InDesign - Session Two

Overview

In this workshop we looked at how rivers, orphans, widows and hyphens can degrade the look of a publication. Rivers make it harder to read due to the larger areas of white space, this is because any area of one colour larger then another will always attract our attention. This relates to the figure-ground perspective. In regards to hyphens they simply look messy and delay our reading, as we have to move from one sentence end to the next beginning in order to read the word. For widows and orphan’s it is due to the eye focussing on the unusual within a page, such as if there were a red ball in a box of yellow balls for instance. Finally there is also the case of paragraph shaping (A.K.A. Clean rags), this can be particularly tricky to balance out against the widows and orphans and can require compromise between the two. These are all decisions a designer has to make when designing the final stages of a magazine, newspaper or book layout.

Example of Rivers
and Widows.

There are a few different ways to correct these flaws. These include altering the tracking, the kerning, using soft line breaks (A.K.A. Soft Return) and restricting the amount of Hyphens allowed within consecutive lines. There are options to alter the tracking in larger numbers using the options in basic character formats, the same can be said for the style or kerning. However, although these may seem a quick easy fix to your design problems, it isn’t that simple as these are a general guide and require alteration as to work for you. Furthermore although Adobe’s H&J violations highlighter can be useful, I find quite often the violation isn’t large enough to require amendment and therefore it can be easier to judge such by eye.

Leaflet Design

We were also shown other tools within InDesign that are used within magazine and leaflet design. This included the creating tab leaders, which can be used to aid menu pricing lists and also how to create a contents page.

How did you find it?

Front Cover Design

Magazine Spread Layouts

I found putting the error correcting rules into practice to be more difficult then it first appears. I found in particular with the widows and rags that it requires very careful consideration and therefore I feel I need a lot more practice on this area of design work. I find the paragraph styles to be a very useful tool within InDesign, as not only can you easily set a style to a block of text but you can also change it if need be. However if using an array of different styles then it is best to ensure a clear labeling system. A good note to point out is that although there is the option to change the paragraph styles half-way through a document, this isn't ideal as it may move text to other pages if flowing from one box to another. Therefore it is always best to decide on these design elements at the beginning of a document. 

I am quite pleased with my design, however I feel I had spent too much time on it, though this is due to getting to grips with the techniques. I am particularly fond of the front cover and pages 6-7, this is due to the dynamic feel to the cover through the use of the energetic action shot paired with the colour choices. While I am pleased with the last two-page spread due to the juxtaposition of content, though I feel if it were to be published in a real-life magazine then it would need further improvement. 

All images used within the design were found using Google Images, no copyright infringement intended, used for educational purposes only. 

Below is the experimental design: