Lessons
Class Introduction
01:51 2Document Set-Up
15:39 3Panels
11:46 4Toolbox
08:22 5The Adobe® Workspace
05:17 6Shortcuts
05:33 7Saving Files
05:37 8Guides
12:42Text Frames
08:13 10Shapes, Fill and Stoke
07:43 11Arranging and Modifying Shapes
08:31 12The Pen Tool: Drawing, Stroke and Fill
06:52 13The Pen Tool: Handles and Anchor Points
08:27 14Pencil, Smooth and Erase Tools
05:46 15Strokes and Arrows
13:33 16Importing Shapes from Adobe® Illustrator®
08:57 17Placing Graphics
08:05 18Placing PDFs
04:22 19Placing Multiple Files
06:14 20Frames: Fitting and Manipulating
07:28 21Specialty Frames
05:52 22The Links Panel
21:34 23High Quality Display
06:48 24Clipping Paths
13:08 25Transparency
09:41 26The Gap Tool
03:55 27Color & Swatches Panels Basics
16:38 28Eyedropper Tool
10:03 29Gradient Swatches
05:31 30Character Panel
23:38 31Paragraph Panel
15:09 32Spelling & Autocorrect
06:42 33Text Frame Options
08:10 34Printing and Exporting
16:16Lesson Info
Gradient Swatches
So yes, so a little bit of gradient swatches. I'm gonna create a new page in this document here and come back to swatches. And I'm gonna choose a new gradient swatch. And a gradient is going to let me move an item, move color across this item whether radially, like in a circle or linearly across in a line. And actually, do I want to start from a new one? Let's not do that. Let's actually create an item so we can actually see what we're doing with that. So, in this case I want to create a new gradient color with that, or a new gradient swatch with that item selected. So I'm gonna go ahead and tell it that it's linear. So it's just gonna move across in a line. And down here is where I build this gradient. So, I have it going right now from white to black with a 50%, that's where the transition happens. So it's pretty even all the way across the board. All right? So it starts from white and it just evenly transitions to black. But I can change those colors. So all I'm gonna do is click on...
the gradient ramp on white and choose new color and I can either build them from scratch or I can choose my swatches. So it's nice if I've already got swatches in here and so I can go from that yellow and I can still see where that gradient happens and then I can click on this color stop and choose swatches and have it go to blue. So now I can see it goes from the yellow to the blue and then this is the transition point and I can decide I actually want more yellow than blue if I want. So, I can change that transition point. Either by dragging it or putting in an image or an amount down here. I'll put this back about 50%, doesn't have to be accurate and I can say, "OK." So I'll say, "OK, let's add that," and I say, "done." And so now I can see where that, or I can see that item filled with that gradient. I'm gonna double click on that and I wanna actually edit this gradient that's here. I want to add a few more colors. So to do that, I can just click down below and it adds a whole nother color ramp, or color stop, that's here. So maybe let's make this a deeper red and then maybe I create one more over here and we create something light. So now, it just kind of makes that transition between those colors that are there. And I'll go ahead and say, "OK." Now I can see that the banding is tighter in some places because I had a smaller amount of space between the two colors in that color ramp and that's fine. But I might also want to change where it sits in this particular object. And that's what the gradient tool is for. The gradient swatch tool. I'm gonna grab that tool and I'm not going to be changing the gradient swatch itself. I'm just changing how the swatch sits in this particular item. So, by choosing the tool, I can now change things like the direction of the gradient. So if I drag this from corner to corner, it now goes at a 45 degree angle. So I can continually drag it across to whatever angle I need. I also can have the gradient happen in a shorter space. So, for instance, if I start here in the middle and drag only to this point, now that entire gradient happens in the space of, in the much smaller space. So if I tighten it up even more, the gradient all happens here. So we get solid all the way to here, then the gradient happens and then the last solid color here. So you can get some really interesting effects that way. I can also take this gradient swatch that we created, if I double click on it and change it to a radial swatch. It looks entirely different. And I can do the same thing though, with the swatches with the swatch tool. I can grab this and drag it out. I can drag it out to a smaller amount so that it starts over here in the corner. Maybe I want it to start right on the corner and only to here. So now I get that radial gradient starting in the corner and radiating out across the rest of the graphic that it's sitting in. So those are gradients and just, again, a different way to add some visual interest to your document with some really easy, built in tools that are here. And I don't think I have any gradients in this particular item here. Just keep in mind, gradients work with transparency. So, like I said about other transparency is that on screen it might look great but when you go to print it, you might get bandings so for instance that circle that we created, that last one that we just created with the radial, it looked like there was banding on screen so if you were doing something to say, an office laser printer or something like that, you might get some really thick banding as well there because it has to maintain all those steps of that gradient which is all completely transparency so keep in mind that, what looks good on screen, might not translate really well to print but, you know, that's why we leave time ahead of time. We create something. We test it out and see how that's gonna work and then we know what works for our output and we can continue to just keep adding visual interest to our documents with the tools that are build into InDesign.
Ratings and Reviews
Susan
Fantastic course. I have used Illustrator and photoshop, but learned when under tight deadlines. We are going to begin using inDesign to publish a more extensive multipage newsletter, and I wanted to build a better knowledge foundation of this tool, rather than just diving in. The course was comprehensive and I feel that I'll be able to make a better product after taking the course.
Terri
Have loved Erica since I was a baby designer. She is a great educator, and even though I have been using ID for about 8 years, I just changed from CS6 to CC. This was a great refresher as well as a mental upgrade to new options and effects.
Gilbert Beltran
I enjoyed these classes. Learned the Indesign toolbox and picked up a few smart tricks. Erica is great at keeping up the pace and being very clear and easy to follow.
Student Work
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