InDesign Refresher · Page 3 of 8

Paragraph & character styles

Paragraph styles format whole paragraphs. Character styles format a few words inside them. Together they keep every page of your magazine consistent.

Paragraph styles

A paragraph style is a saved recipe of type settings (font, size, leading, spacing, indents, color and more) for a whole paragraph. Change the recipe once and every paragraph using it updates. This is how a 24-page magazine stays consistent.

Open the panel: Window > Styles > Paragraph Styles (F11).

Create a style from formatted text

Format one paragraph exactly how you want it, using the Properties, Character and Paragraph panels.
Leave your cursor in that paragraph.
In the Paragraph Styles panel, Opt-click the Create new style button (the + icon) so the options open.
Name it by its job, not its look: Body, Headline, Caption (not “Garamond 10”).
Check Apply Style to Selection and click OK.

Apply, override and update

Apply: click anywhere in a paragraph (or select several), then click the style name.
A + next to a style name means that paragraph has an override: local formatting that doesn’t match the style. Opt-click the style name to apply it and clear the overrides.
Update a style from your text: change the formatting, then choose Redefine Style from the panel menu (Opt+Shift+Cmd+R). Every paragraph using that style updates.
Quick Apply (Cmd+Return): type the first letters of a style name and press Return. Faster than the panel.

The highlighted style shows where your cursor is. A + means someone formatted that paragraph by hand.

Build a style family with Based On

In Style Options > General, Based On makes one style the parent of others. Change the font in the parent and all of its children follow, while each child keeps its own differences.

Base your text styles on one Body style. Change Body’s typeface during your type studies and every related style updates at once.

Next Style (also in General) chooses what comes after. Set Headline → Next Style: Deck → Byline → Body First → Body. Then select the whole article, right-click the Headline style and choose Apply “Headline” then Next Style. One click styles the whole opener.

Style options worth knowing

Option (in Style Options)	What it’s for
Indents and Spacing	First-line indent for body text, space before subheads. Align to Grid: All Lines locks text to the baseline grid (Baseline grid).
Keep Options	Keep with Next stops a subhead from sitting alone at the bottom of a column. Keep Lines Together (2 at start, 2 at end) fixes widows and orphans.
Span Columns	Lets a headline or deck run across several columns of a multi-column frame.
Hyphenation / Justification	Control rags and gaps. Turn hyphenation off for headlines and pull quotes.
Paragraph Rules	Lines above or below a paragraph, like a rule over a pull quote, that move with the text.
Drop Caps and Nested Styles	Drop caps and automatic character styles (Character styles).

A starter set for a magazine article

Style	Use	Typical starting point
Kicker	Small label above the headline (section name)	Clean sans, all caps, 8–9 pt, tracked +50
Headline	Article title	Display face, 30–60 pt, no hyphenation
Deck	One- or two-sentence summary under the headline	12–16 pt
Byline	Author name	Sans, 8–9 pt, caps or bold
Body First	First paragraph and after subheads	Based on Body, no first-line indent, maybe a drop cap
Body	Running text	Text face, 9–10.5 pt on 12–13 pt leading, 1-em indent
Subhead	Breaks up long stories	Sans bold, same size as body, Keep with Next
Pull Quote	A short, enlarged quote	14–24 pt, accent color, rule above
Caption / Credit	Image description and photographer credit	7–8.5 pt, italic or sans
Folio / Running Head	Page number and magazine name	Sans, 7–8 pt

Try it: Exercise 1

Exercise 1 comes with paragraph styles already made. Before you design, open each style’s options and note its Based On and Next Style. Then change the look by editing the styles, not by selecting text and reformatting it. If your Paragraph Styles panel is full of + signs, you’re working against the styles.

Character styles

A character style formats just a few letters or words inside a paragraph: italics for a book title, a bold lead-in, a colored drop cap. Paragraph styles set the base; character styles add the exceptions.

Open the panel: Window > Styles > Character Styles (Shift+F11).

Select a word and format it (for example, change the font style to Italic).
Opt-click Create new style in the Character Styles panel and name it (Italic, Lead-in, Drop Cap).
Check Apply Style to Selection.

Keep it lean

Only set the attributes that should change. A character style named Italic should set the font style to Italic and leave the font family and size blank. Then it works inside Body, Caption and Deck alike.

Let InDesign apply them for you

Drop cap: in your Body First style, open Drop Caps and Nested Styles. Set Lines: 3, Characters: 1, and choose a Drop Cap character style for its font and color.
Nested style: in the same panel, click New Nested Style to apply a Lead-in style “through 1 Sentence” or “up to 1 Em Space.” Useful for bold run-in heads, Q&A names and captions that start with a location.
GREP style (same panel, further down): applies a character style to any text that matches a pattern. For example, \d+ applies a style to every number, and \u{2,} applies small caps to every acronym like NASA.