Unit 3

DTP Software: features and applications, Pages, web documents, Colour Processing,
Master page Settings, spreads , paste boards. Layout designing- Principles of page makeup,
mechanics of dummying, positioning, vertical and horizontal makeup and flexibility, Pre-
press Production, text and graphics management, Exporting PDF and Other Production
Formats.
DESKTOP PUBLISHING
A Detailed Study
What is Desktop Publishing?
It is a system of integrating text and graphics in page-layout to produce a
camera-ready material. The term desktop publishing describes the process of
producing a document using a personal computer. DTP software, once called
page assembly software, makes it possible to combine both print and graphics
on a single page. Once a user creates a desktop publishing document, he or she
can then print a copy using a computer printer, a photocopy machine, or a
professional press. DTP also provides the option of creating a digital
publication. This allows readers to view a document using a computer monitor
rather than a paper copy. DTP requires a wide variety of skills, including an
understanding of typography, graphics, layout, and business expectations.
Software Brands: QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, Scribus, MS Publisher, Corel
Ventura, Adobe PageMaker, etc.
Colour Processing
History
• Early computer monitors could only display black and white.
Therefore, it seemed appropriate that all output would be equally
limited. With the introduction of color monitors, suddenly black and
white seemed quite restricting. The ability to print in color was
extremely appealing.
• The introduction of color inkjet printers made it possible to print
color at home, but only in limited quantities. Inkjet printers also had a
problem in that their bitmap fonts and images often appeared with
jaggies.
• With the introduction of color photocopiers in the late 1980s, reproduction
of color became possible. The early color copiers were very expensive, and
the cost of each copy was high.
• Monitor calibration is becoming easier. Products such as the Pantone IVI
Huey can calibrate a monitor and then check continually for changes in light.
Monitors themselves are becoming more consistent as the companies that
produce them standardize their colors. In an earlier time, color alone was
impressive. Today color must be sharp and accurate as well.
• The technology has since advanced, and it is now economically feasible to
print color desktop-published documents at home with a color laser printer
or at a copy shop.
• Today it is important that a desktop publishing professional understand the
possibilities and the complexities of printing in color. It is no longer an idle
wish but a reality that documents can be produced in color for wide
distribution.
• Monitor Calibration
• One of the first problems a designer encounters is the discrepancy
between the color that appears on the computer monitor and the printed
document. The perfect red on screen may be a less desirable pink on paper.
Matching the two pieces of hardware requires that the monitor (and other
equipment) be calibrated. This calibration ensures that each image is
similar.
• Calibration is the adjusting of your monitor’s settings and color to meet an
accepted standard.
• The Adobe Gamma is a utility program provided by Adobe to calibrate your
monitor.
• A colorimeter is a device used to calibrate a computer monitor by
recording the image that appears on the display.
• The Adobe Gamma software contains a wizard that can lead you
through the steps to calibrate a monitor.
• Calibration is a complex process that requires awareness of the
amount of light in a room, the type of monitor, the age of the
monitor, and even the color of the walls in the room.
• Gamma Correction
• Monitor gamma is a measurement that compares the screen’s
brightness and contrast. This measurement is set in order to adjust
the screen so that the image appears as close to the original as
possible. The standard gamma correction is 2.2.
• The white point is the lightest pixel on a computer monitor.
• Color temperature is the measurement of light that falls on a
computer screen.
• Monitor gamma is a calibration that measures the brightness and
contrast of a computer display.
• Color space is the number of colors that a device can display.
• Out of gamut is a warning that a particular device is unable to display
a color.
• In an attempt to ensure that the color of an image is the same regardless
of the device used, the International Color Consortium (ICC) has developed
specifications that are applied to imaging devices such as scanners, digital
cameras, monitors, and printers. These color management profiles are
accepted as an industry standard. Profiles make it possible for a device
such as a printer to convert the information sent to it by a monitor or
scanner into an image that approximates the one originally produced.
• The International Color Consortium is an organization that works together
to ensure that color is consistent regardless of operating systems or
software.
• ICC Profile is a means of transferring color information from device to
device.
Color scheme is an arrangement of colors designed to create a
particular response.
Custom Selection

• One of the design techniques that desktop publishers have learned

to incorporate in their documents is picking up colors from images
and using those colors throughout a page. If a graphic has a
particularly dominant color such as red, that color (or a version of it)
might be reused in a title or a headline or even a frame. Variations of
the color can be picked up by enlarging the image so that the pixels
are evident. These color variations can then be used elsewhere. Use
of these color components gives the document a consistent look
Color Modes

