52 Project one Print design

InDesign CS3 and later

Design a
multi-page
mag feature
Art editor Jo Gulliver
shares her pro shortcuts,
tips and advice for creating
pace and variety without
breaking your house style
As art editor on Computer Arts, laying out complex
features in InDesign is a daily part of my job. Using a seven-
page article from a recent issue of the magazine, I’m going to
demonstrate some of the key processes that I go through, from
building a grid and creating a template, through to the finishing
touches that add style and complete your editorial layout.
I’ll touch on what I feel are the most important stages
when planning, showing you how to tackle each feature, and giving
you an insight as to why things are done in certain ways. For the
more experienced designer, there are also some valuable tips and
shortcut tricks that will help to speed up your workflow.
Building a grid is the starting point for any text-based
editorial design, and the foundation on which to build your design,
helping to maintain consistency throughout the layout – so I’m
starting with that. I’m using the Akkurat typeface throughout this
tutorial, but if you don’t have it, you can substitute it for something
similar, such as Helvetica.

Jo Gulliver On your disc Skills

Highly commended You’ll find the PDF of Plan a layout grid
as PPA Designer of the the finished article that fits your needs
Year, Computer Arts’ from Computer Arts Create a high-impact
art editor Gulliver issue 174 on your opener with a clear focus
commissions cover cover disc, in the Work with character
artwork from the Resources section and paragraph styles
world’s most exciting Make the most
designers. She will be of key visual assets
giving one-to-one folio Add interest with
advice at the Graduate boxouts and pullquotes
Showcase Exhibition
Seminars. www.
computerarts.co.uk

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 Design a multi-page mag feature 53

Create templates
It’s good practice to create template documents for grids
you plan on using over and over again. These templates will be fresh
documents containing all the correct measurements and styles you’ve
previously set up. This maintains consistency, but also minimizes the
risk of error that can occur when working over previous documents.

01 The first step when creating a grid is to choose your

body copy font, and its point size. The baseline grid depends
upon the leading needed for your chosen font – the larger the
x-height, the more leading it will need. In Computer Arts we use
Akkurat 8.5pt on 9.921pt leading. This is the metric equivalent
of 3.5mm, the measurement we use for our baseline grid.

Rule of thumb
Here are a few basic rules to consider when creating a
grid. First, have the border dimension at least double the gutter width,
and the gutter width the same as your leading – or double, if you prefer.
02 Once you’ve decided on the font, begin to build your
Ideally, you want to keep the column widths of your body copy between grid. Make sure you apply your preferences to the A-Master
40 and 80 characters in length to maintain good readability. pages by selecting the spread in your Pages palette: this will
apply your grid to all the pages in the layout. Go to Layout>
Margins and Columns to open the dialogue box, and apply
your chosen margin measurements. Here is where I pick up
the 3.5mm measurement from step one again, using it for
the gutter width of a seven-column grid.

03 I always apply my baseline grid at this early stage

of building a template, so that I can get it to fit the measure of
my live text area perfectly. It also allows me to leave an area of 04 With most magazines there’s an amount of regular
white space at the top of the page that I don’t want body copy furniture that runs on every page, and now is a good time to
to encroach on. Go to InDesign>Preferences>Grids, change the add this to your A-Master pages, fixing them to the same spot
Increment Every box to 3.5mm, and choose where to start your on every spread. I’m adding automatic page numbering, drawn
grid. I’ve gone for just over 78mm to leave an ample amount of with a live text box. Go to the Type>Markers>Current Page
white space at the top of my layout, but also to ensure the Numbers – this will add the letter ‘A’ to your Master, which
baseline grid lines up with my document grid. will appear as the correct page number on your layout.

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 54 Project one Print design

Plan your layout

Planning is the most important stage
of any layout, and mapping out some ideas
before you fire up InDesign will make the
task of designing much easier

06 To make adjustments to your images, you’re going to need some basic Photoshop knowledge.
Check the size of the image you’ll be using, making sure it’s good enough for print quality. You want 300dpi
CMYK images, the bigger the better as it gives you many more options for how to use and crop the image.
Resizing your image is simple: with your image open in Photoshop, select Image Size under the Image Menu
and enter 300 pixels/inch in the Resolution field, making sure you have Constrain Proportions ticked before
clicking OK. To convert images to CMYK, select Image>Mode>CMYK Color.

