InDesign: Why Use It?

由专筑网刘庆新编译

我在学校从来没有真正使用过Indesign，但是我们在办公室却每天都会用到。早知如此，当初在学校就该好好学习使用这个软件。Indesign是Adobe的另一个产物，是一个强大的平铺工具。该插件可以让你关联Adobe自带的文件，比如Photoshop和Illustrator文件。我不打算尝试解释整个项目，但是我会涉及到一些重点，我认为至少这些点对于设计师来说能使软件成为一个强大的工具。

许多人喜欢在Indesign中平铺图和文本，而我更喜欢在PS中创建平面图，但是然后使用Indesign来完成所有页码，比如建筑图集。你可以给你开始的文件设置格式，但是你想要比如图集、展板等。在下面的例子中，我设置了Indesign文件，使其和我的6”x9”图片集尺寸相匹配。我又增加了1/8”出血线作为我PS文件夹的原始设置。最后，文件设置为双边打印，这样展示了对开页的准确打印情况。页面窗口（在右侧）允许你看到文件所有页面的缩略图，你可以重新调整顺序、删除它们、复制它们等。页面小窗口的顶部是主页，允许实现一些特定项目，如页码、项目名称、背景图表、以及可运用于文件中所有页面的模板。

I never really used Indesign much in school. However, we use it on a daily basis in the office. Knowing what I know now, I wish I would have implemented it more back in school. Indesign is another Adobe product that serves as a powerful layout tool. The program allows you to link other native Adobe documents such as Photoshop and Illustrator files to it.  I’m not going to try to explain the entire program, but I will touch on some of the key points that I think really make the software a powerful tool for architects.
While many people actually layout images and text in Indesign, I prefer to create my layouts in Photoshop but then use Indesign as a way to manage all of the pages, such as for architectural portfolios. You can set up the initial document to be formatted however you want, i.e. portfolio, presentation board, etc.  For the example below, I set up the Indesign document to match my 6”x9” portfolio size. I also added an 1/8” bleed as was originally setup in my Photoshop files.  Finally, the document is setup for double sided printing and therefore displays the facing pages exactly as they would be printed.  The pages pallet (shown on the right) allows you to view thumbnails of all of the pages in the document, rearrange them, delete them, duplicate them, etc. At the top of the pages pallet are the Master Pages which allows for certain items such as page numbers, project names, background graphics and templates to be applied to all of the pages of the document.

作品集

对于作品集来说，Indesign 是不可缺少的。我以前在 Photoshop 中创建过我的毕业作品集。我仍然倾向于在 Photoshop中完成所有图表（有些人可能会喜欢在Illustrator操作）。有了Indesign，我可以直接把Photoshop文件或者Illustrator文件放到 Indesign 文件中。通过放置文件，我把Photoshop文件和Indesign文件关联了起来。如果我改动并保存了Photoshop文件，在Indesign中文件会自动更新。比如说，假设我把 Photoshop文件导入了Indesign 中，然后我想给下图所展示的“盒子形态学”页面添加一些阴影。

PORTFOLIOS
For portfolios, Indesign is indispensable. I had originally created my graduate portfolio in Photoshop.  I still prefer to develop all of the graphics inside of Photoshop (others may prefer Illustrator). With Indesign, I can take those Photoshop files or Illustrator files and directly place them into the Indesign document. By placing the files, I am “linking” the Photoshop file to the Indesign file. If I make a change to the Photoshop file and save it, the change will automatically get updated in Indesign. For example, say I have my Photoshop files imported into Indesign and I want to add some shadows to the “Box Morphology” page shown below.

为了完成这个修改，我首先打开了已经关联的Photoshop 文件，添加了一些阴影，然后保存这个修改记录。

To make the change, I first open the linked Photoshop file that the image was created in, add the shadows, and then save the changes.

Photoshop文件夹保存后，我回到Indesign中。在关联标签中，我发现了修改过的文件（在名字旁边有一个黄色的感叹号），右击，选择“更新”。

Once the Photoshop file is saved, I then go back into Indesign. In the links tab, I find the changed file (delineated with a yellow “!” next to the name), right-click, and choose “Update”.

然后文件将会下载到最新保存的版本，阴影出现在Indesign文件中。

The file will then update to the latest saved version of the file and the shadows appear in the Indesign file.

