CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software was originally designed with the aim of helping businesses of any size and type to build, maintain and grow relationships with new and existing customers. However, over time it developed in various directions and today, other than its primary function of establishing contact between companies and their customers, it offers a great lot of possibilities, helping businesses with marketing, accounting, managing sales, social media and other types of operational data in a usually very user-friendly manner.
There are a lot of CRM software to choose from and even though the first factor when opting for one would probably be the size of your company, we bring you here the list of 5 CMR software that we found work the best for creative agencies.
Pipedrive is one of the leading CMR software at the moment and the winner of Expert’s Choice Award for 2017 according to Finances Online website. You can try it for free before making the decision to purchase it and integrate the software into your business plan. This software offers a great overview of sales, making it easy to prioritize deals and facilitate your workflow – even more so because the system is fully mobile optimized and it allows integration with many Google apps and other third-party systems, so you can have it all in one place. With Pipedrive you can make direct sales and approach each customer individually without wasting too much time. Another great thing about this software is that is available in 13 different languages, so there’s a great probability you can set it up in your native language if you are not fully comfortable working in English and in that way diminish possible errors and inconveniences.
Punchh is a CMR software known for working with over 100 global brands. It allows businesses to reach their customers across multiple channels through the use of acquisition tools. In an increasingly fully online-based business world, Punchh is a world leader in providing marketing solutions for brick and mortar retailers that may struggle to maintain relationships with their customers and reach new ones. The software strong points include marketing, IT, enterprise, platform configuration and services that can aid with growing and developing the company, wherever you are starting from at the moment of purchase.
Sugar CRM offers a more intuitive way to get the job done thanks to the Sugar Productivity Suite that helps boost the productivity of your company and achieve greater results. What is particularly useful about this CRM is that there are various editions based on the different businesses, so you can more easily choose the one that would ideally suit your industry or niche you are operating in. The software also has a reputation of providing a great customer experience and is available in 120 countries and in 26 different languages. You can try it for free for the period of 7 days to see whether it suits your company.
The Insightly software is used by over 1.5 million users all around the world coming from a wide range of different industries. This platform enables you to build and strengthen relationships with your customers, accelerate and grow sales, convert closed deals into projects and stay connected to the apps that you already use. Also, if you are looking to attract more new clients, it helps you to do so by discovering connections through relationships links. Try it for free on the Insightly official page.
What differentiates Nimble from other CMR platforms, other than integrating Office 365 and Google maps, is its integration with social media which makes customer search and sales so much more easier and far more efficient. Offering the essential CMR management features like other platforms of this type, Nimble also delivers so-called ‘Live Profiles’ with important details on prospects gathered from social media. It can be used on both iOS and Android, so you don’t have to worry about staying updated and efficient while ‘on the go’.
Looking for a simple, clean, easy-to-edit medical brochure? This tutorial shows you how to make a brochure template in InDesign.
Brochure designs play an important role in the impact of your marketing communication. Brochures are a nice way to engage customers by providing key points of your medical center, clinic, or hospital.
In this tutorial, we will set up a ready-to-print template using color swatches and paragraph styles. These two panels will make it easier for you edit the design in a variety of colors and fonts. This template is fully editable and a time saver! This template is packed with design essentials, ready to get your business up and running.
What You Will Need
You’ll need access to Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. If you don’t have the software, you can download a trial from the Adobe website. You’ll also need the following assets:
In InDesign, go to File > New. Name the document Medical Brochure Template. We will create an A5 brochure template.Set the file to the following dimensions:
Width to 14.8 cm
Height to 21 cm
Orientation to Portrait
Pages to 4
Check Facing Pages
Margins to 1 cm
Bleeds to 0.3 cm (it’s best to seek your professional printer’s preference)
Click Create.
Step 2
For this brochure design tutorial, we will work with two Layers. Organizing layers is an important practice when designing a template.
Bring up the Layers panel by going to Window > Layers. Double-click on Layer 1 and rename it Images/Vector.
On the Layers panel main menu, select New Layer. Name it Copy. Click OK. This is where all of the text will go.
Step 3
Before we start with the design, let’s organize the color swatches. Head over to Window > Color > Swatches to expand the Swatches panel. Select the default swatches, and Right-Click > Delete Swatch.
