Project concept and content

Advance InDesign Project

This will be a rework of a book about my grandmother. The original was a softcover 8’x10’ book with 112 pages. It was one of my first projects using InDesign. I was given essentially no guidance or instruction on how to use the program. This was in the spring of 2012.

Now having taken InDesign classes and the printing fundamentals class, I want to redo the book using my new knowledge and skill with the program. The book is a family biography with several people contributing to the content. Content will include text written by contributors of their memories and images taken throughout grandma’s life.

Questions to ask include: what worked and what did not work with the original book? What size should the book be (size here is the size of the pages)? The book will have both text and images. What is the best way to present them? Should the text be left, right or center justified? What fonts should I use and where is the best place for each? How consistent should I be with image size? What colors should I use and where and how should I use them?

Skills I want to use include “TOC”, layers and master pages to start.  Additional InDesign skills include styles and all the basic skills I have learned with the program. Other skills include using additional programs as needed to prepare and format images for print and typing additional text.  I feel I need to learn more about using and applying styles for paragraphs and objects to be fully successful with this project. I don’t want to have text right against the images or other objects, as this makes it unreadable. As the class progresses, I may find additional InDesign skills or features I want to include.

I am working on creating a timeline for myself on this project. One set date is 15 March. This is the date I have set for any additional text contributions to be completed and in my hands for use. I am offering several of my siblings and my daughters the opportunity once again to contribute to the book. I will also use this date as the date to have my choice of fonts, colors and images firmly decided. I also want to have master pages, layers and styles set by this date.

This copy of the book I am desirous to have as a hardbound book with a dust jacket.  I have a couple of ideas about how I want to design the cover. This will also need the use of layers to complete. Styles may be needed, but at this point I do not think so. The cover will need images and text.