Figure 1.1: The InDesign Start workspace (The image is intended as a visual reference; the textual information is not essential.)

The Start Workspace is the first thing you encounter when you launch InDesign or when you have no documents open. You can invoke the Start workspace at any time by clicking the Home icon . This is a convenient way to open recent documents, access learning resources, create a new document or use an InDesign template.

InDesign has a rich interface that can appear intimidating to new users. If you are new to InDesign, this chapter will get you up and running in a jiffy. You will have an opportunity to explore it by yourself shortly. A workspace is how the interface elements are arranged. InDesign sports a number of workspaces for different applications, ranging from book design to digital publishing. We’ll work primarily with the Essentials workspace in this book. To select this workspace, choose Window | Workspace | [Essentials]. We can now explore the InDesign workspace. The numbered screenshot in Figure 1.2 highlights each component of the interface and is followed by brief descriptions.

Figure 1.2: The default InDesign interface (The image is intended as a visual reference; the textual information is not essential.)

1. Menu Bar: Found at the very top of the interface, the menu bar includes drop-down options for a wide range of functions, similar to other applications you may be familiar with. Menus include commands for saving files, editing objects, pagination, typographic controls, working with tables, accessing panels, and interface management options.
2. Control Bar: This is the context-sensitive horizontal panel found just below the menu bar. The panel presents options and commands depending on the tool or element selected. In other words, panel options are presented relative to the context. For example, text controls will be naturally different from image controls. The control bar offers options that allow for greater control of design elements such as shapes, text, and images.
3. Document Window: This is your main work area in InDesign. This is where document composition and layout take place. This area typically hosts document pages and is surrounded by a gray boundary area known as the pasteboard. It is a metaphorical reference to the real-world experience of a page on a desk.
4. Panels: Panels provide easy access to important tools and settings for specific tasks. All panels, including the toolbox, are accessible from the Window menu. Some have similar functions to the control bar and offer additional controls. Panels are, by default, nested to the right of the InDesign interface.
5. Toolbox: The toolbox contains a selection of tools used to add and modify elements in an active document. Many tools have a small white triangle in the bottom-right corner. This indicates that there are more tools nested within that tool group, hidden beneath the tool that is currently visible. To access these additional tools, click and hold your mouse on the triangle icon for the active tool. A popup will appear showing additional tools available within that tool group.

Try it yourself – Exploring the InDesign workspace

Note

The files referred to in the practical activities can be downloaded from https://packt.link/a19oQ

1. On opening InDesign, you are presented with the Start screen. Should you encounter any pop-up messages such as What’s new, click the close icon to return to the main Start screen. Be sure to click on the X symbol in the white circle to the right of the pop-up message.

Figure 1.3: The InDesign Start screen (The image is intended as a visual reference; the textual information is not essential.)

2. To open a file, choose Open. Then browse to locate the accompanying downloaded files for this book and choose the file called 01 Exploring the InDesign Workspace.indd from the exercise files.
3. The menu bar is found at the top of your screen, as is the case with the majority of software applications. An important menu is the Window menu. This is where you access panels and manage your workspace. Browse through the menus and window options to get a general sense of what is available in the different menus. We will discuss these drop-down menus in detail further on in this book.

Figure 1.4: The InDesign interface

4. The control bar is found at the top of the interface. If it is not visible, as is the case in Figure 1.4 above, choose Window | Control to make it visible. Let's Explore!. Click on different elements of the artwork, and click on the various tools in the toolbox. Observe the Control bar and Properties panel as you do this. Options relevant to the object or tool that you have selected are contextually presented in both panels.

Figure 1.5: The Control bar and Properties panel with a graphic element selected (The image is intended as a visual reference; the textual information is not essential.)

5. Choose the Type tool from the Toolbox. The shortcut is the letter T on your keyboard. Triple-click the word CUBED in the design on the page. The word is highlighted. Note that the options on the Control bar and Properties panel have changed to reflect the properties of the selected word while simultaneously offering typographic controls such as font, type size, and so on.

Figure 1.6: The text selected with the Type tool

6. Choose the Selection tool from the Toolbox. This is the very first tool found at the very top of the Toolbox on the left side of the workspace. The Selection tool shortcut is the letter V.

Tip

If you have the Type tool selected, or are typing text in a document, press Escape to return to the Selection tool.

