By: Michael Murphy
June 15 2007 • 1:16 PM
The InDesigner - Episode 41: Quick Tip - Place Every Logo
How would you like to have all versions of your (or your client’s) logo available in one placed file and never have to worry about re-positioning them in the frame in your layout? In this episode, I share the tip I presented during the closing “tip extravaganza” session at last week’s InDesign Conference in New York. It’s a technique I plan to use all the time, and it builds on the topic of the last episode — Object Layer Options — but with Illustrator CS3 files this time.
Download it now or watch it in your browser:
The InDesigner - Episode 41 (7:00 mins. | 10.4 MB)
Nice! Didn’t think of that since this does not work in CS2…
Wow!!! What a great tip. Having multiple Illustrator files for varying purposes of logos is something I’ve lived with and just hated for a very long time!! Thanks for the incredible tip!!
Daniel
Brilliant, Michael. That’s a great tip! (Sorry I couldn’t see you in New York.)
Great job fleshing out this tip from your presentation! I’m re-inspired to haul out all my logos and arrange them in “collection” Illustrator documents …
AM
Michael, thanks for the credit.
It’s the fact that I found out that the new Crop Tool in Illustrator CS3 was mostly useless (I should totally) that I was trying to work it around and I came to the same conclusion than you.
In AICS3, the Crop Tool creates Art areas so only this area is imported in IDCS2 or IDCS3. Two problems.
- Only one Art area is possible per file, with our tip you can have many Art areas (x layers = x Art areas)
- All Spot colors are imported, even the ones that are not visible. With our tip you will import only the spot colors that you need and if you change the layers’ visibility of the AI file in ID (to another logo and thus other spot colors) you can delete the unused spot colors via the Swatches’ flyout menu > Select unused swatches.
Thanks, Branislav…great info.
I should also be more clear here than I may have been in the episode. This trick only works when using InDesign CS3 and placing Illustrator CS3 files or Illustrator CS2 files saved as layered PDFs. It will not work with native Illustrator CS2 files, and it will not work in InDesign CS2.
It’s nice, I’ve not tried it out yet, I noticed you had your images stepped out on the page, I would have done the same thing in Illustrator for multiple files, then placed all the images and resized the box over the image chosen, thus only showing the visible logo. This way is a little neater, in the sense that, as it was already said, that you can layer the logos, so they don’t have to be spread over the page, do they? You could simply, group, duplicate over it, move to new layer, change logo, rinse and repeat, leaving plenty of space to work with the art. If you catch my drift.
If you don’t have CS3, then you can drag and drop the logo from AI to ID CS2, onto a new layer of course, this renders the artwork completely editable, albeit without as much functionality as AI, but you can still tweak colours and change opacities and all that jazz.
Just a thought, thanks for the tip David, I’m sure this will be a massive time saver for many.
Kind regards,
Eugene
Sorry Michael, I meant to thank you for the tip, David didn’t do anything this time around. Cheers guys.
Good tip!
In CS2 surely if you need to update many instances it would be just as easy to change the contents of the linked file thus updating all logos?
I just succumbed and updated to CS3 and enjoyed looking at this last podcast.
Illustrator Techniques just folded and there will be a gap in fullfilling info about the flow between applications. I think Photoshop gets too much coverage but (just a suggestion) you might cover the Application flow of designs from Illustrator to InDesign more. Much as you did in this last podcast.
Regardless, anything you teach here, as I have said before, is just wonderful.
Gary.
What I enjoy about the series is that they show how to accomplish publishing. It is thus the experienced professional I like to watch — not only the person who knows the tricks of InDesign.
I would therefore welcome installments that simply described how you went about tackling design challenges - even when this did not involve any fancy InDesign footwork.
I really enjoy your podcasts and I know you are a busy man but, I wonder if after more than a month if there will be more shows, I really hope so because there aren’t many other indesign podacast of this quality and for that i thank you and hope to continue to enjoy your podcasts.
thank you.
Cesar (and everyone else) –
I appreciate the concern and the kind words about the podcast. I am hard at work on a new episode and have mapped out a schedule that will get back to two per month. Look for Episode 42 within the next few days…and thanks for your patience through what has been an extraordinarily busy time for me.
I’ve downloded your podcast since episode 1 on your old site. I’ve check the site daily to see if a new podcast is coming, and even if i didn’t comment (althou i should have) i wondered everyday when would you release a new podcast, i think we don’t show you enought comments with thank you for all the knowledge that you’ve shared with us.
Looking foward to your new episodes.
I agree that we all need to thank you more for this. Where you find the time (let alone the money) to do this at no cost I cannot imagine. Like others you have made it an addictive site to visit - we are always eager for more. See you next time.
Gary.
Interesting trick! In order for this to work, do all of your logo variations out of AI CS3 need to be the exact same size? Or could you conceivably have a hodge podge of various logos /sizes(some folks like myself have main and secondary logos that look different)?