panel. Your colors will be added to the Swatches panel. Not only that, InDesign CC has also helpfully grouped them into a folder with the title of your Color Theme. Nice and organized!

If you didn’t save the Color Theme in CMYK mode, and you’re putting together a print document, no worries. Simply Control-Click (Mac OS) or Right-Click (Windows) on an individual swatch in the Swatches panel, choose Swatch Options, and select CMYK from the Color Mode drop-down menu. Click OK.

Now you can start applying your new color swatches to elements in your document! 

How to Use Adobe Color to Convert Color Formats

Even if you’re not a CC user, you can still get some great features out of Adobe Color.

One of these is to use Adobe Color to convert color formats quickly and easily. Say you have a CMYK swatch in InDesign, and want to convert that to an RGB, Lab or even Hex Code format (which is suitable for web design). Admittedly, you can convert CMYK colors to RGB values directly in InDesign, but using the Adobe Color app is super quick and easy. As a bonus, you can’t convert to Hex format unless you use the Color Picker feature in Adobe Photoshop.

Simply navigate to the Adobe Color color wheel, and type in your CMYK values underneath one of the swatch tabs beneath the wheel.

Adobe Color will automatically convert the CMYK color to RGB, Lab, HSB and Hex formats. It’s that easy!

This is a particularly useful feature if you’re designing within the restrictions of a branded color palette, and need to share color formats with web designers or developers quickly and easily.

Craving more InDesign tips and tricks? Discover how to prepare your colored documents for printing, or check out our broad range of InDesign tutorials.

The post Adobe Color CC: Become a Master of Color appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Do not despair! Read on to find four quick and easy solutions to deal with the problem pronto!

Solution 1: Identify If You’ve Added Anything to the Document Recently

You might need to get your detective’s hat on…It’s likely that there’s something hiding in your InDesign document that has prompted InDesign to flag up the file as damaged. This could be a something like a damaged image or a dodgy font file.

Were you able to open your file without a problem not that long ago? If so, try to think about what else has been added to the document since that point in time. Recently introduced a new font into the document? It’s probably the corrupting culprit.

If you have back-ups on your computer, or have Time Machine set up if you have a Mac OS, you should be able to open a slightly older version of your file.

Solution 2: Check Your Preferences

Your problem might be something to do with corrupt InDesign Preferences.

To get rid of any corruption in your preferences, relaunch InDesign and straight away hold down Control-Alt-Shift(Windows) or Command-Control-Opt-Shift (Mac OS) and click Yes when prompted with the message Delete InDesign Preference files? Usually this will allow you to open your file without a problem. Hooray!

Solution 3: Resave to a Different File Format

INDD (normal Adobe InDesign format) files are more susceptible to being corrupted than IDML (InDesign CS4 and later) or INX (InDesign CS3 and earlier) file formats.

Try to open your corrupted file on a different computer (e.g. try opening the file on a PC if you normally use a Mac, and vice versa; or try opening on a different version of Windows).

If you are able to open it, go to File > Save and resave the file as an IDML or INX file. You’ll normally have no problems with opening the file in this format.

The file will open up as a new Untitled document, and from here you can File > Save your now uncorrupted document to your preferred folder.

Solution 4: Open a Copy of Your File

Being able to open your corrupted file is sometimes as frustratingly simple as opening up a copy.

Open InDesign and go to File > Open. Navigate to your corrupted InDesign file and click to select it. From the bottom of the Open window, choose Open Copy. InDesign will open the file as an Untitled copy. From here, you can File > Save the file as an uncorrupted copy.

We hope that we’ve helped to make your computer say ‘YES!’

Track down more helpful tips for Adobe InDesign over at our Beginner Tutorials page.

The post Open Corrupt InDesign Files: Make Your Computer Say ‘Yes’! appeared first on InDesignSkills.

This easy-peasy tip is the secret weapon of professional typographers, and will impress your designer friends without a doubt!

1. What is Hanging Punctuation?

There are a couple of tricks up the sleeve of a professional graphic designer or typographer to make their text formatting look particularly spectacular, and Hanging Punctuation is one of them.

Hanging Punctuation refers to the shifting of small punctuation marks, such as apostrophes and commas, and elements of characters, such as pokey serifs, to outside the normal boundaries of a block of text.

Without applying hung punctuation, paragraphs of text can appear visually uneven, and not seem completely symmetrical or straight. Typographers know that hung punctuation is a subtle but incredibly effective technique for achieving an ultra-professional look in their designs.

2. InDesign to the Rescue: Optical Margin Alignment

You can achieve the hung punctuation effect with next-to-no effort by using InDesign’s handy Optical Margin Alignment function.

Take a look at this magazine spread for the article Spirit of Adventure.

Hmm, OK, it’s looking alright; but that apostrophe at the start of the first paragraph sure is taking up a lot of space.

Head up to Window on InDesign’s menu, and go to Type & Tables > Story. This opens up a little-know panel called the Story panel, and in this panel we have an option called Optical Margin Alignment.

Just take a look at the difference it makes. Here, we have no Optical Margin Alignment applied.

Ta-dah! With the text frame selected and the Optical Margin Alignment checkbox ticked, that great big apostrophe is shifted to outside the boundary of the text frame, and the whole body of text on the rest of the article is subtly shifted; with punctuation marks and serif elements pushed to sit outside the line of the text.

Doesn’t it look so much nicer?

And it’s as simple as that!

Try to get in the habit of applying Hanging Punctuation to any design where you’re dealing with longer paragraphs of text—guaranteed it will make a world of difference to the quality of your typography.

To pick up some more typography tricks and access our library of InDesign articles and tips why not pay a visit to our InDesign tutorials page?

The post Typography Skills: Hanging Punctuation appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Let us guide you through the recommended sizes for typesetting books, and make sure nobody’s going to need to strain their eyes.

