Pull-Quote

Definition:

Used to attract attention, especially in long articles, a pull-quote is a small selection of text pulled out and quoted in a larger typeface or using some other formatting distinct from the rest of the article. A pull-quote may be framed by rules, placed within the article, span multiple columns, or be placed in an empty column near the article.

A pull-quote is sometimes referred to as a call-out but not all call-outs are pull-quotes. A pull-quote is a teasers or visual signpost that draws readers into an article just like kickers or eyebrows, decks, and subheads.

A pull-quote may or may not use quotation marks, or the quotation marks and other punctuation may be used as decorative elements. From a design and layout standpoint, pull-quotes should not appear too close to the spot where the text appears in the article. If appearing too close together it can create the sometimes disorienting impression for the reader that they have lost their place and are re-reading the same passage.

The following are not hard-and-fast rules, but general guidelines and common practices. Multiple pull-quotes in the same article should use a consistent style. In a newsletter where most articles use a common style, usually best to stick with the same pull-quote style throughout the publication. In a magazine where different styles (columns, fonts, etc.) are common from one article to the next, different styles of pull-quotes are common. In a book that tends to have the same style from chapter to chapter, pull-quotes should also be consistent in style from chapter to chapter. Use style sheets and paragraph styles in your desktop publishing software to create one or more styles of pull-quotes for consistency and ease of formatting. Hanging punctuation is frequently used with pull-quotes. High-end software often has tools that automatically creates hanging punctuation. When placing a pull-quote within one or more columns of text, use the text wrap options of your software to flow the body text around the pull-quote just as you would wrap text around a graphic.

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Paper Grades

You've designed the perfect printed piece. But now you need to put it on paper. Which paper? Hopefully you considered the kind of paper you needed before even starting your design project. If not, or if you are just getting started, here's a look at your primary paper options, regardless of the color, size, or finish for your printed masterpiece.

Unless you are really into paper, a recitation of the various paper grades won't be nearly as helpful to you as choosing a paper based on the project. Find your project (or the closest match) from the list below to see what grade of paper is usually used for that type of document. Then go to the page describing the recommended paper grade to learn more about it.

Of course, you are always free to be different and choose another kind of paper but these are generally safe choices. Always discuss your paper needs with your paper supplier and your printer as early in the project as possible. Paper grade is only the first step in narrowing down your specific paper needs. You'll also want to explore paper finishes and colors.

This chart applies primarily to projects for commercial not desktop printing although some of these papers are available in inkjet/laser safe versions.

Other types of paper not specifically covered here include coated and uncoated, manifold, onionskin, and safety papers.

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Proximity

Definition:

When faced with random objects on a page, the viewer will often try to find connections. Designers can aid viewers by arranging objects (text and/or images) into groups in order to convey meaning and help disseminate their message. This closeness of these groups is proximity, a principle of design.

Proximity creates a bond between page elements. How close together objects are placed can suggest a relationship. Objects placed further apart can suggest differences.

Although sometimes considered a separate principle, unity or "how well parts of the document work together" is sometimes used to mean proximity. Proximity is closeness. However, elements lacking close proximity can be unified by introducing a third element. An example: an arrow connecting a text label in the margin with a point in the middle of a map. In this way a relationship or unity can be achieved between elements that are far apart but belong together.

Grouping objects can be done with obvious spacing, by placing physical barriers between groups (such as rules), and even by the use of shape, color, or texture to visually group like items and visually separate unlike items.

Avoid overwhelming the viewer when there are a lot of individual elements on the page by using proximity to group items into discrete units. Keeping captions close to images not only makes it clear that the caption goes with the image, it creates a single visual unit from two separate ones. Grouping elements such as address, phone number, email address, and Web address not only puts all the contact information into one easy-to-spot unit it creates a single spot for the eye to rest (and get information) rather than four spots to jump around to and possibly overlook. If there are many elements to be grouped, consider sub-grouping. Using the contact information as an example, group them together but use spacing (or other means) to create a sub-group of, for instance, multiple phone numbers.

Use proximity to group elements in a way that aids in navigation. Keep the headline close to the body copy (of an ad, a newsletter article, etc.) if you want to lead the reader right into the text. If an accompanying visual is especially important to understanding the text, instead you might put the visual immediately after the headline. The 5 Step Ad Design Formula based on the work of David Ogilvy typically arranges five types of content in a specific pattern that tends to lead the viewer through the ad. Proximity can also be used to group material that makes up those five types of content.

Help the viewer understand complex pages or information-packed layouts by using proximity to bring together elements that go together and separate other parts. For example, a brochure for a seminar that consists of many separate workshops spread over multiple days and locations can easily overwhelm. Use proximity (along with other elements and principles of design) to keep information for each individual workshop (title, description, date/time, location) grouped together while also providing a grouping that gives overall details such as how to register, cost, and contact information. On a Web page you might use proximity to group the main and auxiliary navigational links (whether text, tabs, or buttons) into groups according to their function (such as shopping/catalog, weekly specials, and technical support). Proximity articles from around the Web. Unity (another name for proximity) in Web Design (from About.com Web Design) Law of Proximity as one of the Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Organization (from About.com Psychology).

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Where is Desktop Publishing Used?

Desktop publishing software can be found in both graphic design firms and other types of businesses of all sizes, homes, schools, quick copy centers, service bureaus, and print shops.

Just about anywhere there is a need to produce printed communications from billboards to baby announcements to business cards, you can find desktop publishing software and people using it.

Answer: The type of desktop publishing software in use varies. Homes and small businesses may utilize consumer-level desktop publishing software packages designed for non-designers while freelance graphic designers, graphic design firms, corporations, and print shops utilize high-end applications designed for professional and high-volume use. Despite the differences in the software, types of documents created, and where the software is used, all these types of uses fall under the umbrella of desktop publishing.

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InDesign Document Area

Binding Spine in InDesign

Images by E. BrunoIn order to explain how you can set your spine, I have to quickly show you the Page palette... Have a look at this illustration. You can see a 3 pages spread and how it looks like in the Pages palette. You can also see the ruler's origin which in the Preferences was set to Spine.

This is how I have made this spread. I have opened a new document with the Facing Pages option checked. Page 1 was already there. I then dragged the 2 pages that you see just under page 1 in the Page palette. At this point the spine was in the middle of the two pages. I selected the two page spread and then I went to the Page palette menu and I have activated the Keep Spread Together option. I then added the third page to the two pages spread to make it a three pages spread, to obtain what you see. You can add pages anywhere on the left or on the right of the original two pages spread. You can have a maximum of 10 pages in 1 spread.

View a Flash animation of the above steps.

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Masthead

Definition:

In a magazine or a newspaper you may see the masthead on the cover or front page but in a newsletter it may be on the inside and it's not the same element.

1) The masthead is that section of a newsletter, typically found on the second page (but could be on any page) that lists the name of the publisher, contact information, subscription rates, and other pertinent data.

2) Masthead is also an alternate name for the nameplate of a magazine or newspaper.

While masthead and nameplate may be used interchangeably in the newspaper business, they are two separate elements for newsletter publishers. Know your industry to know which term to use. Then again, if you know what each one contains and where it is placed it won't matter what other people call it, as long as you know whether you're creating the fancy title on the front of a publication or the publication's identification panel on some other page.

