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• • August 4, 2010 at 9:33 am #56575
    indesignhobbyist

    Member

    As a hobbyist, I have been working with InDesign for about 3 months. I love this tool. I have some struggle to configure my workflow for creating my resume as I am a layout developer as well as a content developer. Question: Should I develop the contents first and create layout based on the amount of contents; or should I develop the layout first, and fit the contents in the layout. Please share your thoughts and insight.

    – Ned

  • August 4, 2010 at 11:01 am #56577
    Anonymous

    Inactive

    Get the content first, as finished off as possible.

    I've been in both situations:

    “Oh we'll have the content in a few days, start doing layouts!!!”

    The layout looks great, they approve it, then the content doesn't fit into it at all, so you need to rework the layout. Then you have to explain to them why certain things were reworked.

    Recently I had some photos, and I put two on a page, filling out nearly top and bottom right to the page edge (almost). And when asked could I resize because the images were 30 mm from the foredge I had to explain to resize the image proportionally I'd have to scale diagonally, meaning the other photo wouldn't fit on the page, well hang off the page.

    So I always like to get the content first, signed off as much as possible, then you can get going on the layout and stuff and everything goes smoother.

  • August 5, 2010 at 7:48 am #56597
    Betty Taylor

    Member

    Indesignhobbiest wrote: <snip>…to configure my workflow for creating my resume…

    For your resume, absolutely content first! Resumes are one case where what you say is much more important than how it looks.

    For most other projects, content first for all the reasons at @Eugene Tyson mentioned. Sometimes my clients won't have finalized content ready but will request that I start design anyway. Depending on the client and project, I might be able to direct the content to some extent, as in “Headline no more than 6 words; body copy up to 30 words.” Sometimes it works out, sometimes it's a disaster and requires a full redesign once final content is ready.

  • August 9, 2010 at 1:18 am #56614
    Chris Thompson

    Member

    Oh the luxury of content first! Much of what I do is fixing up translated versions of documents that started in English. Most languages take up more room on the page than English, so by the time the work gets to me, the chance of retaining the original designer's layout has shrunk. Usually the text size and/or leading get the treatment, but other times, they're more relaxed about reducing the size or changing the position of the pictures.

    So a plea to all you designers out there: white space is good, not just for aesthetic reasons, but also to allow space for expansion if the document gets translated.

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