1. Why Does Font Size Matter?

Typesetting is an unsung hero in the publishing world. When you read a book that has high-quality typesetting, you probably won’t even notice it. Good typesetting will make the book more legible, easy-on-the-eye and be superbly suited to the genre and context of the book.

Font size is the most crucial factor in typesetting a book, but it can be tricky to get it just right. The ‘ideal’ font sizes listed at the bottom of the article are given as part of a recommended range. Whether you lean towards the smaller or larger end of the range will depend on some of the following factors. Take note, and choose your type size in accordance:

Q: Is the book long or short?

A publisher might want to be economic with the number of pages if a book is going to be long. If that’s the case, edge towards the smaller end of the size scale. You can also reduce the size of the Margins on your pages to squeeze more text onto the page.

If the book’s short, a publisher might want to increase the number of pages to make the book look fatter, and therefore appear to be of higher value to a browser. Increase your font size (and your Leading [the space between lines of text]) if this is the case.

Q: Who is the Readership?

Who is the book aimed at? This ties in with the genre of the book as well. Will the audience be intellectual (literary and classic fiction), or will they be looking for a quick, absorbing read (‘airport’ fiction, romance, thrillers, young adult fiction)? Are they adults or children (children’s books will often need a much larger font size)?

Some genres go hand-in-hand with a particular font size. It seems like an unspoken rule that more intellectual fiction requires a smaller font size, and therefore more concentration (or eye-strain, whichever way you see it) to read it. Nonetheless, a very slightly smaller font size communicates intelligence and seriousness, and will suit modern literary fiction and classic novels equally well.

Larger font sizes are more digestible, and will be more suited to typesetting 50 Shades of Grey than a Franz Kafka reprint.

So make sure to consider your readership, and the sort of font sizes they will be expecting to encounter.

2. The Perfect Font Size for Books

Of course, everybody has different preferences for book font size, and quality of eyesight can be a factor in shaping these preferences.

But assuming most people will fall in the middle of the spectrum (neither eagle-eyed nor poor-sighted) these font size ranges for headings and body text should cut the mustard each and every time…

Body Text:

Minimum 10 pt — Maximum 12 pt

Chapter Headings (‘A’ Headings):

Minimum 14 pt — Maximum 16 pt

Sub-titles (‘B’ Headings):

Minimum 12 pt — Maximum 14 pt

Make sure to think about your Leading too—as a general rule, try to make it a little more generous than the Auto leading value in InDesign.

Once you’ve decided on your perfect font size, you’ll need to find the perfect font too! Discover our pick of the only 5 fonts you’ll ever need for books or brush up on your skills for creating books in InDesign.

The post Choosing Font Sizes for Books: Get Your Typesetting Size Right appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Use this guide to navigate the murky waters of InDesign file formats, and wise-up on the difference between INDD and IDML, and the right way to down-save or up-save your files.

1. The Dual Nature of InDesign File Formats

When you create and save a file in Adobe InDesign, you’ll notice that the file has been given the extension .indd. INDD is the extension given to all InDesign files created in the standard way in any version of the design software, whether that’s InDesign CS3, CS4, CS5, CS6 or CC.

If you navigate to an InDesign file in your Finder (Mac OS) or Windows Explorer, you’ll also notice that the InDesign file has been classified in an additional way, under Kind. This indicates which version of InDesign the file was created in; in this case we can see that the file has been created in InDesign CC 2015.

It is this Kind categorisation that prevents you from opening a CC file in say CS5 or CS6. If you try to open it up, an error message will flag up, informing you that the file is not of a supported file type and cannot be opened in an older version of InDesign.

2. How to Open your Files in any Software Version

Adobe wants to encourage all InDesign users to gravitate to CC, the newest subscription-based version of the software. But this may not be the right choice for everybody—some designers are loyal to older versions of InDesign because of their familiarity with the programme, others might be discouraged by the cost of a subscription-based service.

And guess what? That’s absolutely fine, because you can open any InDesign file in any other version of InDesign if you save the file in the right way.

If you want to be able to open a file created in an older version of InDesign in a newer version you should have few problems with opening INDD files just as they are. But to down-save (open a file in an older version to the original) or up-save if you’re having problems opening the original file you need to save your work as an IDML file (or INX file for opening in CS3, see below).

An IDML (InDesign Markup) file is a ‘legacy’ file format. Saving your InDesign file as an IDML file allows users of different versions of InDesign to open up the file without a problem.

Saving a CC or CS6 file for opening in CS4, CS5 or CS5.5:

To save your INDD InDesign file as an IDML file, open up the file in InDesign, and go to File > Save As. Select InDesign CS4 or later (IDML) from the drop-down Format menu, and click Save.

You now have an IDML version of your original InDesign file.

Saving a CS5 or CS5.5 file for opening in CS4:

With your INDD file opened up, go to File > Export. Choose IDML from the drop-down Format menu and click Save.

Saving a CS5, CS5.5 CS6 or CC file for opening in CS3:

Unfortunately you can’t save back directly from CS5 for opening in CS3. To do this you will have to down-save to CS4 first.

With the INDD file open in CS5 or later choose File > Export. Choose IDML from the Format drop-down menu and hit Save.

Open the IDML file in InDesign CS4. From here, go to File > Export and this time choose InDesign Interchange (INX) as the file Type (Windows) or Format (Mac OS). Click Save to create your INX file, which is now suitable for opening in InDesign CS3.

IMPORTANT: To share your work with others, you should be sure to send a copy of your original INDD file along with the IDML file. The IDML file is linked to the original INDD file; and the IDML file acts as a sort of key which is able to unlock the INDD file.

The best way to share your compatible files with others is to first Package your InDesign file, and then save the IDML file into the packaged folder.