Consider the masthead a standing element in your publication. Except for changes to the names of contributors to each issue and the date/volume number, most information remains the same from issue to issue. You can place the masthead anywhere you want in your publication but it is typically found on the second page or last page of a newsletter or somewhere in the first several pages of a magazine. Be consistent in placement as much as possible. Because it's not an article, a smaller font is common. The masthead may be framed or set inside a tinted box. The masthead may contain: Logo or perhaps a smaller version of the newsletter nameplate. Name of the publisher, editors, contributors, designers, and other staff responsible for creating the newsletter. Address, phone number, and other contact information for the publication. Date and volume number (may also be found as part of the nameplate) Subscription information, if applicable, or other details on how to obtain copies of the newsletter or how to get off the mailing list. Ad rates (if advertising is accepted) or contact information for the ad department. Information on how to submit material for the newsletter (if outside contributions are accepted). Colophon-like details such as the fonts and software used in the publication. Copyright and Legal notices as may be required by your local government or jurisdiction (such as postal regulations for some types of publications). If the newsletter publisher/editor/author is all one person and the publication doesn't seek advertisers, contributors, or paid subscriptions (such as promotional or marketing newsletter for a small business) you can skip the masthead altogether.

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PPI - Display Resolution

PPI (pixels per inch) is how a monitor displays an image. How an image looks on screen is determined by the resolution of the monitor — the number of pixels it can display in a given area. PPI and SPI are frequently used interchangeably as a measure of image resolution, as most Adobe Photoshop users will know.

Although Real World Scanning and Halftones and some other sources make a distinct separation between samples and pixels, in practice it is probably not reasonable to expect most users to trade in one term for the other. However, for the purposes of this article, for the purists, and for the benefit of the curious, PPI does differ from other terms of resolution. It may also be the failure to differentiate the terms that leads to the greatest confusion over how an image looks on screen and how it looks when printed.

How SPI, PPI, DPI, and LPI relate
PPI is a function of your monitor. A pixel or "picture element" is a specific x,y coordinate (dot) on your screen. A high-resolution setting displays more pixels per inch. In practical terms, the same picture on a low resolution monitor looks larger than it does on a higher resolution monitor because the pixels are spread out over a larger area.

One of the biggest challenges new (and even seasoned) desktop publishers face is reconciling image display size to the size of the printed image. Throw in resampling and resizing and it really gets confusing. Here's a little exercise I performed and the results. I freely admit that it confuses the heck out of me too but at least you know you're not alone. With practice and patience you'll be able to discern a pattern and won't be quite so surprised when the image you see on screen prints at a radically different size some of the time.

The following exercise refers to the illustration in the sidebar: Scanned a 1" x 1" (physical size of the photograph) image at 300 SPI Downsampled the 300 SPI image to 96 SPI at 1" x 1" (96px x 96px) Downsampled the 300 SPI image to 96 SPI at 3" x 3" (300px x 300px)

The first thing you might notice is the difference in size of the images. Why do image one and two appear so different in physical size when I only changed the resolution? Because the monitor displays in pixels and 300 pixels per inch takes up more screen space than 96 pixels per inch. (And they would take up differing amounts of screen real estate if your monitor is set to 640 x 480 or 800 x 600, etc.) So what happened with image 3? It's only 96 SPI but its physical size is 3" x 3" (300 pixels square) so it displays at the larger size.

So, do you want to guess what the printed images will look like? The first two (large 300 SPI and small 96 SPI) printed at the same 1" x 1" size. (The 300 SPI image looked better though). The large 96 SPI image with a physical size of 3" x 3" printed at 3" square.

As you can see, how it looks on screen can be quite different than how it prints. Check the actual dimensions, as well as resolution of your image, to know how it will print.

In practice, SPI and PPI are often used interchangeably. DPI is frequently used in place of one or both terms. However, even if you call it DPI, remember that each dot or "unit of measure" behaves differently depending on whether it is a scanner (or scanned image), a monitor (or on-screen image), or a printer (or printed image).

Next > DPI: Printer Resolution

Measurements Systems > Measuring Resolution > PPI: Display Resolution

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InDesign Character Styles

Use Character Style Sheets to Save Time Use Character Style Sheets to Save Time

Illustration by J. Bear; licensed to About.comCharacter Style Sheets can be real time savers for designers especially in the creation of long or multi-page documents. Character Style Sheets are simply recorded format that you can then use in your design at will.

Consistency is one of the principles that designers must follow. Character Sheets help the designer so he doesn't have to apply manually the same type of formatting over and over again throughout the document.

Let me give you an example. You are designing a magazine promoting a certain item. You want to have all of your titles with a certain font, a certain size and a certain colour. You can record all of this information in a Character Style Sheet and then apply them to each title with a click.

Now, let's say that you decide that the titles are too small and they all have to be made 4 points bigger. Well, you just go to your Character Sheet and modify the size of your font there and all of the parts of text with that Character Style Sheet will change in one go. The same principle works in using Paragraph Style Sheets, but I will take those up in another article. Isn't that useful? So how do you set these Character Sheets in InDesign? This tutorial takes you step-by-step through the basic process. This page Use Character Style Sheets to Save Time Create a New Character Style Set the Character Style Options Change the Character Style Options for Quick Changes Throughout

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Create a Light Box for Your Digital Photography

If your needs are basic or you'd rather spend your money on memory cards and not additional equipment you'll only use now and then, whip up a decent light box using stuff you may already have around the house.

Image ? J. Bear; licensed to About.com

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Design Phase

Prior to the actual creation of the document is the design phase. This is an on-going process but initially it involves determining the basic form of the desktop publishing document. Some of the sub-tasks involved in the design phase will overlap with other stages of the desktop publishing process. Although presented step-by-step, desktop publishing is not an entirely linear progression. You'll find yourself going back and forth many times between tasks and between each phase.

Do the following tasks, as required. You'll find corresponding tutorials, exercises, or resources for further study, as available. Items marked with an * are not yet in lesson or tutorials format but do provide informational resources. Document format decisions
Identifying the form and function of your document
What are you going to design? Conceptualization/Layout Options
This is where you develop ideas for layouts, try out themes, brainstorm on how to best present information.
Thumbnail Sketches
Visual Signposts Color selection
Color Basics for Print and Web
* Color Symbolism
* Color Palettes
Extend Color Use with Spot Colors
Easy Ways to Get Color Without a Color Printer Font selection
Number of Fonts
Fonts for All Caps
Headlines
Body Text Image selection
Amount of Clip Art
* Graphic Images Types
Rights Controlled/Custom Artwork
Frames, Boxes, Borders
How to Use Pictures of People

The desktop publishing really gets underway in the next phase as you set up your document based on the decisions made during the design phase.

Next Phase > Document Setup

The Desktop Document > Design Phase

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Using Page Margins

Some "rules of thumb" governing margins can help the designer break away from the defaults while still providing all the functions required of margins.

Margin Rule of Thumb #1 Avoid using the same margins on all sides of a publication. In facing-page documents, the inside margin should be smaller than the outside margins. The bottom margin is usually larger than any other margins.

