Designing a poster
Poster is seldom linear, more like a MindMap
The subjects belonging together are located
close to each other.
Big is important.
Warm colours bring closer, cold ones estrange.
A human is more interesting than an object.
One detects eyes first.
Body text with only one font, the heading can be
of different font. Avoid CAPITAL LETTERS, because
small letters are easier to read. Use big enough
font sizes.
Lines should be short and aligned to the left,
hyphenation only when absolutely necessary. Use
short, pithy expressions and compact your text to
essential.
Place the main heading to the top of the page and
subheadings according to their context. Headings
should be short
Poster’s composition
Heading
Subheading/subheadings
Definition text/abstract/ text paragraphs
Illustration: graph/diagram/image
Contact information
etc.
Making a poster using InDesign - Eva Forssén 2009
!
Making a poster using InDesign
When opening InDesign CS3 program, a
window opens to the display. There you can
open an earlier document, create a new
blank document or an INDD-document based
on an already existing template (this will
launch the program Adobe Bridge, which
allows you to choose the desired template).
However, close this window by clicking the Xbutton (upper left corner in Mac, upper right
in Windows), because first we will fix the
default settings and after that start working
on a new document.
Settings
Choose InDesign > Preferences > Units & Increments (Mac) or Edit > Preferences > Units
& Increments (Windows) and change the
measurement unit (Ruler Units) to millimeters. Then choose the Dictionary tab. When
making English documents, it is advisable to
change the vocabulary setting into English
(and accordingly for other languages). The
purpose of the Appearance of Black tab is
to ensure that black color doesn’t become
altered when printing or exporting.
Finally, save the settings by selecting [OK].
Create a new document
File > New.
Select the desired values, e.g.
Making a poster using InDesign - Eva Forssén 2009
Color settings of the publication
It’s smart to do them right away and save them in every document as its own setting. The purpose of use defines the settings. Europe General Purpose 2 (below) suits most cases without any
changes.
Select Edit > Color Settings
Guides and grid
When working on a publication, guides or a grid are a good tool for fixing the page layout and
design. You can display them by View > Show Rulers and View > Grids & Guides > Show Document
Grid (you can hide them from the same menu selection).
Margins and columns
Layout > Margins and Columns
In this window you can define
margins and the amount of
columns. Gutter is the area
in between columns. These
selections draw guidelines
into the document, which
help you with the layout.
Making a poster using InDesign - Eva Forssén 2009
Importing a picture, graphics or text
You can bring material into the layout as an external file
by using the command File > Place. The files can be text,
images or other graphic elements. An image is placed automatically as a link, which means that the layout contains
only the information of the place where the image is physically located. It is also possible to embed the image into
the document using the Links panel:
Click the name of the image file in the Links panel (Window
> Links) and then the “little menu” in the upper right corner. Choose Embed File from the window that opens.
Now you can move the image wherever you want by selecting it first with the Selection tool
(click its symbol) and
then dragging the image.
You can edit an image in a limited fashion in InDesign, such
as resizing it, cropping it etc. There are no actual image
processing functions in InDesign, so it is better to edit the
images before placing them (such as adjusting colors and
hues, red-eye reduction and so on)
Cropping and resizing an image
Cropping an image is also done using the Selection tool: Grab some of the little boxes in the
frame edges and drag. Resizing is also done
with the Selection tool. Press down the command button (Mac= , Windows=Ctrl).
Drag inwards from the corners of the image.
If you also hold down the shift key ( ), the
image dimensions will remain as in the original
(=constrain proportions).
You should never enlarge the image, because
that will result in loss of quality.
Direct Selection tool
(white arrow
).
You can choose the Add
Anchor Point tool by pressing down the mouse button upon the Pen tool and
choose the tool from the
small window that opens.
Making a poster using InDesign - Eva Forssén 2009
Click the white arrow symbol and
change the location of the image
within the frames by moving the
mouse. The framed area stays still,
but the real edges of the image
are shown in the window, and you
can expand or shrink the image by
dragging them.
You can mold the edges of the
frame freely with the Direct Selection tool and add (+) or delete (-)
anchor points with the Anchor Point
tool.