To send the file over email or large file transfer, simply compress the packaged folder (containing both the INDD and IDML files) and attach.

To learn more about using InDesign and develop your design skills pay a visit to our beginner InDesign tutorials page.

The post Which File Format?: A Guide to INDD, IDML, INX and Everything In-Between appeared first on InDesignSkills.

These are some of the most common head-wringing printer problems when they encounter client files, and tips on how to get them sorted out. In no time at all, you and your printer are going to be best buds!

1. You’ve cropped everything to the trim edge…

You may think you’re being helpful getting everything tidied up and looking nice and neat, but if you’re cropping all your images and background colour to the edge of the page (the ‘trim’ edge), that means you won’t have a Bleed on your final print file. A bleed extends content past the edge of the page, which minimises the visibility of trimming errors at the end of the print process.

So why does my printer hate me??

The printer will have to either get you to re-export the file with a bleed, or access the native (original InDesign) file and manually extend everything past the trim edge themselves. Which takes time…and money.

What can I do about it?

Include a bleed in your artwork, and make sure you include it when you go to export your document to a print-ready file (e.g. PDF). This quick tutorial will give you the details: How to prepare a bleed in your InDesign documents.

2. You’ve set the document at the wrong size…

So you’ve created a stunning business card design, and placed it in the middle of a letter-sized page. When you gave it to the printer they audibly groaned. What gives?

So why does my printer hate me??

You should always size your documents to their final print size. So if you’re creating a business card in InDesign, set the page size at a business card size; don’t place your design in the centre of a larger page. Or even worse – NEVER set a number of repeated designs on one large page. Nightmare.

What can I do about it?

Use the New Document window in InDesign (File > New > Document) to set the right size for your document from the outset; or use the Page Tool (Shift+P) to resize pages flexibly as you work.

Read this tutorial to master the New Document window.

3. You’ve included random Spot Colors or RGB Swatches…

You’ve sent your printer your original InDesign file, which they process and print. But then the print bill comes back…and it’s much more than expected. But why?!

So why does my printer hate me??

It seems pretty likely that you’ve included some unwanted Spot Colors in your design. This means that they have to be pulled onto a different printing plate, which adds time and money to the job. If your printer really doesn’t like you they might go ahead and print regardless; but if they’re nice they might suggest you sort out your colours pronto. If you’ve also included any RGB Color Swatches in your design, this is going to make the final printed result really unpredictable as well.

What can I do about it?

Get savvy about all things colour-related with our beginner’s guide to colour in print design. Adjust all your colour swatches to CMYK (not RGB), and only include Spot Colors if you really, really have to.

4. You’ve exported your file as ‘Printer’s Spreads’…

So you’ve arranged the pages in your print-ready file in the order they will be printed and bound, not necessarily in the order they will be read. Helpful right?

So why does my printer hate me??

Afraid to say, that’s not helpful at all. You should always export your file as Reader’s Spreads (i.e. the order the pages would be read by the reader). Don’t sweat about getting your file in the order it’s going to be bound (e.g. a page near the front of a book or magazine sitting opposite a page near the end of the document); the printer will sort that out in the way they know best.

What can I do about it?

Export your InDesign document in the order of pages as you created it originally; no need to do anything fancy. And always export your file as pages, not spreads. If you’re worried about the printer not understanding how you want everything to be printed, provide them with a rough mock-up.

Feel ultra-confident about preparing your work for print with our handy two-part guide.

5. You’ve sent the printer your InDesign file…

Why send a print-ready PDF when I can send my original InDesign file, right? OK, well, that’s fine as long as they have the relevant version of the software to be able to open your file. But hold on, your file is just that – just a file on its own.

So why does my printer hate me??

If you send the printer your ‘native’ (InDesign) file the printer will have the freedom to export the file to a print-ready format that suits their purposes. But that’s no use if you just send the printer your InDesign file in isolation. If you’ve not packaged your file, and provided the full folder of packaged Links and Font files, the printer won’t be able to see your InDesign document as you intended it. It will be riddled with errors and blurry images, and simply not fit-for-purpose.

What can I do about it?

When you’ve finished working on your InDesign file make sure that you package it (File > Package).

Read up on our straightforward guide to packaging your documents and make your printer a very happy bunny.

Take these tips to heart and you and your printer will be the best of friends guaranteed!

The post Why Does My Printer Hate Me?: This Advice Will Make Them Love You… appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Panic not! Here are 5 ways to spice up your designs super quickly and easily, and make them look instantly more attractive, polished and professional!

1. Make your Margins Wider

Never underestimate the transformative power of a generous margin around the edges of your page(s). It really is the simplest tip for making layouts look instantly more visually appealing, and giving text and graphics more breathing space.

Adjust your margins in InDesign by going to Layout > Margins and Columns, accessible from the top menu. Try increasing your existing margins by an extra 5 mm, and see your layout look more attractive pronto!

2. Limit your Colour Palette

Colour has the power to transform the mood of your designs, but introducing too much colour can make a layout appear cluttered and messy. Try to limit your use of colour to no more than three colour swatches to a page—you’ll be amazed how bold and punchy your design can become!

Another colour tip to make your posters and brochures look ultra-dramatic and to draw attention to headers and logos is to use just one colour on an otherwise monochrome layout. In the example below, white and black tones allow the red text to really pop and draw the eye.

Edit colour in InDesign using the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches). Learn more about using colour in InDesign with our handy beginner’s guide to colour.

3. White Space is your New Best Friend!

Whenever you design your layouts remember this mantra: less is (almost) always more (I say almost because ornate layouts can look lovely in the right context; see Tip 5 below…). Even layouts that have a lot going on—text, graphics, colour, the lot!—will always benefit from a bit of breathing space.