Margin Rule of Thumb #2 In publications with facing pages, the outside margin of each page should be double the inside margin.

Margin Rule of Thumb #3 For best appearance, margins should be sized progressively from smallest to largest: inside, top, outside, bottom.

Putting all these "rules of thumb" together might give us a set of margins such as those shown in the image at the top of the sidebar.

These proportions can produce many different looks. In this second illustration, the page size and the proportions of the margins remain the same as in the first but the the margins are wider overall, leaving less area for text and graphics.

Although you should never let strict formulas keep you from finding the right balance of margin to printing area, they can provide a convenient starting point. In the two spread examples, the margins follow these proportions: Inside to Outside 1:2
The inside margin is 1/2 of the outside margin. Top to Bottom 1:2
The top margin is 1/2 of the bottom margin. Inside to Bottom 1:3
The inside margin is 1/3 of the bottom margin. Outside to Bottom 2:3
The outside margin is 2/3 of the bottom margin.

In addition to finding the perfect fonts and moving graphics around on the page, give careful consideration to the margins of your next project. Try decreasing and expanding the margins to achieve different looks. It may be empty space but it can throw a design completely out of balance or bring it into focus.

Basic Desktop Publishing > The Desktop Document > Document Setup Phase > Margins

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What Is DTP Software?

Desktop publishing software is a tool for graphic designers and non-designers to create visual communications for professional or desktop printing as well as for online or on-screen electronic publishing.

Answer: The term desktop publishing was originally coined to describe Aldus (now Adobe) PageMaker and among professional designers refers primarily to high-end page layout software applications including Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress. However, an explosion of consumer programs and the associated advertising hype stretched the use of "desktop publishing software" to include sofware for making greeting cards, calendars, banners, and other crafty print projects as well as all the peripheral programs for handing fonts, graphics, and later Web design. It also resulted in a wider range of low-cost, easy-to-use software that didn't require traditional design and prepress skills to understand and use. Other applications and utilities often lumped into the "desktop publishing software" category are better classified as graphics, Web publishing, or presentation software, and any number of utilities and plug-ins for specific related tasks such as color calibration, font management, or imposition. The DTP software lists below are those that do the core task of desktop publishing - composing text and graphics into page layouts for publishing.

Desktop Publishing in the 21st Century further expands the meaning of desktop publishing and thus broadens the definition of desktop publishing software to include software for Web design and other forms of visual communications beyond print design.

The main players in the field are Adobe, Corel, Quark, and Serif with products that stick close to the original use of desktop publishing software for professional page layout. Additionally, Microsoft, Nova Development, Broderbund and others have been producing consumer or print creativity and business desktop publishing software for many years. Xara is increasingly topping the lists with their hybrid graphics/page layout software.

Adobe makes many software packages used by designers. You've probably heard of Photoshop, for example. But these other programs are not page layout software applications for print publishing. They are graphics software, Web design software, programs for creating and working with the PDF format, such as Adobe Acrobat, and other related software tools. The primary desktop publishing software or page layout software applications are:

Corel is best known for its graphics suite that includes CorelDRAW and Corel Photo-Paint. In the past it has produced creative printing or home publishing programs used for desktop publishing too but the primary page layout software from Corel is:

Microsoft produces Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and various consumer graphics and creative printing programs used alone or in conjunction with other applications to do some form of desktop publishing. Their entry into page layout for print is:

Quark has other software but the one most closely associated with desktop publishing is QuarkXPress and its many XTensions (produced by many third party vendors) that enhance and expand the basic capabilities of QuarkXPress.

Serif produces a suite of applications for graphics and Web design but the core desktop publishing software application is:

Broderbund produces a number of design and publishing programs in the consumer desktop publishing arena. Although some users do use these programs as freelance designers, the programs are not typically considered professional or high-end tools. The primary audience for Broderbund creative printing software are individuals wanting to create personal projects. The two titles most closely associated with desktop publishing are:

Xara Group has been making software since 1981. The current Xara product line combines print and Web graphics and design capabilities. Xara Designer Pro (2011 About.com Readers' Choice as Best Desktop Publishing Software) Xara Photo & Graphic Designer

Specialty programs primarily designed just for greeting cards, calendars, or other specific print tasks are also frequently changing names, changing hands, and changing focus. These include programs such as Calendar Creator and Scrapbook Factory.

In addition to the sometimes fuzzy division of desktop publishing into professional, home, and business categories, there are other types of software closely associated with desktop publishing. Of the four types of software for desktop publishing, the Page Layout category encompasses the programs also known as desktop publishing software. The others are specialized or auxilliary tools used in desktop publishing. But the lines are blurred. Much of the best design software is used for both print and Web and sometimes doubles as both page layout and graphics software or creative printing and business software or other combinatons.

For the most complete list, see the A-Z Really Big List of Desktop Publishing Software.

All the FAQs: Career & Business | Software | Design & Layout | Graphics | Type & Fonts | Prepress & Printing

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Found on the Web: InDesign FX

If you use Adobe InDesign (any version) and have been thinking about signing up for lynda.com, here's a bit more incentive. The InDesign FX series with Michael Rankin features 2 to 10 minute videos that focus on the graphics and special effects capabilities of InDesign. Did you know you can do chiseled text, drop shadows and cast shadows, feathering, metallic and glass effects, and star bursts without cranking up Photoshop or Illustrator? Several of the videos are available for free.

More InDesign Training:

Screen grab from video InDesign FX 025 Simulating Carving and Chiseling; lynda.com

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EFI Auto-Count Integrated with Heidelberg POLAR Cutters

American Printer was re-born as a 130 year young B2MeMagazine April 2012when 26,000+ issues were mailed to subscribers around the world.

The NEW American Printer integrates print, database, mobile, web and social media technologies to create highly individualized, interactive, printed magazines.

The NEW American Printer is the most technically advanced magazine serving the print and graphic arts industry.

Each issue of American Printer will demonstrate additional technologies to showcase the power of integrated print as a key component in today’s communications mix.

We invite you to support this great exposition of powerful print communications by subscribing or advertising.

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Alignment

Definition: One of the principles of design, alignment refers to lining up the top, bottom, sides, or middle of text or graphic elements on a page.

Horizontal alignment includes (see illustration): flush-left (also called left-justified or ragged right), flush-right (also called right-justified or ragged left), centered, and fully justified.

With vertical alignment elements can be aligned vertically -- top, bottom, or middle (center), for example. Baseline alignment would be aligning text to the baseline, including adjacent columns of text.

The use of grids and guides can aid in placement and alignment of both text and graphics.

Full justification of text (fully justified alignment) can create uneven and sometimes unsightly white spaces and rivers of white space in the text. When forced justification is used, if the last line is less than 3/4 of the column width the extra space added between words or letters is especially noticeable and unattractive.

Consider using flush-left alignment. If full justification is necessary, careful attention and minute adjustments to line or column widths, changing the font size of entire document, and adjusting hyphenation can make word and character spacing more consistent.

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Offset vs. Desktop Printing

The method of printing — whether offset or desktop printing — dictates how the desktop publishing document must be prepared. That's why answers to questions about what kind of software to use or how to set up a document begin with "how will it be printed?"

