Reacquainting Myself with InDesign

Photo from Pexels

After learning the basics of design last week, this week in PR Pubs we learned the fundamentals of Adobe InDesign. For me, this was a relearning InDesign and incorporating new techniques into my knowledge of InDesign. 

We started Tuesday's class by opening a new InDesign document. Our assignment was to recreate an annual report cover by following along with our instructor. The cover was a simple, clean design making use of shapes, graphics, fonts, and special effects. 

To begin the design, we had to think about the design three dimensionally. Since the background was solid gray, we first drew a solid gray shape around the page.  Next, we placed the graphic, since it was behind the shapes and text. After reshaping and resizing the graphic, we place the first rectangle across the page, from just below the top left corner through to the bottom corner. We then did the same with two more rectangles, arranging them in an intersecting pattern. We brought one rectangle to the front to match the original design. Now that our shapes were drawn, we created our type by drawing text boxes. We had to tweak the text settings, like the leading, kerning, font size, etc., to match the original. We finished the document by putting a drop shadow on a rectangle and a glare over the graphic. 

During this process, I used many skills from my previous graphic design course. My goal here was to learn shortcuts to speed up the creation of my future designs. I had learned a few shortcuts previously, but I rarely used them, instead, going the long way around when putting together a document. If I would have found this video, I would have used the shortcuts. 

Something that was new for me was learning InDesign on a Mac. All of my previous instruction was on a PC. I had to get used to using "command" and "option" in the shortcuts instead of "alt" and "control." It's a small difference, but it was something I had to learn to overcome.

GIF found on Tumblr

I was very pleased with our final product. I thought the original design was something that looked professional and that I would never be able to produce. This class period proved to me that I can create the same document. 

Our focus for Thursday was typesetting. Our assignment was to take instructions on how to create the front page of a newsletter and make the same newsletter, given the font, font size, and leading of each block of text. Before we started, we learned something that I had never done before: planning a document. I never the placeholder was there to help in mapping out a design. It was very helpful in our assignment. 

I began by placing my text boxes, trying to match the placement on the finished product. I then added all of my text to every box except the body copy, which I was saving for last. Next, I formatted all the text to how it was supposed to look in the final document. After moving around the boxes to get them in the right place, I finished by putting placeholder text in the body copy and modifying it to match specifications. 

I was very pleased with the final product. I'm glad I learned how to plan a document properly. I know it will be a very important skill in the future. I can't wait to start our first design assignment, the business card, next week.