This week's assignments weren't as intimidating as the first set of exercises. I still had to re-do a few steps to get it all to work, but I was able to see a few more of the "bells and whistles" of InDesign.
Lesson 4
This was a rather long exercise and it probably took me about 3 1/2 hours total to master the necessary steps. There was so much to learn about LAYERS and how they could be used to create dynamic layouts. I was introduced to the "content grabber" that looks like a doughnut. I locked and unlocked different aspects of graphics and text. I am beginning to love working within the smart guides.
While working with a set of photos, I learned how to adjust spaces between them and add captions. Wrapping text around objects was fun and there are so many options to choose from. I have to be careful not to overuse this particular feature. Too much juts wouldn't make it special any more.
Converting shapes was another fun aspect. When the directions had us rotating objects, I was surprised to see the exact degree angles that we had as options. That made the whole process easy.
Lesson 5
This chapter went a little quicker and I learned how to flow text between frames. There's even a way to thread frames automatically. I also had the chance to add "jump lines", another new term for my vocabulary. These are the lines that tell readers where to find the rest of an article when it doesn't all fit on the same page.
Here are my finished products. I know they aren't perfect, but I sure did learn a lot of cool options when I put these together. I may use some of them when I work on my glossary assignment. :)
C.R.A.P. elements:
Contrast: Lesson 4 dealt with using objects. I love the contrasting look of the yield sign set in the middle of a block of text. It made me want to read that section.
Repetition: The placement of the photos and their descriptors was an example of repetition. Another instance of repetition was the re-sizing of the icons on page 126. By repeating the size of the icons, the user could quickly identify them as links.
Alignment: My favorite part of lesson 5 was the flowing of text and aligning of the words underneath the woman's arm for a more dramatic flair.
Proximity: As mentioned above, the placing of the text close to the arm drew the reader's eye to that area. It connected the text to her and gave the impression of being her thoughts.
Lesson 4
This was a rather long exercise and it probably took me about 3 1/2 hours total to master the necessary steps. There was so much to learn about LAYERS and how they could be used to create dynamic layouts. I was introduced to the "content grabber" that looks like a doughnut. I locked and unlocked different aspects of graphics and text. I am beginning to love working within the smart guides.
While working with a set of photos, I learned how to adjust spaces between them and add captions. Wrapping text around objects was fun and there are so many options to choose from. I have to be careful not to overuse this particular feature. Too much juts wouldn't make it special any more.
Converting shapes was another fun aspect. When the directions had us rotating objects, I was surprised to see the exact degree angles that we had as options. That made the whole process easy.
Lesson 5
This chapter went a little quicker and I learned how to flow text between frames. There's even a way to thread frames automatically. I also had the chance to add "jump lines", another new term for my vocabulary. These are the lines that tell readers where to find the rest of an article when it doesn't all fit on the same page.
Here are my finished products. I know they aren't perfect, but I sure did learn a lot of cool options when I put these together. I may use some of them when I work on my glossary assignment. :)
C.R.A.P. elements:
Contrast: Lesson 4 dealt with using objects. I love the contrasting look of the yield sign set in the middle of a block of text. It made me want to read that section.
Repetition: The placement of the photos and their descriptors was an example of repetition. Another instance of repetition was the re-sizing of the icons on page 126. By repeating the size of the icons, the user could quickly identify them as links.
Alignment: My favorite part of lesson 5 was the flowing of text and aligning of the words underneath the woman's arm for a more dramatic flair.
Proximity: As mentioned above, the placing of the text close to the arm drew the reader's eye to that area. It connected the text to her and gave the impression of being her thoughts.
Lesson 4 |
Lesson 5 |