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• • Ditch the Typos with InDesign’s Dynamic Spellcheck Settings
• • Unlocking Design Flow Secrets: Expert Advice for Print Projects
• • Packaging Your Files for Print: 5 Simple Steps for Flawless Printing Results
• • 6 Tips for Creating an Impossible-to-Ignore Cover
• • A Perfect Landing Place
• • Understanding Typographic Emphasis and Hierarchy
• • How to Rebrand Your Business in 7 Steps
• • 4 Principles That Can Make or Break Your Grid Designs
• • Sharpen InDesign Type Spacing with Three Easy Tips
• • Kiss Print Hassles Goodbye by Packaging Print-Ready PDFs
• • Employ Printed QR Codes for a Rapid Response
• • 6 InDesign Best Practices
• • Understanding Photoshop File Formats
• • Leading Like a Pro
• • Master the Light with Custom White Balance
• • Spot, Heal, Clone: The Perfect Combination
• • 4 Illustrator Hacks You Didn't Know You Needed
• • Preflighting: The Perfect Launch
• • Think Inside the Box with Grid Systems
• • Caring for the Widows and Orphans
• • Fix Distorted Photos
• • Fine Tuning Typography
• • Real-Time CMYK Previews
• • Compose Yourself!
• • Understanding Compound Paths

Preflighting: The Perfect Launch

NASA has always understood the importance of a preflight checklist to ensure all systems are functional prior to launching its multi-billion dollar space missions. One small glitch can cost them more than they bargained for. The concept is similar with your printing projects. While your document may look snazzy on screen, you may not be able to see small issues with your fonts, colors, and images that can at worst, ruin your print project, or at least, make our production crew pull their hair out. For example, if a graphic has enough resolution to look great on screen, but not enough resolution to look as great in print, you might end up with something that looks more like the first image in the comparison below.

The best way to save our production crew's hair and to come off looking like a pro is to preflight your documents and files before you hand them over. This will ensure there are no output issues. Luckily, Adobe InDesign has a built-in feature that allows you to preflight while you work by importing any required production rules (a.k.a. Profiles) and doing a few simple, quality checks.

To access the Preflight panel in InDesign, select Choose Window > Output > Preflight and make sure that "On" is selected and that your designated Profile is chosen. Equipped with super-hero powers, our team can help you come up with the perfect Preflight Profile for your work. This will allow you to check for output errors while you're working. If you've already started working on your document, you may see a red light indicating one or more errors are present. At this point, you have 30 seconds to find them before your document self-destructs...kidding.

What the error message indicates is that InDesign has just checked your document against the Preflight Profile and has noted some issues that need to be addressed so that your print project looks as fabulous on paper as it does on your screen. Some issues that the Preflight Basic Profile will check for include:

• Missing fonts
• Overset text
• Missing graphics files
• Low-resolution graphics

However, as we said before, you can import custom Profiles that will scan your document for customized issues that need to be addressed, like only using CMYK colors. Basically, anything that is specified in the Preflight Profile will be cross-checked against your document, allowing you to address output issues on the spot.

We'd be happy to help you build the perfect Preflight Profiles that match our production workflow. Handing over a perfect and pristine file will not only keep your costs down and ensure a successful project; it will also make you a star in the eyes of our team.

Adobe InDesign CC Classroom in a Book (2015 release)

by Kelly Kordes Anton et al.

Creative professionals who seek the fastest, easiest, and most comprehensive way to learn Adobe InDesign CC choose Adobe InDesign CC Classroom in a Book (2015 release) from Adobe Press. The 16 project-based lessons in this book show users step-by-step the key techniques for working in Adobe InDesign. Users learn how to create engaging page layouts, flow and edit text, create and use styles, incorporate graphics and tables, and create PDF forms and ebooks.

In addition to learning the key elements of the InDesign interface, this completely revised CC (2015 release) edition covers new features, including paragraph shading, easier and more flexible table creation, graphic cells for tables, and sharing styles, swatches, and settings across Creative Cloud applications.

This thorough, self-paced guide is ideal for beginning users wanting to get up to speed on the key features of this program. Those who already have some experience with InDesign can improve their skills and learn InDesign's newest tools.

The online companion files include all the necessary assets for readers to complete the projects featured in each chapter as well as ebook updates when Adobe releases new features for Creative Cloud customers. And new to this release, all buyers of the book get full access to the Web Edition: a Web-based version of the complete ebook enhanced with video and interactive multiple-choice quizzes. As always with the Classroom in a Book, Instructor Notes are available for teachers to download.