page layout - indesign

[BEET]

Hi all.

I'm a media studies lecturer and am teaching my students about page layouts, using indesign cs2. Does anyone know any good webpages that have information on general page layout techniques used my newspapers and magazines? Examples of the use of grids etc

thanks

 

[primalman]

What are you doing teaching layout if you don't know anything about layout?????????? Makes me steam since I have spent my life doing and teaching design.. Ugh...

I am assuming you have a library, right? Go to it, do a seach about magazine, newspaper and/or book design, then on grids and design systems. This will get you started. I'm at a 25,000 student uni, and the library has about 40 books on grids alone, about 100 on typography and over 400 general design books. Avoid books like "quick layouts" and "layout tricks" and crap like that, they are C R A P. A good starting place is "Design for Non-Designers" by Robin Williams. While your at it, get her type books. DO NOT NEGLECT TYPE! Without good typography. great layout sucks.

 

[decksnap]

Hi all.

I'm a media studies lecturer and am teaching my students about page layouts, using indesign cs2. Does anyone know any good webpages that have information on general page layout techniques used my newspapers and magazines? Examples of the use of grids etc

thanks

Hmmm... maybe you should sign up for a class.

 

[RideIt]

Makes me steam since I have spent my life doing and teaching design

Hey primalman do you know anything about printing. I do output in a print shop and we have tons of problems with indesign. some of the tools should not be used. whats your thoughts??

 

[primalman]

Hey primalman do you know anything about printing. I do output in a print shop and we have tons of problems with indesign. some of the tools should not be used. whats your thoughts??

Yeah, I have taught production classes for many years.

I used to find ID problems a lot, especially with transparency and the like, but several of the printing facilities that I have used upgraded the imagesetter to newer RIPs or just wholesale new equipment, and many, if not all of the issues left the building. As well, so many print shops had work flows entirely married to QuarkXPess that they would not even try to learn anything new. Some were downright hostile – so we just stopped using them. Easy.

Biggest issues have always been related to cheap/old/outdated RIPs and imagesetting drivers, or poorly maintained ones.

One easy work around that we found was to use PDFs as the delivery file for the projects. Inposition was just as easy and errors from errant pre-press workers fingers when the ID file was open did not happen. Now, about 90% of the jobs I send for print I send out in PDF.

 

[RideIt]

Yeah, I have taught production classes for many years.

I used to find ID problems a lot, especially with transparency and the like, but several of the printing facilities that I have used upgraded the imagesetter to newer RIPs or just wholesale new equipment, and many, if not all of the issues left the building. As well, so many print shops had work flows entirely married to QuarkXPess that they would not even try to learn anything new. Some were downright hostile – so we just stopped using them. Easy.

Biggest issues have always been related to cheap/old/outdated RIPs and imagesetting drivers, or poorly maintained ones.

One easy work around that we found was to use PDFs as the delivery file for the projects. Inposition was just as easy and errors from errant pre-press workers fingers when the ID file was open did not happen. Now, about 90% of the jobs I send for print I send out in PDF.

We use the creo workflow and are direct to plate. I love the pdf work flow, but hate when people forget their bleed. Some of the biggest problems in indsign are the photshop tools. Transparency images with a drop shawdow on a solid back ground are the biggest problems we have. I have a couple of ways to export and I have to rip them different on the brisque but 9 out of ten times it works.. its the other 1% that drives me up a wall.

 

[usclaneyj]

Yeah, I have taught production classes for many years.

I used to find ID problems a lot, especially with transparency and the like, but several of the printing facilities that I have used upgraded the imagesetter to newer RIPs or just wholesale new equipment, and many, if not all of the issues left the building. As well, so many print shops had work flows entirely married to QuarkXPess that they would not even try to learn anything new. Some were downright hostile – so we just stopped using them. Easy.

Biggest issues have always been related to cheap/old/outdated RIPs and imagesetting drivers, or poorly maintained ones.

One easy work around that we found was to use PDFs as the delivery file for the projects. Inposition was just as easy and errors from errant pre-press workers fingers when the ID file was open did not happen. Now, about 90% of the jobs I send for print I send out in PDF.

We are 100% pdf when sending work out from indesign. It makes it much less painful.

 

[RideIt]

We are 100% pdf when sending work out from indesign. It makes it much less painful.

I wish everyone was!!!

 

[Blue Velvet]

We are 100% pdf when sending work out from indesign. It makes it much less painful.

Depends on who's creating the PDFs. Some of the junk we get from third parties is execrable... RGB images, fonts not embedded, spots separated to CMYK — you name it.

Not all PDFs are created equal.

 

[besler3035]

Hi all.

I'm a media studies lecturer and am teaching my students about page layouts, using indesign cs2. Does anyone know any good webpages that have information on general page layout techniques used my newspapers and magazines? Examples of the use of grids etc

thanks

Not really sure of any great resources, but you can PM me if you have any questions about InDesign. I've been using it for a few years now, and before that PageMaker, and use it mainly for newspaper work right now.