Student Outreach: April 2013 Archives

Shortcuts to Success: A Hyphen that Knows Where it Belongs

Tips and Tricks 04.25.13 posted by Student Editors

Sure, there are huge lists of InDesign keyboard shortcuts out there, but are you going to sit down and memorize them all? We're here to help you learn some handy new ones, one by one, making it easier to add them to your mental list. Each week, we'll highlight a different shortcut to help you work faster, better and smarter.

SPD-U SHORTCUT OF THE WEEK

Discretionary Hyphen

command + shift + hyphen

A hyphen can be one of the most dangerous characters to use, because it can lead to a typo if your text reflows. InDesign has a special character called a discretionary hyphen, which appears when it's needed, and goes away when it isn't. To insert a discretionary hyphen, type command + shift + hyphen. See it in action after the jump.

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Will You Be In the SPD-U Spotlight? Enter Your Designs by June 3

SPD-U Spotlight 04.18.13 posted by Student Editors

The competition is now closed.

~~THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED!!!~~

New Deadline: Wednesday, June 5th, at Noon (eastern standard time)

Now that the 2012-2013 academic year is winding down for most of you and you've just finished a bunch of big projects, we want to see what you've been up to! Enter your editorial design work from the past year in our 2013 SPD-U Spotlight Juried Online Gallery.

Forget rules, forget formulas--just show us the best stuff you have. If your work is chosen by our jury of top-notch editorial design professionals, we will showcase it in an exclusive online gallery here on the SPD website. It's a great way to get your work in front of magazine art directors with the power to hire fresh, young talent like yourself. All the rules and details after the jump...

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Shortcuts to Success: Find Type in a Flash with the Glyphs Panel

Tips and Tricks 04.18.13 posted by Student Editors

Sure, there are huge lists of InDesign keyboard shortcuts out there, but are you going to sit down and memorize them all? We're here to help you learn some handy new ones, one by one, making it easier to add them to your mental list. Each week, we'll highlight a different shortcut to help you work faster, better and smarter.

SPD-U SHORTCUT OF THE WEEK

Access the Glyphs Panel

option + shift + F11

If you don't know about the Glyphs Panel, your life is about to be changed, forever! But, first, what is a glyph? Well, in typography, it simply means any mark. A character can have more than one glyph. Let's say a font has two versions of the letter F. The F is the character, and each version is a glyph. The Glyphs Panel is a great tool, because it lets you see and select every glyph for any font loaded in your system. See how it's done, after the jump.

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Portfolio Review Wrap-Up

Portfolio Reviews 04.12.13 posted by Student Editors

Wednesday night we were lucky to be hosted by the fine folks at Wix.com for our annual Portfolio Review event. Thanks to our 6 terrific reviewers, attendees got in-depth reviews as well as a few quick ones which gave them a variety of opinions and advice to help perfect their portfolios. We also got a sneak peek at the awesome super-easy-to-use tools Wix.com has to offer for building your own online portfolio. Check out photos and some take-away tips after the jump...… MORE

Shortcuts to Success: Foreign Accents

Tips and Tricks 04.11.13 posted by Student Editors

Sure, there are huge lists of InDesign keyboard shortcuts out there, but are you going to sit down and memorize them all? We're here to help you learn some handy new ones, one by one, making it easier to add them to your mental list. Each week, we'll highlight a different shortcut to help you work faster, better and smarter.

SPD-U SHORTCUT OF THE WEEK

Acute and Grave Accents

option + e + character; option + ` + character

Every so often, you'll need to use a word that requires an acute or grave accent. This is frequently the case if you're working in a language other than English, like our friends and Pub Crawl hosts at People en Español. Here's how to do it:

ACUTE ACCENT: type option + e, release the keys, then type the character.

GRAVE ACCENT: type option + ` (found to the left of the number 1, on the keyboard), release the keys, then type the character.

PS: If you haven't done it yet, download a free poster with our first 25 Shortcuts to Success!

Got a favorite keyboard shortcut you'd like to share with everyone? Email it to us at spdstudentoutreach@gmail.com and we'll include it in our series, along with your own commentary if you'd like.

This week's shortcut brought to you by Joseph Caserto.

Portfolio Reviews THIS WEDNESDAY!

Portfolio Reviews 04.05.13 posted by Student Editors

Don't forget, we're doing Portfolio Reviews this coming Wednesday in the Union Square area. Be sure to reserve your spot now! SPD Student Members get FREE entry, but you gotta reserve your spot.

This is a great chance to get your work in front of multiple reviewers from a variety of publications and companies, so you can get loads of advice and see where their opinions agree and disagree to better shape your book. Doesn't matter if you're portfolio is practically done or whether you just have a pile of printouts .... bring us whatever you've got, we'll give you our opinion and advice.

And to help you build your online portfolio (which you all should have!), we'll have experts from Wix.com (our lovely hosts!) on hand to show you what their web-building tools can do and how to create an expert online portfolio using them.

Hope to see you Wednesday!

Thanks to Wix.com for hosting the event at their Wix Lounge ... it's a free coworking space by day (meaning you can go in and use their wifi and desk space for FREE!), and an event space at night. Check out their Event Calendar for even more great events.

Shortcuts to Success: Toggle between Fill and Stroke

Tips and Tricks 04.04.13 posted by Student Editors

Sure, there are huge lists of InDesign keyboard shortcuts out there, but are you going to sit down and memorize them all? We're here to help you learn some handy new ones, one by one, making it easier to add them to your mental list. Each week, we'll highlight a different shortcut to help you work faster, better and smarter.

SPD-U SHORTCUT OF THE WEEK

Activate Fill or Stroke to Apply a Swatch

X

You probably know that using swatches to manage color is a big time-saver, because you can define them, apply them, and once you edit them, the change will be applied throughout your document. Save even more time with this shortcut that lets you choose how you want to apply your swatch to a selected object. Type X to toggle between the fill and stroke, activating one and deactivating the other. Just make sure, as usual, that you're not in live text, or you'll end up with an unwanted X.

HOT TIP: Check out our shortcut from September to learn how to swap the fill and stroke.

PS: If you haven't done it yet, download a free poster with our first 25 Shortcuts to Success!

Got a favorite keyboard shortcut you'd like to share with everyone? Email it to us at spdstudentoutreach@gmail.com and we'll include it in our series, along with your own commentary if you'd like.

This week's shortcut brought to you by Joseph Caserto.

All-About-Tablet-Design Event TONIGHT!

Student Events 04.03.13 posted by Student Editors

If you haven't already bought your ticket (SPD Student Members: you get in free, but you gotta reserve your spot!) for tonight's "Magazines & Tablets: What's Working and What's Not" panel discussion event, advance sales are now closed but you can buy one at the door tonight.

And as further enticement, we'll be raffling off TWO tablet design courses from panelist Joseph Caserto! One is "Create Your Own iPad & Android Publications" worth $129 and the other is "Adobe Digital Publishing Suite for Beginners" worth $69. Both are awesome resources for students and professionals, whether you've already got some tablet experience or not. We'll also be offering all attendees a huge discount on both courses.

Between the raffle, the discounts and the sure-to-be-enlightening-and-awesome discussion itself, you'll walk out a winner for sure. Hope to see you there!

April 2013 Archives

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