Introduction to Adobe InDesign

Layers allow you to place a number of Objects on a Transparent 'sheet' that can be hidden, locked, or re-stacked, compared to other Layers.

It is good to include related objects on a single layer, allowing you to work with each set of related items independent of other objects in your project.

You can name you Layers to help organize the items in your project.

• Locate the Layers Panel on the right side of the screen.
• Note that there is a layer already in existence. This is where all of your work is done by default.
• Double-Click on Layer 1, and change the name to Background.

You can view the Stacking Order (Arrange order) of objects on a layer by clicking the little triangle before the name of the layer.

• Draw a few objects on the page
• From the Layers panel, look at the Stacking Order.

Let's build a business card, to see how some of this comes together.First, we need to put together a general idea of what we want the card to look like. I find it easier to sketch some idea on paper, before I sit in front of the computer. Below is a sample design I will use in class, but I will break this down on the board before we get started with it in class.

Once I have broken down the design, I can start to create the document.

• Create a New Document.
• For Page Size, Select US Business Card

You now have a new document, with a page size that is appropriate for a standard Business Card.
Using the breakdown we created, we know that we need a Background layer, which contains the main body color, and the bar across the top, as well as the bar across the bottom.

• On the Layers panel, change the name of Layer 1 to Background.
• Make sure the entire page is visible on screen. Zoom in or out if needed.
• Select the Rectangle tool from the Toolbox.
• Double-click the Color tool in the Toolbox.
• Look for a light tan color. You may need to click in the upper area of the vertical bar to get the greens and tans to show.
• Once you find an appropriate color, click OK.
• Draw a Rectangle that covers the entire page.

We now want to draw a rectangle of a different color, but here is the problem. If you try to change the Fill color right now, it will affect the rectangle you just drew. You must do on of the following to de-select the existing shapes.

• Pick the Selection tool, and click outside of any existing shapes.

• Press Crtl-Shift-A (de-Select All)

As you will soon see, it does not really matter what color you choose for the next box, as the color will go away when we set up a gradient. However, I suggest you select a new color that is different from the existing background color.

• Once you have selected a new color, Draw the Top box for the business card.

Now, from the Toolbox, pick the Gradient tool, and click inside the top box.

• Once you do this, the color goes away, and is replaced with a gray-scale gradient.
• Open the Gradient Panel.
• If it is not already on your screen (at the right side), you may need to go to the Windows menu, and select it.

There are few things about Gradient panel I would like to point out.

• There are two types of Gradient
• Linear - Color change propagates from one end to the other.
• Radial - The Color change radiates out from the center.
• With a linear gradient, you can select an angle for the change to sweep across at.
• The diamond above the Gradient control bar allows to the change the rate at which the color change occurs.
• The two boxes at either end of the bar indicate the colors at each end of the change.

For my example, I will use a Radial Gradient. Feel free to play with the settings, and see what you like.
Next to set the colors..

• Click the box below the beginning of the bar.
• Go to the Color panel, and select a color to use as the lighter color in the gradient.
• Click the box at the end of the bar.
• From the Color panel, click a color to be used as the darker color in the gradient.
• The Color panel may switch to Grey-scale. To correct that, click the drop menu in the upper-right of the color panel, and select the CMYK option.

Once you have selected your colors, you may dock the Gradient panel, if you like.

The bottom bar is a solid color. Therefore, you can make sure everything is de-selected, and select the color you want by double-clicking the Fill color tool in the toolbox. Then, draw the rectangle at the bottom of the card.

Next, we will all the company Logo. However, this is also a good point at which to insert a new layer to contain that logo.This will place all of thework we put into the Background on one layer, the logo on another, and we will create more layers as we go forward.

• Create a New Layer.
• On the Layers panel, there is a button near the little trashcan button that is for creating new layers.
• Name the Layer 'Logo".

Since we are done with the Background for now, we may as well lock that layer, to be sure we do not accidentally make changes to it.

• Just before the name of the layer, there is an empty box, this is the Layer Lock box. Click this box to set the layer as locked.

Once the Background layer is locked, the Logo Layer should be highlighted, and have a little pen icon on its right. This means this is the layer we are currently working in.

