Software Workshop 3//Adobe InDesign.

SOFTWARE WORKSHOP 3//ADOBE INDESIGN 

Design Production for Print

When opening a new document in InDesign...

BOOK// Facing pages, multiples.
LIBRARY// Numerous assets (a collection of books- a little like a swatch palette).
DOCUMENT// Plain, single facing page.


The document size you choose in InDesign should be the finished, trimmed size (eg, if you want to make a business card- you fit it to the dimensions of the business card- an A0 poster... the page size is A0).


COLUMN, MARGIN, BLEED & SLUG dimensions act as a guide when producing your designs- an asssiting tool.


ALL design layouts for print should contain bleed to avoid borders.
Standard bleed measurements are 3mm.


"Facing pages" is for creating a spread design- gives the opportunity to see multiple pages at a time.

TEXT ALIGNMENT AND FILLS

CENTER ALIGN= Cmd+Shift+C
LEFT ALIGN= Cmd+Shift+L
RIGHT ALIGN= Cmd_Shift+R


The swatch palette is very simple and reflective of the CMYK print gammut: CMYK, RGB (4 process), registration, none, paper and black.


Application of colour in Illustrator (stroke or fill) is exactly the same as in Illustrator.
If you press the 'X' key, this flips the stroke/fill on the working tools palette.

If you click 'formatting' text effects 'T' symbol in swatch palette with highlighted text, and then select swatch colour, this will then change text to this colour (filling the text as opposed to filling the text box with colour).

Swatch Menu> New Colour Swatch> (Default colour mode is CMYK)

All colours you make (swatched) in InDesign are global. Any time you edit this swatch, it will update accordingly to all elements of your design applied with this colour.

Global swatches> New colour swatch> New tint swatch

(You can't change the ink mix, but you can alter the tint of the existing swatch)

SPOT COLOURS

Create new colour swatch> Spot colours> Choose book


Your spot colour swatch will show a circle in the grey hatched box to the right of it's name.
In the same way as process colours, you can also make spot colour tints.

PREPARING IMAGES IN PHOTOSHOP FOR INDESIGN

1//CMYK (convert to CMYK, with gammut warning check/replacing colours, etc)

Greyscale

Duotone/Monotone, etc (Basically, not RGB)

2//Appropriate resolution 300dpi for print

3//Create the document at actual size (when you fill InDesign page it needs to already fufil the document scale requirements)

4//Format- PDF, TIFF, JPEG, PSD- TIFF and PSD are the most appropriate file formats to use

You can place a PDF into InDesign too- slightly harder to manipulate.

JPEGs are compression files- aka, lowers the quality of the image.

Use a PSD over a TIFF format when you want to preserve trasnparency, TIFF, traditionally, doesn't support transparencies.

PREPARING ILLUSTRATOR FILES FOR INDESIGN

1//Already CMYK

2//Already infinitely scalable- flexible. Can make an image smaller or larger with ease

3//Save as an Illustrator file

Fewer limitations in Illustrator. However, the art work you create determines the software you use.

When inserting an image- you can enter a frame if to insert your image if you wish.

File>Place

When you place a duotone into InDesign from Photoshop the swatches will transfer over (this happens in both P/Shop and Illustrator).

Automatically, InDesign will provide a transparent bind box, but you can change this in the File>Place options for overlays, overprints,etc.

Placed files are very low quality resolution. The image doesn't become part of the InDesign file... it simply creates a cross-connection file link.

View>Overview Print

'Links' toolbar panel shows all of your placed documentation. InDesign must always have original images on the hard drive to ensure the placed image(s) remain.

Low resolution images ensure not too much memory is used- the software runs smoothly and quickly.

Once you have placed an image in InDesign, you can edit the original image and this will update in InDesign (because of the link).

If you Alt+double click on the image, it will open the image in it's original file to make necessary edits- you can see the edits immediately after saving. This applies to : ILLUSTRATOR, PHOTOSHOP and TIFF files.

WORKING WITH ONE SPOT COLOUR

Greyscale> Monotone> Duotone

If you open a greyscale image in InDesign, you can add a spot colour.

Create swatch colour.

Click fill colour, image in placed box.

Click swatch- it is filled.

COLOUR SEPARATIONS IN THE PRINTING PROCESS

File>Print

Composite printing is printing what we see on screen

In InDesign, separations are produced and printed.

File>Print>Output>Colours>Separations (Prints in B&W)

To see a preview of what the printing effect does to each component:

Window>Output>Seperations Preview


Check all of your separations have content on- delete any unused spot colours from your swatches to avoid any possible accidents. 
You may be charged additional costs for printing blank separations.

SPOT COLOUR OVERLAYS

Window>Output>Separations Preview

See how overlayed images "knock out" an overlying image- knocked out the ink means the the image will prevent any other colour mixes being made. Printing on top of each other would provide a mixture in all cases except with black, where this overprints.

TO CHANGE THIS...

Window>Output>Attributes>Overprint fill

This applies to an individual object

You need to discuss this with your printer if you intend to print in overprint. 

Often, too much ink is applied which is too wet for stock, etc.

When you hover mouse over colours, you can see the % of ink that will be printed. Need to speak to printer about the maximum print limit.

Seperation Preview>Ink Limit

Red areas show which areas exceed the print limit

APPLYING SPOT VARNISH

Use a spot colour that is not used anywhere else in the design for the particular area you want to be varnished. Get a seperation printed, and tell the printer that this is for spot varnish, and not colour application.

This will knock out all other colours so you specify this as an overprint (can be shown in seperation preview).

* I'm really looking forward to applying what I have learnt in this workshop to my own design practice. From all of the print-based software workshops so far, I definately feel that this has been the most beneficial (perhaps because InDesign is the most "alien" of the Adobe software systems to me). Learning particularly about seperations, spot colour overlays and UV spot varnishing is really exciting in terms of my future development and professional design practice- I'm anticipating trying out some of these printing methods in my design soon.