INTRO TO INDESIGN

Creating an ID doc. for your zine
placing text, graphics and pre-packaging


Step 1 Create a new document
The first thing you will need to do before you can place graphics and text is to create a new document:
1) Open Indesign : (It is either on the Dock: or you can find it in the Applications folder in the Mac HD.)

2) Create a new Document go to File/New/Document N

(the new document window will appear)


Creating a Document for your Zine

b) Choose the Page Size to be Letter-Half (FIG. A)*
c) Choose the orientation to be vertical (FIG. B)
d) Check Facing Pages**
e) Choose columns number 1 and the Margins at 0.
f) Click OK

*Choosing the half letter size will automatically change the width and height to the appropriate setting for your zine. If you decide to use custom sizes for your zine you will need to adjust the width and height yourself.

Also Note: if the width and the height are in picas rather than inches you can change this setting by going to the menu bar: Indesign/Preferences/Units&Guides

**If you would like your zine to open from the bottom, instead of from the side you will uncheck facing pages. Unclick facing pages and with the document open, place and center a guide in the middle of the page horizontally. This is your horizontal bind. (Page numbering and sorting may be a little more tricky but I am confident you can figure it out.)

Once you have clicked ok, you have the option of changing your document settings again, by going to File/Document Setup and Layout/Margins


Step 2 Laying out your Project with Guides on a Master Page

Layout your Indesign project to reflect your hard-copy draft: For example: maybe your logo appears on all but one of the pages. Then creating a master page would be necessary. Or maybe all your text appears on the outer edge of the document then you would set up guides in the appropriate place. Lets say your zine is going to have a background color well that can be placed on the master page too. And of course you can also place graphic boxes for your images as well.

Here are a few tools to help you get started with your layout:

1) Select and Set up Master Pages
A master page is used when you have images and text repeating on assigned pages. Master A automatically is assigned to all the pages in a document.

(To create multiple master pages, (This is handy if your want to try out several different designs for your project. click the arrow in the top right corner of the page pallete (Fig A) and select new master.)



a. With the pages palette open, double click the " A master page" and hold down the shift key to click highlight both the left and the right page. (Notice at the bottom of the document window it will indicate which page you are on.)
b. Go to Layout/Margins and set up margins for .25 inches (this is for the printer's edge.)
c. Make sure your document ruler is open: (Fig A) View/Show Rulers
d) With the master pages highlighted pull down guides (FIG B) for where you want to place text and images. (Remember this is only useful if your images and text follows a certain repeated order.)
Your can also create guides on individual pages if they differ from one another.


Step 3 Filling in with a Background with your Wallpaper and Placing Images and Graphics (These steps can be done on a master page or on individual pages, depending on whether you want them to repeat or not.)

1) Filling in the background with a color
a. Choose the Rectangle Tool in the tool bar (FIG A) Click and drag the cursor to the area that you want covered
b. Fill in using the Color Picker. (FIG B)


2) Place your wallpaper, a graphic or images using the Rectangle Frame Tool
a. In the Tool bar, click the Rectangle Frame Tool (FIG C)
b. Position your cursor in the area of the document where you have set up guides for this graphic and Click/hold and drag the cursor.
c. Go to File/Place and find the graphic to place, click Open. (you may have to click the frame to view the image
d. In CS3 go up to the Control Panel and click Wrap Around Object , to select the object and then go to Object/Transform/Scale to fit in frame. In CS2 go up to the Control Panel and click “Fit Content to Frame” to adjust the size of the image to fit the frame. (see *** below)
e. If you placed this graphic in the master page, double click other pages to see how the graphic shows up in several places.
i. If you want to edit an image, from an individual page, which has been placed on a master page, hold down the Apple & Shift key and then double click the image to delete, move or change it on that page.
ii. If you want to move the position of an object Select it and click the Free Transform tool in the tool bar. (FIG D)



*If the image is hidden behind the background color, you go to Object/Arrange to bring to the front.

**Your can also set up layers placing them separately on their own layer.

***(For CS2 only) Other options in the control panel are Center Frame to Content
and Center Content

****Click View/DisplayPerformance/HighQuality Display for viewing an better looking view.


Step 4 Placing a text document and Scrolling the Text into your Layout

1) Go to File/Place
a. With the place window open and the document highlighted check and click open.
b. With the import options window open, you can choose whether or not you want to keep the original formatting or not, then click OK
c. A text symbol will show up next to your cursor. Now click and drag using your guides as a gauge to place the text.
d. If all of the text does not fit in the frame a red plus symbol will appear at the bottom of the frame. Click it and the text icon will appear again.



e. Go to the next section to place the remaining text and repeat until all of your text is placed.

Placing text in a text frame:

a) This is easier than the above method, Choose the text tool in the tool bar.
b)Click and drag the text cursor to the size and location you want.
c) Then copy and paste or type in the text.

Step 5 Pre-Packaging your document

It is very important that you pre-package your document if you are moving the file to a different computer where you originally placed the images. Unlike Illustrator, Indesign automatically creates links to your file. Without pre-packaging, you will be able to view a picture of the image, but it is poor (only a shadow of the actual image) and will not look good in print. You must PrePackage when you are sending the document to a professional printer, as well.

1) Package your file
a. go to File/Package
b. A printing instructions window will show up, type in name of file and click continue
c. The “Create a Package” window will show up, make sure to check copy links and fonts and Click Save.
d. In the Indesign folder you will find a folder for the links, for the fonts, the indd file and a text document for printing instruction when sending out to print. (Copy this folder to your thumbdrive and BRING THE FOLDER TO CLASS.)