One of the technologies that I will be using to create my booklet as a part of my Capstone project is Adobe’s InDesign. I currently have version 17.0.1, but that may change as Adobe is frequently updating their softwares. I decided to use Adobe InDesign, because it is a professional software best known for creating quality digital and print publications. This fits perfectly, since it is the main focus of my project. This software affords me all the requirements that the Print Services Department requested to be able to successfully print the booklet. This means having flushed margins coming in on certain sides of the pages, stylized typography and infographics, the ability to have information perfectly aligned, etc. All while being able to export in many different formats.

I want to be able to master all of the text options to make the booklet look as professional as possible, along with cohesively putting it together with graphics and images.

  • There is something called the Text Tool within InDesign which basically allows you to create a text box anywhere on your project. Although it has much more complex uses than that. This includes creating subscript, changing how the typography looks, it’s placement, etc. There are a lot of hidden tricks that go into this and through research and tutorials I hope to master this by the time I complete my first draft.
  • I hope I learn a lot about simply formatting a page as well. There are so many different types of “units” you can set your page as: pixels, picas, inches,  etc. I want to understand which will work best for print, and why.
  • Lastly, I want to understand how the Adobe softwares I will be using, will work in unison together. InDesign doesn’t hold images as well as photoshop and illustrator, so I want to master how to switch back and forth between the softwares while maintaining the quality of the content.

InDesign can be interpreted as a social medium because…

  • It communicates a message to the viewer. Sociability is about human interaction through communication, and InDesign is a way to do so because the application is a way to manipulate text in such a way that it has a personality.
  • InDesign is connected to many different platforms, one being Behance. A lot of people share their creations from InDesign on Behance to inspire one another. This is a huge part of sociability because ideas stem from ideas, and so designing on this platform allows for that.
  • There is also a help menu while using InDesign. If you don’t know how to do something within the software you can search it in this menu and it is automatically linked to the Adobe website where it can provide you with many options to show you how to solve the problem. Simply connecting you to a greater platform can meet you with a larger community of people who share similar interests.

Adobe Indesign absolutely reflects cultural values, and I’d have to go further to say they reflect first-world, english speaking countries primarily.

  • The majority of InDesign uses the english language while describing their tools and text. Granted it has been some time since I’ve began using the software so I do not remember if there was an initial option to choose a language preference. Although all of their font options are in english.
  • It does use symbolism to denote which tool is being used which is good for those that struggle with literacy to understand what that tool might do, but those coming from foreign cultural backgrounds, may understand those symbols as something different, or maybe have never even seen them before which may be disruptive to the design process.
  • Lastly Adobe is a digital platform only to be used on a PC or laptop, any other medium might not be compatible or too weak of a machine to manage the software. This reflects a modern cultural background, since computers are rather new in the grand scheme of societal norms. We can infer that Adobe programs are something that was introduced within the last 15-20 years with that knowledge.

Like I slightly mentioned earlier using InDesign will have some affordances. This means that it will expect me to have some pre-existing privileges and/or knowledge about the software in order to use it.

  • The first affordance, like I mentioned earlier will be the ability to format the booklet in such a way that it will print nicely, and look professional. Other softwares aren’t able to measure where you need to start and stop your margins, as well as specifically choose page size.
  • Another is the ability to have endless amounts of fonts. Since SJU has a very specific brand identity, I have to stick to certain fonts throughout my project, and InDesign allows for any fonts from any platform to be loaded into it.
  • I will also be able to add layers for experimentation. Unlike other softwares where layers don’t exist so you have to decide to delete what you have or completely start a new project, InDesign allows for layers that you can turn on and off to see what looks best in your design.

With allowances also comes constraints:

  • One constraint will be the ability to monetarily afford the software. Fortunately, I have Adobe Creative Suite and am able to pay for it, but it does come at a cost. This is a monthly subscription, and designers need to be able to have this in order to come across as someone professional in the digital printing business.
  • Another constraint is having all the softwares that go along with InDesign. InDesign does not create its own graphics well, so you need photoshop and illustrator to make sure that graphics will be the best quality and then transfer them over into InDesign.
  • Knowing all the ins and outs of InDesign can also be a constraint. There are many tools and serve many purposes and it can be difficult to remember what all these do. So it will definitely be a learning curve.