Designing Notepads Using a Publishing Tool
So you decided to use a publishing tool like Adobe InDesign to aid you in your layout for notepad printing. This is a good choice! Adobe InDesign is a great and powerful tool that will help you create very finely detailed and impressive looking layouts for notepad printing. However, if you are a beginner at this, you should not go into it without a few basic pointers.
Let me give you some of the basic pointers that you should know about InDesign with regards to your custom notepad printing.
1. Use a notepad template when available – If you are a beginner, then notepad templates are your friend in Adobe InDesign. InDesign has loads of different notepad templates and other printed templates that you can use as a jumping off point for your design. This saves you a lot of time and a lot of effort as well since you do not have to set the dimension settings yourself. So if possible use those notepad templates as you create your design in the software.
2. Always leave blank spaces of course – Remember that you are printing a custom notepad here. While you can of course customize your design with different images, graphics and watermarks, it is important for your custom notepad to have blank spaces. Those are the most ideal places for people to actually write on your notepads. So do not get carried away with your custom notepad designs. Have your main images and graphics appear on top or at the bottom of your notepad pages while water marks and background art should be rendered in the lightest possible hue for people to be able to write on your notepad of course.
3. Be aware of margins and bleeds – Also when creating your designs in InDesign, remember that your notepad draft should have some set margins and bleeds. These allow you to a balance your notepad design well by basically defining the real boundaries of your notepad design.
Also, the bleeds will help your design cope with the inconsistencies of notepad cutting, eliminating those odd white streaks and spots at the edges of your background of your notepads. So make sure you learn and set these things within your InDesign document so that you know exactly where your designs and backgrounds should be.
4. Do not be afraid to use color – While it is just a notepad, do not be afraid to use full color images and text within the customized notepad designs. Colors add more personality and emotions in your custom notepads making it a lot more distinct and memorable. Just make sure though that you choose the color scheme tastefully well so that the money in printing those full color notepads will be well worth it.
5. Use the highest resolution logos and graphics – Finally, for your logos and images to appear correctly and sharply within your custom notepads, you should always use the highest resolution ones in your design. Images and logos with a resolution of 300dpi or higher are the ideal ones that should appear correctly. So do not just copy-paste something from the Internet. Use the high-resolution graphics from original sources to get the best results.
So once you start your designs for notepad printing, try to remember these tips. While these are not all the information you need for Adobe InDesign, you should be able to utilize it more effectively and more properly this way. Your custom notepads should look proper and professional once you apply all these tips.