With the Selection tool active, click on the diamond icon (logo) above the word CUBED. It will indicate visually that it is selected by way of a series of nodes that appear along the edge of the logo shape. See Figure 1.7 for a visual of the selected element. Note that the Control bar is displaying a set of controls relevant to the object that is selected.

Figure 1.7: The logo selected with Control bar options

7. Let’s change the color of the logo by using a panel. Remember that panels are found to the right of the interface. Click on the Properties panel to bring it to the fore. Should you not see the Properties panel, choose Window | Properties. Under the Appearance subset in the Properties panel, click on the white swatch alongside the word Fill. Then choose Yellow CMYK from the flyout menu. The flyout menu is accessed by clicking on the swatch. The logo color should change to yellow.

Figure 1.8: The logo with Yellow CMYK applied

8. Let’s make the document view slightly smaller, so we have a better overall sense of our change. Making the view smaller or larger is called zooming. Right-click on the artwork, then choose Zoom Out. You can also choose View menu | Zoom Out to make the content smaller.

Figure 1.9: Zooming out of the artwork

9. Now choose the Pages panel on the right-hand side of the workspace. The panel has two segments. The top section houses Parent Pages. We will explore these in a later chapter. The lower segment stores the document pages. You can see, in the following figure, we have two pages in this document numbered 1 and 2. Let’s navigate to Page 2. Double-click on the icon with the number 2 below it. This will take us to Page 2. Let’s return to Page 1, by double-clicking on the page shown in the panel.

Figure 1.10: The rear of the business card design

10. Well done. You’ve explored the fundamental tenets of a multi-page design. You should feel a little more comfortable with the InDesign workspace at this stage. Let’s close the file. Choose File | Close. Choose Don’t Save in the pop-up box that appears.

Figure 1.11: Closing the document without saving changes

We now have an understanding of the InDesign interface. In the next section, we’ll explore an important panel – the toolbox. We’ll look at the individual tools and the options they provide.

By default, the InDesign toolbox is arranged as a single vertical column of tools to the left of your interface. You can change the toolbox view to a double vertical column or a horizontal row arrangement by clicking on the double arrow located in the top-left corner of the toolbox. There are tools found in the toolbox that are for specific tasks like selecting, editing, or creating a page. Whether it is type, shapes, lines, or gradients, this is applicable. You can click and drag the top of the toolbox – the vertical lines above the Selection tool – to move it to a different location.

Figure 1.12a: The toolbox arranged as a single column

Figure 1.12b: The toolbox set up as double vertical columns

Figure 1.12c: The toolbox arranged in a horizontal row

Select a tool from the toolbox by clicking on it. The toolbox also contains several hidden tools related to the visible tools. Hidden tools have tiny arrows that can be accessed by clicking on these arrows found at the bottom right of tool icons in the toolbox. You can select a hidden tool by clicking and holding your mouse on a tool in the toolbox, opening up a set of variations. You can then select the tool that you require from the resulting flyout.

The name of the tool and its keyboard shortcut will appear if you hover it. This is called a tooltip.

The toolbox is organized into six distinct sub-sections (see Figure 1.13). Having a general sense of the toolbox arrangement will help speed up your proficiency in InDesign.

Figure 1.13: An exploded view of the toolbox

• Selection Tools: This subset of tools are used to select objects, groups, sub-components of elements, and the page itself.
• Drawing and Type Tools: Use these tools to create geometric and freeform shapes, as well as text frames. You can create rectangles, circles, stars, freeform shapes, and open paths. The type tools are used for creating text frames on your page.
• Transformation Tools: This collection of tools allow you to rotate, scale, skew and distort content. You can also use them to edit gradients, which are multi-colored fills or strokes that have been applied to objects.
• Modification and Navigation Tools: These tools can be used to move around the page and manipulate viewing properties. Additionally, you can magnify or decrease the viewing percentage of your document, measure the properties of objects, and collaborate with fellow InDesign users using notes.
• Color Tools: This subset of tools allows you to define the fill and stroke (border) properties for graphic and text objects.
• Viewing Modes: You can view a document in multiple ways. Options include hiding and showing non-printing guides and document construction aids. You can also preview the final document as it will appear printed or exported.

