InDesign Basics

To make a new document you will get a pop-up window with a range of options for your design. Select the type of document, size, measurement units, number of pages etc. You can always add to or change the pages, columns or margins at a later stage.

If your document has multiple pages then there is an option for facing pages, this means that in your work space there will be two pages next to one another, much like in a book or magazine.

Columns and margins will appear as lines on your pages, but will not appear on your final print. They are useful for achieving continuity throughout a document, and aligning any images or text that you put in later.

Bleed and slug are used by professional printers to help them with the process. Bleed ensures that despite any inaccuracy when trimming your paper no white gaps appear around images/text, if using bleed make sure that images/text that are intentionally touching the edge of the page extend into the bleed area. Slug is simply an area off the page that contains any extra information for the printers and will be trimmed off much like the bleed space.

Many video tutorials can be found on YouTube which will walk you through the process of creating a new document, this one is intended for print so if you're designing a different kind of document (e.g. web design) further research may be required.

The tool bar holds most of the tools you will need to input text and images, make selections and manipulate objects. It usually appears on the left of the screen. Some tools have multiple options and most have keyboard shortcuts so as you become more acquainted with InDesign you will pick these up, they make working faster and more efficient.

Using the selection tools you can manipulate and move objects in your document. Further to this there are options to move objects forward or backward, link multiple objects and make them lock so that they will no longer be movable. Many of these extras are in the dropdown tabs along the top or accessed by right clicking on an object.

Experimenting with the options available to you, or researching a specific idea you want to achieve will help you become more knowledgeable, even if it doesn't work out the first few times.

Being able to add text and images is arguably the most crucial part of creating your document. The basics are covered in these videos, as well as some other useful tricks.

Text can be put into a preexisting frame using the type tool or you can make a new frame with this tool. Across the top of the window there are lots of options to change the font, size, spacing and justification of your text. using the selection tool you can move the frames containing text or edit the text with a double click. you can also go back and edit your text with the type tool.

You can insert images by finding the option in a dropdown tab or by dragging them straight from your desktop or a folder. You can edit the size etc. of images much like editing text at the top of the page or with the selection tool. You cant edit images too much in InDesign so it is best to edit them in Photoshop first. Your images will probably look slightly pixelated even if you have used a good quality image, don't worry about this, InDesign has a default display setting which decreases the quality of your documents. They will export at the quality of the images you have put in, if you want to check the actual quality of your document you can change the display settings or look at it as a preview.

Exporting your final document is your last step in creating a product ready for print. If you save your file as an InDesign document it is there to continue working on even after you export, and of course you can export it again if you have made any further changes. When exporting as a PDF there are many options for file size, exporting individual pages, exporting without the slug and bleed and the export quality.

Bear in mind if you are exporting a document with book style pages then you will need to make sure that you have the pages print in the right order. there is an option to export as pages or spreads. Pages will export in the correct order for binding and spread will export your document with the pages in numerical order.