I think pull quotes are great because they typically use pure typography to draw interest into magazine articles. If the typefaces we have chosen stir us emotionally, these discrete instances of pure type should send shivers down our readers spine.
This tutorial will introduce the technical steps and considerations needed to set up compelling pull quotes in InDesign. Although set up for one specific layout approach, the steps and considerations can be tailored to meet many design needs.
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Tag Archives: InDesign
Sexy Pull Quotes pt.1
Sexy Pull Quotes pt.2
In the first part of this tutorial we set up a document and placed a text frame that held a pull quote. In this second part we’ll add the sexiest part of pull quotes – the actual quote marks – and customize how they look.
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Don’t Break the Grid redux
There is an unfortunate dearth of InDesign tutorials online – good ones at least – and when you find one that addresses the software as well as design it is always worth sharing. I found this one a while back and liked it quite a bit, but I thought it needed a bit of a rewrite for my students.
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Imposing a document with InDesign
There is no imposition function within InDesign, but with a little creativity using the FILE > PRINT BOOKLET we can create a document that can made into a PDF and then printed and assembled into a saddle-stitched book.
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Grids, Guides, Proportions and InDesign Math
You can get obsessed with grids. Grids act as the skeleton or backbone of most design work and are considered integral to the process of balancing aesthetics with information exchange. Grids are beloved by some and bemoaned by others – some find the rigid parameters invaluable to harmonious design, others find it limiting and constricting. I find myself falling somewhere in the middle – there’s an inner geek inside of me that loves to find a clever way to break up space, but there also the anti-establishment side of my personality that likes to break rules and push the boundaries. For that reason, I like using grids as I see it as an opportunity to act as both lawman and outlaw, I can be both the cops and the robbers.
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Photoshop/InDesign Tutorial – Create a super-duper black graphic
To provide yourself some flexibility in InDesign with scanned graphics – changing colors to match swatches, using graphics as knockouts etc.. graphics need to be converted to a superblack – or in this case a super-duper black – a CMYK file with all levels of ink at 100%
InDesign Tutorial #5 – Transparency
A student asked if it would be possible to convert a drawing from full color to black and white in InDesign. The answer is “of course you can but why would you want to do it when you have better tools in Photoshop?” The method uses InDesign’s effects Palette to do the conversion which is why this questions lends itself nicely to making a tutorial exploring Transparency.
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InDesign Tutorial #4 – Highlighted text
I’ve been seeing this style in a few magazines of late, I think its some kind of digital equivalent of a dymo tape label.
I think it gives layouts a kind of digitally scrapbook look and feel
Below are steps to make this effect in InDesign plus a variation on the theme
Indesign Tutorial #3 – Interview Article
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.
InDesign Tutorial #2 Fancy Headlines
Continuing on our theme of everything is customizable and therefore should be customized we’re going to take a look at some fancy modifications to text especially in regards to headlines for magazine articles. Now, its not to say that everything needs to be tweaked or adjusted, but it is important to pay attention to all aspects of your design; remember, we’re trying to do all of our work with intention. For this tutorial we’ll look at three ways of customizing headline text: first we’ll look at kerning, then we’ll look at applying a gradient to text and finally we’ll use an image to fill text. We’ll play with special effects in a separate tutorial.
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