This is what graphic designers call ‘white space’, which is effectively space on the page that’s empty of visual content. It doesn’t necessarily need to be white in colour; just a blank bit of background with nothing on it. This helps focus the eye on the content you want to draw the viewer’s attention to, and it makes the layout much less stressful to look at.

Introduce more white space on your layout by cutting down on the quantity of content or resizing elements to create more room on the page. Try to stick to a maximum of two main focal points on the layout, like in this example, where the image and header are the only things seeking your attention.

4. Tweak your Typography…

…Is your text looking a little lacklustre? Adding a Drop Cap to the start of your opening paragraph or increasing your Leading (the space between lines of text) may be subtle changes, but they can work wonders for improving your designs. Setting your headings and sub-headings in different Weights (Bold, Italic, Light, Black etc) can also create visual separation in text-heavy layouts.

Another tip used by design professionals is to apply Optical Margin Alignment to paragraphs of text. This creates ‘Hung Punctuation’, shifting punctuation marks outside the boundaries of a text frame, creating a more uniform block of text. InDesign will also subtly move any overhanging serifs on letters, so your text looks more perfected and polished.

You can find the Optical Margin Alignment option in the Story panel in InDesign (Window > Type & Tables > Story).

5. Get Fancy with a Border!

Minimal layouts can look beautiful—clean, uncluttered and easy on the eye. But what if your layout’s looking more bare than minimal? Sometimes, a little touch of something fancy can lift your layout and transform it into something special.

The easiest way to give your layouts a touch of the ornate is to introduce a Border. Borders frame your content, drawing the eye inwards, just as a picture frame helps to focus the eye on the image it contains.

Create a border in InDesign by using the Rectangle Tool (M), accessible from the Tools panel. Use your margin lines as guides for getting the border perfectly sized; then adjust the look of the border using the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke) and Corner Options (Object > Corner Options). Here, I’ve used a ‘Thin-Thick-Thin’ Stroke Type and a ‘Fancy’ Corner Shape.

Take note of these five tips when you create your own layouts—you’ll be amazed how a few subtle tweaks can transform your designs! And remember, above all, have fun with creating layouts. Design is meant to be fun; so feel confident with experimenting and breaking the rules (in moderation!).

Enhance your layout designs with some fresh font inspiration for magazines, books, or print design; or check out our beginner InDesign tutorials page for more tips and tutorials!

The post Five Ways to Improve your Layouts Instantly… appeared first on InDesignSkills.

• Why you should proof your InDesign documents

• How you can use the Preflight panel to perform a technical proof of your work

1. Why do I need to proof my InDesign work?

It’s amazing how many errors can become glaringly obvious on a printed document, compared to just glancing over it when it’s up on screen. But sadly there’s no ‘Undo’ button when your printed items get delivered. Proofing your InDesign work before you send it to print is an essential step in minimizing the number of errors, both in terms of content and on a technical level.

Before you even look into performing a Preflight, which we’ll take a more in-depth look at here, you should check for spelling errors by conducting a spell check. You can also get some more stats about the text content in your document by seeing what you can find out from the Info panel.

OK, so what is Preflight? It sounds like something you might have to do before an aircraft takes off, and it is really the same idea, but instead for preparing a design document to ‘take off’ from the screen to go to the printing press.

Before you can export your InDesign document to a print-ready format, you need to make sure that everything is going to print in the way that you want it to. The Preflight panel is going to flag up any technical issues that might cause a problem when you want to package your InDesign file, export it, or send it to a printer.

2. How do I perform a ‘Preflight’?

Preflight is an essential part of the InDesign proof process, and is especially important for addressing technical errors, like missing images, missing fonts or overset text.

Let’s see the Preflight panel in action…

…Here we have an open InDesign document. And at first glance, all looks fine. But then, if I take a look down at the bottom left of the screen, I notice a little red circle, next to some text reading ‘3 errors’. As long as there is a red circle here, this means that there are errors in the document that need to be addressed before I send the document to print.

If I double-click on the red circle, I will open up the Preflight panel. You can also access the Preflight panel from the top menu, under Window > Output > Preflight.

First up, at the top left of the panel you can see a check box for turning Preflight On and Off. As a rule, you should always have Preflight set to On. This means that InDesign will actively flag up technical errors as you work, and update them to ‘No errors’ as you resolve them.

In the main part of the panel is the Error window. In this window, Preflight lists the errors it’s found, and categorises them into different groups. At the top here, there’s one Links error, for example.

If I click on the grey arrow to the left of the text, the error message expands, to reveal it’s a missing link. Clicking the grey arrow again the name of the missing link is revealed. If you double-click the name of the link, InDesign will take you directly to it in your document. Handy!

Click to select the name of the link in the Preflight panel, then expand the Info window at the bottom of the panel. InDesign is trying to help you out here, so it tells you what the specific problem is, and how you can resolve it.

It’s telling me to head over to the Links panel and use the Relink button to find the missing file. With the missing link highlighted – it will be flagged up with a red question mark if missing – I click on the Relink button, symbolised by a chain link, at the bottom of the top section of the Links panel.

From here, I can track down the missing link, and click Open to relink it. Find out more about working with images in InDesign here.

That’s the missing link resolved, and I can see in the Preflight panel that the missing link error has vanished, and I’m left now with just two errors to deal with.

These remaining errors are something to do with Text, and I can find out more by again clicking the grey arrows to reveal the specific error, and then the specific location of the text error. What we’ve got here is two instances of overset text, where text is overspilling a text frame.

If I double-click on the ‘Text Frame’ name, I’m taken directly to the text frame with the overset text.

I then take my cursor and drag the frame down to extend it, until the text error disappears from the Preflight panel.

After resolving all the errors flagged up in the Preflight panel, the Preflight circle turns green and a message comes up at the bottom of the panel reading ‘No errors’. That’s when you know your Preflight is complete, and you’re ready to prepare your document to send to print.

