InDesign Layout Tips

Overview

Start with an A4 magazine size spread.
Importing Text:
- Go to File > Place to import main text (main copy dot text).
- Cut and paste titles into their respective frames.
Column Rules:
- Select the text frame with the selection tool, hold Option (or Alt on Windows), and double-click to open text frame options.
- Increase gutter width to 0.3125.
- Enable column rules, set weight to 0.25 and offset to -0.0625.
Typesetting Text:
- Select all text (Command A or Control A).
- Choose font: Baskerville, size: 11pt, leading: 13pt.
- Turn off hyphenation.
Title Formatting:
- Main title: The Seasons, bold, 75pt, leading: 68pt.
- Secondary title: The Seasons, bold, 22pt, leading: 26pt.

Sampling Colors from an Image:
- Place image on the page from CC libraries.
- Use the color theme tool (eyedropper with swatches icon).
- Hover over the image and click to sample colors.
- Choose a color theme (e.g., bright) and add it to swatches.
Applying Colors:
- Apply sampled colors to text and elements in the layout.

Creating Paragraph Styles:
- Create a body text paragraph style.
- Apply a three-line drop cap at the start of the first paragraph.
- Create a second paragraph style for the drop cap.
Character Style:
- Create a character style called drop orange and set color to orange.
- Add nested style in paragraph style for one character in the drop cap.

Adjusting Layers in PSD:
- Copy the PSD image in InDesign and paste in place.
- Use object layer options to turn off the background layer of the PSD file.
- Adjust the frame handle to show more of the jacket in the layout.

Applying Text Wrap:
- Select the top version of the image and go to the text wrap window.
- Choose wrap around object shape and set contour options to select subject.
- Adjust the offset to ensure text is readable around the image.