Page 17 - CS6_ID_Look_Inside

Stage 1 Setting up the Workspace

The best way to start any new project is to prepare your workspace. As you learned in the Interface
chapter, InDesign gives you extensive control over your workspace — you can choose where to place
panels, whether to collapse or expand open panels, and even to save workspaces with sets of panels
in specific locations. Because workspace issues are largely a matter of personal preference, we tell you
what tools to use but we don’t tell you where to keep the various panels. Many of our screen captures
show floating panels so we can maximize the available space and clearly focus on a specific issue.
Likewise, we typically don’t tell you what view percentage to use; you should use whatever you are
comfortable with to accomplish the specific goal of an exercise.

deFine a neW layout File
Some production-related concerns will dictate how you design a letterhead. In general,
there are two ways to print letterhead: one-offs on a desktop laser or inkjet printer,
or commercially in large quantities. (The first method typically involves creating a
letterhead template, which you then use to write and print letters from directly within
InDesign — a fairly common practice among graphic designers.) Note:
If letterhead is being printed commercially, it’s probably being printed with Older desktop printers
multiple copies on a large press sheet, from which the individual letterhead sheets will typically have a mini-
be cut. Most commercial printing happens this way. This type of printing typically mum margin at the page
means that design elements can run right off the edge of the sheet, called bleeding.
edges; you’re usually safe
If you’re designing for a printer that can only run letter-size paper, you have to with 3/8″. Many newer
allow enough of a margin area for your printer to hold the paper as it moves through inkjet printers have the
the device (called the gripper margin); in this case, you can’t design with bleeds. capability to print
The most basic process in designing a layout is creating a new InDesign file. The 8.5 1 11″ with full
New Document dialog box has a large number of options, and the following exercise bleed. Consult your
explains all of those. Don’t be overwhelmed by the length of this process; in later printer documentation
projects, we simply tell you what settings to define without re-explaining every field. to be sure.
1. Download ID6_RF_Project1.zip from the Student Files web page.

2. Expand the ZIP archive in your WIP folder (Macintosh) or copy the archive
contents into your WIP folder (Windows).
This results in a folder named Crowe, which contains all of the files you need for this
project. You should also use this folder to save the files you create in this project.
If necessary, refer to Page 1 of the Interface chapter for specific information on
expanding or accessing the required resource files.

3. In InDesign, choose File>New>Document.
The New Document dialog box always
defaults to the last-used document
preset; if no presets exist, the dialog box
opens with the settings that are stored in
the Default preset. Some of the options Note:
we define in the following steps might
already be reflected in the dialog box, You can create a new file
but we can’t be sure because someone by pressing Command/
might have modified the default settings Control-N.
on your computer. If something is
already set to the value we define, simply
leave that value as is.

Project 1: Letterhead Design 27