LEARNING CENTER

If you're a self-publisher, chances are good that you're designing your own books. Unfortunately the tools we use for writing, like Word, don't always make for great book design. This is a job for industry-standard tools like Adobe InDesign. The good news is that pricing for InDesign has become very reasonable recently, but the bad news is it's still difficult to use. So you might still need a little help to get started.

That's why we've put together this basic how-to. Now you can build a book in InDesign that you can use time and again on as many books as you like!

Before we get started, take advantage of the free template download so you can follow along. Or if you would rather have us design a custom template for you, hit the "Talk to an Expert" button.

Whether you're a commercial graphic artist, or a small business owner who does their own graphic design, you have a lot on your plate. There are so many different mediums to design for, each with their own set of specifications. As you are likely aware, design for print has evolved quite a bit in recent years. Here are a few things to keep in mind to ensure that you get a predictable result.

Prior to launching their educational ship each semester, students pore over and through mountains of information as they attempt to chart a course for the next 15-16 weeks.  The cost of the class, when it is offered, program requirements and prerequisites are all considerations weighing heavily on the student's mind.

It seems like every year the holiday season grows longer. Heck, I got my first Pumpkin Spice Latte in late August. Even with all of the reminders that the year is drawing to a close, December rolls around and businesses (ours included) start thinking about all of the things we need to be doing before the year's end.

We are fast approaching the time of year that wine enthusiasts from around the state and country descend upon Paso Robles to experience all that Wine Country has to offer. It is one of the most beautiful [profitable] times of the year but it can also be quite chaotic. You’ve spent months planning wine dinners, festivals, special tasting menus, vineyard BBQs and an array of exciting events to entice wine lovers to visit, fall in love with your wines, and join your wine club. Do you have all the tools you need to convert these visitors to purchasers or wine club members? Among the excitement and stress that comes along with this weekend, you want to make sure that the time, energy and money you are spending is helping to capitalize on those extra footsteps. This is your audience; take advantage of it!

When you're creating a layout for a flyer, magazine, brochure or even a business card, it's extremely important to to know where your content is so that it doesn't get too close to the edge or partially cut off. This can be difficult since the view on our screen can be very different than what we see on the final product. This is where guides, rulers and margins come in handy. You set a margin based on a real-world acceptable minimum distance from the edge, then keep your content inside that margin. Doing this will save you a lot of time and reliably result in better layouts.

If you're a designer or a publisher, or even if your a hobbyist, there's going to be a situation sooner than later where you're going to want to have an image, color or other graphic print all the way to the edge of your final printed product. This is known in the creative & printing circles as a "bleed." In this article I'm going to show you how to add a bleed to any Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop document. So let's get started!

One thing we get asked a lot working in a commercial print shop is how files should be sent to us. Generally this strikes up a conversation about file types, the software they're using, and how to make those files work with our workflow and presses to get the absolute best results. That's why I decided to somewhat demystify the process by providing 5 easy steps to create press-ready PDF files using Adobe InDesign. If you're not using Adobe InDesign, or you've rather have a more generalized info, have a look at our post How to Prepare Files for Print. Otherwise, read on.

Normally when supplying files to a printer or service provider, a PDF file does the trick, but there are situations in which you may need to provide a little more. For instance, if you need your printer or a design firm to make changes to your copy or graphical elements, a PDF is not a good choice. In these situations it's appropriate to supply "native files," which is shop talk for a copy of your original files, links and fonts.

It's happened to all of us at one time or another. You design something, it looks great on your screen, you get it back from your printer and... ugh! Your beautiful design has blurry, jagged-looking photos. What happened? More importantly, how do you make it NOT happen? In this article I'll walk you through the science of how image resolution works in print and on-screen to answer both of those questions. So you'll understand why your photos are blurry and learn how to prevent it from happening to you again. Let's dig in.