• Colors fall into five basic categories or color modes. Each color in a mode
is divided into separate channels that can be adjusted individually. In Figure
13.1, notice the four CMYK channels that are visible. When the final image
is produced, all the channels are combined into a single image. You will
learn more about channels in a later topic.
• 1. Two colors (black and white)
• 2. Gray scale (variations of black)
• 3. RGB (red-green-blue)—used on computer screens
• 4. CMYK (cyan-magenta-yellow-black)—used in print
• 5. L*A*B (lightness-green/red-blue/yellow)—any device
• Color mode is the
separation of color into
channels.
• Channels are the division of
color modes into separate
images.

• Depending upon the color

mode in which you are
working, an image will be
divided into different
channels.
RGB
• RGB stands for Red Green and Blue.
• This model represents how your computer sees colors.
• According to the RGB model, each shade of each of the 3 colors (Red,
Green and Blue) is represented by a number ranging from 0 to 255. For
example, the black color is represented by the '0 0 0' RGB value (R=0, G=0
and B=0) while the white color is represented by the '255 255 255' RGB
value (R=255 G=255 and B=255).
• So the RGB model can represent more than 16 millions of colors.
• RGB is an additive model, because Red Green and Blue are additive colors.
In other words when red green and blue are combined, they create white.
Red + Green + Blue = White.
• Pure colors are those that have a single color component. Such as
green, without mixing in any other colors.
• Pure Blue?
• Red, green, and blue colors that are set at 255 and zero are called
pure colors.
CMYK

• CMYK stands for Cyan Yellow Magenta and black.

• This model is used for printing.
• In other words these are the 4 colored inks used inside of color
printers.
• CMYK is a subtractive model, in fact in theory, cyan, yellow and
magenta should combine among themselves to absorb all colors and
produce black.
• But because of the small impurities found in all inks, they actually
combine to form a muddy brown. This is one of the reasons for the
black ink.
• it is possible to create colors
in RGB that cannot be
matched in CMYK and are
out of gamut
• In order to overcome the problem of defining colors, an international company
CIE (Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage) in 1931 developed a measurement
of color based upon the way the human eye perceives color.
• This is known as CIE-LAB or LAB or L*A*B. T
• he color was defined as consisting of lightness or luminosity, and two color
ranges. Color "A" was the range of colors from green to red, color "B" was the
range of color from blue to yellow.
• Instead of a color wheel, a triangle is used to describe these color choices.
• LAB stands for Luminance (or lightness) and A and B (which are chromatic
components).
• According to this model A ranges from green to red, and B ranges from blue to
yellow.
• This model was designed to be device independent. In other words by means of
this model you can handle colors regardless of specific devices (such as monitors,
printers, or computers).
• The Luminance ranges from 0 to 100, the A component ranges from -120 to +120
(from green to red) and the B component ranges from -120 to +120 (from blue to
yellow).
Introducing DTP Software – Adobe Indesign
• Adobe InDesign is the industry leading DTP software for designing
and layout of professional documents for the web, print, as well as for
mobile devices such as tablets or smartphones. InDesign uses
the .indd file format for storing InDesign content.
WorkSpace Basics
• The interface is grouped into many panels as follows.
• Application Bar
• Control Panel
• Document Layout
• Toolbar
• Panels Bar
Application Bar
• Application Bar is on the top of the window beside the Help menu
which allows us to set the document zoom level or allow turning the
rulers and guides on and off. It also allows us to tile multiple windows
vertically or horizontally. The Br and St icons stand for Adobe Bridge
and Adobe Stock respectively and you may or may not see them
depending on your installation.
Control Panel
• Below the application bar is the long strip called the Control Panel
which is a quintessential component of the UI. The Control Panel
basically allows you to change properties such as text formatting,
color fill, and a host of contextually dependent functions. It is freely
movable and you can float or dock it. Make sure you dock it in a
place, which is convenient as you’ll be using this very often.
Toolbar
• The Toolbar which is usually to the left of the main workspace
contains all the tools required to work with the document. It
has the selection tools, the text tools, eyedropper tools, etc.
Clicking on these tools will open up further functions relevant
to that tool in the Control Panel described above. Some tools
like the Type tool for example have a small arrow underneath
them which can reveal a similar tool with a different function.
Panels Bar
• To the right of the workspace is the
Panels bar which has some additional
functions. What you see on the Panels
bar can vary based on the workspace.
Similar to the other window components
described above, the Panels bar can be
moved around freely or docked to a
suitable position. Clicking a button in the
Panels bar will open up additional
options.
Page Management
• Page management is important with a document having multiple pages.
InDesign provides a lot of easy ways to insert, remove, or duplicate pages.
Most of these functions are accessed from the Pages menu under
the Layout main menu.

