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Commercial Art

Lesson 14 - InDesign: Glyph it Out!

Using GLYPHS to create a poster!

Step #1

What the heck is a Glyph? You are about to find out! It's like using Text, but instead of letters, you get images! First...

First, open up InDesign by clicking the icon that looks like this: 

 

At the first screen you see, choose Create New Document.

Click the Page Size arrow and choose Letter.

Don't pick Landscape this time, just leave it on Portrait orientation.

This is your 8.5 x 11 "Canvas", just like in Photoshop. 

This is your "paper" that you will be working on.

Step #2

A Glyph is a Symbol that is part of a Font Family!

You’ll need to select your font. It’s best to use an OpenType font, since these are more likely to contain multiple glyphs. The type of font is easily visible if you go to Type>Font. The symbol to the left of the name indicates what type of format the font is and a preview of the font is also shown. 

You can save your work as a InDesign CS6 Document file into the INDESIGN GLYPHS spot on MOODLE. Just name it glyph.

OPEN FONT SYMBOL

There are lots to play with. To see what glyphs are available in your font, open your Glyphs panel, which is found under the Window menu (Window> Type & Tables>Glyphs). If your font isn’t selected, use the drop-down menu at the bottom of the panel. There’s also a zoom in and out button located at the bottom of the panel, which is useful for getting a better look at the glyphs.

To show all the glyphs available, make sure Entire Font is selected in the Show drop-down menu. As you scroll through you’ll see a lot of variations of letterforms as well as numerous characters that aren’t on the keyboard.

 

To use a glyph, just position the Text tool in the appropriate place on your canvas and double-click on your selected glyph.

 

If you hover over a glyph in your panel, a tool tip will appear with information about it. I

 

For fonts with lots of glyphs, scrolling through the panel can be time-consuming. However, there are a few options to make searching for different letterforms easier: some of the glyphs have a small, black arrow in the bottom-right of the box, which indicates there are alternatives. If you click-and-hold, the different options for that letter are revealed, helping you can make a quicker selection.

 

Now you know the ins and outs of the Glyphs panel, you can begin to design posters and experiment with combinations of glyphs and font sizes. When working with larger text I find creating outlined text of individual or groups of words makes them much easier to work with. To outline your text, select the text frame and, under the Type menu, select Create Outlines or hit Command + Shift+O.

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