Indesign 101

3.1: Using Indesign my task was about typography, grids and hierarchy. I was given two pieces of text concerning the creative industries. They were deliberately given to me unstructured with no headings or paragraphs to help comprehension. I was required to arrange and layout the text for viewing on an iPad (tablet)

Task 1:

- With the first piece of text I had to explore methods of creating hierarchy and structure to aid meaning, understanding and clarity. My aim was to make the text attractive and communicative using the tools and methods shown to us during the lecture.

- The design must only be completed using type. No images or illustrations are to be used.

So for this task i set about using the type to construct imagery to accompany the text as this would would make the text more desirable to read as even though the text is very dry by including a form of imagery the text is broken down and made easier to digest.

When completing this task I found that using the grid within indesign helped to keep my text uniform but I was still able to manipulate the text to make the page more interesting to read.

I chose a light blue background as it would provide a calming nature to the text but it also provided a subtle complement towards the black as it made the headlines and subtitles appear more dominant within the constructed hierarchy. The various thickness of the same text provided depth to construct the hierarchy within layers.

We had to construct two of the same text but it had to be suitable for both landscape and portrait reading (for iPad retina viewing) As you can see below I changed my layout slightly as I found by creating a subtle change it impacted the outcome far greater. I chose to place the title off centre and to the right using the paragraph tool to redirect the headline. I did this deliberately to create a zig zag flow between the headline and the text. The subtle illustration below also pulls the eye due to its dominance within the page. By placing the text next to it I was able to direct the readers attention to the text as well as the illustration to draw in and hook their attention to the text.

I also experimented with a duplicating effect. By experimenting with the opacity of and thickness of the question marks I was able to construct a simple yet effect illustration that was not image nor was it drawn. By using the short cut [ALT] I was able to duplicate the group and make a copy to overlay to create shadowing effect.

Task 2: Design and arrange the second piece of text to be attractive, with clear hierarchy and structure to aid meaning, understanding and clarity.

With this task we were allowed to include images and use more than one page. As you can see I have gone for comedic images to lighten the amount of text. I found these images summed up the text well as it describes the fact we have all failed at some point but its failing and then failing better. Thus the reason for the first image being funny as the person has fallen asleep as many of us would if we were shown this amount of text however it makes the text funnier within the regards people can relate to image and feelings at present. The second page goes onto to an image of a boy about to be hit by a water balloon. He portrays resistance however he is still having fun. He knows he is going to be hit the balloon but he's having fun any way, reinforcing the texts message of failing but failing better and having fun with design and experimenting with different outcomes.

To create these outcomes I used the scissor tool which can be found on the left hand side of the screen. I clicked the two opposing corners to delete the polygon section. To construct the text box I used the pen tool and basically clicked where the missing section of the image was before. I didn't want to mess around with the text very much as I found the text to be that of a book extract. By including the comedic images I add a visual meaning to the text and make the text more appealing to read. Thus achieving the brief set out.