This concludes our exploration of the toolbox. Strictly speaking, the InDesign toolbox is a panel. We will discuss panels in greater detail in the next section.

Panels are found to the right of the interface. All panels, including the toolbox, can be accessed from the Window menu at the top of the workspace. The beauty of panels is that they afford editing and modification controls for page elements without getting in your way. Panels can be arranged in myriad ways. They can be organized as groups, stacked on top of each other, or collapsed so they are out of your way, yet accessible when you need them. Panels can also be repositioned anywhere in the InDesign interface. Panels not attached to any edge of the InDesign interface are called floating panels.

Figure 1.14: InDesign panels in various configurations

Examples of panel configurations can be seen in Figure 1.14, which illustrates the various possibilities available to you when customizing the InDesign interface for your unique design requirements. An explanation of each panel arrangement is discussed next:

1. Panel group: The Properties, Pages, and CC Libraries panels are arranged in a group. This means that they act as one set.
2. Stacked: The Color and Stroke panels appear in a stack below the layer group. You can stack panels and panel groups in any arrangement you wish.
3. Expanded with labels: The Layers and Links panels are examples of the expanded with labels panel arrangement. They show both an icon and a panel label.
4. Collapsed with labels: Effects, Animation, Gradient, and so on are panels that are collapsed with labels. They auto-hide when not in use. They show both an icon and a panel description.
5. Collapsed – Icons only: The Assignments, Notes, and Track Changes panels show icons only. They auto-hide when not in use. They are presented as icons only when inactive. They show both an icon and a tooltip when clicked upon.
6. Floating: The Articles, Align, and Pathfinder panels are examples of floating panels. They can be placed anywhere in the interface and do not need to be nested against the interface edge.

Figure 1.15: Resetting the InDesign interface

You can rearrange, open, and close panels at will to suit the task at hand. Feel free to experiment with different panel arrangements. Should you want to reset the panels to their original workspace configuration, choose Window | Workspace | Reset... Ensure that your preferred workspace is selected. Then choose Reset…. In the preceding example, the Essentials workspace was chosen. We will be working primarily in this workspace throughout the book. Please choose this workspace when working through the example files.

Now that we’ve grasped the basic behavior of panels, let’s learn about panel menus and additional functions we can access by using them.

Exploring panel menus

Panel menus provide us with additional options and controls. To access panel menus, click on the hamburger icon () found at the top right of any panel.

The menus are contextual and present options for the panel in question. For example, the Pages panel menu will present options for pages, including inserting, reordering, and duplicating pages, among a whole host of other options. Take time to familiarize yourself with these additional features.

Figure 1.16: The Pages panel menu

Now that we have an understanding of the fundamentals of the InDesign interface, let’s look at core concepts and a typical InDesign workflow.

InDesign can be categorized as layout software. It is therefore used to create page designs for both print and digital media. InDesign sports powerful tools for working with text and graphics. It has robust typographical controls and is ideally suited for long documents. Its typographical controls are the gold standard for typesetting in its class. You can prepare interactive and high-quality PDF documents for sharing with audiences and print providers. Some of the projects that InDesign can help you create include books like this one, print and online magazines, ePub documents, and numerous other categories of formats for your design and communication projects.

InDesign works on the metaphor of a page or pages that are attached to a pasteboard. This is no different from you placing a piece of paper on a desk. Any elements you place on the page will be printed or exported. Elements that are placed on the pasteboard – the gray area surrounding the page, will not be in the output. You can use the pasteboard as a temporary holding area as you craft your design on the page.

This is a typical InDesign workflow scenario:

1. Import text and tables from Office applications.
2. Place vector and bitmap images from drawing and image editing software.
3. Arrange elements into a pleasing design.
4. Export or print the InDesign file for consumption by relevant target audiences.

The very first step in your InDesign workflow is to set up a new document. In the next section, we will look at the options for setting up and customizing the specifications of our document.

As with any content creation application you may be familiar with, having an idea of the type of document that you wish to create upfront is helpful. You can use InDesign to create documents for high-end print or online delivery.

Documents can be set up in two ways. You can create a new, empty document by using presets. These documents have predefined dimensions and settings. You can then tweak specific settings to meet your project requirements, for example, the size of the page, the number of columns, or the text margins.