05 The best place to start when tackling a layout is to preview all the visual
CMYK all the way
assets that you have to work with in Photoshop, or Bridge if you prefer. Take some time
to colour-correct and check the sizes and quality of any images, as well as having a Always convert images to CMYK when working on a layout for print. CMYK printing cannot reproduce the
same range of RGB colours that are visible on screen, so this will give your a truer representation of the final outcome.
read through the copy. Not only will this give you a good understanding of the content
of the feature, but it might also inspire some design concepts and colour palettes.

Briefing illustrators
08 You may have an
allocated page count to work
If commissioning illustration with, or you may be building
for a feature, always try to give as much
the layout from scratch. Either
information as possible. Details of size,
resolution, required bleed and suggested way, knowing what assets you
colour palette are helpful, as is providing have, particularly with regards
a rough template of the feature layout if to word count and image
you have particular design elements that requirements, will give you
need to be worked around. a better understanding
Here’s one example of a
of how many pages you’re
commissioned illustration for a feature
we ran called ‘New Adventures In Colour,’ going to need – especially if
which profiled designers and illustrators you have boxouts or separate
who are exploring and using colour in information to include too.
different and exciting ways.

It’s a compromise
Working in a professional editorial environment, laying out a page
07 Your opening page, in this case a spread, is one of the most important
isn’t solely about what the designer wants aesthetically. Sometimes various
elements are required to fit on the page, which won’t always adhere to what
parts of a feature – it needs to have impact, and draw the reader into wanting to you feel is the best design solution. You have to find a compromise that works
continue reading. If you don’t have relevant material to achieve this – whether best to convey information, but also looks well-designed and considered.
supplied artwork or stock imagery – you may want to consider commissioning
or creating an illustration to do the job (see margin note, left).

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 Design a multi-page mag feature 55

Start to design
Once you’ve got the basis of your grid
and a decent idea of the content and direction
of your feature, you can begin to place the
elements on the page and start designing

09 I like to begin with placing the text. On the template you’ve created, place 10 Create text frames on your pages to flow in your body copy, working with the grid you’ve created,
your copy onto the pasteboard using shortcut Ctrl/Cmnd+D to locate the file. If you making sure you link your text boxes to maintain the correct copy flow. To do this, click on the small square
don’t have any text to work with yet, try using Lorem Ipsum dummy text with an active in the bottom right of each frame, and click on the next text frame to link them. For our features, we like to
text box selected – Ctrl/Right-click and select Fill With Placeholder Text. use a three- or four-column width for each frame, making two columns of text on the page. This helps to
distinguish it from the other sections of the magazine, within the same seven-column format.

Go with the flow

Rather than drawing individual text boxes, you can flow text automatically onto a
document by holding down Shift whilst clicking to place your text. This automatically creates new
12 Once your text
is styled, you can then save
text frames and pages until all the text is visible. It works to the columns you’ve set up in Preferences,
so you may have to adjust it to fit your seven-column grid, but it gets copy on the page quickly. your preferences for future
use as a paragraph style.
With the body copy text
highlighted, select the
drop-down menu from the
Paragraph Styles palette,
and choose New Paragraph
Style. The Paragraph Style
Options window will open
up, with your previously
selected options appearing
automatically. This dialogue
box contains several tabs
that allow you you to modify
and save your styles.

11 Separate your key text elements – header, strap and body copy – into Setting up paragraph and character styles
their own text boxes, and roughly place them on the page. Flow the body copy into If you’re starting a layout from scratch with no template documents to build on, it’s a good idea to set up paragraph
and character styles as you progress. Once set up, they can easily be edited to adhere to any changes you make to the text by
your pre-drawn boxes, and double-check that they’re properly linked. Now you can
Ctrl/Right-clicking on the style in the palette, and simply selecting Redefine Style. It’s a great time-saver, and also helps to
begin to style the text – at this stage I’d already have paragraph and character styles maintain consistency throughout your document.
set up as part of my template, but if you don’t have this, use the body text size and
font (8.5pt Akkurat) that you used as a foundation for your template in step one.

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 56 Project one Print design

Perfect partnership
Every layout needs to have a hierarchy of text, with an obvious entry point – generally
the header, or headline. This needs to grab attention, and is normally something short and punchy.
Following on from this is the standfirst, also known as a strapline, which summarises what your
feature is about and usually also includes the byline, or author’s name. These two elements need
to sit next to each other on the page, as they work together to draw the reader in.

