Objective

To learn how to choose the right font for the right situation. To study the personality of typeface designs and its relationship to content. To learn InDesign's professional typesetting tools by example.

Discussion

Before choosing a text font for a project, read the text. The content, writing style and target audience will all guide you in choosing the right font. Test your font choices by specifying several styles for comparison. Print out proofs to study as the font will look different on paper than on screen. The personality of the font can only be discovered by studying the "color" of the text on the printed page.

Important: Different fonts may require different size and leading adjustments for optimum readability. Readability is also greatly affected by line length. Making adjustments in one attribute will affect the others.

Procedure

1. Download font specimens of "Classic Fonts"
2. Download starter file, open in InDesign
3. practice Adobe navigation keyboard shortcuts: space=hand; space+cmd=zoom in; space+cmd+opt=zoom out; cmd+zero=fit in window
4. practice InDesign preview shortcuts: cmd+opt+I (show/hide hidden characters); W (normal/preview mode)
5. on the master page, put your name in the bottom margin
6. back on page 1, select all and spec Adobe Garamond Regular
   (note current size and leading)
7. add space after paragraph=7pt
8. replace two ¶ with one ¶ (cmd+F)
9. make byline italic (cmd+shift+I)
10. make headline bold (cmd+shift+B); increase size to 24pt (cmd+shift+< or >)
11. adjust column width for optimum readability
12. get rid of widows (use shift+RETURN and Adobe single line composer)
13. duplicate page 6x for a total of 7 pages
    (layout > pages > duplicate spread)
14. spec the following fonts for each page:
    - ITC New Baskerville Roman
    - Bodoni
    - Helvetica Medium
    - Univers 55
    - Futura Book
    - a font of your choice from the Classic Font set
15. refine line breaks
16. print all pages, file in 3-ring binder
17. file > adobe PDF presets (smallest file size), drop PDF in Angel's drop box for grading