Choose New Color Swatch button from the main menu. Add the following colors:
Dark Blue: C=100 M=50 Y=0 K=40
Light Blue: C=45 M=10 Y=0 K=0
Dark Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=50
Light Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=15
Click Add after inputting each color value. Click Done.
2.How to Place Images and Create Vectors in Adobe InDesign
Step 1
On the Layers panel, make sure you are selecting the Images/Vector layer.
On the toolbar,select the Pen Tool (P). We will create a path. Click outside the left side of the page to create the first point—this is an anchor point. Next, click inside the page, and hold and drag to create a curve. This is called a direction point, and you can alter this later. Click outside the right side of the page to complete the curve. Close the object by going around the page until you meet the initial point.
To edit the curve, select the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the toolbar.Select the center point and move the handles around until you’ve achieved a curve you are happy with.
Duplicate the object by pressing Shift-Option and dragging to the side. Duplicate this once more—we will go back to these two objects shortly.
Step 2
Select the original object that is currently on the page. Press Command-D to Place an image. Select the Happy doctor image, and click OK.
Head over to the control bar and activate the Constrain Proportion Scaling button. Set the Scale to 56%. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to Move the image within the object.
Lock the object by pressing Command-L.
Step 3
Let’s go back to the duplicate objects. Color each object by going to the Swatches panel. Color one object with light grey and the other object with dark blue.
Select both objects and press Shift-Command-[ tosend the objects to the back. Spread both objects across the page to create a wave below the image.
Step 4
As mentioned before, keeping the files clean is ideal, especially if you will be using this as a medical brochure template. We will cut out the leftover part hanging outside the bleed mark. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle covering the outside of the bleed and just enough to cover one of the shapes. Select the new rectangle and the grey object.
Bring up the Pathfinder panel by going to Window > Object & Layout > Pathfinder. Select the Subtract button. Repeat the process for the second object. Perfect!
Step 5
To add a logo, press Command-D and select the logo. Click OK. Drag on the document instead of clicking to place the object at a smaller size than the original. If you click on the document, the software will place the object at 100% scale.
Place the logo on the bottom right side.
To create a cohesive look, draw a rectangle at the bottom of the cover. It should cover the width of the page. I set the Height to 0.6 cm on the Control bar.
3.How to Create Paragraph Styles in Adobe InDesign
Paragraph styles are a great tool when creating a template. We can set text styles, similar to the colors on the Swatches panel. This will allow us to create a cohesive look throughout the brochure template. It will also be faster to edit to specific brand guidelines.
For this project, we will set styles for a title, tagline, subheading, body copy, and pull quote.
Step 1
Open up the Paragraph Styles panel by going to Windows > Styles > Paragraph Styles.
From the main menu, select New Paragraph Style.
In the New Paragraph Style window, set the Style Name to Headline. Select Basic Character Formats from the left side menu and use the following settings:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:22 pt
Leading:22 pt
Tracking:20
Select the Character Color option from the left menu. Set the color to the darker blue. Click OK.
Perfect! Now let’s create a few more styles, and then we will be ready to format text boxes. Use the following settings for the tagline:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Medium
Size:10 pt
Leading:12 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the subheading:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Black
Size:12 pt
Leading:14.4 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Regular
Size:8 pt
Leading:9.6 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:14 pt
Leading:16.8 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Step 2
Perfect! Select the Text Tool (T) from the toolbar.Draw a text box opposite the logo. Add a headline and a tagline.
Select the headline by highlighting it with the text tool. Select the Headline style from the Paragraph style panel. Keep in mind you can still customize text boxes. For the headline, I will set the second line in the dark grey color.
Select the tagline and set it to the Tagline style on the Paragraph panel.
Step 3
If you’ve been working on the Images layer, select the text box. Head over to the Layers panel, and click and drag the blue square to the Copy layer. This action will transfer the objects from one layer to the other.
Step 4
Let’s work on the inside pages of the medical brochure. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle at the very top of the pages. Make sure it is going over to the bleed mark. Set the color to dark blue.
Create a few text boxes using the Text Tool (T). Don’t worry about the placement for now—we can move them around as we develop the rest of the pages.