由上述例子你可以看出图集在Photoshop或Illustrator中能继续完成，但是仍然需要在Indesign中实现完全管理。你可能会问：“那又怎样呢？”我直到工作后才意识到该程序的重要性。建筑项目会不断推进，因此它们会不断变化并且更新。有一点需要注意的是，当文件变得非常大的时候，比如说这个案例中的作品集，变化的就非常快。Indesign 提供了一个简单的方法，在同一个地方管理所有图表和文字，以及检查整个的文件，它也有轻松导出和打印最终文件的能力。

展示板

在我们办公室，我们经常为客户制作巨大的展示板。每周，在以前会议的基础上，我们将会把一系列更新的平面图和相关的图整合在一起。因为平面图文件和图在Indesign中是关联的，一旦平面图变化，图被保存，Indesign面板就会自动更新。更好的是，我们可以在主页中更新页码、日期等。下图，我放了一个基本的展板，和我们每周呈现给客户的展板的复杂度相似。

With the above example, you can see that the portfolio can continue to be developed in Photoshop or, if you prefer, Illustrator, but still be completely managed in Indesign. You are probably asking, “So what?” It wasn’t until I started working in our office that I finally realized the value of this program. Architecture projects are constantly evolving, and therefore they are constantly changing and being updated.  There comes a point when documents start to become very large, as in the case of portfolios, while changes are still being made at a rapid pace. Indesign offers a simple way to manage all of the graphics and text in one place, review the document in its entirety, as well as the ability to export and print the final document with ease.
PRESENTATION BOARDS
Often in our office, we are producing large presentation boards for clients. Every week, we will put together a series of updated floor plans and corresponding images based on previous meetings. Because the floor plan files and images are linked in Indesign, once the changes to the floor plans and images are saved, the Indesign boards are automatically updated. Even better, we make use of “Master Pages” that allow us to quickly update the page numbers, dates, etc. Below, I put together a basic presentation board similar in complexity to what our office may present on a weekly basis to clients.

展板是用一个PDF或Illustrator平面图和一些Photoshop图文件制作的，上面也有基本的项目名称和日期。在许多项目中，我们会同时展示5到10个展板。借助Indesign，我们通过更新相关联的Photoshop、PDF和 Illustrator文件，可以很容易地保持更新一系列面板，方法与之前提到的类似。

The board is made up of a PDF or Illustrator floor plan, and some Photoshop graphic files. I also have a basic project name and date. In many cases, we will be presenting 5 to 10 boards at a time. With Indesign, we are able to keep an updated set of boards similar to the one above simply by updating the linked Photoshop, PDF, and Illustrator files as the changes are made throughout the week.

打印的时候，我们打开主页，修改日期，在这个例子中，我们既可以把所有展板保存为PDF文件以用于发送电子邮件，也可以把所有东西都发送到打印机。过程很简单，减少了因操作多个PSD或Illustrator文件产生的一连串错误。

文本

一致性对于一个好的展示来说至关重要。在我上面的文件夹，我在Photoshop中添加了所有文本。但是当时我还在学校，对Indesign没什么了解。因为PS中添加了文本，使所有页面的文本格式发生了改变会很困难，也很浪费时间。完成这一步更好的方法就是在Photoshop中建立图表，通过Indesign添加文本。这样可以确保文本的大小、样式、版式一致，同时也简化了修改所有页面的字体大小以及样式的过程。另外，Indesign因其拥有强大的排字工具而著称，它允许一系列的客制化服务和操作。

我并不是说Indesign会改变你的建筑生涯，但是如果你想找到一种方式，能使你的展示工作流程效率提高，那就借助InDesign来实现吧。

When it’s time to print, we open the master page and correct the date, in which case all of the boards get updated. We can then either save the entire set of boards as a PDF document for emailing or send everything to the printer. The process is simple and limits coordination mistakes from juggling multiple PSD and Illustrator files separately.
TEXT
Consistency is crucial to a good presentation. For my portfolio above, I added all of my text in Photoshop, but this was back in school before I knew or cared about Indesign. Because text was added in Photoshop, making text style changes across all of the pages would be difficult and time consuming. The better way of doing things would be to build the graphics in Photoshop, but add the text via Indesign. This would ensure consistent text sizes, styles, and formatting as well as simplifying the process of making size and style changes across all of the pages if need be. Plus, Indesign is known for its powerful typographic tools allowing for a wide array of customization and manipulation.
I’m not saying that Indesign will change your architectural life, but if you’re looking for a way to add a little more efficiency into your presentation workflow, you may want to look into InDesign if you haven’t already.

出处：本文译自visualizingarchitecture.com/，转载请注明出处。