Typesetting Assignment

Last week in pr publications I was given a typesetting assignment. The assignment was to look at a completed page of a newsletter and then re-create the textual portion on my own. This assignment was both fun and challenging, because it was my first time to ever work with InDesign. We were asked to re-create the headline, subheads, bylines, body text, photo cutlines, pull quotes, dividers and jump lines. I had three major takeaways from this class assignment over typesetting in InDesign.

The first major thing that I took away is that it is always better to plan a general layout. I learned that when you are typesetting it is easier to create text boxes where you think you are wanting to include text. Also, by having a general plan it allows you to get an idea of the layout before you include any work. This means that you can set up the page how you want it to look before adding the text, pictures or any other white space to the design.

The second major thing that I took away is that the filler text is so helpful. This text is just a bunch of letters that is meant to represent real content. It gives the author of the content the ability to have visual on what the finished product will look like with actual text. For me, I realized that by filling the text boxes with filler text it allows the content creator to understand how the finished product will look. This is important, because many times people create the layout of the information, before the information is actually finished. This is a tool that is very helpful.

The third and final major thing that I took away is that InDesign is not as scary as I thought. I thought that InDesign was going to be something scary and that it would be impossible to learn. In my experience, I learned that InDesign is hard and that it is difficult, but if you separate the work into smaller bits it is not as formidable. If you lay out the plan before you start adding text then it makes it a lot simpler. It makes the process smoother which takes away stress. Also, perhaps the biggest lesson learned in this takeaway is that this was my first time to use InDesign so I am not expected to be a professional graphic designer.

In conclusion, this was a great assignment. I really enjoyed getting to experiment in InDesign and do typesetting exercises. It made me realize that as of right now I am not the most talented with InDesign, but every one has to start somewhere. I liked this assignment a lot and I am excited to become even better experienced with InDesign in the future.