Student Outreach: May 2013 Archives

SPD-U Spotlight Q&A: What qualifies as "editorial design"?

SPD-U Spotlight 05.31.13 posted by Student Editors

I want to enter an annual report I designed in your SPD-U Spotlight ... would that be considered "editorial design" or is it only for magazine design?

Yes, annual reports are definitely editorial design and therefore are totally eligible for our Spotlight show. So are newspapers, newsletters, book projects, zines, catalogs, brochures, and of course magazines as well ... anything that has editorial content is totally eligible and we want to see it!

Remember, the deadline is THIS MONDAY, by 5pm EST. You can enter up to 3 pieces that you created as a student anytime since January 2012, and it's totally FREE to enter. So send us your work now!!

See other Frequently Asked Questions here or email us at SPDUspotlight@gmail.com if you have other questions. And then download the Call for Entries here.

Good luck!!

Shortcuts to Success: Dollars and Cents

Tips and Tricks 05.30.13 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

The Cents Sign

option + 4

Many of us write prices that include cents as $0.25 for the simple reason that we don't know how to access the cents sign. In fact, each font has a version of it that was created specifically by the type designer. Type option + 4 to insert the cents sign.

HOT TIP: This is a Mac OS shortcut, so it will work in any application.

DID YOU KNOW? The c in the sign stands for cents, and the line through it is to distinguish the currency symbol from the letter c in the regular alphabet.

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.

Announcing our SPD-U Spotlight Judges!

SPD-U Spotlight 05.23.13 posted by Student Editors

The June 3 deadline for our SPD-U Spotlight Online Gallery Show is coming fast, and our super-fabulous panel of judges are ready and waiting to see all your amazing work.

Remember, there are NO RULES for this one ... no fees either, it's TOTALLY FREE to enter! All you do is send us 3 of your best pieces of editorial design (any type of editorial design: magazines, newspapers, newsletters, books, journals, zines, brochures, etc) ... you can enter anything you've designed since January 2012. Then our judges pick the best of the bunch and we showcase 'em here and everywhere we can, getting you and your work tons of exposure.

And now let's meet the amazing judges who will be looking at all your great work...

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Shortcuts to Success: Learn to Kern and Track

Tips and Tricks 05.23.13 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

Adjust Kerning or Tracking

option left or right arrow

The keys you need are the left and right arrows, not the greater than or less than arrows, which are above the comma and period.

Kerning is adjusting the space between a pair of typographic characters, and doing it right is a sure sign that you're a pro. Tracking is the same, but that term applies to the process when more than one pair is involved.

KERNING: To tighten the space between two characters, click between them with the Type Tool to insert your cursor, hold down option and type the left arrow. To open the space, hold down option and type the right arrow.

TRACKING: To tighten the spaces between more than two characters, click hold and drag to select and highlight them with the Type Tool, hold down option and type the left arrow. To open the spaces, hold down option and type the right arrow.

Learn more, and watch a 1 minute video about kerning after the jump.

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Shortcuts to Success: Zip through Panels

Tips and Tricks 05.16.13 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

Move to Next Field in a Panel

tab

Move to Previous Field in a Panel

shift + tab

This week's shortcut is a twofer. Let's say you're entering info in a field of a panel, and you want to move to the next field. Type the Tab key to jump to the next field of the panel you're working in. Need to go back? No problem. Hold down Shift and type Tab to jump to the previous field of the panel. Remember, though, that Tab is also a text character, so make sure you've moved your cursor out of live text, and into the panel you want to work with, or you'll end up with a typo.

HOT TIP: This works across Adobe applications, and beyond. Use it in Microsoft Office, in a web browser, and pretty much anywhere.

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.

Congrats to Our 2013 Student Design Competition Runners-Up!

Student Design Competition 05.13.13 posted by Student Editors

We're continuing our announcement of 2013 Student Design Competition with this year's Runners-Up. We had an awesome group of finalists, making those top placement positions an extra-hard decision. Congrats to these talented students for their great work ... check it out after the jump.

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Shortcuts to Success: Number Pages Automatically

Tips and Tricks 05.09.13 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

Current Page Number

command + option + shift + N

Manually adding page numbers to a document in sequence, a process know as paginating, can be tedious, especially when the order of the pages changes. Save yourself lots of time and effort and let InDesign do the work for you. Click in a text frame with the Type Tool, and type command + option + shift + N to insert the Current Page Number Marker.

HOT TIP: Do this on the file's Master Page(s), and any existing or new Document Page based on those Master(s) will automatically paginate, even if moved to a different position.

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.

Congrats to Our 2013 Student Design Competition 6th Place Winner!

Student Design Competition 05.07.13 posted by Student Editors

We're continuing our announcement of our 2013 Student Design Competition winners today with our Third Honorable Mention, James E. Mocko. Read on to see the rest of his 6th-place winning entry and for links to our other winners... … MORE

Congrats to Our 2013 Student Design Competition 5th Place Winner!

Student Design Competition 05.06.13 posted by Student Editors

We're continuing our announcement of our 2013 Student Design Competition winners today with our Second Honorable Mention, Veronica Cordero. Read on to see the rest of her 5th-place winning entry and for links to our other winners...

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Congrats to Our 2013 Student Design Competition 4th Place Winner!

Student Design Competition 05.03.13 posted by Student Editors

A few weeks back we announced the first-, second- and third-place winners in our 2013 Student Design Competition, and now we're excited to continue the showcase of great work with our First Honorable Mention courtesy of Zipeng Zhu. Read on to see the rest of his 4th-place winning entry...… MORE

Shortcuts to Success: Indent Text, Fast!

Tips and Tricks 05.02.13 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

Indent to Here

command + \

The easiest and fastest way to add a left indent to a paragraph is to use the Indent to Here Character. To insert the Indent to Here Character, type command + \ (backslash). See it in action after the jump.

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May 2013 Archives

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