If you have not already downloaded the logo, you can get it HERE. It is an Adobe Illustrator file. Save it to your computer.

You will want to zoom out a bit, as the Logo we are bringing in is pretty large, and will need to be shrunk down.

• From the File menu, Select 'Place'.
• Select the Logo file you downloaded, and click Open.
• You will see a small image attached to the mouse pointer. Click to place it on the Clip area of your project.
• Double-click the image, to open it for resizing.
• Drag the image size down to something more appropriate for this project.
• Remember to use the Shift key, to keep the dimensions proportionate.
• Click outside the image, but inside the bounding box for the image. Now you can shrink the bounding box to fit as well.
• Zoom back in, and position as you like.

One of the uses of Layers is to create sections that are designed to be edited, while preventing the accidental editing of other sections. For this card, we will create a separate layer for the company information, and then one for the Employee information.

• On the Layers Panel, create a new Layer, and name it Company Info.
• Draw a Text Box (using the Text tool) in the lower left corner of the card.
• Change the Font size to 8pt.
• Type the Company Address (800 Main Street, Anytown USA 12345).

To make the box for the phone numbers, we can copy the address box, and replace it's contents.

• Use the Selection tool to select the edge of the Text field.
• Copy (either from the edit menu, or right-click) the field.
• Paste in the copy.
• Drag the copy to the right.
• Double-Click the text to get into edit mode.
• Select the first line of text, and replace it with phone information [Phone: (111) 555-1234].
• Select the second line, and replace it with Fax information [Fax: (111) 555-5678].

The placement of these boxes is freehand right now. To get better positioning, we can use Guides to help with the alignment.

We will position the two boxes we just created so that they are each half an inch from the edge of the card. To create the Guides, we double-click the Ruler at the location we want the Guide.

• The first Guide should be half an inch from the left edge. The ruler starts at zero, so we double-click the ruler at the half inch mark.
• Since the card is twenty and one half inches long, the second guide goes at the twenty inch mark. Double-click the ruler at that point.
• You may also want to create a guide that runs along the top of your yellow bar. Double-click the ruler along the left side of the screen to create that Guide.

Now, you can move the text frames, and they will tend to snap to the guide lines.

• Remember, you may need to use the Selection tool, if it is not currently the active tool.

The last piece of 'company' information, is the web address. This we want placed in the yellow bar at the bottom of the card, and we want it centered.

• Draw a Text frame from one guide to the other, in the yellow bar.
• Set the Font size in the Control panel (8pt).
• Switch from Character to Paragraph control by selecting the Paragraph symbol at the left end of the Control panel.
• Select the 'Align Center' button.
• Type the Web address into the frame.

Now that the basic card is complete, we can lock all of the layers, and create the final layer, which holds all of the Employee information. This is the only layer that should need to be edited regularly.

• On the Layers panel, Click the locks on all existing layers.
• Add a new layer, and name it Employee

We will now add a Text frame for the employee name. We will use the same technique we used for the Web address above, except instead of using the Guides, we can use the box that was provided by Illustrator.

• Select the Text tool
• Draw a frame, starting at the left side of the box in the center of the card, and ending at the right side.
• On the Control panel, you may wish to select the 10pt font, and you may want the name in bold.
• In Paragraph mode, you will want to select Centered.
• Type the Employee name into the frame.

Next, we add a frame for the title.

• Using the Text tool, draw a frame in the same manor as you did for the name.
• In the Control panel, select 'Centered' for the Paragraph.
• For the Character, select 8pt font.
• Type the Title

Use exactly the same method to create another frame to hold the email address.

Once the frames are complete, you can switch to the Selection tool, and move the boxes up or down to your tastes.

We will now change the view settings to get a better idea of what our cards 'really' look like.

• From the View menu, select Screen Mode > Preview.

The Guides disappear, and we get a better idea of what the card looks like. however, the logo still looks messy. To clean that up, we need to turn on Overprint Preview.

• From the View menu, select Overprint Preview.

From the File Menu, you can export your new card out to a JPEG, or an EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) file. This may be needed if the card is to be printed, or used in another application.