The Preflight panel is a simple, one-stop solution for addressing technical errors in your InDesign layouts. Taking just 5 minutes to run a Preflight before you prepare your document for sending to a colleague or sending to print will make a huge difference to the final quality of your work. And you won’t be biting your nails when that print delivery box arrives!

Click to find out more about conducting a spell check of your InDesign work and how to add a bleed to your print designs. Looking for more tutorials and tips? Head on over to our InDesign tutorials page.

The post InDesign Basics: Proof your InDesign work with Preflight appeared first on InDesignSkills.

Here, we’ll give you an overview of:

• What ‘Rich Black’ is and why you should use it for your print designs

• How to create a ‘Rich Black’ and adjust it for warmer or cooler tones

1. Why Does My ‘Black’ Look Washed Out?

You’ll notice that InDesign provides you with a default [Black] swatch in the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches) when you create any new print document.

You’ll also notice that when you colour text or other elements in your InDesign document with this [Black] CMYK swatch and send the document to print, that the result can come out looking…well…a little more grey than black.

This is because the default [Black] swatch provided in the Swatches panel isn’t actually a true black at all – it’s just 100% of the Key (Black) pigment from the CMYK spectrum, and O% of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow.

Nobody wants their blacks to look less than dark, dramatic and high-contrast! Sorry, grey cat…

To remedy your washed-out black, you need to create a New CMYK Swatch, something printers and industry-insiders know as a ‘Rich Black’.

A Rich Black is a much darker, truer black that looks like the depths of space, the dead of night, or indeed this very black cat…

2. How Do I Create a ‘Rich Black’?

To create a Rich Black, you simply need to increase the levels of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow when you create a new CMYK swatch, and keep the level of Key (Black) at a level of 100%.

To create a new CMYK Swatch, open up the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches) and click to select one of the existing color swatches (any will do). Click on the New Swatch icon at the bottom of the panel, or select New Color Swatch… from the panel’s drop-down menu.

In the Create New Swatch window, first up the level of K to 100%.

Now you have to decide what kind of Rich Black you want to create. That’s right – there’s no single set value for a Rich Black swatch. You can create a warmer or cooler Rich Black depending on the levels you set for Yellow (warmer) and Cyan (cooler).

Try out these different Rich Black settings to create different subtle tones in your printed result:

• Cool Rich Black: C=60 M=50 Y=40 K=100
• Warm Rich Black: C=40 M=60 Y=60 K=100

Different printers will often have different preferences for processing Rich Black. So if you’re still unsure what to use, just get in touch with your printer and ask after their recommendation for CMYK levels of Rich Black.

3. OK…That’s simple enough. Anything else I should know?

Yes! You should never use the [Registration] swatch provided in the InDesign Swatches panel as a substitute for black.

Why? Because [Registration] is 100% of everything – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key – and will cause a lot of problems for printing if you use it on your finished document.

The [Registration] swatch is only used on Registration Marks, which are visible when you export your InDesign document as a print-ready PDF file.

Stick with a Rich Black, and you’ll be sure to create darkly dramatic, high-contrast print results every time! Look how happy this cat is now that he knows you’ll be able to print text and graphics in a lovely true black color…

Find out more about understanding and working with colour in InDesign and how to prepare your documents for print by adding a Bleed to your print designs.

To discover more handy InDesign tips and tutorials head over to our beginner InDesign tutorials page.

The post InDesign Tips: How Do I Print True Black? appeared first on InDesignSkills.

• How you can use the Page Tool to create custom page sizes as you work
• How the Liquid Layout function can keep the content of your page proportional
• How Master pages can help you achieve easy-peasy page size changes in your InDesign document

1. Meet your new best friend…the Page Tool

You probably already know how to create a new InDesign document which shares the same page size and orientation throughout. But what happens when you want to resize a single page to, say, provide a pull-out section in the middle of a book? Or you want to rotate a page to allow the viewer to read a single page in landscape, rather than portrait, format?

This is where the Page Tool (Shift + P) comes in handy. The Page Tool (Shift + P) is a really useful little tool that you can find in the Tools panel.

Up near the top of the Tools panel, just the third option down, is the Page Tool. It looks like a white rectangle with a small cursor at the corner. 

Click the Page Tool to activate it. Now, here we have a few pages from this layout for Foodie Magazine, just to demonstrate. Now, let’s say the printer has been in touch with me, and wants the back cover of the magazine to be slightly larger than the inside pages of the magazine. This seems pretty unlikely, unless we were going to be creating a hard-bound cover, but let’s just take this as an example.

With the Page Tool selected I then click onto the back cover page to tell the Page Tool that this is the page we want to resize. Small white extension marks have appeared around the edge of the page.

To resize the page, I need to navigate up to the controls panel running along the top of the workspace. You’ll notice that some new options have appeared. We’ve got some text boxes where we can manually type in a revised Width and/or Height measurement for the page. So you can resize using that method, if you want to create a non-standard size for the page.

To the right of the Height and Width text boxes you can also access a drop-down menu of standard page sizes. So we can adjust the page size to something like A3 or Letter, or we can select a pre-saved Custom Page Size from the options towards the top of the menu if we scroll upwards.

Let’s set a custom Width and Height, adding 2 mm to the size on all sides. So I can type in 214 mm for the Width and 301 mm for the Height.

And we are also given the option to adjust the orientation of the page, from the Landscape and Portrait icons to the right of the standard page size drop-down menu.

And then, when we’re happy with the revised size of the page we can go back to the usual Selection Tool, by clicking the top black cursor in the Tools panel, and begin to reshuffle and resize the content on the page to fit the page’s new dimensions.

2. Hmm…OK…but how do I keep the content on the page proportional?

Well that’s all fine I guess…but isn’t there a more efficient way of reorganising your page’s content once you’ve resized something?

