When it comes to creating posters, flyers, newsletters, magazines or any graphically rich document, Adobe InDesign is just the tool to use. This desktop publishing application allows the user to combine elements from an array of outside resources into a single document for print or Web use.

For this project, we will be using InDesign to create a course description flyer for English 419 – Multimedia Writing. With creating this flyer, we hope to give users a basic understanding of what the program can do, although the program is capable of producing more elaborate documents.

Opening InDesign

When you open Adobe InDesign, the first screen will look like this.

1. Creating a Document

This is where you can choose to create a new document, open an existing document, or choose other templates to create your work in.

The default unit of measurement in InDesign is picas. To change this to inches, find the edit tab at the top left of the menu and click on that. Go to “Preferences” which is at the bottom of the list, then select “units and increments.” Change the ruler units for horizontal and vertical from picas to inches.

Next, for making the flyer, click on “new document” under the “Create New” heading.

After you click “new document,” the next screen will look like this.

The default document size is 8.5″ x 11.” Click “OK.”

2. Getting Familiar with the Toolbox

On the left side of the screen is the toolbar, which will be used to create and edit the document you want to make.

3. Adding Text

First, let’s add text to the document. Referring to the Toolbox overview, select the “Type tool.” Click and drag inside the document to create a text box. Type desired content into the text box. For example, “English 419 Multimedia Writing.”

To change the font and size, highlight the text and use the font and text size toolbar at the upper left corner of the screen.

For example, you can use the font Imprint MT Shadow and text size 30. You can also choose how the text is aligned — left, center, right — using the same toolbar. The text may be bunched together, so use the “Selection tool” to resize the box. You should get something that looks like this.

4. Pen Tool and Writing on a Path

Another feature in InDesign is to create a shape with your text. To do this, select the “Pen tool.” Click on the screen under the text box you just made. A small blue dot will appear. Click on the screen again, a few inches away from the first blue dot, and drag. A curved line should appear.

To write on the curve, right-click on the “Text tool” and select “Type on a Path tool” and then click on the curved line in the document. You should see the cursor appear on the line. You can type the desired text and modify font and size as previously described. It should look like this.

5. Importing Images

To add images to your flyer, go to File and select “Place…” From here, select the saved image. The image should now appear in the document. Move the image to the appropriate location on your document. To resize the image, select the “Transform tool” and click and drag corners. To prevent the image from becoming distorted, hold down the shift key while using the transform tool. Repeat for second image.

You should now have something that resembles this.

6. Textwrapping

To create a text wrap (which will situate your main content box around your images) select the main text box and the two images you want it to wrap around. To do this, hold down the shift and control key while selecting the items. Next, go to the Window tab at the top of your screen and select “Text Wrap.” Click the “wrap around object shape” setting.

7. Creating Shapes

Next, to create a shape on the flyer, right-click on the “Rectangle tool” and select the “Ellipse tool.” Click and drag the mouse to create an oval shape. To write in the new shape you just created, select the “Type tool” and click inside the shape. You can edit the font and text size and alignment the same as in the previous text boxes you created. If you want to change the color inside the shape, click on the shape with the “Select tool,” then double click on “Fill tool.” A box called the
“Color Picker” will appear, where you can select the desired color for your flyer.

Here is the completed flyer!

Additional Resources for Using InDesign

Learning InDesign CS4 – Introducing InDesign CS4

InDesign CS4 Getting Started

You can check out Bob Bringhurst’s Adobe InDesign blog for a complete list of InDesign CS4 videos to help you out while making a document.

Lynda.com also provides online training and tutorials for InDesign CS4.

Also, Adobe’s Web site offers an online help manual for using InDesign CS4.