In this tutorial we’ll set up a magazine page for an interview. This tutorial will introduce importing text from Microsoft Word, Character Styles, Drop Caps and some graphic design decisions to introduce a visual hierarchy to your article.
1. Setup the file. For this article we’ll make a 1 page spread (uncheck facing pages) with 3p0 (1/2″) margins and 3 columns with a 1p0 (12pt) gutter.
2. Create the text boxes. Working from the top down we’ll make a series of text boxes for the headline, byline, deck and copy. First turn on the baseline grid – VIEW menu > GRIDS & GUIDES > SHOW BASELINE GRID – this will provide a visual guide for horizontal alignment. Using the text tool, create the text box for the headline, make it 5p0 high (5 baselines) that stretches from the right hand margin to the second column (2 columns wide.) Byline – using the text tool again, create a text box directly below the headline, that is the height of one baseline and stretches to the 1st column. Deck – using the text tool create a box directly below the byline that is 2p0 high and 2 columns wide.
Finally, create the box for the copy, we’ll make this a little differently to show another way of locating and sizing content frames. Draw a text box with the text tool anywhere on the bottom portion of the page at any size. Next, select the frame with the black arrow so that we can manually adjust the size in the options toolbar at the top of the screen. You will first need to change the reference point from its default location of the center to the upper right hand corner, just click on the little box to do that. Enter the following dimensions for x and Y (the frame’s origin on the page) 3p0 and 15p0 and for w and h (width and height) 45p0 and 48p0, hit enter when you are done.
change the amount of columns to 3 – this can be done on the options toolbar as well on the left hand side
Turn off the baseline grid to see your work and save your file.
3. For this article we’ll be using two typefaces – the built in Adobe Garamond Pro and Antipasto, a free font that can be downloaded from dafont. Download and install it now.
4. Type “The Interview” (without the quotes) into the headline box. Highlight all the text and change the typeface to Antipasto and the height to 74pt. Next, type “interview by: your name here” (without the quotes) in the byline box, change the typeface to Adobe Garamond Pro and the size to 8 pt. Select the deck box with the type tool, change the typeface to Antipasto, the height to 12 pt, the leading to 16pt and the type color to the Red swatch then go to the TYPE menu > FILL WITH PLACEHOLDER TEXT. Save your file.
5. We’ll be importing the actual interview now, you will need to download the Word Document here. (As a service for all graduating seniors and those seeking a job out there, this interview is as an excerpt from an article about best job interviewing strategies) Select the copy box and go to the FILE menu > PLACE and select the word doc. The word doc will lose all original formatting and will come in with the default font of Times at 12 pt. Select the entirety of the imported doc with the type tool (shortcut ctrl/cmd + A), change the font to Adobe Garamond Pro, the height to 10pt and the leading to 16 pt. Save your file.
6. Time to clean up the layout starting with the copy box. There are some design considerations we need to make especially in regards to establishing a question and response format as well how we start off the article. Let’s begin with the first paragraph which is intended to provide context for the interview, we’ll do two things to set this paragraph apart from the body of the interview. First, and easiest, is to provide a full line break after the paragraph, second is to make the first letter of the first word a drop cap. To do this place the cursor in the paragraph and then click on the paragraph palette (if it is not visible, go to the WINDOW menu > Type & Tables > Paragraph) The bottom set of settings on the bottom of the paragraph palette refer to drop caps, the left side is how many lines of text the drop cap will inhabit and the right hand side is how many letters will be part of the drop cap. For this we’ll make it 3 lines and only one letter.
Then, change the typeface of the drop cap to Antipasto, with the letter still highlighted change the color to Red Swatch (in the swatch palette). Finally, we’ll apply some kerning between the drop cap and the rest of the paragraph – place the cursor after the drop cap and change the kerning to 50.
save your file.
7. In this step, we’ll create a distinction between the interviewer and interviewee. There are endless ways to do this and most, if not all, are based on what you think looks good and what fits the graphic direction of the piece. For this piece, we’ll make the interviewers questions in the bold italic verison of Adobe Garamond Pro and change the color to Red. To achieve this we’ll use a character style to apply the same formatting over and over (this will also allow us to make changes to all the formatting at once as well). Select the first question of the interview, change the style to bold italic and the color to the red swatch (the same as in step 6) With the line of text still highlighted open the Character Style Pallete and click on the “Add New Style” icon – a new style named “Character Style1” will be created.
Go through the remainder of the interview – highlight any line which begins with “you:” and then click on “Character Style1” to apply the settings.
8. Final cleanups. To remove automatic hyphenation from the article, select the entire article (ctrl/cmd + A), open the paragraph palette and uncheck hyphenation.
Select both the byline and the deck text boxes and change the X origin to 4P0 to align them with the stem of the “T” from the line above. You may also want to uncheck hyphenation for the deck text box if appropriate. Save your file.
This tutorial was simple but complicated at the same time. It offered great short cuts but sometimes doing it the long way is easier to comprehend when you are not well versed in the program.