Lesson C: Adding Text

Procure a Few Fonts

We should have fonts that go with our Victorian/Steampunk-themed poster, so I’ve come up with a way for you to get a few nifty fonts quickly, provided the computer you’re using can currently access the Internet and the Creative Cloud app is running (see the Introduction).

• In the Project 1 folder is a file called TheFonts.indd. Open it by double-clicking on the filename, or from within InDesign by choosing File > Open…. You will almost instantly get a message that there are missing fonts. Don’t be alarmed, but don’t dismiss this warning: we need that dialog box.

Having just reread that dialog box, I’m impressed with its clarity and plain language—so much better than messages like “unknown error occurred.” My synopsis: the three lines of text each use a different font. Those fonts are not installed on your computer, but they are all available from Adobe Fonts (formerly called Typekit). In InDesign, pink highlighting identifies text that wants to use “missing” fonts.

• In this document, click the Activate button and the missing fonts will be installed. It may take a bit, so take those moments to marvel at the work you’ve done so far. Well done!

When the fonts have completed syncing, you’ll be notified in that same dialog box, which you may now close.

• Also, close the document TheFonts.indd; it’s done its duty. We now have fonts we can use in any document. The order in which they’re listed above happens to be the order in which we’ll use them, too. Juniper will be our title font; Yana, our subhead; and Jenson will be for our body copy, which occupies most of the reader’s time (like these words).

Add a Text Frame and Text

I have another file for you to open, but not in InDesign. Again, it’s in your Project 1 folder. It’s called PromoCopy.txt.

• Double-click this file, and it will likely open in TextEdit (on a Mac) or Notepad (on Windows). It is simply a plain text file with the promotional copy we want to use for our poster. When you open this file, highlight all the text and then copy it. You can use the shortcut ⌘-C/Ctrl-C to copy, as you can in InDesign or any text-editing application.

• Back in InDesign, choose the Type tool (the big “T” in the Tools panel) and draw a box covering the second and third columns, using the guides to, eh, guide you.

Remember, you can adjust the size and shape of this box later. Once the box is drawn, you’ll see the text cursor blinking in its upper-left corner.

• Paste the text we copied from that text document by pressing ⌘-V/Ctrl-V, or by going to Edit > Paste. Other shortcuts that you might know from other programs like Microsoft Word can be used in InDesign as well.
• Let’s use one of those shortcuts now. Press ⌘-A/Ctrl-A to select all the text so we can format it. To start, let’s set one of those fonts we procured: Adobe Jenson Pro Regular. Make sure all the text is highlighted, then choose that font and style from the Control panel or the Properties panel, as well as a legible body copy size for a poster—say, 20 points.
• Save! File > Save or ⌘-S/Ctrl-S.

You probably noticed that the text is currently obscuring an image. That detail is one we’ll take care of at the end.

The Title and Subhead

Just above, I wrote that there are features (like shortcuts) that function in InDesign the same way they do in other applications. If the Type tool is still active, click once somewhere in the text frame. As you might expect, the cursor is blinking at that location. Now double-click on a word and you’ll see that it’s highlighted, just as it would be in any other program. InDesign can go further: triple-click, and yes, a whole line gets selected. Quadruple-clicking selects an entire paragraph and quintuple-clicking (a rare phrase!) selects the entire story. I prefer these noisier methods rather than clicking-and-dragging the cursor because I sometimes miss characters when I use the latter, slower method.

Before we select and carefully size and style the top lines of text, let’s be sure the frame is the right size.

• From the Tools panel, choose the Selection tool again. Adjust the size of the text frame by dragging its handles until they snap onto the guides. Sometimes, I have to drag too far, release, and then drag the handles back so the frame snaps nicely to the guides. Double-
  clicking in the text frame switches quickly to the Type tool. With all the clicking you’re doing, anyone nearby will think you’re very busy!
• Now let’s select the top line, “Arbuthnot Aviation.” Since it’s also a paragraph, you can either triple- or quadruple-click to select it. Change the font to Juniper, then adjust the type size in the Control panel or the Properties panel using the menu or the small up/down arrows next to the size field: . I found 58 points worked nicely.
• Let’s make this title the same color as the circle’s stroke. With that text still selected, choose its color from the Fill menu in the Control panel (see the following figure).

• Select the subhead lines, “Reputable Purveyors of Airships & aeronautical instruments.” I think the font Yana would be just right here, but the size of each line (each is a paragraph) and the space between them will need adjustment.

Look at the figure above.

• To push the letters of one line down away from the line above it, we select that whole line and adjust its Leading (named for the metal—lead—once used to separate lines of metal type).
• To push the text below a selected paragraph downward, we use Space After.

Both of these functions can be found in the Control panel, if there’s room. If you’re using a small screen and can’t find the Space After field on the right side, summon the Paragraph panel: Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph.

• Before making final decisions about each line’s size, leading, and spacing, let’s add some flourishes that the Yana font allows. Highlight the “A” in “Airships.” InDesign notes that the font designer provided alternate glyphs (characters) for the highlighted one and shows you a few. If there are more than a few, an arrow at the end of the list invites you to “View more Alternates.” Let’s!
• Clicking that arrow summons the Glyphs panel, which shows all of the alternates for the letter you’ve selected. To choose one, double-click it. Each time you do this, a different alternate takes the place of the previous. I chose one with extra swirls. I also chose alternates for the “R” in “Reputable” and the “P” in “Purveyors.” Now that we have our text with the appropriate glyphs, we can better situate it.

• Select each line in the subhead (triple-click!), and experiment with its size and leading. My choices were as follows:

“Reputable Purveyors of” size: 35 pt leading: 50 pt space after: 0

“Airships” size: 90 pt leading: 80 pt space after: 0

“& aeronautical instruments” size: 30 pt leading: 80 pt space after: .5 in

• One last typographic touch: select all the text (quintuple-click!) and uncheck Hyphenate in the Paragraph panel (or the Control panel if the checkbox is there). Much better! Now get the Selection tool.

Add Text Wrap

This is our last tweak to the poster. The picture of the airship is currently partially obscured by the text.

• Using the Selection tool, click on the left half of the circle (the right half is under the text frame, making it more difficult to get at). We can now add a kind of force field called Text Wrap that will push text away from our shape. Go to Window > Text Wrap, and its panel appears.

The first button is the Text Wrap off switch.

• To conform to our circle, we need the third button, “Wrap around object shape.” Use the small arrows below that to increase the offset.

Warning: Don’t try to move that circle until you either hit the esc key on your keyboard or click on nothing with the Selection tool first. Because of a quirk with this type of Text Wrap, you could dislodge the image from its frame!

• Save! File > Save or ⌘-S/Ctrl-S. And, unless you’d like to show someone first, you may close the document via File > Close or ⌘-W/Ctrl-W.

That’s It!

Congratulations! You’ve made your first InDesign publication. There are many features and functions we skirted, and some further customizations to InDesign that will help us work more easily. The next chapters will contain exercises to familiarize you with important ingredients that we use when cooking with InDesign. So, when we get to our next project, you will know better what you may wish to include.