I never really used Indesign much in school. However, we use it on a daily basis in the office. Knowing what I know now, I wish I would have implemented it more back in school. Indesign is another Adobe product that serves as a powerful layout tool. The program allows you to link other native Adobe documents such as Photoshop and Illustrator files to it.  I’m not going to try to explain the entire program, but I will touch on some of the key points that I think really make the software a powerful tool for architects.

While many people actually layout images and text in Indesign, I prefer to create my layouts in Photoshop but then use Indesign as a way to manage all of the pages, such as for architectural portfolios. You can set up the initial document to be formatted however you want, i.e. portfolio, presentation board, etc.  For the example below, I set up the Indesign document to match my 6”x9” portfolio size. I also added an 1/8” bleed as was originally setup in my Photoshop files.  Finally, the document is setup for double sided printing and therefore displays the facing pages exactly as they would be printed.  The pages pallet (shown on the right) allows you to view thumbnails of all of the pages in the document, rearrange them, delete them, duplicate them, etc. At the top of the pages pallet are the Master Pages which allows for certain items such as page numbers, project names, background graphics and templates to be applied to all of the pages of the document.

PORTFOLIOS

For portfolios, Indesign is indispensable. I had originally created my graduate portfolio in Photoshop.  I still prefer to develop all of the graphics inside of Photoshop (others may prefer Illustrator). With Indesign, I can take those Photoshop files or Illustrator files and directly place them into the Indesign document. By placing the files, I am “linking” the Photoshop file to the Indesign file. If I make a change to the Photoshop file and save it, the change will automatically get updated in Indesign. For example, say I have my Photoshop files imported into Indesign and I want to add some shadows to the “Box Morphology” page shown below.

To make the change, I first open the linked Photoshop file that the image was created in, add the shadows, and then save the changes.

Once the Photoshop file is saved, I then go back into Indesign. In the links tab, I find the changed file (delineated with a yellow “!” next to the name), right-click, and choose “Update”.

The file will then update to the latest saved version of the file and the shadows appear in the Indesign file.

With the above example, you can see that the portfolio can continue to be developed in Photoshop or, if you prefer, Illustrator, but still be completely managed in Indesign. You are probably asking, “So what?” It wasn’t until I started working in our office that I finally realized the value of this program. Architecture projects are constantly evolving, and therefore they are constantly changing and being updated.  There comes a point when documents start to become very large, as in the case of portfolios, while changes are still being made at a rapid pace. Indesign offers a simple way to manage all of the graphics and text in one place, review the document in its entirety, as well as the ability to export and print the final document with ease.

PRESENTATION BOARDS.

Often in our office, we are producing large presentation boards for clients. Every week, we will put together a series of updated floor plans and corresponding images based on previous meetings. Because the floor plan files and images are linked in Indesign, once the changes to the floor plans and images are saved, the Indesign boards are automatically updated. Even better, we make use of “Master Pages” that allow us to quickly update the page numbers, dates, etc. Below, I put together a basic presentation board similar in complexity to what our office may present on a weekly basis to clients.

The board is made up of a PDF or Illustrator floor plan, and some Photoshop graphic files. I also have a basic project name and date. In many cases, we will be presenting 5 to 10 boards at a time. With Indesign, we are able to keep an updated set of boards similar to the one above simply by updating the linked Photoshop, PDF, and Illustrator files as the changes are made throughout the week.

When it’s time to print, we open the master page and correct the date, in which case all of the boards get updated. We can then either save the entire set of boards as a PDF document for emailing or send everything to the printer. The process is simple and limits coordination mistakes from juggling multiple PSD and Illustrator files separately.

TEXT

Consistency is crucial to a good presentation. For my portfolio above, I added all of my text in Photoshop, but this was back in school before I knew or cared about Indesign. Because text was added in Photoshop, making text style changes across all of the pages would be difficult and time consuming. The better way of doing things would be to build the graphics in Photoshop, but add the text via Indesign. This would ensure consistent text sizes, styles, and formatting as well as simplifying the process of making size and style changes across all of the pages if need be. Plus, Indesign is known for its powerful typographic tools allowing for a wide array of customization and manipulation.

I’m not saying that Indesign will change your architectural life, but if you’re looking for a way to add a little more efficiency into your presentation workflow, you may want to look into InDesign if you haven’t already.

