InDesign Refresher · Page 5 of 8

Object styles & images

Style your frames the same way you style your text, and place images that fit, bleed and wrap correctly.

Object styles

Object styles do for frames what paragraph styles do for text. One click gives an image frame its stroke, corner shape, text wrap and fitting, or gives a sidebar its fill, inset and text style.

Open the panel: Window > Styles > Object Styles (Cmd+F7).

Format one frame: fill, stroke, Object > Corner Options, text wrap, effects.
With the frame selected, Opt-click Create new style in the Object Styles panel.
Check only the categories you want the style to control (the checkboxes on the left). Uncheck the rest.
For text frames, set Text Frame General Options (inset, columns, vertical alignment) and Paragraph Styles so the frame’s text gets styled too.
For image frames, set Frame Fitting Options to Fill Frame Proportionally.

An object style gives every image the same treatment, which is one of the constants that holds a magazine together.

Good uses in a magazine

Photo – Rounded: the same corner radius on every image (a consistent image treatment)
Pull Quote Frame: wrap, inset and the Pull Quote paragraph style in one click
Caption Frame: no wrap, set width, Caption style
Color Block: your accent color, no stroke, sent behind text

Try it: Brochure series

Three brochures that share one look are a perfect job for styles. Build your paragraph, character and object styles in the first brochure. Then, in the next file, choose Load All Text Styles from the Paragraph Styles panel menu, or Load Object Styles from the Object Styles panel menu, to bring them across.

Images, captions & text wrap

Place an image: File > Place, then click to place it at full size or drag a frame to size it as you place.
Fit it: Object > Fitting > Fill Frame Proportionally (Opt+Shift+Cmd+C). Drag the content grabber (the donut in the middle) to move the image inside its frame.
Bleed: pull image frames all the way to the red bleed line, not just to the page edge.
Text wrap: Window > Text Wrap (Opt+Cmd+W). Choose Wrap around bounding box and set an offset equal to your gutter. Better yet, save it in an object style.
Captions: put each caption in its own frame, styled with Caption, and align it to the grid next to or under its image. Group the image and caption (Cmd+G) so they move together.
Links: the Window > Links panel shows every image. Fix any red stop sign (missing) or yellow triangle (modified) icons before you export.

Try it: Exercise 2 & the Pulse magazine

Both require a caption or credit for every image you use, on each page where it appears. Make a Caption style and a Caption Frame object style first so every credit matches.