Leaders Magazine—Libraries & More

Topics Covered in This InDesign Tutorial:

Libraries

Exercise Preview

Exercise Overview

In this comprehensive tutorial, we'll create a professional author bio section for Leaders Magazine that can be efficiently reused throughout the publication. This standardized section will include a headshot, biographical text, and a visual separator line to distinguish it from the main article content. By building this element as a library item, we'll establish a streamlined workflow that ensures consistency while saving valuable production time across multiple articles and issues.

1. If you closed the file from the last exercise, re-open yourname-leaders.indd.

Making the Author's Bio Section

The foundation of effective magazine design lies in precise alignment and consistent spacing. We'll begin by establishing guides that ensure our author bio section aligns perfectly with the existing article text.

1. Go to page 21.

2. To ensure that the bio section lines up with the bottom of the article text, we need a guide to make later positioning easier. Zoom in towards the bottom of the right-hand page (page 21).

   Make sure you can see a bit of both pages as well as some of the pasteboard (empty space) off the right edge of the page.

3. From the top ruler, drag out a guide into the pasteboard to the right of the page. Line it up with the bottom of the bottommost line of text—you know it's working if the guide goes across the spread instead of just the one page.

4. Once you drop it, the guide will still be selected. In the Control panel, the Y field should read approximately 67p4.

   If not, change it to 67p4 and press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows).

5. Thinking ahead to future layouts, we'll want this guide on all 3-column full pages. That means it should really be on the master page, not just here on page 21. Click on the guide to make sure it's still selected.

6. Go to Edit > Cut.

7. In the Pages panel, go to the B-3 Col Full Page master by double–clicking its name.

8. Choose Edit > Paste. (Pasted guides always retain the original position.)

9. Go back to page 21 by choosing Layout > Go Back (Command–Page Up (Mac) or CTRL–Page Up (Windows)).

10. On the right-hand page, at the bottom of the third column, use the Rectangle Frame tool to create a frame that is 7p6 wide by 10p4 tall.

11. In the Control panel, set the stroke weight to 0.5 pt, as shown below.

    

12. Move the frame to the bottom left of the third column, so the bottom of the frame snaps to the light blue guide (NOT the pink guide). The bottom of the frame should align with the bottom (baseline) of the text on its left.

13. Use the Rectangle Frame tool to create a frame to the right of the picture frame.

14. Make it 6p7 wide by 10p4 tall.

15. Position it at the bottom right of that third column so it snaps to the light blue guide.

16. Select the Line tool .

17. Above the frames you just made, hold Shift and draw a line the width of the column.

18. In the Control panel, click the middle left reference point .

19. Set the following specifications:

    X:	36p	L:	15p
    Y:	56p4

20. Make the stroke 5 pt.

    

21. Text may be running down into this section, so we need a text wrap to prevent this. (Even if it's not the case now, it may be later.) Select the line you just drew.

22. Go to Window > Text Wrap.

23. At the top of the panel, click the Jump to next column button .

24. Let's group the line and two rectangles together so we can move them easily. With the Selection tool , click on one of the objects, then Shift–click the other two. (Be sure you don't accidentally select the main body text frame. If you do, Shift–click the frame again to deselect it.)

25. Go to Object > Group.

Creating a Library & Adding Something to It

InDesign Libraries are one of the most powerful yet underutilized features for maintaining design consistency across publications. By storing our author bio section in a library, we create a reusable asset that ensures every article maintains the same professional appearance while dramatically reducing repetitive design work.

1. We'll create a new library for this project, so go to File > New > Library.

   NOTE: If you see an alert about trying out CC Libraries, click Don't show again, then click No.

2. Navigate to the InDesign Class folder, then into the Leaders Magazine folder. Name it yourname-leaders-library.indl.

3. A new, empty Library panel will appear on the screen. Drag the grouped bio section into that Library panel and release the mouse.

4. It should appear as an icon in the Library panel. Double–click it and name it author bio.

5. To demonstrate how the library works, delete the author bio section on the page.

6. From the Library panel, drag the author bio onto the page and snap it into place at the bottom of the column, aligning its bottom edge with the light blue guide. That's the beauty of using a library—instant, consistent placement!

7. Move the Library panel to the side so it's out of the way. You may use it again later.

Adding Content to This Article's Author Bio

Now we'll populate our template with actual content, demonstrating how this flexible system accommodates different authors while maintaining visual consistency.

1. We need to add a picture and some text about this article's author. Make sure nothing is selected by choosing Edit > Deselect All.

2. Go to File > Place and from the Leaders Magazine folder, choose bioPicture-picciotto.tif.

3. Click on the author's picture frame (the left frame).

4. Using the Selection tool , hover over the picture and click on the circle that appears. A brown bounding box appears indicating the picture is selected (as opposed to the blue frame it's inside).

