Templates – Page 4 – Publisher's Corner

Create a Calendar with iWork’s Pages

21 Oct 201013 Aug 2012Lauren11 Comments

Today we are focusing is on creating a calendar with Apple iWork’s Pages.

Hey PC users: check out yesterday’s post about using Microsoft Word, or check back tomorrow to see how to use MagCloud’s Flickr Uploadr to create a super cool calendar with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Let’s get started with Pages.

I’m a new fan of Pages, (Apple’s design tool that comes in their iWork productivity suite) and if you are Mac user looking to do some basic design without spending a ton (iWork retails for just $79 at store.apple.com) it’s an easy program to use, and is great for projects like a family calendar.

You can create a lot of great looking calendars using the exact same template, just by making a few changes to fonts, color and pictures.

GETTING STARTED:

The template is already set up with 28 pages, so making a few customizations and saving the file as a PDF should be quick and easy!

Download the basic calendar template that I designed here, or at the bottom of this post, you can preview and download some of the variations that I created using the same template, by making a few modifications to the style sheet.

MAKE IT YOUR OWN:
Because I designed this template for use with MagCloud, it’s already formatted to accomodate bleed and trim settings. This means you can just start modifying the style to fit your needs. Because this Pages template has a built-in Paragraph style sheet, it will be easy to keep a consistent style throughout your calendar.

Change view to “Facing pages”
This not only helps with visualizing layout, but also will help you keep the orientation of your photos straight when placing them in the document.

Styling your Calendar
Not making a family calendar? Then go through each page and make the necessary adjustments to layout and fonts. As I mentioned before, all of the above calendars use the exact same layout, with slight tweaks to the fonts and colors. It’s amazing how simple style changes can make a template your own. There are 3 styles in the template: “Title,” “Days of the Week” and “Numbers of the Month;” so changing these styles will transform the look of your calendar. Let’s get started!

Adjusting a Paragraph Style:

1. Expose the “Font Window” by selecting the “A” icon in the Toolbar (If for some reason you don’t see the toolbar at the top of your application frame, then Select VIEW >> Show Toolbar, then select the “A” icon)

2. Select a block of text that you wish to modify

3. Make desired changes to font, size, weight and color using the “Font Window.” As you make selections, you should see the font change on the page.

4. Expose the “Styles Drawer”

5. Select the block of text again–notice how it highlights the selected style in the “Styles Drawer.”

5. Update your paragraph style sheet so that all of the subsequent uses of this style reflect the style changes. You can do this by either “right-clicking” or “ctrl+ click” on the name of the font style in your “Styles Drawer”, then select “Redefine Style from Selection.”

Adding Special Dates to the Calendar:

Half the fun of making your own calendar, is including special dates that are important to you. So, whether you are creating a calendar for your child’s sports team, and you want to include their match dates; or if you are creating a calendar for your family, and you want to include Birthdays and Anniversaries; or if you want to create a calendar for your business and include special events and sales– it’s easy to do.

Because the numbers of the month are dependent on one another, typing directly in the square won’t work. Instead, follow the instructions below to add text boxes to your calendar. (Tip: You can also use these steps to add captions to your photos)

1. Select the Text Box Icon from the Toolbar (it looks like a “T” in a box)–
this will create a small box that you can move around the page

2. Type the information (ie. “Mom’s Birthday” or”Ladybugs vs. ‘Lil Giants”)

3. Grabbing the corner of the text box, adjust the size of the box to 1.4 x 1.0 (this way you can see how it will fit in the day’s square)

4. Adjust the size if the text so that it fits well inside the box and select your desired color and font.

5. Highlight the text again.

6. In the Styles Drawer, hold down the “+” at the bottom of the menu and select “Create New Paragraph Style from Selection” (You can also select FORMAT >> “Create New Paragraph Style from Selection” from the application menu bar)

7. Name your new style. This makes it possible fro you to use this style for other dates as you add them to your calendar.

8. With the text box selected, go to the “Metrics” tab in the Inspector window; use the rotation settings to rotate the text 90º.

9. Drag the box to the appropriate date on the calendar page.

Tip: Save yourself some extra steps by copying and pasting this text box throughout the document. (Select the text box and use “command+ C ” and “command+ V” to copy/paste) Then you can change the text, but it will maintain the style, size and rotation.

Save your file as a “Template” for future uses

If you plan to create another calendar, be sure to save your personalized document as a template. It’s easy to do, just select “File> Save as Template.” This puts a copy of your file into the Pages Template Chooser so you can find it easily next time you launch the application.

Tip: Because your using a template to create your calendar, and have the power of HP MagCloud’s digital printing, there’s no reason you can’t personalize your calendars… Perhaps change the cover image for Aunt Margaret’s calendar? Or make one with more photos of the kids for you In-Laws? Or create calendars that cater to your clients or program sponsors… it’s up to you!

TURNING YOUR DOCUMENT INTO A PDF:
You’re done designing? Yay!
This part couldn’t be easier! Simply select “FILE>> Export.”
Leave the default settings for PDF, and save your file.

WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PAGES?