Creating shapes
You can import graphics from other programs, but InDesign also
has its own tools for drawing basic shapes. You can draw, for
example, lines, rectangles, ellipses and polygons by pressing the
buttons in the tools panel. While the drawn shape is active (selected) you can change the thickness and the type of the stroke
(Window > Stroke: Weight and Type) and the color of the stroke/
fill (Window > Swatches) from the menu panels.
Click the Fill symbol and choose the desired color for the fill.
Click the Stroke symbol and choose a color for the fill from the list.
Importing and editing text
You can produce text for the publication by typing it yourself into a text frame, by pasting it via
clipboard or by bringing external files (such as .txt, .doc or .rtf) directly into the publication.
Typing
) from the tool panel and define the area using the mouse button 1. After
Select Type tool (
releasing the button, the cursor blinks in the upper left corner by default, so just type in the
text and do the necessary line wrappings. After producing the actual text you can edit words,
sentences or paragraphs.
Pasting
Select the text to be pasted and copy it to the clipboard (Edit > Copy).
Activate InDesign and choose Edit > Paste. The pasted text will become
a separate text field in the document. You can crop, resize and move it
just like an image. If there’s a red + sign in the edge of the field, it denotes that there is more text in the field but some of it is yet invisible.
You can either enlarge the text field or run it into another text field:
Click the red + sign, then click some part in the document. Then, the
text that was invisible appears in a new text field. You can move and
crop this field as you wish.
External file
If the text already exists e.g. in .txt, .doc or .rtf format, it can be attached into the publication
the same way as images, using the File > Place command.
Editing the text
You can edit the text by clicking the text field with the text tool. After doing so, text-related
settings appear in the upper panel.
A tab is for changing the font, its size etc.
tab is for affecting the settings related to paragraphs. The color of the
text can be altered by activating the intended words and then choosing
text color in the Swatches panel.
Making a poster using InDesign - Eva Forssén 2009
Wrapping the text around an object or image
Text can be wrapped around an object and that is an effect
often used. Open the Text Wrap panel by selecting Windows >
Text Wrap. Then bring image or object over the text frame and
select the image or object.
Using columns
Activate the text field that you want to divide into columns.
Then select the Text Frame Options tab
.
Define the number of columns.
Object order
You can alter the object order (overlapping
objects) by activating the object, clicking
the 2nd mouse button and select Arrange >
Bring to Front or Send to Back. You can also
change the order step by step (Send Backward/Send Forward).
Converting into PDF file
If you want to able to open the document with some other program besides InDesign, you can
convert it into PDF format. Also, some printing houses require PDF files.
Select File > Export. Name the file as you want and click [Save]. After this you will see another
window in which you can choose quality suitable for your use.
Making a poster using InDesign - Eva Forssén 2009
Designing a poster
Form
Seldom linear, more often like a MindMap
Guide the viewers eye:
• differences in sizes and other forms of contrast
• golden section
• the power of graphics and colors
Text and column
•
•
•
•
•
The rule of perception:
• the subjects belonging together are located
close to each other
• big is important
• warm colours bring closer, cold colours
estrange
• a human is more interesting than an object
• one detects the eyes first
• always something familiar, something new
and surprising...
Something easy but at the same time
interesting for the viewer
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
distinct design
compact expression
big enough
sufficient contrasts
well-groomed appearance
lively and ja error-free text
technically good-quality photos/graphics to
give further information
At least three different levels of information:
• theme, to attract the target group
• explanatory information
• a sort of inspiration or experience
Details
•
•
•
•
•
body text with only one font and its styles
the heading can be of different font
a special font can be used as an effect
distinctness is essential
avoid CAPITAL LETTERS, minuscules are
easier to read
• big enough font size
Making a poster using InDesign - Eva Forssén 2009
lines short and aligned to the a left
as little hyphenation as possible
short, pithy expression
compact your text to essential
headers
- main heading with a big font on the top of
the page
- other headings according to their context
Heading should always be short, as a summary of its topic
Poster’s composition
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Main heading
Subheading/subheadings
Definition text/abstract/ text paragraphs
Illustration: graph/diagram/image
Contact information
Further information
The place and date of the event
How to enroll etc...