Answer: The three primary differences in offset printing and desktop printing (such as inkjet and laser) are the colors of ink and the way the ink is placed on the paper as well as the type of machinery used to accomplish the task. Both commercial offset printing (also known as offset lithography) and inkjet desktop printing utilize four basic ink colors: CMYK. Dots of cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow, and black (the K) are placed next to each other in specific patterns that trick the eye into seeing millions of colors. Additionally, offset printing can use premixed inks in a variety of specific colors as well as metallic and florescent inks. These are called spot colors. However, printing white ink is not usually a viable option for offset or desktop printing. Inkjet printing puts all the different ink colors on the paper in one pass through the printer. In commercial offset printing each color of ink is applied separately. Because the paper must pass through the printing press multiple times, there are special requirements for preparing digital files for color printing. Desktop printing usually uses some type of inkjet or laser printer. The inkjet printer has ink cartridges that places the ink directly on the paper. These are self-contained units connected to a computer through cables. Offset lithography uses a web or sheet press that may consist of multiple units. Photographic printing plates are made of the file to be printed. The plates accept the ink which is then transferred to the paper. In choosing desktop publishing software one of the key considerations is determining how you will print your material. Some lower end or consumer desktop publishing applications cannot produce the type of files needed for commercial offset printing. Even when using software capable of creating the required files, non-designers may not understand how to properly create files for commercial offset printing.

Although there are many specific considerations for preparing files for offset printing, in terms of ink colors and the printing process two of the main software and file preparation considerations are the use of CMYK graphics and separations. CMYK vs. RGB
Graphics generally use RGB (Red, Green, Blue) or CMYK colors. Graphics on the Web or designed for on-screen display are RGB images. Because offset printing utilitizes CMYK inks, all full-color graphics need to be saved with CMYK colors. This simple conversion is done in your graphics software program. Separations
Whether printing in CMYK inks or spot colors, for offset printing you must supply a file that can be separated into different files for each ink color. These separations contain only the elements of the document that will print in one color of ink. The printing plates for offset printing are made from these separations. Also see: What's the difference between a commercial printer and a desktop printer?

All the FAQs: Career & Business | Software | Design & Layout | Graphics | Type & Fonts | Prepress & Printing

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Color Separations

On a printing press each color of ink used in a document is printed one at a time. Each printing plate used on the press is made up only of components of the page in that one color.

Separations are artwork split into component plates of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black in preparation for process printing (CMYK) or into the required number of plates for spot color printing - a plate for each color of ink.

Each separation prints a single process or spot color. Digital PostScript or PDF files take two primary forms: composite or pre-separated. Which you use depends on your software, colors, and the software or RIP your printer or service bureau uses.

Pre-Separated
A pre-separated PDF or PostScript file contains a separate plate for each color in the document. A standard process color job would have four plates (pages) containing just the color information for each color of CMYK. For spot colors, you'll have a page for each spot color.

You'll have separations for each page in your document so a 4 page CMYK preseparated file would have 16 pages. If you have a preseparated file you can only print the file as separations and on-screen viewing is limited to viewing each individual color plate.

Composite
A composite file contains all the color information in one file. It can be viewed or printed as a composite (everything on one page). Your service bureau separates the file into its individual color separations at the RIP.

Choosing Sides
Which type of file — composite or pre-separated — does your printer need from you? Ask. That's the best way to know for sure. Each has its benefits. It's probably obvious that a composite file will be more compact than a preseparated file — fewer pages. With composite files both you and your service bureau can view the document on-screen and check things like graphics, text flow, etc. more easily.

However, there are some types of documents that require pre-separated files for proper handling. At present, composite files don't contain the necessary information to properly generate separations for EPS duotones, DCS images, colorized TIFFs, and images with spot-color-to-spot-color gradients. These will require pre-separated PostScript or PDF files. Check with your printer if you are unsure.

Even when supplying a composite PostScript or PDF to your printer, you'll want to know how to create and print color separations to your own printer for proofing purposes. This will help you see if your composite file will separate correctly (all colors on the correct plates, no extra colors) and help you catch other mistakes that might not be apparent looking at the application file or the composite file.

This is a brief overview of composite and pre-separated files — just one aspect of creating color separations. For more in-depth technical specifications and tutorials as well as advice on proper preparation of separations in a variety of programs, see the sidebar resources.

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OpenType Fonts

One of the problems of sharing files cross-platform is font incompatibility. OpenType fonts are Adobe and Microsoft's solution to font sharing. But cross-platform use is only one feature of OpenType fonts. They also have other benefits including simplified font management and more efficient typesetting.

While both the Mac and Windows OS support PostScript Type 1 and TrueType fonts, they are two different versions of each type of font. For example, a Mac TrueType font is different from a Windows TrueType font and they are not cross-platform compatible.

OpenType Fonts Facts & Features
Here's what you need to know about OpenType fonts: The same OpenType font file works on both Mac and PC. An extension of the TrueType format with Unicode based character coding, OpenType can also include PostScript font data. In Windows, OpenType fonts can have an .otf or .ttf suffix. The .otf fonts are ones that contain PostScript data. Each OpenType font has a single font file containing all information about that font. OpenType, PostScript Type 1, and TrueType fonts can all reside on the same system. Unlike the PostScript Type 1 font limit of around 256 glyphs, OpenType fonts may contain thousands of glyphs — eliminating the need for separate fonts for ligatures, small caps, different language character sets, and other Expert Character sets — it's all in one font file. The .otf version of OpenType fonts use a compact font format that results in relatively smaller font file sizes, despite packing in more glyphs and other data.

OpenType Font Support
Should you rush out and get all new OpenType fonts? If cross-platform compatibility or multilingual typography are critical to your work and you use applications that take advantage of the advanced features, you may want to move to OpenType sooner rather than later. For the rest of us, there's no great rush. It's also important to find out if your commercial printer will support OpenType fonts.

At present (2004) only a few programs support the advanced features of OpenType. UPDATE: In 2011 OpenType support is wide-spread however the OpenType format has not replaced TrueType (yet). Those without OpenType support can still use OpenType fonts but won't have access to some features and can't access all of the glyphs in the font.

There are three types of support for OpenType: Basic (Ex. Adobe PageMaker users with Adobe Type Manager can use OpenType fonts in the same manner as any other fonts but they only have access to the standard character sets) Unicode (Ex. Windows XP provides access to extended language character sets found in OpenType fonts) Layout (Ex. Adobe InDesign users can access all the advanced typographic controls - ligatures, swash variants, kerning and more - in OpenType fonts)

Sources of OpenType Fonts
Adobe isn't the only producer of OpenType fonts although they have been the most prolific, converting their entire Adobe Type Library to OpenType as well as producing new OpenType faces that fully exploit the enhancements of the OpenType font format. Fonts that have been converted to OpenType from other font formats gain cross-platform compatibility but may not have all the enhancements of fonts built "from the ground up" in the OpenType format. Look here for at complete listing of OpenType fonts from Adobe: Adobe Type Library - OpenType. Increasingly, other Type Foundries will offer OpenType fonts as well.

