Making Posters Using InDesign

Quick Tips

1. InDesign opens Quark documents.

2. InDesign reliably handles files pasted from Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.

3. InDesign imports tables from Excel and Word.

4. InDesign imports pdf files.

5. InDesign poster templates are located at the bottom of this page.

About InDesign

Adobe's publishing tool InDesign can be used with Grendel or Ghidorah, Media Services' large format DesignJet printers, to assemble posters from pre-existing text and image files. The cost, listed on our ratesheet, is payable by personal check or by authorized charge to a valid NYUMC account.

InDesign is a page layout tool created by Adobe Systems and licensed to NYU Medical Center for use on any Macintosh or Widows computer on campus. The program's features far exceed those required to create a poster. This webpage will teach you only to assemble a poster typical of those printed at Media Services. For a more detailed explaination of the ins and outs of InDesign we recommend, Visual Quickstart Guide - InDesign 2 For Macintosh and Windows by Sandee Cohen.

Getting InDesign

• To download InDesign on a machine running Windows, install the keyserving software then install the keyserved software. Click here.

• To download InDesign on a Macintosh on the NYU Medical Center campus click here.

• If you are in the Skirball Institute using a Macintosh click here.

InDesign's Parts

An InDesign document is merely a structured collection of images and texts. The process of creating a poster with InDesign is the virtual equivalent of the old process of pinning photographs, charts and sheets of text to a backdrop.

You may notice similarities between InDesign and other Adobe applications, such as Photoshop.

Begin by opening the (most) appropriately sized template at the bottom of this page.

On the template you'll find placed text and picture boxes that you can duplicate and modify to create your own poster.

The toolbar contains most of the tools needed to build and edit an InDesign document. On the top of the tool bar note the two arrows. The solid black arrow is the select tool. The select tool is used to select a box or other object such as a line in the document. The outlined one next to it is the direct select tool. The direct select tool selects a specific part of an object to modify, such as the image within an image box or the length of a line. With these two selection tools you will be able to select the properties of any object in an InDesign document.

		In this case, the image and the box that contains it are two different properties of the same object (the image box) and each of these properties can be specifically selected for modification.

Making a Poster with InDesign

		On a Media Services template, use the box tool to create a box. Choose the box tool then click and hold the mouse button down while you drag a diagonal to form the box.

Next, define what kind of container this box will be. In this example we have a text box. Use the select tool to choose the box you have just created. Next, under the object menu select text.

Text can be placed within the text box in three ways. First, as you expect, by clicking the text tool placing the cursor in the desired text box and typing. Second, after selecting the text box using the select tool, click the type tool to activate it, then switch to another application and copy the text, after switching back to InDesign, click in the active box with the text tool and use paste under the edit menu to paste the text. And lastly, we can use the Place command to import text into the selected text box by navigating to a text file.

Once the text is placed it can be modified using the character and color palletes.

		Click the text tool(1) and highlight the text to be modified(2). Change the font(3) and size(4) in the character palette. The triangle(5) on the right side of the palette displays options for that palette, such as the image color space*. The T icon(6) indicates that the text color is selected. Click the text fill(7) or text border(8) icon to choose the part of the text to be edited.
*(Media Services works in RGB color space).

		Boxes can also hold images. Make a new box but this time use the Content command to select graphic content. Next, use the Place command and navigate to an image.

		Choose the image and it will appear in the image box. Image files work most reliably when they are in tiff, eps or pdf format. Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator files are the only files consistently reproduced when pasted – rather than Placed – into InDesign.

		Choose the image with the direct select tool to modify the the contents of the box. Click the image and use the handles to drag and resize the image. Or, after direct selecting the image use the transform pallette to resize it numerically.

Tables may be placed from Word and Excel using the Place command. Make a text box and then select it using the select tool. Next use the Place command and navigate to a Word or Excel file that contains a table. Choose it. You can use all of the commands under the Table command, text tool, select tool and direct select tool to adjust the placed tables appearance.

Excel charts should not be pasted into InDesign. Save the chart as a tiff image from Photoshop or produce a pdf file of the chart and place the chart in the poster as an image.

A property common to most of the objects in an InDesign poster is color. Boxes may have colored borders and fills and as demonstrated text may be colors other than black. To change the color of a box pick it with the select tool. Next use the color palatte to change the fill color.

To add a border click the border on the color palette and choose a color. Then use the stroke tab to change the border size.

Adding Arrows using InDesign

Arrows in InDesign are controlled using the stroke pallette. Lines, no matter how many pixels wide, are considered stroked and not filled(1). On the end or beginning of a line an arrow head may be added(2). In this example a white(3) arrow 5 pixels wide(4) is added over a figure. If you don't have these options click the show options triangle(5). Click the mouse and (without releasing) drag in a direction. The added arrow is put in a text box automatically and may be altered like any other object in the program.

Linked Images and the Links Palette

When an image is placed in an image box InDesign displays a low resolution proxy image for editing. The application also registers the location of the file as a path in the filesystem. This information is displayed in the links pallate.The full resolution image is only created when a Print command is issued for the document. For this reason, any caution or stop symbols must be eliminated from the links palette before printing the final poster. Select the Relink command in the link pallette by clicking on the drop down menu triangle on the top right.

Then re-navagate to the missing or modified file.

This stratagy offers an advantage over embedding the image data in the document as other applications do. An image that gives unsatisfactory printed results can be modified in the application that created it without ever having to alter the InDesign document. If a file is lost or modified the links pallate offers a convenient way to relink or update the image in a poster dcument.

Packaging the poster

A convenient way to organize and store a poster is to package it. This allows the organization of the files used in the current version of your poster into one folder . Once you have completed your editing session check the links pallate to determine that all the links are correct. Then issue the Package command. If the application complains of broken links stop and repair the links and try again. The Package command will issue warnings about the legality of copying fonts. Continue. Your folder now contains folders that contain copies of all the placed documents as well as a copy of the InDesign poster document. Bring the entire package along with a printed proof to Media Services for the poster printing session.

Proofing the poster

		A black and white print of your poster on 11x17 inch paper, which is large enough to use as a proof, can be produced at Media Services using the printer named Godzilla. Put your package on the Titan server in the Park_Till_5am folder. On campus, click here to get to Park_Till_5am. From off campus bring a cd or 100 Meg zip disk.Open the InDesign document, correct the links and print. Under the file menu select the Print command.
		Next, In the print dialogue select the setup dialog.

		Then set printer to Godzillasp, paper size to 11x17, orientation to landscape and click the scale to fit radio button. Click print. When all the corrections are complete make an appointment to print your poster at Media Services.

Macintosh Poster Templates to Download

PC Poster Templates to Download