13 Now introduce an intro body copy style, to make it clear where you want
people to start reading. Drop-caps are one option, but I’ve chosen to bold up my first
paragraph. Add an indent to the start of every new paragraph to break up the columns, 14 It’s a good idea to kern your header text manually – remember, the larger the point-size, the more
and make them easier to read. Explore different weights and point-sizes within your attention it’ll need. Here, I’ve varied the size of the three words, and nested them together with the ‘T’, ‘u’ and
chosen font family for the heading and standfirst, which should always be the biggest ‘r’ nicely aligned. You can quickly kern text by using keyboard shortcuts Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+Right arrow to increase,
and second-biggest elements on the page respectively. Save any new styles to your and Left arrow to decrease the spacing. If you’re finding the adjustment too extreme, make it more gradual by
Paragraph and Character Style palettes, and align everything to your document grid. reducing the value in the Tracking & Kerning field, which you’ll find in Preferences>Units & Increments.

15 With the text styled up on

Grid within a grid
the page, you can now begin to add
images and boxouts, which you will Some boxouts may require their own baseline grid, especially if you’re varying your text
size. This is easily done by drawing a text frame, then opening the Text Frame Options dialogue box
ideally have considered during your
(Ctrl/Cmnd+B). Switch over to the Baseline tab at the top, and you can give your boxout its own
initial planning stage. I’ve chosen to baseline grid, allowing it to work independently from the main grid applied to the page.
add a two-column boxout on the outside
edge of my last page. Start by drawing
and colouring a text frame on the page,
with an inset spacing of 3.5mm. To
adjust this, hit Ctrl/Cmnd+B to bring
up the Text Frame Options dialogue 16 With your
box, where you can also tweak general boxout in place, you
settings like columns and alignment. can now begin to add
the copy. Boxouts need
a similar text hierarchy
to your main feature,
but nothing should
ever overpower the
main heading and
Points of interest standfirst. Different
With a lot of Computer Arts colours and weights
features, we like to include other bodies
can help to highlight
of information that sit within a feature.
These add points of interest for a reader areas of importance
to dip into, and can be anything from a within the copy, and
small info box on one page, to a full page again, be sure to save
in the middle of a feature. You do need to these styles to your
plan these carefully, however: too many Paragraph Styles
can destroy the flow of a feature.
palette for later.

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 Design a multi-page mag feature 57

Picture perfect
Picking the best images for your feature will invariably depend on their quality, size and relevance. After the
planning stage, you should have a strong idea of what images will work best, and how they’ll create the greatest impact
on the page. Aim to feature these most prominently in your feature layout.

18 Once you’ve added the images, you may need to add captions to briefly
explain what they’re about. Still adhering to your strict hierarchy of text, use a smaller
font size than the body copy – here, I’ve used 7pt on 8.5pt leading. Rather than locking
it to the baseline, align it with the top of the text frame in the Text Frame Options
dialogue box (Ctrl/Cmnd+B). As a rule, a caption should sit next to its corresponding
image, or be clearly numbered to reference it. I’ve chosen to emphasise each artist’s
name by changing it to bold, so it stands out from the rest of the copy.

17 Once you’ve added all your boxouts, you can start to place your images. Keeping your document grid Complementary colours
visible at all times, align your image boxes to both the margins and the baseline grid to maintain the flow of When adding touches of colour to your document, it’s always effective to select a
strong highlight that complements the main images on the page. Personally, I like to pick colours
strong lines running throughout your feature. It’s generally a good idea to get some different shapes, sizes
from within a particular image using the Eyedropper tool, and then add them to my colour palette.
and scales on the page – you don’t want everything looking the same, and your page needs a clear focal point. Don’t be afraid to tweak its CMYK percentages until you get a colour that you’re totally happy with.
If you don’t have images yet to work with at this stage, use placeholder boxes on your spread instead.

Make a Library
Once you’ve
created all your boxouts
and navigation icons, it’s
a good idea to create a
Library in which to store
them for ease of access.
Select File>New>Library,
then just drag, drop, and
name your assets for use
in future features.

19 Introducing pullquotes is another great way to highlight a particularly

interesting aspect of the feature, and add another access point for readers. Cut 20 One of the finishing touches I like to add is a navigation icon to lead the
into one of your columns by drawing a new text box, and using the Subtract tool reader through the article. Turn arrows illustrate a continuation of text from page to
in the Pathfinder palette. I’ve also added some oversized coloured quote marks page, and are particularly useful if you have boxouts breaking the copy flow. Finally,
– converting the text to outlines – to make these really stand out on the page. add an illustrated bullet point to clearly signify the end of your feature. All done!

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