I received a question on my Facebook page asking what service I used for my website. I liked the question and it made sense to devote a post on the topic. The thing is, there are so many free services available that there is no reason not to put you stuff online. I started my site a few years ago not having any idea what I was doing. It was originally only meant to serve as a means of communication to and from my professors as I researched my thesis over the summer. For some reason, the site eventually morphed into a blog about architectural illustrations unrelated to my thesis. It just sort of happened and I’m glad it did. Even if your intentions are only for the site to serve as a web portfolio, the time it takes to setup a site is minimal. Here are a few suggestions I have about getting your stuff online.

VIRTUAL PORTFOLIO: Issuu.com–  I have long been a big fan of this site. Issuu is a digital publishing site that allows you to upload a PDF of your portfolio, and turn it into a virtual document that you can flip through via the Issuu platform. It’s a very clean interface and has a ton of options for embedding. A link to your virtual portfolio could be pasted in emails or added to a resume offering an easy way to send others your digital portfolio. One other note about Issuu. There are already tons of architecture portfolios uploaded which can serve as a great source of inspiration or give you an idea of what kinds of portfolios certain schools are accepting.

Below is an example of my portfolio that was uploaded to Issuu and then embedded on this site.

BASIC PORTFOLIO SITE: Carbonmade, FolioHD– I see these sites as an intermediate option between sites like Issuu and a full blown website. The features are somewhat limited, but what you do get is an easy-to-navigate site that makes browsing through projects a breeze. I have never used these services personally, but I have friends who went this route and it worked out well for them.

BLOGS: WordPress, Wix, Tumblr, Squarespace-There are a ton of free blogging services. A lot of these services have their own platforms and hosting, meaning you don’t have to use programs like Adobe Dreamweaver. Everything is managed online. I use a service called Squarespace. It’s not free, but allows for a high level of customization and is constantly upgrading its platform with new features.

What I like about blog websites is that they allow you to express your work similar to the portfolio sites, but in a social way. Architecture is a social occupation, therefore it makes sense to show others that there is an actual person behind the work. If you’re not into blogging, you can still create unique custom websites geared towards only presenting your work in a portfolio style format using these services.

The above suggestions are obviously only the tip of the iceberg. The options for getting your work online are only going to increase and it can be a little overwhelming. My suggestion is start simple. Set up a game plan of what you want, and stick to it. This will ensure that you get clear, quality content online in a short amount of time.

One thing I miss more than anything after finishing school was building physical models. As much as I enjoy rendering and illustrating, my favorite part of the design process was getting away from the screen and building study/presentation models. My thesis project was especially interesting, since I made it a goal to design the entire project digitally with no study models (well one quick one at the beginning of the project). My final presentation model was the first time I saw the design in physical, tangible form. Not only that, but the laser cutter was toast and everything had to be done the old school way, measuring and hand cutting each individual piece.

The reason that I bring this up is because I realized that maybe 75% of the models no longer exist or will never be seen again. Half of them fell victim to the move to Boston. Others, I let the schools keep. The model pics are all I have left which have been crucial to my portfolios and this blog. If you don’t already document your stuff after every project, it’s a good habit to get into. Also, take your time and use good lighting. Some of my model pics are blurry or just bad angles, which is brutal to edit.

I take text pretty seriously. I think of it as an opportunity to enhance a portfolio page. The odd thing is that I really only use a few different fonts with arial being used about 75% of the time. However with that one font, it seems that text can be manipulated into an infinite amount of styles by adjusting letter spacing, stretching, and switching between narrow, regular, bold, and black line weights. Bringing into the equation opacity, filters, and mask, text turns into a design project itself.

Some other things to keep in mind is alignments and spacing. I try to always have some sort of relationship between the text and the other objects on the page. I often place text on a datum line or edge and take advantage of its linearity.  If I do leave it floating on the page, I make sure to give it consistent spacing on all sides.

If your not a fan fonts already loading on your computer, there are some great sites to get just about any type of font you could want. The one I check out from time to time is dafont.com.

After preparing the study model for the portfolio page, this next video discusses the initial setup of the Photoshop document, as well as some basic techniques used to add illustrations. It is important to note that the image size and dpi used for this portfolio is based on personal preference. I provided this information as a reference. My hope is that others will use this information as a jumping off point to explore sizes that fit their style and expression.

There is nothing better than a nice model pic. However, I didn’t always use proper lighting or a good camera when I first started to document my stuff. This study model is a good example of something that I was never expecting to use in my portfolio. The model in the pic was constantly being altered during the design process. It was used to explore form and no thought went into the cleanliness of the construction. Little did I know that it was going to be front and center of the first page of the first project in my portfolio. This video will describe the steps I used to prepare the image for the portfolio page

The images below summarize the steps used to go from the initial photograph to the final image as described in the video above.

The initial Picture

Final edited image