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Cobalt

Cobalt is a silvery, bluish-gray metal ore. But when cobalt salts and aluminum oxide are mixed you get a beautiful shade of blue.

Answer: The color cobalt or cobalt blue is a medium blue, lighter than navy but bluer than the lighter sky blue colors (a strong azure). In pottery, porcelain, tiles, and glass-making the cobalt color comes from the addition of cobalt salts. With the addition of varying amounts of other metals or minerals cobalt can be more magenta or more purple. Cobalt | Hex #0047AB | RGB 0,71,171 | CMYK 100,58,0,33 Cobalt (Web color) | Hex #3D59AB | RGB 61,89,171 Cobalt | Hex #6666FF | RGB 102,102,255 Cobalt is a cool color. Cobalt blue color is soothing, peaceful, and can also suggest richness. Like azure, nature, stability, calmness are some of its qualities.

While we generally think of cobalt as blue, there are other cobalt color pigments (found in oil and watercolor paints, for example) which incorporate more greens or reds, such as: Cobalt Yellow Cobalt Turquoise Cobalt Violet (RGB: 145,33,158 cobalt violet deep) Cobalt Green (RGB: 61,145,64)

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Overprint

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InDesign Page Setup Basics

All objects placed on the page or the pasteboard in a desktop publishing software application have a sometimes invisible bounding box or frame around the object - frames designed to hold text are called text frames

So let's get back to our New Document window. If you check the Master Text Frame option, you will have a text frame (or text box) on your master page. This frame will have the column and margin attributes specified in the New Document window.

For more on text frames, see What is a text frame and how is it used in desktop publishing software?

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Yellow Color Meaning

Dig into the meaning and negative/positive symbolism of yellow as well as the colors that work well with shades of yellow.

Shades of Yellow These words are synonymous with yellow or represent various shades of the color yellow: banana, cadmium yellow, chartreuse, chiffon, cream, golden, goldenrod, khaki, lemon, mellow yellow, saffron, topaz, yellow ocher.

Yellow is sunshine. It is a warm color that, like red, has conflicting symbolism. On the one hand it denotes happiness and joy but on the other hand yellow is the color of cowardice and deceit.

Yellow is one of the warm colors. Because of the high visibility of bright yellow, it is often used for hazard signs and some emergency vehicles. Yellow is cheerful.

For years yellow ribbons were worn as a sign of hope as women waited from their men to come marching home from war. Today, they are still used to welcome home loved ones. Its use for hazard signs creates an association between yellow and danger, although not quite as dangerous as red.

If someone is yellow it means they are a coward so yellow can have a negative meaning in some cultures.

Yellow is for mourning in Egypt and actors of the Middle Ages wore yellow to signify the dead. Yet yellow has also represented courage (Japan), merchants (India), and peace.

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Red Color Meanings

Discover the power, the nature, and the language of red. Find out what red symbolizes and what colors work well with red.

Shades of Red: These words are synonymous with red or represent various shades of the color red.
blood red, blush, brick, burgundy, carmine, China red (see vermilion), cinnabar (see vermilion), crimson, fire engine red, flame (see scarlet), Indian red, madder, maroon, rose, rouge, ruby, russet (a reddish brown), rust (a reddish brown), scarlet, tomato, Venetian red, vermilion.

Red is hot. It's a strong color that conjures up a range of seemingly conflicting emotions from passionate love to violence and warfare. Red is Cupid and the Devil.

A stimulant, red is the hottest of the warm colors. Studies show that red can have a physical effect, increasing the rate of respiration and raising blood pressure.

The expression seeing red indicates anger and may stem not only from the stimulus of the color but from the natural flush (redness) of the cheeks, a physical reaction to anger, increased blood pressure, or physical exertion.

Red is power, hence the red power tie for business people and the red carpet for celebrities and VIPs (very important people).

Flashing red lights denote danger or emergency. Stop signs and stop lights are red to get the drivers' attention and alert them to the dangers of the intersection.

In some cultures, red denotes purity, joy, and celebration. Red is the color of happiness and prosperity in China and may be used to attract good luck.

Red is often the color worn by brides in the East while it is the color of mourning in South Africa. In Russia the Bolsheviks used a red flag when they overthrew the Tsar, thus red became associated with communism. Many national flags use red. The red Ruby is the traditional Fortieth Wedding Anniversary gift.

These color palettes feature shades of red used with a variety of yellows, blues, greens, and neutrals.

Explore these red color swatches to find which of the colors in the red family are the most attention-grabbing, mysterious, friendly, sophisticated, or mentally stimulating.

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How to Share .pub Files

There are currently no plug-ins, viewers, or shortcuts for .pub files created by Microsoft Publisher. However, there are several methods you can use to create a shareable Publisher file. PDF is always a great choice but prior to Publisher 2010 there is no built-in PDF export.

Answer: When you create a document in Microsoft Publisher or any desktop publishing program, in order for others to open and view the file they would normally have to have the same program. If they don't, there are ways you can convert your creation to a format that others can use. If you are the recipient, you'll need to get the person who created the file to save it in a format you can view.

When the content, rather than the layout, is of primary importance — and no graphics are needed — the best way to exchange information is as plain ASCII text. But when you want to include graphics and wish to preserve your layout, plain text won't do.

Previous Versions: To share Publisher 2000 (or above) files with users of Publisher 98, save the file in Pub 98 format.

Send the recipient a file that they can print to their desktop printer. They won't be able to view it onscreen but they can get a fairly accurate print out. Several methods are available although they do have their drawbacks:

PostScript: Do a "Save As" from the File menu then click PostScript in the Save as type box to create a .ps file. This is normally used for preparing files for commercial printing, however, if the recipient has a PostScript cabable printer they can print the file.

EPS: Normally used for commercial printing, an EPS file can be opened in many graphic programs. It normally has to be placed into another program (such as PageMaker or QuarkXPress) to be printed. You'll have to create a separate EPS file of each page in your publication. Choose Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) as the PostScript output format under Print Setup | Properties. Select "Print to file" then print each page, one at a time.

PRN: Select the "Print to file" box when printing your publication. Instead of printing to your printer, Publisher will create a .PRN file. The recipient can then use the DOS Copy command to send the file directly to their desktop printer (From the DOS PROMPT type copy filename.prn lpt1 — or lpt2, depending on where their printer is located). Since your printer may not match that of the recipient, it may not print exactly as you envisioned. If you're exchanging files regularly with one specific recipient, obtain a copy of the print driver for their printer and use it to create your PRN file from Publisher.

Convert your Publisher document to an HTML File. You can then either post the files on the Web and send recipients the address to go view the files or send the HTML files to the recipient for them to view offline in their browser. If you send the files, you'll need to include all the graphics as well and make sure you set up the file so that all HTML and graphics reside in the same directory so the recipient can place them anywhere on their hard drive. Or you could take the HTML code that Publisher creates and send an HTML-format email. The exact procedure will depend on your email client and how it is received by the recipient will depend on what email client they use (and if they accept HTML-formated email). Convert your Publisher document to the Adobe PDF format. Since Publisher versions before Publisher 2010 have no PDF export you'll need to use another program, such as Adobe Acrobat Distiller. First create a PostScript file then use Adobe Acrobat to create the PDF file. The recipient will be able to view the document on-screen or print it. However, the recipient must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader (it's free) installed. There are also some printer drivers and software available that allow you to create PDF files from almost any Windows application.