5. Use one or more of the following methods to resize the picture to fill the frame optimally:
   • Go to Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionally.
   • Hold Shift and drag one of the brown resize handles.
   • Use the following keyboard shortcuts:

   To make the image bigger by 5% increments: Cmd–Opt–> (Mac) or CTRL–ALT–> (Windows) (for 1%, don't use Opt or ALT)

   To make the image smaller by 5% increments: Cmd–Opt–< (Mac) or CTRL–ALT–< (Windows) (for 1%, don't use Opt or ALT)

6. Make sure nothing is selected by choosing Edit > Deselect All.

7. Go to File > Place and from the Leaders Magazine folder, choose bio-picciotto.txt.

8. Click on the text frame to the right of the image so the text flows into it.

Styling the Author Text

Professional typography requires careful attention to hierarchy and consistency. We'll create paragraph styles that can be applied to future author bios, ensuring typographic consistency throughout the publication.

1. With the Type tool , click anywhere in the bio text you just placed and examine the Paragraph Styles panel.

2. The text may have the style body text, since that was the last style we used. If that's the case, click on [Basic Paragraph] to reset it back to the default text style.

3. With the type cursor in the bio text, choose Edit > Select All.

4. Format the text as 10/11 Minion Pro Italic.

5. Position the type cursor to the right of the author's name, Robert Picciotto.

6. Press Return (Mac) or Enter (Windows).

7. If there is a space at the beginning of the second line, delete the space.

8. Select the name (Robert Picciotto) and make it Minion Pro Bold.

9. Now let's save these formatting settings as styles for future use. With the name still selected, go to the Paragraph Styles panel menu and choose New Paragraph Style.

10. Name it author name and ensure the box Apply Style to Selection is checked.

11. Click OK.

12. Click anywhere in the paragraph under the name.

13. Go to the Paragraph Styles panel menu and choose New Paragraph Style.

14. Name it author bio and click OK.

15. We haven't saved in a while, so save now.

    NOTE: Libraries are automatically saved.

Using a Library to Add the "Section Heading" Artwork

Pre-built libraries containing branded graphics are essential for maintaining visual consistency across a publication. We'll now access a professional library of section headers to complete our article's branding.

1. Make sure you can see the top of the left page.

2. This article is a world leadership issues article. We made section heading graphics and put them all in one convenient library. Go to File > Open. In the InDesign Class folder, go into the Leaders Magazine folder and choose Leaders-Library.indl.

3. A new Library panel will open, but the small icons are hard to see and the labels below are too long to read completely. From the panel menu , choose List View.

4. Drag world leadership issues from the library onto the top of the left page, snapping it into position with the topmost light blue guide.

5. That should be all you need to do. However, since this library wasn't created on your computer, the graphic may appear grayed out. This happens because InDesign can't locate the linked graphic file. If it looks fine, continue to the next step. If it's grayed out, we need to reestablish the link:
   • With the graphic frame still selected, open the Links panel (Window > Links).
   • The graphic's filename should already be highlighted, so at the bottom of the panel, click the Relink button .
   • If prompted to find the file, navigate to the InDesign Class folder, then into the Leaders Magazine folder. Choose header-worldLeadershipIssues.eps and click Open.
   • In the Links panel, to the right of the header-worldLeadershipIssues.eps, there will probably be a modified icon . If so, at the bottom of the Links panel, click the Update Link button .

   NOTE: Library items created and used on the same computer shouldn't have this issue.

6. Leave the Library panel open since we may use it later.

Adding Color to the Rules

Color coordination between design elements creates visual cohesion that reinforces brand identity. Each section heading graphic features a unique color rule, and we'll extend this color treatment to create visual continuity throughout the article.

1. Make sure nothing is selected (Edit > Deselect All).

2. Open the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches).

3. From the Swatches panel menu , choose New Color Swatch and:
   • Set the color to C:20, M:100, Y:50, and K:0.
   • Uncheck Name with Color Value.
   • Name it World Leadership Issues.
   • Make sure Add to CC Library is unchecked if shown.
   • Click OK.

4. Make sure you can see the black rule at the top of the right-hand page (page 21).

5. Choose the Selection tool .

6. The top rule was added through the master page, so to modify it only on this page, we must override it from the master. Hold Cmd–Shift (Mac) or CTRL–Shift (Windows) and click on the rule.

7. With the rule selected, at the top left of the Swatches panel, ensure the Stroke swatch is in front (active). If it's not, click it to make it active.

   

8. Click on the World Leadership Issues color swatch to apply it.

9. Zoom in and notice that the rule you just colored perfectly complements the header graphic.

10. Go to Edit > Deselect All to remove any blue selection outlines from the colored rule.

11. If your preview is pixelated, go to View > Display Performance > High Quality Display. If the preview still doesn't improve, the link to the image file probably needs updating. Go to the Links panel menu and choose Update Link.

12. Save the document since you'll continue to use it in the next exercise.

Bonus If You Have Extra Time: Finishing the Second Article

If you completed the bonus section at the end of the previous exercise and created a second article, you can apply the same finishing touches to demonstrate the efficiency of our library-based workflow.

1. Add an author bio section at the end of the second article using the following:
   • The library item you created
   • The picture bioPicture-palmer.tif
   • The text file bio-palmer.txt

2. Apply the author bio text styles we created.

3. Add the interview library item to the top of the second article's first page.

4. Relink the graphic so the preview displays properly, if needed.

5. Create a color swatch that is M:100 and Y:100 (name it Interview).

6. Apply the Interview color swatch to the rule at the top of the full page of text. (You'll need to Cmd–Shift (Mac) or CTRL–Shift (Windows) click it to override the master page element.)