Instant InDesign: Designing Templates for Fast and Efficient Page Layout

Know Your Tools

As graphic designers, your first instinct is to focus on the visual aspects of a project. Your training has been centered on how best to present a message, and your professional strengths lie in the creation of inventive layouts. Consequently, you often fail to concentrate on honing your production skills, which are analytic in nature and don’t necessarily come easy to you. Now that you’re learning how to design templates, you must embrace the full range of tools and technologies that InDesign provides.

When designing a publication intended for one-time use, the specific tools and methods you use to produce it aren’t that important. As long as you create the desired results, you can get away with a poorly executed layout. However, ...