Intro
Building a sports magazine from the ground up is as much about the technical "how-to" as it is about the storytelling. To take my portfolio project, centered on the "road to glory from injury" theme to the next level, I’ve been diving deep into Adobe InDesign.
These three tutorials were instrumental in bridging the gap between a rough concept and a an actual magazine layout.
Technical Takeaways: Mastering the Layout
Absolutely no grammatical errors or any incorrect use of words allowed.
The number one challenge you face in creating magazines will most likely be achieving a correct "skeleton" layout. A professional finish begins on the basis of a 5 column grid (5 columns) with an accompanying gutter of .375" and standard bleeds (.125") are required so that high speed outdoor sporting activities may soar all the way across the page while avoiding unsightly, uncut, or ineffectually printed photographs.
Threaded Text Frames: My long-form journalistic style involves writing about an athlete's rehabilitation, hence I have developed the skill of "threading." This allows the written word to flow as it should from column to column, as well as page to page. This skill set is paramount when composing comprehensive biographies of world-class athletes.
The Color Theme Tool has completely revolutionized how I create images for sports media. I’m able to take the colors of an athlete’s jersey or from the environment of their stadium and create a custom swatch palette to provide a unified design that feels “on-brand” to that specific subject.
Parent Pages / Automation: Instead of manually numbering every one of the original and/or added pages, I learned how to use Parent Pages to automatically number every page and add recurring logos, which helps to maintain a consistent “brand” identity throughout the entire magazine issue.
Text Wrapping and Pull Quotes: I found that the best way to break up heavy blocks of text is to use the “Select Subject” text wrapping feature to flow text around an athlete’s silhouette, combined with high-contrast pull quotes (white text in a dark box), to give me the high-energy feel, or “ESPN-style”, that I desire.
Analysis:
The way I approach creating my blogs has totally changed. I was using just one simple type of column for my blog posts until I saw the amazing possibilities of using a 5 column grid. I have now shifted gears to a modular style. For example, if I wanted to have a sidebar with injury stats or recovery timelines next to the main body of the article, I have designed using an expanded version of the 5 column grid.
It has now become, without a doubt, apparent to me that I am doing something right. By using a mock-up to draw out the frames for both the images and text before ever importing any items has really helped to minimize the sense of being overwhelmed by this project. I can now visualize the overall "road to glory" arc before I have even typed my first word of the interview with the athlete I will be interviewing.
Reflection: What Comes Next?
This exploration into Adobe InDesign is going to be a 2 parter, in my next blog I am going to look at how to edit photos and what features to utilize, so the photos that I have captured fit the theme that my magazine is portraying.
Resources Referenced:
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