If you're using Publisher 2010, save your Publisher file as a PDF from the program to send it to anyone who has software (including the free Acrobat Reader) that can open or view PDF files.

Browse list of Publisher file-sharing methods posted by our readers. There are suggestions for software, file formats to use, quick & dirty methods, and online conversion services.

Get Help If none of these options work for you or you feel that your circumstances are not covered in this FAQ, post an inquiry in the Microsoft folder of the About Desktop Publishing forum requesting help.

All the FAQs: Career & Business | Software | Design & Layout | Graphics | Type & Fonts | Prepress & Printing

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The Meaning of the Color Green

Green is the color of life, of nature.

Explore green color meanings, green color palettes, and the language and symbolism of the color green. For the month of March, explore the specific greens of St. Patrick's Day and pick up free templates and graphics too.

Shades of Green These words are synonymous with green or represent various shades of the color green: apple, aquamarine, beryl, chartreuse, emerald, fir, forest, grass green, jade, kelly green, lawn green, leaf green, lime, mint, moss, olive, olive drab, pea green, pine, sage, sap, sea green, seafoam, spring green, viridian.

Green is life. Abundant in nature, green signifies growth, renewal, health, and environment. On the flip side, green is jealousy or envy (green-eyed monster) and inexperience.

Green is a restful color with some of the same calming attributes of blue. Like blue, time moves faster in a green room.

Green is the national color of Ireland and is strongly associated with that country. Green also has close associations with Islam. Because of all the green in nature the color is reminiscent of Spring. Coupled with red it's a Christmas color.

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Harry Potter Fonts

Examples of some of the Harry Potter fonts found on the Web.

updated December 2, 2008

Whether you are creating a Harry Potter fan page or just want to write a mystical message, here are some sources for the best Harry Potter fonts. Two of the most popular can be downloaded here. Explore the list for more great lightning bolt letters and magical characters.

See the links to other Web sites (below) for Mac versions of these and other similar Harry Potter fonts.

Download: HarryP.zip | Lumos.zip

NEW IN 2008: For four times the magical fun, you may want to consider purchasing Hocus Pocus. This professionally designed Harry Potter style font comes with three or more times as many characters in 4 different styles. And it's all just $20US. From David Occhino Design, the Hocus Pocus, a Harry Potter font features alternate versions of all upper and lower case characters, numbers, complete punctuation, and a Magic Bolt style with some lightning bolt characters. Need more incentive to buy a font when others are free? Compare the character set, appearance, and quality of Hocus Pocus with other Harry Potter fonts to see how much more you get.

Fonts with stars are often featured on Harry Potter font pages. Here are some free star-studded fonts you may want to consider for use in your Harry Potter projects:
Milky Way | FontDiner.com Sparkly | Starry Night

The links, below, to sources for Harry Potter fonts go outside About Desktop Publishing

Font Space - Harry Potter Fonts
Dumbledor, HP Poster, and LumosLatino are among the offerings here.

The Daily Prophet - Harry Potter Resources
Offers downloads of Hogwarts Wizard, Lumos, Magical Me, and others in ZIP files.

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The Meaning of the Color Blue

A universal favorite of men and women, explore the meaning of blue, how to use shades of blue, subtle changes in blue symbolism from dark to medium to light blues, and colors that go with blue.

Shades of Blue: These words are synonymous with blue or represent various shades of the color blue: azure, baby blue, beryl, cerulean, cobalt, cornflower blue, corporate blue, cyan, indigo, midnight blue, navy, Prussian blue, robin's egg blue, royal, sapphire, sky blue, slate, steel blue.

Blue is calming. It can be strong and steadfast or light and friendly. Almost everyone likes some shade of the color blue.

In 1999 Pantone named the sky blue color of Cerulean as the color of the new millennium. Pantone selected the color Blue Iris as the 2008 Color of the Year telling us: "Combining the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple, Blue Iris satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement."

A natural color, from the blue of the sky, blue is a universal color. The cool, calming effect of blue makes time pass more quickly and it can help you sleep. Blue is a good color for bedrooms. However, too much blue could dampen spirits.

In many diverse cultures blue is significant in religious beliefs, brings peace, or is believed to keep the bad spirits away.

Blue conveys importance and confidence without being somber or sinister, hence the blue power suit of the corporate world and the blue uniforms of police officers. Long considered a corporate color, blue, especially medium and darker blues, is associated with intelligence, stability, unity, and conservatism.

Just as seeing red alludes to the strong emotions invoked by the color red, feeling blue or getting the blues represents the extremes of the calm feelings associated with blue, i.e. sadness or depression, lack of strong (violent) emotion. Dark blue is sometimes seen as staid or stodgy — old-fashioned.

In Iran, blue is the color of mourning while in the West the something blue bridal tradition represents love.

People describe How the color blue makes them feel

These blue color palettes feature shades of blue combined with gray, orange, peach, purple, and earthy browns as well as palettes with multiple blues.

This selection of Medium and Dark Blue Color Palettes feature 2, 3, 4, and 5 color combinations centered around dark shades of blue such as Navy, Dark Slate Blue, and Dark Cyan.

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InDesign Frame / Shape Tools

With InDesign, you can convert shapes created with the Rectangle, Ellipse, or Polygon Tools into either image frames or text frames.

For graphics, you just do the same thing you would do with an image frame. You take your Rectangle, or Polygon or Ellipse Tool, draw a shape and then go to File > Place (Control + P for Windows or Command + P for Mac: if using the QuarkXPress shortcuts, you need to replace P with E) and place your graphics inside the frame.

You can also convert your shape into a text frame. Click inside the shape with the Type Tool.

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Portrait Monitors

In 2002 I bought my first flat LCD monitor. It's a great space saver and has a wonderfully clear picture. But the most outstanding feature of this monitor is that it is a portrait monitor. More accurately, it is a pivoting monitor that can provide both the familiar landscape orientation as well as the vertical or portrait orientation. In the time I've had it I've found that I rarely use the landscape mode.

In word processing and desktop publishing, the portrait or full-page monitor has distinct advantages. The bulk of the material - books, newsletters, fliers, etc. - that we produce has a portrait orientation. With these vertical monitors it's easier to see the entire page without scrolling and without zooming out so far that the content is unreadable. They can even enhance your enjoyment of the Web by cutting down on scrolling. More of the page is visible in your Web browser.

Portrait monitors are nothing new. Some early personal computers and word processing systems used the portrait orientation. However, when IBM began mass-producing the PC for the general consumer market, they "established the low-resolution, TV-like landscape monitor as a de facto standard." Meanwhile portrait monitors became something of a novelty for the typical computer user. "Since only a few types of documents call for landscape orientation, the portrait view makes better use of the desktop space by allowing you to see and work with more of your document without constant scrolling."Portrait Display, Inc. from a description of their Pivot Software for pivoting monitors

But anyone who spends a great deal of time working with word processing documents or designing portrait-oriented layouts will appreciate a portrait monitor. A pivoting monitor that also provides the "conventional 4:3 aspect ratio of television screens and [standard] computer monitors" is the best of both worlds.

