A Few Simple Reminders For Designing Catalogs In Adobe Indesign

One of the best applications you can use for catalog printing is Adobe InDesign. If you are just starting out with doing your layouts with this software, it can be a bit overwhelming. InDesign is a very powerful tool and all the different tools and features can be confusing. In this guide though, I will give you a few reminders that should help you with catalog printing using this software. Do not worry it is not that complicated.

Download and use templates If you are just a novice in desktop publishing, I recommend downloading and using templates. There are a lot of catalog templates available for the resourceful designer and you can use it as a foundation to create a good draft of your catalog designs. While some software applications will have these built-in, I recommend that you look around the Internet and download some templates that look good in your eyes. Just search for catalog templates in online printing websites and you should be in the right track for good catalog design.

Always tweak the text formatting Now, a lot of novice designers forget that InDesign has a lot of subtle text formatting techniques for your color catalog text. Always try to look at these text or paragraph formatting features so that you can adjust the length and look of text to the most ideal configuration. Always see if the text size, character width and height, the line spacing and the character spacing values are ideal. Keep tweaking it and adjusting it until you get the right mix for your catalog. Do not use the default settings when possible.

Insert only high-res product images Another important reminder for designing catalogs in InDesign is to always use high resolution images. You do not want to insert a low resolution, Internet sourced image for catalog printing. It will only turn out fuzzy when those things get printed. Always use images that are around 300dpi to 600 dpi for the best results.

Always double check your color settings You should also remember to always check your color settings. Web color settings are usually in RGB or Red, Green and Blue. Most catalog printing color settings though are in the CMYK or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black color mode. Always make sure that you convert all your images to CMYK for catalog printing so that the color you see on screen is the color that will appear on your color catalog.

Dont forget the special text effects Finally, don't forget that your text can also have their own special effects. While InDesign presents lots of options for page formatting and image manipulation, your specific individual text can also be improved with some special effects. Adding shadows, glows, strokes, textures and applying bold and italic effects can go a long way in improving your catalogs. So make sure that you use them to get that text looking interesting and appealing to readers.

Great! These tips should help you immensely in making catalogs using Adobe InDesign. Good luck!