Apple’s Pages ’09 site

Apple Store: iWork $79

PREVIEW the modified templates:

PREVIEW Template modified for a wedding photographer on MagCloud

PREVIEW Template modified for the PopWarner Team on MagCloud

PREVIEW Template modified for a business (Venetian Glass Blowers) on MagCloud

PREVIEW Template modified for Parma, Italy Calendar on MagCloud

PREVIEW Template modified for a family calendar on MagCloud

Easy Design with Templates in Apple’s [iWork] Pages

30 Sep 201010 Nov 2010Lauren7 Comments

If you’ve been holding off on publishing through MagCloud because you didn’t have the design skills, couldn’t afford expensive design software and didn’t have a best friend who is a graphic designer, why not use a template in a more accessible application?

PC users, I apologize, as this post doesn’t apply to you, but Mac lovers: GET EXCITED.

With Apple’s iWork Pages it’s easy to make a MagCloud-ready PDF. Here in my second exploration of basic design software, I’ll dive into using Apple’s design tool that comes in their iWork productivity suite (retails for just $79 at store.apple.com) to create your MagCloud publication.

When you open Pages it will offer you a number of template options. Any designed to print full size on an 8.5”x 11” piece of paper are almost great starting points for creating MagCloud publications. A number of other sites also offer Pages templates, but for my example today, I’m going to use the standard “Program” template in the application’s “Template Chooser”.

The original Pages version is available here: Download original Pages Template and my MagCloud-ready version with a Southern California theme, is available here: Download Modified Template

GETTING STARTED:
To get started, you’ll want to find and open a template.

In this case I found mine in the “Template Chooser” within the Pages application. Because the template is designed for a US Letter sized paper (8.5” x 11”) it will be really easy modify for my own use.

CUSTOMIZING A TEMPLATE:
Apple’s Pages templates all come with built-in Paragraph and Character style templates which make it much easier to keep a consistent style throughout your publication.

Rather than start with a blank document, I always start with a template in Pages and modify it to suit my needs, this way I already have built-in paragraph and character styles.

*With this particular application, it’s my suggestion that you work on setting up your template before you start adding any of your content.

Add all pre-designed pages within the template
Within the template there are a number of layout styles available. In my example here there are eight (varying from a cover, table of contents, feature article and 4-column text page, etc).

The reason for doing this is that you want to see what’s available to you, and actually modify the “template” so that you can use it again and again, rather than having to copy and paste design elements repetitively throughout the design process.

Change view to “Facing pages”
This not only helps with visualizing layout, but also will help you decide which page styles are going to be right-hand pages and left-hand pages.

Add guides to pages and adjust layout for trim
Adding guides to the outside edges of each page will ensure that everything will fit inside the trim line). Because MagCloud trims its documents to 8.25” x 10.75” we are going to lose 0.125” inches off the top and bottom, and 0.25” off the outside edge. This means in order for our template to be centered on the printed page, we are going to have to adjust the content on the page. With your Rulers active and visible, you’ll want to drag guides into place (0.13 in from the top and bottom, 0.25 from the outside edges). Be sure when you are designing your templates that you are making a conscious decision as to which pages will be left-hand pages and which will be right-hand pages. It will help to name them as such when you “capture” the layouts in a later step.

Adjust style sheets to your needs
Not making a ‘Metropolitan Symphony Program?’ Then go through each page and make the necessary adjustments to layout and fonts. You’ll notice this is exactly the same layout, with different fonts and colors. Amazing how simple style changes can make a template your own.

Tip: After you have adjusted a font in the font menu, such as the headline, update your template style sheet so you can easily apply the same style again. You can do this by either “right-clicking” or “ctrl+ click” on the name of the font style in your “Styles Drawer”, then select “Redefine Style from Selection.”

“Capture Pages” for future use
Save yourself a lot of work in the future by establishing your own templates with your style/colors and fixed text. Once you have modified the provided pages in the template with your own fonts and colors, you can “Capture Pages” to use in your template over and over again. You can do this by “right-clicking” or “ctrl+ click” on the page thumbnails on the left margin or by selecting “FORMAT> Advanced> Capture Pages”

Tip: since you have adjusted your content for the trim settings, be sure to name pages accordingly, like “Left-Feature” or “Right-4 paragraph story”). To delete the old template pages, select “FORMAT> Advanced> Manage Pages.”

Commit to a page count and layout
Planning ahead will save you a lot of design time. You should come up with an outline for your publication before you start laying out pages or entering content. This is important because inserting one page at the front of your document will throw off the layout for all of the subsequent spreads. You should also take your layout into consideration when designing and capturing your template spreads, because certain content will be better suited for a right-hand or left-hand page layout.

Save your file as a “Template” for future issues
If you plan to have future issues with this same style, be sure to save your personalized document as a template. It’s easy to do, just select “File> Save as Template.” This puts a copy of your file into the Pages Template Chooser so you can find it easily next time you launch the application.

TURNING YOUR DOCUMENT INTO A PDF:
This part couldn’t be easier! Simply select “FILE> Export.” Leave the default settings for PDF, and save your file.