If you're in the market for a new monitor or want to add a second monitor to your system, perhaps you should seriously consider a portrait or pivoting monitor. See more, scroll less.

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Using Bylines

Bylines tell who wrote an article. They are a small element in books, magazines, newspaper, or newsletter design but certainly important to the author. In some cases, bylines may be used to give credit for photographs or illustrations.

Designing with Bylines
Bylines should usually be kept simple and non-obtrusive. Bylines should be distinct from the headlines and body copy but shouldn't stand out too much. While bylines are important to authors and can help lend credibility for the reader, they are generally not a newsletter design element that needs to jump off the page and scream Read Me! They do provide an element of personalization, letting the reader know that it is a real person talking to them. Use size, typestyle, color, embellishments, and alignment to differentiate bylines from other nearby article elements such as headlines, datelines, decks, kickers, and body copy. Use a smaller font than the headline and subtitles. Use a smaller font and/or a different style from the body text such as italics or small caps. Bylines are often prefaced by the word "By" or sometimes "Written by" which could be capitalized or kept all lowercase. "Photographed by" or "Illustrated by" may preface other types of credit lines. Other prefacing options are to use symbols such as an em dash, a tilde, or a bullet.

   — Lyla Jewel
~ Lyla Jewel
• Lyla Jewel

Bylines can be accompanied by additional descriptive text pertinent to the article itself including a copyright notice, revision notice, or indication that the article was previously published or a reprint. These can appear on the same line or separate lines such as:

   by Charles Molder ? 1998, revised March 2003
or,
By Jacci Bear
Reprinted from The INK Spot magazine

Bylines can be accompanied by other descriptive text pertinent to the author such as identifying the author by area of expertise or location.

   BY CATHY CARROLTON,
A FREELANCE WRITER BASED IN WASHINGTON D.C.
or,
by Jack B. Nimble, professional candle jumper

Ghostwriters may get "as-told-to" or "with" bylines to acknowledge their assistance to non-writers. This is frequently used for first-person narratives and personal experience pieces.

   BY JACK B. NIMBLE
with JACK B. QUICK
or,
by Jack B. Nimble as told to Jack B. Quick

Bylines can appear at the top or bottom of the article in a book, magazine, newspaper, or newsletter design. Placed at the end of an article, bylines are often accompanied by credit blocks or mini-bios that describe the author's credentials and/or provide contact details. For example:

By Jacci Howard Bear, contact the author at her desktop publishing web site at http://desktoppub.about.com/

Although usually found after the headline, sometimes the byline is incorporated into a section header preceding the headline. This placement is often used for recurring columns or sections that appear in each issue of a periodical. Bylines can be aligned left, right, or centered. Bylines on Web page articles are often hyperlinked to a biography (such as my byline at the end of this article, ~ Jacci Howard Bear), a list of other articles, or to the author's Web site in the case of guest articles written for other sites.

Once you've established a byline style, aim for consistency throughout your book, magazine, newspaper, or newsletter design, issue-to-issue, or within certain types of articles. For example, staff writers for a publication may have one style of byline while guest writers have another. Feature articles may use one byline style with a different style for departments, columnists, or lesser features. Set up a paragraph style in your software that is specifically for each of these types of bylines.

Bylines are a small element of a page layout but don't make them an afterthought. Give credit creatively.

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Widows and Orphans

In desktop publishing, widows and orphans are those words or short phrases at the end or beginning of paragraphs that are left to sit alone at the top or bottom of a column — separated from the rest of the paragraph.

Do you leave readers dangling? Words left hanging leave readers in the dark.

Not everyone agrees on what constitutes a widow and what makes a word an orphan. For every source that says orphans are the end of a sentence sitting alone at the top of a column there is another source that calls it a widow. No matter what we call them these widowed and orphaned bits of text can make our stories harder to read and our layouts look unbalanced.

Some instances of dangling words are less troublesome than others but in this article we'll look at ways to control them. Whether or not you choose to tinker with each and every instance of widows and orphans in your publications is entirely up to you and/or your client.

Some examples of widows and orphans that often need attention: A word or two at the top of a column that belongs with the paragraph at the bottom of the first column looks out of place. The start of a paragraph at the bottom of a column is equally annoying. When the rest of the sentence continues on the next page it can also destroy continuity for the reader. Subheads that appear at the bottom of a column or end of a page — without at least 2-3 lines of the following text — also look bad and hurt readability.

Next: Once identified, learn the various ways to fine-tune your line endings to eliminate widows and orphans.

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What's Your Personal QR?

Back in October I did a series of articles and tutorials on QR Codes that focused primarily on the business use of these little black and white blocks. But individuals can create and use QR codes as well.

How about putting one in your party invitations that will pull up a map to your party? Or make them an integral part of a high-tech scavenger hunt. Check out these and other QR Code Ideas for Personal Projects. Have other ideas? Share them in the comments.

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EFI Auto-Count Integrated with Heidelberg POLAR Cutters

Nov 8, 2011 3:49 PM

EFI?s  Auto-Count direct machine interface technology is now integrated with Heidelberg high-speed cutting equipment. Users now have real-time reporting and scheduling capabilities. Auto-Count is an industry-leading direct machine interface system that has been deployed on sheetfed and web presses, flexo presses, perfect binders, saddle stitchers and folders.

In partnership with Heidelberg, EFI developed an interface from Auto-Count to the Heidelberg POLAR XT guillotine cutting system solutions (using various model cutters, joggers and peripherals) that allows Auto-Count to capture data from the systems. This has not been widely implemented before and is now ready for customers on a broader scale.

Modern Litho-Print Co., a full-service provider in Jefferson City, Missouri, operates the complete EFI Monarch suite and utilizes Auto-Count throughout their plant. The company is one of the first to beta test this new integration. Jim Tomblinson, plant superintendent, says: ?Until now, the cutter was a black hole in our workflow since there was no way to schedule this equipment or capture data from it. With the new Auto-Count integration to our POLAR 137 XT, we?re able to obtain and track job information and operator productivity, and schedule the cutter in our overall workflow. This scheduling capability is especially useful for large jobs with multiple versions.?

?Interfacing and capturing data from postpress equipment is often talked about, but seldom put into action and working practice. Modern Litho?s vision to connect the POLAR cutting system with EFI Auto-Count brings data capturing for this segment to a new level,? says Rob Kuehl, director of product management, postpress OEM for Heidelberg USA, Inc.  

?EFI Auto-Count has been delivering real-time production intelligence to print providers for years, and the new integration capability with Heidelberg further enables our customers to improve operations and increase profitability,? said Bob Howard, EFI Auto-Count product manager. ?Businesses will now truly have complete visibility into every step of the job process.?

See www.efi.com.

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Rainbow Colors

We're in the middle of a drought and oppressively hot weather in my neck of the woods. In honor of the rainbow ?-- it's been too long since I've seen one -- let's look at Roy G. Biv. That may ring a bell with some of you. It's sometimes used in school to help kids remember the seven colors of the rainbow in order. Use rainbow colors to heat up or cool down your desktop publishing projects.

Can you pick the 7 traditional rainbow colors from this stack of colors?

