http://www.characterstyle.com Character Style Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:47:41 +0000 http://www.characterstyle.com en http://www.characterstyle.com/Dual-Views-in-InDesign http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/Dual-Views-in-InDesign Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:47:41 +0000 Character Style 800057 The feature is called New Window. If you're a dual screen user you'll find this InDesign trick continually useful. With any document open, go to WINDOW - ARRANGE - NEW WINDOW <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/800057/Dual-Views_640.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="518" width_o="650" height_o="527" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/800057/Dual-Views_o.jpg" align="left" /> This creates a second window of your document. This isn't just a clone or a twin, but a live identical copy. Any change you make in one window will be made in the other, in real time. No need for updating views. Start moving things around in one window and you'll see second window show the changes instantly. In the title bar of each window you'll see Filename.indd:1 and Filename.indd:2 The colon and number will identify said windows. After this you will also see your zoom percentage. Resave either window with a new name, and the other is instantly renamed as well. If you close either one, don't worry about losing any changes, your other window will stay open and your document will stay live. I usually have a full page view on one window and zoom into to the details in the other window, each on a different monitor. I often use it when doing a page mock-ups. It is also invaluable when sitting with an art director or client who wants to see the whole page rather than my zoomed in tweaking. http://www.characterstyle.com/Annual-Report-Season http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/Annual-Report-Season Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:32:55 +0000 Character Style 228220 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/228220/Annual-Report-Season_640.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="222" width_o="800" height_o="278" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/228220/Annual-Report-Season_o.jpg" align="left" /> I look forward to this time of year more than the post-holiday sales. What does your annual report say about your company? This is a chance to not only show your impressive profits, but also to reflect the side of your company that the numbers just don't communicate. Downloadable pdf's cut costs and save resources, a good custom for everyone in these harsh economic times. Give your company a personality by featuring team leaders' accomplishments and their feedback. Or simply make a statement with a clean and concise report, delivered on demand as part of your website. Cutting corners to save money doesn't mean you have to use stock photography of some bloke pointing at an earnings chart to demonstrate economic growth. Email mj@characterstyle.com for a quote. http://www.characterstyle.com/Castlemilk-Environment-Trust http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/Castlemilk-Environment-Trust Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:58:15 +0000 Character Style 127983 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/127983/_MG_8741_640.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="426" width_o="1280" height_o="853" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/127983/_MG_8741_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/127983/_MG_8744_640.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="426" width_o="1280" height_o="853" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/127983/_MG_8744_o.jpg" align="left" /> I designed and produced an Executive Summary and it's accompanying 75 page report for the Castlemilk Environment Trust's Map Pack Research Project. The brief was to take a lengthy, detailed report and make it stand out when it was presented at an industry event. The client wanted a vibrant and funky look to visualize the project's goal of getting the community walking everyday. A set of 18 charts and tables were included in the report. I created each from the original excel data and cleverly managed them in my document through object layer options. http://www.characterstyle.com/Herriot-Watt-Univeristy http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/Herriot-Watt-Univeristy Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:49:25 +0000 Character Style 123524 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123524/_MG_8836.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="427" width_o="640" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123524/_MG_8836_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123524/_MG_8733_640.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="426" width_o="1280" height_o="853" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123524/_MG_8733_o.jpg" align="left" /> One of the challenges involved with producing the Herriot-Watt Student Handbook was working with the extensive colour palette employed by the designer. Each chapter featured an geometric illustration which then governed the chapter text colours. From this, emerged two questions: 1) How to keep the colours consistent between Illustrator and InDesign? 2) How to change the colour scheme for each chapter, whilst keeping the style sheets uniform and editable? I love problem solving! This one was quite easy. I used a master swatch library in Illustrator (actually not fun, considering how you creatives 'create' using any sort of colour range) which I then imported into InDesign. I then created a master document template which I used as the starting point for each chapter. I saved each chapter as a separate document. By replacing the original colours with the designated chapter colours, this instantly modified the "parent" style sheet and the "child" style sheet was born. To finish it off I created a book in InDesign and loaded each chapter in and was able to synchronize bringing all of my colours and stylesheets together as one big happy family. One other dilemma I faced with this project was creating the course time-tables. Unsurprisingly, the content of the tables changed after I designed them and of course there was now too much copy. Because I had created cell styles this was quite easy to resolve. With almost 20 pages of tables, what could have taken a whole day to sort out, took a minimal amount of time to fix. Design by Stephen Kelman at Freight Design http://www.characterstyle.com/GHA http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/GHA Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:45:02 +0000 Character Style 123513 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123513/GHA.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="427" width_o="640" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123513/GHA_o.jpg" align="left" /> Adapted previous styles of GHA publications to produce yearly handbooks, reports and tenant information leaflets. Speed and quick turnaround times were essential, as well as keeping the GHA style consistent across various themes. Design: Craig Bickett at Freight Design http://www.characterstyle.com/University-of-Aberdeen http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/University-of-Aberdeen Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:37:29 +0000 Character Style 123499 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123499/_MG_8737_640.