Step 5
Press Command-D to Place these two images:Smiling medical team and Sisters smiling.I’ve arranged the two photos as shown in the image below:
Profile headshots are an important part of medical brochures. They’ll give the target market a chance to get to know some faces. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) from the toolbar.Click on the document and set the Width and Height to 2 cm.
Head over to the Control bar, and set the Stroke Weight to 3 pt. Set the Stroke color to dark blue.
Step 6
Duplicate the circle by pressing Shift-Option and dragging. Have a total of four circles.
To distribute the four objects evenly, place two of them on each side of the page, ideally just inside the margin. Head over to Window > Object and Layout > Align to open the Align panel. Select all four objects and press the Distribute Horizontal Center button.
Step 7
Select one of the circles and press Command-D. Select the Healthcare workers image and click OK.
Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), and set the Scale to 40%. This image contains several headshots, so repeat this action for the rest of the circles.
Step 8
To bring it all together, we will add some blue vectors at the back. Use the Rectangle Tool (M), and click on the document. Set the Width to 15 cm and the Height to 3.45 cm. Place this object behind the headshots.
Create another rectangle with the same dimensions. Place it on the opposite page. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the top right point and move it downwards. This will create some movement on the spread.
Select both items and press Command-L to Lock boththe objects.
Step 9
Let’s add some names to the headshots. Using the Text Tool (T), draw text boxes under each photo. Use the Paragraph Styles to set the styles. Remember you can still change the format of the text box after setting a style. I’ve chosen Body Copy to make sure the size is uniform but changed the color to white and the name to the Bold family.
To align the text boxes to the headshots, use the Align panel and select the Align Horizontal Center button.
Step 10
Let’s add some icons on the right page. This is perfect to promote any kind of services. Open the colored version of the healthcare icons in Adobe Illustrator. Select three icons of your choice to copy to the medical brochure design. Use Command-C to Copy and Command-V to Paste.
Head back to the brochure design. Select all three icons, and on the Align panel, select the Top Edge button.
Head over to the Control panel, activate the Constrain Proportions button, and set the Height to 1.5 cm.
Step 11
This time, to divide the icons equally, we will use Guides. This is a second method of dividing objects across a page.
Head over to Layout > Create Guides. In the Create Guides option window, set the Columns to 3 and the Gutter to 0.5 cm. Set Fit Guides to: Margins and click OK.
Step 12
Create three text boxes using the Text Tool (T) on each column. Use Paragraph Styles to format the text. Set the Alignment to Align Center.
Step 13
Select an icon and a text box. On the Align panel, select the Align Horizontal Center button. The two objects will align; place them on one of the columns. Repeat this with the other objects until you’ve centered each on a column.
Let’s add a divider in the gutter. Select the Line Tool (\) from the toolbar.Hold Shift and drag to create a straight line.
Step 14
Let’s work on the back cover. Press Command-D to add an image. Place the image on the top two-thirds of the brochure. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move the image within the frame.
Repeat the blue stripe by using the Rectangle Tool (M). Set the Width to 15.4 cm and the Height to 0.4 cm. This time, place it under the image.
Using the Text Tool (T), add a pull quote over the image. Use the Pull quote style from the Paragraph Styles panel.
Place a logo on the bottom right side using the Command-D shortcut.
Select the Text Tool (T)to add contact information. Place this text box opposite the logo, and use Paragraph Styles to format the text.
4.How to Export a PDF File for Printing
Before exporting a file for printing, it is useful to take a look around the edges of each page. Make sure all the objects that are meant to bleed out of the page are touching the bleeds.
Step 1
To export the file, go to File > Export. Name the file medical brochure templateand choose Adobe PDF (Print) from the Format dropdown menu. Click Save.
Step 2
In the Export Adobe PDF window, set the Adobe PDF Preset to Press Quality.
On the left side of the panel, select Marks and Bleeds. Check All Printer’s Marks and Use Document Bleed Settings. Click Export. You will have a ready-to-print PDF file.
Great Job! You’ve Finished This Tutorial!
In this tutorial, we learned how to make a medical brochure template in InDesign. Marketing is an important part of any business, and brochures play an important role in making it effective. Today, we’ve learned to:
Looking for a simple, clean, easy-to-edit medical brochure? This tutorial shows you how to make a brochure template in InDesign.