Red is the hottest of the warm colors. If a bright red is too overwhelming, consider crimson or an orange-red like vermilion

Orange can range from hot to warm and it can be summer fruit (oranges and grapefruit) or autumn veggies (pumpkins).

Yellow is sunshine. Although we often color the sun in shades of yellow, yellow is visually less hot than red or orange.

Green can lean to the warm of yellow-green chartreuse or sway over to the green-blue side of turquoise.

Blue comes in a variety of cool, calming shades.

Indigo is the rainbow bridge between blue and purply violet. In the rainbow it's more purple than the indigo blue of your denim jeans.

Violet is a medium purple in the rainbow but there are actually a range of colors called violet with some more pink and others with a bit more blue. Pick the violet that speaks to you.

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DESKTOP PUBLISHING December Review: Knowing Desktop Publishing and the Best of 2011

All kinds of holidays and special dates were crammed into December, including Christmas. On the desktop publishing front I've offered up two more special interest niches to explore: packaging design and periodicals. But that's not all (does that phrase remind you of late night infomercials?). If you're looking for something to carry you into the new year, consider what new skills and knowledge you're going to acquire for 2012 because this month I made this bold (is that overly dramatic?) statement: everyone needs to know desktop publishing. Find out why.

It's not just the end of a month, it's the end of a year. At the end of this post I've highlighted one new article, tutorial, or subject from each of the previous 11 months of 2011. I covered cold calling and Celtic fonts, the Readers' Choice winners, spelling issues, and QR codes just to name a few. It just scratches the surface of what we learned and talked about this year. What were your favorite topics?

Desktop Publishing Glossary Terms Added or Expanded This Month:

More Things I Blogged About in December:

2011 at About.com Desktop Publishing

A few of the highlights from January through November:

Use Cold Calling as a Freelance Designer Blackletter, Gaelic, Celtic and Other Fonts for St. Patrick's Day 2011 About.com Desktop Publishing Readers' Choice Awards Winners The Pastel and Christian Colors of Easter Under Fire -- Sort of -- the Em Dash Top 4 Things to Make With Desktop Publishing Software Spelling as a Design Issue How Long Should It Take to Design a Logo? Make Your Own Mug Shot Using QR Codes in Desktop Publishing Logo Games and Quizzes

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Imposition

Commercial printers often use large sheets of paper that they fold, cut, and trim to the finished size. One of many possible ways of printing multiple pages is shown in the illustration on this page (or here. This example is a 16-page "sheetwise imposition" signature. One large sheet is printed with 8 pages on each side. The solid lines are for cutting. The dashed lines are where the paper is folded. Once cut and folded the pages form a 16 page booklet or signature. Several such signatures may be assembled into the final book or other publication.

Plan for color and graphics with imposition knowledge
Knowing how commercial printers position your pages for printing can be an important planning factor when it comes to adding color and spreading graphics across a 2-page spread. As with any job, consult your printer early in the planning process to insure good results and to make sure that your job doesn't involve processes that your printer cannot handle. Reduce the cost of adding a third color to a job
Run black with blue on one side of the press sheet. Then run black with green on the other side. You may incur a slight extra charge for the color change but not as much as if you were mixing black, blue, and green all on one sheet and having to run each side through the press multiple times. Reduce the cost of four-color process printing
If planning a publication that mixes black and white with some four-color process illustrations -- plan all color so that it falls on one side of a press sheet or all within a single signature when the job consists of multiple signatures. Print better color from your desktop
Even for desktop printing, understanding imposition is important. Most inkjet papers are designed to produce best results on only one side. Need double sided documents? Plan your color for one side and black and white only for the second side. Insure smooth page-to-page transition of photos and graphics
When an image crosses the gutter (spreads across 2 pages) it may not align properly in the final assembled document. Plan graphics that cross the gutter for pages with a natural spread — i.e. no worry with exactly matching cut edges. For example, in our 16-page signature described above, a graphic crossing pages 10-11 would have a cut down the middle. Whereas, a graphic spread across pages 8-9 would have a fold, not a cut — less worry with proper alignment.

Next, visualize imposition with mock-ups and charts.

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Printing Plates

Definition: Printing processes such as offset lithography use printing plates to transfer an image to paper or other substrates. The plates may be made of metal, plastic, rubber, paper, and other materials. The image is put on the printing plates using photomechanical, photochemical, or laser engraving processes. The image may be positive or negative.

Typically, printing plates are attached to a cylinder in the press. Ink is applied to the plate's image area and transferred directly to the paper or to an intermediary cylinder and then to the paper. In screen printing, the screen is the equivalent of the printing plate. It can be created manually or photochemically and is usually a porous fabric or stainless steel mesh stretched over a frame.

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Install New Font Missing

Question: My Windows Font Folder is missing 'Install New Font' command. How do I fix?Answer: To restore the missing 'Install New Font' command: Restart Windows in MS-DOS mode
Type cd windows then Enter (return) to go to the Windows directory (or whatever directory where you've installed Windows)
Type this command: attrib fonts +s
Shut down and restart Windows
Check your Fonts folder for the missing commands.

If they are not restored, do the following: Restart Windows in MS-DOS mode
Type cd windows\system to go to the Windows System folder
Type dir fontext.dll to see if that file exists
If fontext.dll exists, rename it to fontext.old by typing: ren fontext.dll fontext.old
Get a new copy of fontext.dll from your original Windows disk or CD-ROM and extract it to the Windows\System folder
Restart Windows

If the commands in your Fonts folder are still missing, follow these steps: Restart Windows in MS-DOS mode
Type cd windows\fonts to go to the Windows Fonts folder
Type dir desktop.ini to see if that file exists
If desktop.ini exists, rename it to desktop.old by typing: ren desktop.ini desktop.old
Get a new copy of desktop.ini from your original Windows disk or CD-ROM and extract it to the Windows\Fonts folder
Restart Windows

If none of these procedures work or you hit a snag, post an inquiry to the About Windows forum asking for additional help.

All the FAQs: Career & Business | Software | Design & Layout | Graphics | Type & Fonts | Prepress & Printing

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Designer Apps for Android

I'm an iPhone/iPad user so those are the apps I know about. But I know you aren't all about Apple. Fortunately I stumbled across this.

"Android devices may not be as trendy as iPhones, but they are very popular too. Developers enjoy creating apps for Android too and the market gets tons of free applications to chose from. If you are a designer with a phone or a tablet with the Android OS, you may be interested by the following cool (and free) apps."

From Designer Daily: 14 free Android apps for designers

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Designers Must Write

Design, just like writing, is about communication. While most designers don't consider themselves writers, writing is a large part of what we do. After more than a decade writing about graphic design and desktop publishing I identify myself as a writer more often than as a designer. That wasn't always the case. Yet even in my earliest days of doing design work I was writing regularly. Like me, you probably wrote and rewrote your own brochure. You probably write letters or email to clients, job proposals, and perhaps a marketing newsletter and your own Web site. Designers need to be able to communicate in writing. I'm not the only designer writing about the need for writing.

Explore why Designers Need to Know How to Write.

Do you write? Do you write well? What kind of writing do you do in connection with your design or desktop publishing work?

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