Well, the answer is yes – there’s this nifty feature called Liquid Layout, which arranges the content on the page according to how you resize it, and to what orientation you set the page to.

We can see a very reduced option for applying Liquid Layout from this top control panel, but let’s open up the full Liquid Layout panel, so we can take a really good look. Go to Window > Interactive > Liquid Layout.

You’ll notice that this panel is greyed out whenever we don’t have the Page Tool selected. Keep the Page Tool selected in order to use Liquid Layout.

The default Liquid Layout Rule is called Controlled by Master. That means that whatever Rule has been applied to a Master, will be applied in turn to the page or pages that Master is applied to.

From the Pages panel I can see that this back cover page has a Master called ‘E-Back Cover’ applied to it. So let’s double-click that Master page to bring it up on screen.

When I select the E-Master with the Page Tool, the Liquid Layout panel tells me that the Liquid Layout Rule is set to Off. So this means when I resize any page with the E-Master applied to it, nothing will happen to the content on the page.

But if I return to the Master and adjust the Liquid Layout Rule to Re-center, for example, you’ll see that I can now the content of the page remains centered on the page as I resize.

If I choose Scale as the Liquid Layout Rule for the Master, the content will resize, and scale up or down uniformly, as you resize the page.

Note: If I want to permanently change the size of the page I have to hold down the Alt key while I resize. If I don’t the page will just snap back to size.

Pretty neat. This is particularly useful when you have a lot of carefully prepared content on your page, and you don’t want to lose the proportions. 

And that’s how you resize pages in your InDesign documents using the Page Tool. The rule of thumb is:

• If your page is blank or has very little content, you can just resize using the options available in the Controls Panel at the top of the InDesign Workspace.

• If your page is content-heavy, open the Liquid Layout panel (Window > Interactive > Liquid Layout); set the Rule of the page to Controlled by Master, and adjust the Master’s Liquid Layout Rule to one of the following options: Scale, Re-center, Object-Based, or Guide-Based, depending on how you want your content to adjust on the page that has that Master applied to it. This will keep give you much more control over the arrangement of elements on the page.

Using the Page Tool, and becoming familiar with the Liquid Layout function, in InDesign can really transform the way you approach designing and editing documents. They allow you to be flexible in your work, accommodating changes to page size and orientation without having to rethink the whole layout of the page from scratch.

To find out more about pages and Masters InDesign, check out our detailed look at the Pages panel here. To find more useful InDesign tips and tricks pay a visit to our beginner InDesign tutorials page.

The post InDesign Basics: How Do I Change the Size of a Page in My Document? appeared first on InDesignSkills.

• Why packaging your InDesign work is an important step after proofing and Preflight

• How to Package your InDesign file

Why should I package my InDesign files?

If you want to send your InDesign document to a colleague, client or to the printers, you should ‘package’ the file so that all the linked elements in your document are retrieved and contained in a ready-to-send folder.

It’s a common error to send on your unpackaged InDesign file via email, large file transfer or USB. The recipient will be able to open and view the file, but the linked images will flag up as missing in the Links panel. Unless the recipient also has all the relevant fonts installed on their computer, the fonts you carefully applied in your original document will also be listed as missing, and will be replaced with a temporary alternative font in InDesign.

This is frustrating for both you and the recipient and may even result in erroneous changes being made to your document. Let’s look at how you can Package your InDesign work and prevent a headache!

Step 1: Proof and Preflight

I’ve prepared the artwork for a magazine cover, in InDesign, for the next issue of Foodie Magazine. Learn how to design layouts for the magazine with our fun series of tutorials.

I first check the document for errors (check out how to perform a Spell Check on your document here) and perform a Preflight (Window > Output > Preflight); then save the file (File > Save) once I’m happy.

Then I go up to File > Package.

Step 2: Check for Errors

The Package options window opens. To the left of the window there is a list of options.

Navigate down through the options and check the box that says Show Problems Only for each option. So here, under Fonts we have no problems. Great!

But here, under Links and Images two images are flagged up as using an RGB colour space (not CMYK, which would be better suited for print).

However, this isn’t a problem as the InDesign file will eventually be exported to a print PDF for printing, and all RGB colour will be converted to CMYK. So let’s not take any action on that; and go ahead and click the Package button.

Step 3: Save and Navigate to Your Packaged File

Click OK and select an appropriate place to save the packaged file.

InDesign will package your file in your chosen location. Navigate to the location and you can see that InDesign has placed a copy of the InDesign (.indd) file in the folder, alongside folders for Links and Document Fonts, and a copy of your entered Instructions.

You can share your packaged folder straight away via USB or Hard Drive; or you can compress the file (e.g. in ZIP format) to send over email or large file transfer.

Great work! Your recipient will be thrilled!

Packaging files is a simple and essential skill that will help to preserve your InDesign work as you intended, no matter how many individuals you share your file with. To find more useful InDesign tips and tricks head over to our beginner InDesign tutorials page.

The post InDesign Basics: Why Package Your InDesign Files? appeared first on InDesignSkills.

• Learn how to Place text into your InDesign document

• Learn how to preserve the format of your source text

Option A: The Simple Methods for Inserting Text

There are three principle methods to insert text into your InDesign document, each of which have their advantages and drawbacks. (For help setting up an InDesign document, read this quick tutorial first.)

For each method, you should first prepare a text frame, or series of text frames for the text to be entered into, using the Type Tool (T). You can prepare a series of text frames, and thread them together before you insert any text.

The simplest two methods for inserting text are:

• To type text directly into the document (which can be manageable for short headings, titles and captions, but is a time-consuming method).

• To copy text from your source document and Edit > Paste the text into your InDesign document (which will not carry over any text formatting that may have been applied to the source document).

