Anatomy of a Spread

Margins and Bleeds and Gutters, Oh My!

Whether in print, in an ePub, or online, the content we read is hopefully displayed in a friendly, usable context. White space helps us see hierarchy and draws our eyes to the words that matter. So we should try to give our content a context that is easy on the eyes.

When we create a document with Facing Pages, InDesign creates spreads: two or more pages that face each other, like the ones you’re reading now (although e-readers may present individual pages instead). Below are elements we adjust to make those spreads user-friendly.

Margins The spaces between our main content and the page edge. In a document without facing pages, side margins are identified as “left” and “right.” With spreads, we often leverage page symmetry, so it’s convenient that side margins are identified as “inside” and “outside” when the pages are facing each other.

Pasteboard The area in InDesign beyond the pages. Many InDesign users put assets here that they might need, or assets that they suspect they don’t need, but aren’t sure about yet. Logos, caption text frames, photos we hope we’ll have room for, etc., all find themselves “out there.” More often, I use CC Libraries now. Nothing on the pasteboard prints, unless it’s in the bleed or slug and we choose to print those areas.

Bleed When images or other graphic elements need to print to the very edge of the page (like the tabs on these pages), we actually send them a little over the edge. Since no printer can print edge-to-edge, we print on larger paper and trim to our desired size. In case the trim is off by a small amount, we give ourselves some extra room. If you send your documents to a printer, you should ask them how much bleed they require.

Slug A slug is a label or note to yourself, colleagues, or a printer. The slug area is some space you’ve allotted on the Pasteboard for that note. In the Print and PDF Export dialog boxes, you can choose to include that area if you wish. Data that finds its way there includes modification dates, client names, print instructions, and reminders of where one has left off the day before.

Columns & Column Guides Of course, if you want to have multiple columns of text, column guides show you where they should go (consistently) and help you create them. As you create text frames, they will snap to column guides in handy ways. But you may also just wish to divide your pages for the sake of consistent composition beyond your text. With the addition of horizontal ruler guides, you can create a complete grid to which you can snap frames of all sorts.

Use Layout > Create Guides… to generate rows and columns of ruler guides much faster than you can make them manually.