You may have noticed in eDesign that text frames seem to disappear. Once you draw them and then click somewhere else, the frame is no longer visible. It’s really still there, but can be hard to find. From a design point of view, it is sometimes nice to have those frames visible so that you can see and plan for the placement of text elements.

To make the frames stay visible, go to the view menu in eDesign, and select “show frames.” This will make all frames that you’ve drawn remain visible on the spread.

If you need to hide the frames, simply go back to the view menu and select “hide frames.” The same process can be used for guides and columns, too.

We appreciate all the feedback and questions you’ve been directing to us on eDesign, not to mention the layouts and spreads that are taking shape. Keep up the good work!

Yes, yearbook is a fun and exciting way to capture the magic of school. This year, for many, promises to be tough, though. Schools have faced the budget axe, principals have had to make difficult decisions and many families are having to tighten their belts.

But oh what a year it promises to be, too! China opened itself for the Olympics and we got glimpses of its culture: mania, obsession with image, drive, and power. This will be a historic election year: Barack Obama is the first ever African American nominee and John McCain is a bonafide American hero. Both face a grim economy and protracted war. Our communities will wrangle over these and many other events. Education and experiences and personal stories are literally all around us. Are you up to the challenge?

As we help connect people to their school years, before the memories have faded or been discarded, think of the opportunities and responsibilities that we have: we capture with picture, word and theme the story of the year. Design ideas, content, captions, decisions. There is always much to do, much to plan, but know you’re not alone with Herff Jones and the Yearbook Connection.

We’re up to the challenge of the year, and know you will be, too.

If you haven’t started already, and you’re planning on doing an index, now’s a great time to start. Although schools sometimes wait until proofs to build an index, the Herff Jones Index Builder makes the task quite easy. In fact, because the program can be run multiple times, it serves as an excellent way to generate a list of who’s been in the book how many times. It also helps catch name spelling discrepancies.

What to index? First of all, all students and faculty should be indexed whenever they appear in the book. This includes portraits and candids, as well as any time their names appear in print. Indexing programs sort through InDesign page files for names in text, so it is important to accurately name the subjects of photos, give proper attribution for quotes, and properly use names within copy. For example, names in captions should always be first name – last name. The first time a name is used in a copy block or caption, it should be written first name – last name and all subsequent instances should use last name only. By-lines and photo credits should not be indexed. (more…)

A vignette photo allows a portion of an image to be screened or ghosted down to a lower opacity while allowing the dominant or most important part of the picture to remain at full color and brightness. It is an interesting effect that focuses the reader’s attention on one portion of the image. The technique can also be used to screen down a portion of a photo so that type can be more easily read. To download a handout demonstrating the technique, click here.

Method 1

While Adobe Photoshop® is the primary software for photo manipulation, InDesign does allow for some cool photo techniques like a vignette photo. A vignette is an effect where the center of interest, or focal point, of the photo gradually fades into the background, usually in an oval shape.

STEP 1: Place (File > Place) an image from Photoshop or through Herff Jones Image In (Herff Jones > HJ Image In) onto your layout.

STEP 2: Select the Ellipse Frame tool from beneath the Rectangle Frame tool on the Tool palette. You can also use a rectangle, circle, polygon, star or any other frame shape to create the vignette effect.

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