This shows an original source file created in Microsoft Word, and is the opening chapter of the classic novel, Alice in Wonderland. Some text formatting, such as font choice, font size, first-line indents and text alignment have been applied to the document.

If we simply copy and paste the content from the Pages document into our InDesign document, the formatting will be lost, only the paragraph structure of the chapter will be maintained. The text will adapt to the default style that has been applied to the InDesign text frame.

This method potentially gives you more control over the formatting of the text, but you have to define Styles etc in InDesign, and this can be time-consuming.

Option B: Import Text from a Word-Processing Application

A third option for inserting large quantities of text is:

• to import the text from an existing source file, like a Word or Pages document, by using the Place function (this can maintain the formatting of the original document).

This is the preferred method used by InDesign professionals when dealing with long documents, such as books, reports or catalogues.

Before you place the source file, you should be sure to clean the file of any potential ‘junk’ that might disrupt the import of the text. In your word-processing software, you should choose to Accept All Changes if the document has a number of tracked changes or notes.

In InDesign, ensure you have a text frame, or a series of threaded text frames, prepared on your document.

Then click away from the frames, onto the pasteboard. Go to File > Place.

Navigate to your source file and check Show Import Options at the bottom of the window. Click Open. The Import Options window will appear, allowing you to select which parts of the text you want to import. You can choose whether to import contents, index, footnotes and endnotes, and you can also tell InDesign how to manage formatting.

You can check the box next to Remove Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables to just import the text without any of the formatting applied to it in the source file. This can be a good way of managing the text, as it gives you more direct control over the formatting of the text going forward in InDesign.

The second option is to keep Preserve Styles and Formatting from Text and Tables checked to keep your existing formatting.

Click OK.

Your cursor will load with a symbol showing the first few lines of the text. Hover over the first text frame and click once. The text will flow into the frame and into any other text frames the first frame is threaded to.

You may get a warning window flashing up detailing any compatibility issues. A common issue , for example, might be a missing font. You can choose to Find Font, and pick a replacement, or just click OK. All text set in a missing font will be highlighted in the Normal Screen Mode.

A final option for placing text from a source file is to check Customize Style Import, at the bottom of the Import Options window. This option is only viable if you are sure that styles have been set up correctly in the source file.

Click on Style Mapping to the right of the check box. This function allows you to assign pre-existing InDesign styles to match the styles in your source file.

Once you have assigned styles, click OK. Then click OK again in the Import Options window.

Click once in the first text frame. Your text flows into the document, formatted according to your instructions.

Explore more beginner-level InDesign tutorials here.

The post InDesign Basics: Importing Text from a Word Document appeared first on InDesignSkills.

In this first installment of How Did They Do That? you will learn how to recreate a simple 3D effect commonly used across magazine publishing. It’s super simple to do, and at no point do you need to do any fiddly photo editing in Photoshop.

3D Effects in Magazine Cover Design

Magazine covers are the perfect place to get really creative with design. After all, they’re meant to attract the reader to buy the magazine. Some magazine designs get playful and showcase some fantastic optical illusions, turning a 2D medium into a 3D work of art. Here are some inspirational examples, where typography and images interact and appear to ‘jump’ off the page:

A high-contrast design with subtle 3D effect starring Lupita Nyong’o from V Magazine

Stylish 3D graphics from GIA Magazine
A creative cover starring Tilda Swinton from Zembla Magazine

Now let’s create our own version…

Step 1: Set up the Layout of your Magazine Cover

Here, I’ve set up a New InDesign Document for Print, Width 203.2 mm and Height 276.22 mm, a standard size for Condé Nast magazine covers. I’ve set the Top Margin to 12 mm, Bottom Margin to 11 mm and Left and Right Margins to 9 mm.

I then placed a photo within an image frame, using the Rectangle Frame Tool (F), which extended across the whole page.

I then created a new layer (Window > Layers, to open the Layers panel, > Create New Layer) and used the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a frame with no Fill colour and a solid Stroke set in [Paper], with a Weight of 2 mm (edit these from the Character Formatting Controls panel running along the top of the screen). I’ve adjusted the size of the frame so that it sits on the Margin lines.

I then added a few text frames on another New Layer using the Type Tool (T), setting the Font to Didot in [Paper], and have placed the magazine title so that it sits very snugly against the top right corner of the white frame.

What would make our cover really ‘pop’ is to create a 3D effect, to give the impression that the white frame is interacting with the woman, and the woman is stepping outside of part of the frame.

Left: The cover before the effect is applied; Right: After the 3D effect is applied

Step 2: Use the Scissors Tool

Select the Scissors Tool (C) from the Tools panel (go to Window > Tools if not shown by default).

Zoom in to the area indicated below, and snip the edge of the white frame just above the top of the woman’s leg.

Repeat for the section of frame just below the woman’s leg.

Select the section of the white frame lying across the woman’s leg and press the Delete key on the keyboard to remove the section of frame.

Step 3: Use the Rectangle Tool (M)

Select the Rectangle Tool (M) from the Tools panel.

Drag to create a small long rectangle, at a similar width to the width of the white frame. Set the Stroke colour to [None] and the Fill color to [Paper].

Sit this new frame on top of the existing white frame, so that the bottom edge of the rectangle is almost touching the top of the woman’s leg. You might need to zoom right in and adjust the width of the rectangle so it fits perfectly on the edge of the white frame. You can also adjust the Width of the rectangle to exactly 2 mm from the top control panel.

Deselect the rectangle and then choose the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the Tools panel. Select the bottom right corner of the rectangle and drag the point down until it touches the woman’s leg. Select the bottom left corner of the rectangle and drag the point until it touches the edge of the woman’s leg also, being careful to keep the vertical sides of the rectangle very straight.

You can select the white rectangle and Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste, before adjusting, as above, for the lower part of the woman’s leg.