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="426" width_o="1280" height_o="853" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123499/_MG_8737_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123499/_MG_8739_640.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="426" width_o="1280" height_o="853" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123499/_MG_8739_o.jpg" align="left" /> I had previously worked on the University of Aberdeen while I was employed at Curious Group. This mainly consisted of helping build the prospectus and creating ads and other university collateral. This past year I was hired to create the master pages and style sheets for the 2010 Undergraduate Prospectus. The aim for me was to keep as much flexibility in the style sheets as possible, as the client wanted to be able to alter the styles at any time during production. My solution was to build a close-knit hierarchy of text styles using parent/child masters. I also employed the use of Object Styles. Being able to control small details such as text inset on a feature box used on every page turned out to be a life saver when some of the copy started to run over. Using my Object Styles I was able to decrease the text inset, allowing the copy to fit and every box still was still identical. To keep thing moving fast I used Find/Change functions utilising GREP commands. This allowed me find all web addresses or phone numbers using a bit of code and instantly change them to bold. Design by Merchant Soul http://www.characterstyle.com/Scottish-Power http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/Scottish-Power Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:10:58 +0000 Character Style 123482 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123482/SP1.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="427" width_o="640" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123482/SP1_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123482/_MG_8792_1_640.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="426" width_o="1280" height_o="853" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123482/_MG_8792_1_o.jpg" align="left" /> Ok, I will admit to being the only person I know who gets excited about financial reports. This is one of them. Yes, doing these sort of documents can be painful, but I relish the expanse of control I can get by use of some clever character styles. This is my fourth year of working on Scottish Power's reports. The first year, I had to work off the inherited (shoddy) style sheets and nearly threw my computer out the window. The second year, I was allowed to build my own (superior) style sheets and have felt at peace ever since. All long documents are not the same, and the process of populating and formatting the information will be different for each client. I work quite closely with the team over at Scottish Power to make sure that the process is as simple as possible for both sides. We use Blacklining to track our changes, and quite often I work on-site to streamline production. http://www.characterstyle.com/Scottish-Water http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/Scottish-Water Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:52:52 +0000 Character Style 123465 <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123465/_MG_8796.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="427" width_o="640" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123465/_MG_8796_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123465/_MG_8797.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="427" width_o="640" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123465/_MG_8797_o.jpg" align="left" /> Over the past two years I have worked a large amount of Scottish Water's customer service literature. It is imperative that style and layout be consistent throughout all of the client's work to develop a clear visual language that customers can identify. I established a definitive set of Paragraph Styles and Character Styles for Scottish Water, which made formatting future documents quick and easy. Design by Craig Bickett at Freight Design http://www.characterstyle.com/Break-Invisible-Characters http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/Break-Invisible-Characters Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:16:35 +0000 Character Style 123395 The more information you can give about how your copy is meant to behave, the better. Using features like Odd Page Break and Em-spaces shows your intention and communicates to other document users clearly how the copy is meant to behave. Press Alt-Command-i to view invisible characters in InDesign and you might be surprised how much is actually going on behind the scenes. At the moment I'm just starting on a lengthy report and haven't defined my style sheets yet. I want each of my sections to start on a right hand page page so as I work my way through my copy, each time I come across a section start all I have to do is right click and select Insert Break Character and choose Odd Page Break. Assuming that your document has odd pages on the right, this will force your next paragraph to the first frame on the subsequent right hand page. Your other options are: Column Break Frame Break Page Break Odd Page Break Even Page Break Paragraph Return <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123395/BREAKS-3_640.gif" border="0" width="640" height="554" width_o="732" height_o="634" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123395/BREAKS-3_o.gif" align="left" /> Basically, they each do what they say they do, and even better, you can copy and paste them just like regular text. So for now I'm just using Page Break. Eventually, when I put my style sheets in I will define my heading style to start on a new page, but the initial stage of this document, this is great. Here's a list of other invisible characters, their key-commands and tips. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123395/INV-CHAR_2.jpg" border="0" width="639" height="553" width_o="639" height_o="553" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/123395/INV-CHAR_2_o.jpg" align="left" /> http://www.characterstyle.com/Gutter-01 http://www.characterstyle.com/following/characterstyle.com/Gutter-01 Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:11:38 +0000 Character Style 120943 Gutter, an independent magazine of Scottish fiction and poetry, was published by Freight Design. I was contracted to build the master style sheets based on the designer's mock-up, and then populate the book with content. I was strictly limited by a page count, and had to make the best use of space throughout the book. I was able to precisely control my copy space through the use of hyphenation settings and a consistent baseline grid. The style also employed the use of many OpenType features, which I was able to govern through parent/child style sheets. When the style master was finished, the designer could easily change many styles throughout the document simply by changing one. <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/120943/_MG_8786.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="427" width_o="640" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/120943/_MG_8786_o.jpg" align="left" /> <img src="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/120943/_MG_8782.jpg" border="0" width="640" height="427" width_o="640" height_o="427" src_o="http://payload.cargocollective.com/1/0/11618/120943/_MG_8782_o.jpg" align="left" /> Gutter has been designed by Stephen Kelman at Freight Design