WANT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT PAGES?

Apple’s Pages ’09 site

Apple Store: iWork $79

PREVIEW THE TEMPLATES ON MAGCLOUD

Original Brochure Template

Original Brochure Template with minor changes

Transformed Brochure Template with Southern California theme

Transform Templates into Professional Publications

3 Sep 20103 Sep 2010Lauren

Who says you have to be a professional designer to create a MagCloud-ready PDF? The MagCloud team has been exploring a variety of word processing and basic design applications that make creating a magazine super simple.

First up was Microsoft Word. There are a large number of Word templates available that are almost perfectly designed for creating MagCloud magazines.

Whether you are visiting Microsoft’s Website, or the program’s built-in project gallery (available on a Mac), you can find great templates to get you started on creating your brochure, catalog, calendar or just about any other document you can imagine.

I’ll be using the “Brochure” template here as a pilot, but we’ll explore other templates in the future.

The original Microsoft version is available Download original Microsoft Template and my MagCloud-ready version is available Download MagCloud Ready Template.

GETTING STARTED:
To get started, you’ll want to start by finding and opening your template.

In this case I found mine in the “Project Gallery” within the Microsoft Word application. Because the template is designed for a US Letter sized paper (8.5” x 11”) it will be really simple to modify for my own use.

ADJUSTING MARGINS:
Because MagCloud trims its documents to 8.25” x 10.75” we are going to lose 0.125” inches off the top and bottom, and 0.25” off the outside edge. This means in order for our template to be centered on the printed page, we are going to have to adjust the margins. Doing this consistently on every page can be tough, so I use a little trick with the document margin settings and offset them by 0.25.” This way, when the pages are trimmed that 0.25” off the outside edges, the content of the page still looks centered.

To access these settings, you will go to Format>>Document. Using the settings in the screen shot below, you can adjust the margins on the page, and then proceed to adjust the content so it fits within the guides. *Be sure to select “Mirror margins” to see the inside and outside margin options. In this example the document had a 0.5” margin all the way around, so I adjusted the margin by -0.25” on the inside, and +0.25” on the outside.

Adjusting the individual elements on each page can be tricky, so I recommend selecting one item on the page, using “ctrl + A”(PC) or “cmnd + A” (Mac) to select all, then right-clicking (or in some cases ctrl+click) on the mouse and selecting the option “Grouping>Group” to group the objects together. This allows you to move all of the page’s contents at once, so you don’t lose the integrity of your design. Be sure to reverse the process by right-clicking after the move and select “Grouping>Ungroup”, so you can once again modify the elements individually.

MAKING IT YOUR OWN:
Microsoft does some pretty awesome things with their Word templates by establishing color and font palettes, for the more novice user, this means you can keep your fonts and colors consistent through the document, and for those feeling a bit more daring, you can actually customize the palettes to make the document more your own. Each template comes in a set of colors, and fonts, but you can mix and match these to suit your needs.

Below you will see the same template with a different color schema and font collection.

TURNING YOUR WORD DOCUMENT INTO A PDF:

Microsoft Word 2003: To export your Word 2003 document as a MagCloud PDF on a PC, first go into Tools > Options and select the Save tab. Ensure that the box next to Embed TrueType Fonts is checked, but the boxes next to its subcategories (“Embed characters in use only” and “Do not embed common system fonts”) are unchecked.

Then, in the “Save to PDF” dialog box, click the “Options” button and check the “ISO 19005-1 compliant” box, which should also automatically put a check in the “Bitmap text when fonts may not be embedded” box.

Click Okay, then go to File > Save As and select PDF from the file type drop-down menu to save your PDF.

Microsoft Word 2007 (PC): To export your Word 2007 document on a PC, click on the Microsoft Office Button in the upper left hand corner and choose “Word Options”. Select the Save tab on the left and make sure that the box for “Embed fonts in this file” is checked, but uncheck the boxes below it (“Embed only the characters used in the document” and “Do not embed common system fonts”).

Then, in the “Save to PDF (or XPS)” dialog box, click the “Options” button and check the “ISO 19005-1 compliant” box, which should automatically put a check in the “Bitmap text when fonts may not be embedded” box.

Microsoft Word (Mac): When exporting your PDF on a Mac, there is no option to embed fonts, so simply select File > Save As and choose PDF from the Format drop-down menu.

*This usually is only an issue if you have empty, hidden or transparent text frames in your document, or when a single character within a block of text uses a different font than the rest of the paragraph. If you have problems, you will either need to eliminate these, or embed the fonts in a different program before uploading to MagCloud. (see the help section)

DESIGNER TIPS AND TRICKS:

1. Establish a style/color palette before you start inputting your content.
2. Save versions of your document as you play with the design, colors and fonts–this way you can open them up and compare your options side by side.
3. Use the styles panel to make changes in Paragraph and Character styles rather than adjusting selections on the page… this way you keep your styling consistent throughout your document.

WANT MORE HELP WITH WORD AND TEMPLATES?

Microsoft Office Word Template Site

Mactopia (for Mac Word Help/How-to’s)