How Do I Do That In InDesign?

By Dave Clayton

Have you ever felt overwhelmed by InDesign? You just want to find what you need so you can move forward with your work. You're not alone. How Do I Do That Thing in InDesign? is here to answer your questions quickly and clearly.  

Adobe InDesign is the clear software of choice for designers in desktop publishing and typesetting. With it, designers create professional, eye-catching posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, books, and ebooks. But because it has so much power and depth, sometimes the things you need are…well…kinda hidden or not really obvious.

There will be a lot of times when you need to get something done in InDesign, but you have no idea where Adobe hid that feature, or what the “secret handshake” is to do that thing you need now so you can get back to working. That’s why this book was created: to get you to the technique, the shortcut, or exactly the right setting, right now.

Here's how it works: When you need to know how to do a particular thing, you turn to the chapter where it would be found, find the thing you need to do (it’s easy—each page covers just one single topic), and designer and author Dave Clayton tells you exactly how to do it just like he was sitting there beside you, using the same casual style as if he were telling a friend. That way, you get back to working in InDesign fast.

This isn’t a book of theory, full of confusing jargon and detailed multi-step concepts. This is a book on which button to click, which setting to use, and exactly how and when to use it, so you’re never “stuck” in InDesign again. This will be your “go to” book that sits within reach any time you’re working in InDesign, and you are going to love having this type of help right at your fingertips.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rocky Nook
• Release date: Oct 23, 2019
• ISBN: 9781681984865

Dave Clayton

Dave Clayton is a UK-based graphic designer and creative specialist with over 30 years of design and marketing experience. With a great passion for all things design, Dave loves working in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. He specializes in creating branding projects and logos and has had design work published by many outlets, including Rocky Nook and KelbyOne. Dave is also a KelbyOne and Photoshop World Instructor and writes for Photoshop User magazine. Additionally, Dave is the co-host of the popular photography and design podcast, “He Shoots He Draws” with fellow Rocky Nook author Glyn Dewis. Dave is an Adobe Influencer and can often be found at design conferences learning, networking, and teaching. For more information on Dave, visit his website at www.itsdaveclayton.com and social media @itsdaveclayton.

Book preview

Introduction

This is my first book with Rocky Nook. In fact, it’s my first book ever. So I need to make this introduction count. If you don’t believe me, check out my acknowledgments—I am milking this moment!

Many moons ago I found my first experience in computer design to be in desktop publishing, back in the day when it was still called that. I began my computer-aided design with Quark Xpress; you remember them? Anyway, DTP, as it was abbreviated back then, enabled me to make forms, small booklets, and stationery. Given that I used to use paper, scissors, and glue, it was a futuristic technological advancement to do this on a computer.

Time passed and I flirted with a few DTP software programs along the way—some were flings, others were longer-standing relationships—but once InDesign came along, my head was turned and my heart was stolen. This sounds dramatic, but this is my book and I said I was going to milk it!

InDesign came into our lives in 1999 and was the first real Mac OS–native DTP application. It took a couple of years before it was included as part of the Adobe Creative Suite. I was already a Photoshop and Illustrator user; hell, I even dabbled with Dreamweaver, but we all have our experimental phase when we are young!

I was hooked and InDesign became my favorite app to use, as I preferred designing brochures, flyers, and anything else that was needed in a marketing or corporate environment. That’s where I spent most of my working years. I learned from so many people, including Scott Kelby, Terry White, David Blatner, Anne-Marie Concepcion, and the ever-growing InDesign community. I went on to take my InDesign ACA with a UK-based Adobe training center called Certitec, where I learned so much more from Jon Bessant, my instructor.

I was a member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), founded by Scott Kelby and based in Oldsmar, Florida. NAPP became KelbyOne, and I had a great conversation with Scott about there being more InDesign content available for anyone who was looking to make a start in InDesign and who was confident to click on that little Id icon in their menu bar. From this chat I was asked to teach video classes on InDesign, which then led to a regular InDesign magazine article published in Photoshop User magazine for a year, and then to teaching about InDesign at Photoshop World four times (2016–2019), alongside the very people from whom I had learned so much.

My enthusiasm for InDesign comes from enjoying the product and what you can make with it. The great thing about this software is that just when you think you know all you need to know, boom, a new tip or trick comes along and you wonder why you ever spent so much time going the long way around. I am not an expert, I don’t know every single thing it does—that’s the joy of using and learning a creative tool—but I do love sharing and evangelizing InDesign to anyone who has yet to use it.

That’s where this book comes from. Scott had written How Do I Do That In . . . Photoshop, . . . Lightroom, and . . . Lightroom Classic, three great titles from Rocky Nook. I nagged everyone that I would love for the series to be expanded and to have a similar style recipe book for InDesign. I was persistent. Very. But the outcome was less expected: Scott recommended I write it! Scott Cowlin and Ted Waitt agreed and for that I thank them! After the initial Aaaaaaaaaargh, I calmed down and thought why not? So armed with a brief and knowing the kind of book I wanted, I set about listing all the tips and tricks I wish I had known when I first started using InDesign.

This book is not the InDesign bible, it’s not comprehensive, it doesn’t cover every single thing in InDesign. It’s not meant to. Because if it did there wouldn’t be room for me to write the updated version . . . kidding! Or am I? Anyway, it’s a collection of tips and how to explanations to get you on the path to feeling comfortable using InDesign. I hope it helps you develop your path to becoming a more regular and better-equipped user of InDesign, and that you fall in love with the app. Not proper love—that would be silly—but close. ;)

Before You Start This Book

As I said in the first part of the intro (you read that, right?), this is not a fully comprehensive book of every single function and sub-function and sub-sub-function of InDesign. There’s already a great InDesign book in the Rocky Nook collection that is more comprehensive, called Adobe InDesign CC: A Complete Course and Compendium of Features (Rocky Nook, 2019).

This book isn’t that book! But I hope you are reading this because you purchased this book and that book. I want you to get the most out of this book by way of finding useful tips quickly. Think of it as a type of recipe book. I want to make a Victoria Sponge to have with a nice cup of tea—get out your recipe book, and there’s a single page telling you how to make a quick Victoria Sponge accompanied by a lovely photo of said sponge. You could also get a bigger book with a very convoluted recipe and double the ingredients. My book is to help you get to your delicious sponge much quicker. I am very hungry now and the kettle is on. I