InDesign Tips: How to Outline Fonts

Adobe InDesign, the industry standard in layout and design software, offers a wealth of tools for designers. Whether you're laying out a flyer for your next garage sale, or an ad for a magazine, InDesign has the tools you need to make an incredible product that you can be proud of.

One of the greatest features in InDesign is its seamless workflow with the rest of the Adobe suite of products. Coming from a family which includes such versatile software like Photoshop and Illustrator, InDesign is unparalleled in its ease and flexibility.

Among the many features that InDesign has to offer its users is the incredible way it handles fonts. In this tutorial we'll take a look at how you can use the Create Outlines feature to add brand new dimensions to whatever font face you're using.

To begin, open a new document in InDesign by going to File, New, Document. Specify the page size, margins and columns of your new document and then click on okay.

With your new blank document open, you'll want to add text to your document by selecting the Text tool from the menu bar on the right hand side of the InDesign window. Draw your text box and type whatever you would like in whatever type style you choose.

Once your done with your type it's time to create your outlines. In order to do this, you'll need to choose your Selection Tool from the menu bar. The Selection Tool is the dark arrow on the top left hand side of the menu. With the Selection Tool, click on the text box containing your type and then in the top menu go to Type, Create Outlines.

Once you've created the outlines of your type you'll see that text box is transformed into small blue lines outlining the type. Essentially what you have just done is told the program to not see the type as being part of a font face, but instead to see it as a graphic element. Doing this allows you several options that you wouldn't have had if the type had been left as a basic font.

First of all, now that your type is considered a graphic element, you now have the option to scale that type in whatever way you want. Unlike a font face which is confined by rules of point size, outlined type has the ability to be scaled to whatever size in whatever direction you choose. Play with scaling your type by clicking on the lower right hand corner of the new selection box and clicking and dragging to resize the outlined type inside of the box.

Another option available with outlined type is that you can now fill that type with a pattern or a photograph. In order to fill your outlined type with an image, select the fill color of the type as being nothing, then import your image into InDesign by going to File, Place and select the image you want to import into your outlines. When the paintbrush appears, simply click on the outlined type to fill it with your new image.

You also have the option of applying adjustable drop shadows to your outlined type. In order to apply a drop shadow, select your outlined type and then in the top menu select Object, Drop Shadow. When the drop shadow box appears you'll have the option to apply the drop shadow, select the color, opacity, and the offset. Make sure to click on the preview box so that you can see the changes as you make them in your document.

There are some disadvantages to converting your type into outlines, primarily the fact that you cannot edit the type once it has been outlined. If you need to make changes to that type for whatever reason, then you'll have to delete your outlines and start over again, so it's a good idea to proofread your type before you convert it over into outlines.

Even with that disadvantage, there are so many benefits that can be gained from creating outlines on your type, especially if you plan on sending your work to a professional printer to be printed. By eliminating the fonts from your document, you'll virtually guarantee that your professional printed piece will turn out exactly the way you want it too.

With so many great benefits to creating outlines of your type there's no reason not to consider giving it a try on your next InDesign project. So go on, what are you waiting for? Go make some outlines!