You can also make use of the range of templates. These are predesigned InDesign files that you can use as a launchpad for your designs. You can use the templates that are available in-app, or you can search Adobe Stock (Adobe's stock service) for a specific theme that you may require. Some content requires you to pay an additional fee.

Try it yourself – setting up a new document

In this section, we will set up a business card from the ground up. Let’s recreate the business card document we opened earlier in the chapter:

1. Launch InDesign. Click the New file button on the Start screen. This will open the New Document dialog.

Figure 1.17: The New file button is found at the top left of the Start screen

2. If you use imperial units, complete steps 1 to 4. If you work with the metric system, skip to step 5. Click on the Print tab. From the list of blank document presets, choose US Business Card. Under PRESET DETAILS on the right, we’ll make the following adjustments:
   1. For Units, you can stick with Picas or switch to inches. We’ll use Picas in this exercise.
   2. Uncheck Facing Pages. This is primarily used in magazine and book design.
   3. Increase the page count to 2 for the front and the back of the business card.
   4. Change all margin values to 1 pica.
   5. Add 1 pica bleed for all sides. The term bleed in printing refers to the space beyond the trimmed area of the page. It ensures that you have a nice clean edge when the document is trimmed. If page elements touch the outer edge of the format, they should be extended to the bleed guides.
3. Click Create to accept the changes.
4. Choose File | Save. You can name it anything you wish. You can find a reference file called Try it yourself 2 - Business Card Imperial.indd in the Chapter 1 - Example Files folder should you need a visual guide.

Figure 1.18: Business card setup for imperial units

5. For readers who use the metric system, set up your document as follows. Click on the Print tab from the list of blank document presets and choose US Business Card. Under PRESET DETAILS on the right, let’s make the following changes:
   1. For Units, choose millimeters.
   2. Change the width to 90mm and the height to 50mm.
   3. Uncheck Facing pages. This is used in magazine and book design.
   4. Increase the page count to 2 for the front and the back of the business card.
   5. Change all margin values to 4mm. Click the link icon to make the changes to all margins all at once. The link icon keeps all values identical. If you need to add different values, disable the link option.
   6. Add 3 mm bleed for all sides. The term bleed in printing refers to the space beyond the trimmed area of the page. It ensures that we have a nice clean edge if colors or objects run to the edge of the format.
6. Click Create to accept the changes and create the document.
7. Choose File | Save. You can name it anything you wish. You can find a reference file called Try it yourself 2 - Business Card Metric.indd in the Chapter 1 - Example Files folder should you need a visual guide.

Figure 1.19: Business card setup for metric units

8. InDesign will present a newly created document. Take note of the following in the main viewing window.
9. Your working page is the white area that you see in the middle of the screen.
10. Margins are the pink- and purple-colored lines found inside your page. This is called the text area. These lines do not print or export. The guides are meant to assist you in making sure elements are positioned correctly and accurately on the page.
11. The red lines that fall outside the page are your bleed guides. We extend colors or images to these guides if they touch the format edge. Bleeds are trimmed away by the printer.

Figure 1.20: Your newly created document showing the page, margins, and bleed

12. To navigate between pages, choose the Pages panel. Double-click on the thumbnail of the page you would like to navigate to – for example, Page 2 in the following graphic as shown in Figure 1.21. The page you have selected is highlighted.

Figure 1.21: The Pages panel with Page 2 highlighted

Well done. You have successfully set up a multi-page document in InDesign. Save your file at this point. Choose File | Save. Choose location on your computer where you would like the file to be saved, and choose a filename of your choosing. For example, Business Card Design.indd. We will use this document to add the business card design and text elements to in the next chapter. At this point, you should feel relatively comfortable with the interface and how to get around InDesign. Be sure to revisit any concepts you may feel uncomfortable with. Remember, this book progressively builds on concepts covered in a linear way. It is helpful to understand each concept being discussed before moving on to the next chapter. More experienced users can jump to chapters that you may find relevant.

In this chapter, we explored various InDesign interface features. We had a look at tools and the toolbox arrangement options available. We familiarized ourselves with the InDesign workspace, panels, and panel menus. We got an understanding of the core tenets of InDesign, and got to grips with the fundamental concepts of the software. Finally, we set up an InDesign document from scratch.

We are well on our way to exploring the next chapter, where we will learn how to work with text and objects in the business card document we have just set up in this chapter.