Step 4: Repeat the Process Above

Repeat the process described in Step 3 and Step 4 above until you have created an effect on the parts of the white frame you want to appear 3D. For this image, this is where I made all the cuts with the Scissors Tool (C), as an example.

And you’re finished! It’s as simple as that!

There’s no need to do any fiddly photo editing to achieve this simple, high-impact effect. Have fun creating your own 3D effects in InDesign!

Explore more awesome quick tutorials for InDesign.

The post How Did They Do That?: A Simple 3D Effect appeared first on InDesignSkills.

• Learn how to apply Page Numbers to Master Pages

• Divide your document into Sections, which is appropriate if you’re creating a longer document, such as a book or report

Step 1: Apply Page Numbers to a Master Page

Inserting page numbers into your InDesign document is quick and simple. The first thing to realise is that InDesign numbers pages according to the page numbers listed in the Pages Panel (Window > Pages). Unless you want to spend the time manually inserting individual page numbers to override this, you should understand how to define sections in your document (see Step 2, below).

For now though, let’s assume you have a document with just one uniform section, going from Page 1, the first page of the document, to Page x, the last page of the document.

Here, I set up a 16-page document, with Facing Pages. In the Pages Panel, this is what the document will look like:

First things first, double-click on the default A-Master page icon in the top section of the Pages Panel. This brings up the Master page spread on screen. Remember, everything we place on the A-Master spread will be applied to the pages which have that Master applied to them. To refamiliarise yourself with Masters, click here.

Because this document has facing pages, we want to insert page numbers on both the left and right pages. For now, navigate to the bottom-left corner of the left-hand page by zooming in (Ctrl + [Windows] or Cmd + [Mac]). Select the Type Tool (T) from the Tools Panel (Window > Tools) and drag to create a small text frame, resting the top of the frame against the margin.

Set the text orientation to Align Left from the Character Formatting Controls panel running along the top of the screen. You can also set the formatting of the page number at this stage, such as Font, Size and Colour.

Then go to Type in the menu running along the top of the screen and select Insert Special Character > Markers > Current Page Number. An A Marker will be dropped into the text frame. This will adjust to the relevant page number on each page in your document.

Select the text frame with the Selection Tool (V, Escape) and go to Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste. Manoeuvre this second text frame onto the right-hand page in a mirrored position. InDesign will provide pop-up guidelines once the text frame lines up exactly with the frame on the left-hand page. Once your happy with the positioning, select the Type Tool (T) and adjust the orientation of the text to Align Right from the Character Formatting Controls panel, as before.

And you’re done! The page markers on the Master will be applied to every page that has the Master applied to it.

To apply the Master to a page, click and drag the A-Master page icon and drop onto the relevant page icon in the Pages Panel.

Step 2: Create Sections in your InDesign document

Larger documents like books and reports may benefit from being split up into sections. In this example we’ll create two simple sections for a short book. Section I will consist of introductory pages and be set in roman numerals, i – vi. Section II will be made up of the main pages of the book, set in standard numbers, from 1 – 10.

If you created the document example in the first step, above, use this same document if you’d like to create your own example document in InDesign.

This is how our document looks. It’s 16 pages long and has page numbers applied to it, as in Step 1, throughout. You can see that the main text of the book starts on Page 7 of the document, and that the page number marker has adjusted accordingly to mark this as 7. But we want this to be numbered as 1 in the book instead. So, let’s discover how to do just that.

Firstly, select the page icon of the first page in the document in the Pages Panel (Window > Pages). Then navigate to the drop-down menu in the Pages Panel, which you can find at the top-right corner of the panel.

Select Numbering & Section Options... to open the Numbering & Section Options window.

Here, you’re presented with a range of options which affect the way your document is numbered and organised. For now, check the option Start Page Numbering at, overriding Automatic Numbering. Then navigate down to the Style drop-down menu and select i, ii, iii, iv… from the options available. Click OK.

All the pages in your document will now be set in Roman Numerals.

Now, select the relevant page icon in the Pages Panel which represents the page you want to set as the first page of the second section of your document. In this example, this is Page 7 (which is currently numbered as vii). As before, go to the drop-down menu in the Pages Panel and select Numbering & Section Options… to open the Numbering & Section Options window. Again, check Start Page Numbering at, and from the Style drop-down menu select 1, 2, 3, 4… from the options available. Click OK.

A new section, beginning on page 7 of the document but numbered as 1, has been created.

Great work!

TIP: If you want to remove page numbers from some pages in your document, e.g. a title page or a blank page, click and drag the [None] Master page icon from the Pages Panel and drop onto the relevant page icon(s) in the lower part of the Pages Panel.

Develop more skills from our beginner InDesign tutorials page.

The post InDesign Basics: Insert Page Numbers and Create Sections appeared first on InDesignSkills.

• How to set Spelling Preferences
• Check spelling in your document
• This tutorial covers spell-checking in InDesign. See here to learn how to word count.

Step 1: Set your Spelling Preferences

You can set Spelling Preferences before you begin working on a document, while you’re working, or once the document is complete. To ensure all future documents observe the same spelling rules, be sure to set your Preferences before you begin.

Go to Edit > Preferences > Spelling (Windows) or InDesign > Preferences > Spelling (Mac OS) in the top menu to open the Preferences window.

You can tell InDesign to note any Misspellings (in accordance with your chosen Language Dictionary [Preferences > Dictionary]), Repeated Words, Uncapitalised Words and Uncapitalised Sentences.

You can also choose to enable Dynamic Spelling, which underlines potential spelling mistakes as you work.

Step 2: Locate and Correct Spelling Errors

Go to Edit > Spelling > Check Spelling to view highlighted errors. The Check Spelling window will give you possible corrections for each error, and invite you to Change or Skip them. When you’re finished, click Done.

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