JOUR199 Getting started in journalism

Journalism by design

The next phase of our technological journey involves completing your choice of whichever of InDesign practice exercises you choose.

After first right-clicking or control-clicking to save this file to your desktop then following these instructions (or these annotated, manual instructions instead) — and possibly reviewing videos below and also those available from Lynda.com —, your task will be to duplicate:

The choice of which project to undertake is yours. The newsletter/ad layout focuses more on fonts, symbols and images. The newspaper layout focuses more on stylesheets, grids and spacing. In both cases, the material supplied includes an InDesign template file to get you started. For the newsletter/ad layout, you may need to add some fonts included in the material and employ both the "Glyphs" panel and the "Clipping path" command. For the newspaper layout, you will want to make ample use of the "Show baseline grid" feature in InDesign to help with alignment and also the various "Paragraph styles" and especially "Object styles," including the ones listed under "Justified" such as "2 legs," "3 legs," etc. to create single text boxes into multi-column stories may be flowed.

It is very important NOT to try to duplicate these layouts from the top to the bottom. Large blocks of type should be the LAST, not first, things you insert. Always start with the largest items on the page and get them sized and positioned relative to each other BEFORE doing any detail work. Otherwise you will do the equivalent of painting yourself into a corner. Try to match the sample as closely as possible but don't short-circuit your learning by using rulers or inserting the original on one layer and duplicating it above. One of the goals is to develop your sense of relative spacial awareness on each page and work from the middle out, starting with the dominant visuals -- which, interestingly, is exactly how consumers read such material.

We need to have all work on this completed before class Tuesday. When finished, create a printout on the lab's color printer using the appropriate "Print preset," create a PDF version as well (see configuration handout), and submit the PDF electronically using the same form that you use to answer roll, but in this case changing it to say "Submit InDesign." Finally, go to the gallery link at left and verify that a check mark linking to your PDF properly shows up next to your name and that clicking on the check mark brings up your project.

You will need to spend time in the lab outside of class completing this assignment and probably consulting additional resources to which your U of I credentials will give you free access. You'll be able to use the lab whenever Gregory Hall is open (generally before 10 or 11 p.m. daily) and there are no classes scheduled in the room. Consult the lab schedule for specific ties. Simply swipe your iCard to gain entrance; a sign on the door explains how.

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