American Lives- InDesign

Intro to InDesign

InDesign is used to combine text and images in preparation for print.

File Management

Working in InDesign it's important to keep your project file and assets (images, text files) together in the same project folder.

1. Create a new folder on your desktop or in a documents folder. Name it yourlastname_project.
2. Copy all images and text files you are going to use in your project into a subfolder (called imports) in this project folder

Create an InDesign document and setup as a booklet

1. Launch InDesign and create a new .indd document following the steps outlined in " Setting up your document in InDesign create a booklet".
2. Save it into your project folder

Margins and Guides

1. Note the margins of your document. Make sure to keep your text and artwork within this boundary
2. Add a Guide to help you place and align objects on your document
   • With the black arrow select tool, click and drag from the ruler area into your document

Adding Page numbers

1. Adding page numbers

Adding Text

1. Select the Text tool and drag diagonally to create a frame on your document, start typing.
   • You can also Copy and Paste text from other applications
2. Using the black arrow tool select a corner of the bounding box to resize

Text Flow

You can flow text between multiple text boxes

1. Text boxes that are too small to contain all of the text will have a red + box in the lower right corner
2. Click this box and the cursor changes to the "Text Loaded" cursor
3. Click anywhere on your document and a new text box will be created flowing text from the previous text box
4. Use Guides and your Margins to snap text boxes into alignment

Formatting Text

1. Select the text you want to format (Command A to Select All is a useful shortcut here)
2. Change your type using the character and paragraph options in the top property bar

Add an image

By default, images placed into InDesign are only linked. It is important to have a good file management strategy to keep your images properly linked to your InDesign document.

1. Make sure nothing is selected in your document before you place your graphics!
2. Go File > Place to place your image
3. Locate the image on your local hard drive that you want to place and click Open
4. Your cursor changes to the "Image Loaded" cursor. Click your cursor where you'd like the image placed.

To resize your image

With the black arrow select tool selected

1. hold down the Control AND Shift key then grab a corner of the bounding box and drag to resize.
   • Note what happens if you forget to hold down these keys...

To crop your image

With the black arrow select tool selected

1. click and drag the bounding box (without holding down CMD+shift).

Move your image

1. To move a frame together with its content, use the black selection tool to click the image outside the content grabber.
2. To move imported content without moving the frame (that is, to pan content behind its frame), drag the content grabber.
   
   • You can also use the Direct Selection tool to select and drag the image.

Text wrap around an image

1. Select the image and from the top properties bar and choose the text wrap option you'd like
2. Move a text box near/over and image to see the text wrap around the object

Wrapping it up

Placed images in InDesign are by default only linked to the original image files. There are advantages to this but it can create problems when moving files around. You must move your graphics and images together (see File Management strategies above).

Finishing your project for print

Your final step is to export your InDesign document. This should be done when you are finished editing your document. This exported PDF document should be uploaded to the Orca File Share Workspace Folder.

1. Save your work File > Save
2. Copy the entire project folder containing your InDesign files, texts, and images to your cubby in Orca file share. You can now work on this project for additional sessions.
3. When you have completed your project and need to ready your file for print, Go File > Export
4. Rename the file under Save As with your last name
5. Make sure the Format is Adobe PDF (Print)
6. Select your desktop folder as the save location
7. Click Save.
8. In the Export Adobe dialogue box make sure that Pages, All, and View PDF after Exporting is selected.
9. Click Export.
10. Review your exported folder and make sure that you see all of your 16 pages.
11. Upload the PDF to the Orca file share in Workspace folder so it can be printed.

Additional resources

• About computer fonts
• Bitmap versus vector graphics