• The Pages Panel

• The bottom of the Pages panel has three buttons. The first button is
called Edit page size. This lets you change the dimensions of the page, say
from A4 to US Letter or A3. The second button is called Create new page.
This allows you to create a page right next to the page currently selected in
the Pages panel. The third button is called Delete selected pages and
allows you to delete the selected pages.
Master Pages
• A master page, like the name suggests, defines the
overall layout of the document. Any changes to the size
or number of pages on the master page affects the
whole document. You can have any number of master
pages, but the first master is called the A-Master. There
is also a None master page which is devoid of the
schema of the other master pages.
• Master pages are very essential when working with
books or magazines where the content flows from one
page to the other.
• Clicking the Pages panel opens the flyout where you can
select the A-Master and None master pages. Double-
clicking on the A-Master opens the two-page spread
master page which is basically blank.
Principles of Layout and Design
Layout involves a range of techniques.
• The Style Sheet
• Grids: Organizing Your Layout
• Layout Tools
The Style Sheet
• The style sheet is one of the best features of electronic publishing. Attributes such as
typeface, type size, and leading can be predefined, making the job of formatting your project
quick and easy.
• Once styles are defined, you can instantly apply different attributes to a single word, several
paragraphs, or an entire publication. Defining your style sheet in advance saves you time and
effort later.
• The style sheet has many advantages. If, for example, the body text of your newsletter is laid
out in Helvetica, you can change it to Times Roman with a single mouse click. If you hadn't
originally tagged the body text as Helvetica, you would have to change each text block
individually.
• However, before you begin defining styles for your publication, you should do the following:
• Specify the page dimensions.
• Assign the number of pages.
• Set the width of the margins.
Grid system
Column
• If you use a two-column grid, the type size and graphics will be larger,
which is okay for short newsletters with long articles and few
graphics. The symmetry of the two-column format works well for
conservative publications such as stock holder reports.
• The typical newsletter or magazine is laid out using the three-column
grid. This format is both flexible and simple.
Grid System
Headlines
A good headline grabs the attention of readers.
• Because readability of the headline is most important, don't use uppercase for every
letter. Readers identify words partly by their shapes, so when all the letters are in
uppercase, the headline becomes rectangular and hard to read. By contrast, lowercase
letters have varying shapes, which helps readers identify words more quickly. If you want
to create emphasis, use typography.
• Keep headlines to a maximum of three lines. A quick glance should tell the reader what
the article is about. Also, left justified headlines are easier to read than centered
headlines.
• Next, select a typeface for the headline, and then set it in a larger point size than the
body text. Typography is discussed in Elements of Design, but take a quick visit for a few
definitions.
• When it comes to headlines, sans serif typeface, such as Helvetica, is a traditional choice,
while serif typeface, such as Times Roman, is common for body text. But there are no
hard and fast rules, only guidelines.
Layout tools
• There are a variety of organizational tools that you should use to
improve the look and readability of your publication. For instance, use
sidebars when you need to fit several short, unrelated articles on the
same page. Use pull-quotes to highlight the author's main ideas for
readers.
• Other tools such as captions and bylines allow you to describe
pictures and cite the author without interfering with the body of the
article.
Layout tools
• A quotation taken directly from the body of an article is a pull-quote. It should be laid out in a
larger point size and different typeface than the body text.
• A sidebar is a square or rectangular box filled with a grey or lightly colored background. The text
within the sidebar is either related to the main story, or a completely separate article.
• A caption explains a photograph or graphic image. It might be as simple as the name of the
person pictured, or a few lines describing the action or setting. Set them in an italicized version of
the body text or headline typeface.
• The byline describes the author of an article. Use either a short biographical paragraph or just the
name.
• Set bylines in a italicized version of the body text, but make them a point size or two smaller.
Select typefaces and point sizes for all elements before you begin the layout.
• Headers run along the top of a page and footers the bottom. Header and footer information is
usually mundane, but helps organize the publication.
• Jumplines tell readers on which page an article is continued.