Brochure designs play an important role in the impact of your marketing communication. Brochures are a nice way to engage customers by providing key points of your medical center, clinic, or hospital.
In this tutorial, we will set up a ready-to-print template using color swatches and paragraph styles. These two panels will make it easier for you edit the design in a variety of colors and fonts. This template is fully editable and a time saver! This template is packed with design essentials, ready to get your business up and running.
What You Will Need
You’ll need access to Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. If you don’t have the software, you can download a trial from the Adobe website. You’ll also need the following assets:
In InDesign, go to File > New. Name the document Medical Brochure Template. We will create an A5 brochure template.Set the file to the following dimensions:
Width to 14.8 cm
Height to 21 cm
Orientation to Portrait
Pages to 4
Check Facing Pages
Margins to 1 cm
Bleeds to 0.3 cm (it’s best to seek your professional printer’s preference)
Click Create.
Step 2
For this brochure design tutorial, we will work with two Layers. Organizing layers is an important practice when designing a template.
Bring up the Layers panel by going to Window > Layers. Double-click on Layer 1 and rename it Images/Vector.
On the Layers panel main menu, select New Layer. Name it Copy. Click OK. This is where all of the text will go.
Step 3
Before we start with the design, let’s organize the color swatches. Head over to Window > Color > Swatches to expand the Swatches panel. Select the default swatches, and Right-Click > Delete Swatch.
Choose New Color Swatch button from the main menu. Add the following colors:
Dark Blue: C=100 M=50 Y=0 K=40
Light Blue: C=45 M=10 Y=0 K=0
Dark Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=50
Light Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=15
Click Add after inputting each color value. Click Done.
2.How to Place Images and Create Vectors in Adobe InDesign
Step 1
On the Layers panel, make sure you are selecting the Images/Vector layer.
On the toolbar,select the Pen Tool (P). We will create a path. Click outside the left side of the page to create the first point—this is an anchor point. Next, click inside the page, and hold and drag to create a curve. This is called a direction point, and you can alter this later. Click outside the right side of the page to complete the curve. Close the object by going around the page until you meet the initial point.
To edit the curve, select the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the toolbar.Select the center point and move the handles around until you’ve achieved a curve you are happy with.
Duplicate the object by pressing Shift-Option and dragging to the side. Duplicate this once more—we will go back to these two objects shortly.
Step 2
Select the original object that is currently on the page. Press Command-D to Place an image. Select the Happy doctor image, and click OK.
Head over to the control bar and activate the Constrain Proportion Scaling button. Set the Scale to 56%. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to Move the image within the object.
Lock the object by pressing Command-L.
Step 3
Let’s go back to the duplicate objects. Color each object by going to the Swatches panel. Color one object with light grey and the other object with dark blue.
Select both objects and press Shift-Command-[ tosend the objects to the back. Spread both objects across the page to create a wave below the image.
Step 4
As mentioned before, keeping the files clean is ideal, especially if you will be using this as a medical brochure template. We will cut out the leftover part hanging outside the bleed mark. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle covering the outside of the bleed and just enough to cover one of the shapes. Select the new rectangle and the grey object.
Bring up the Pathfinder panel by going to Window > Object & Layout > Pathfinder. Select the Subtract button. Repeat the process for the second object. Perfect!
Step 5
To add a logo, press Command-D and select the logo. Click OK. Drag on the document instead of clicking to place the object at a smaller size than the original. If you click on the document, the software will place the object at 100% scale.
Place the logo on the bottom right side.
To create a cohesive look, draw a rectangle at the bottom of the cover. It should cover the width of the page. I set the Height to 0.6 cm on the Control bar.
3.How to Create Paragraph Styles in Adobe InDesign
Paragraph styles are a great tool when creating a template. We can set text styles, similar to the colors on the Swatches panel. This will allow us to create a cohesive look throughout the brochure template. It will also be faster to edit to specific brand guidelines.
For this project, we will set styles for a title, tagline, subheading, body copy, and pull quote.
Step 1
Open up the Paragraph Styles panel by going to Windows > Styles > Paragraph Styles.
From the main menu, select New Paragraph Style.
In the New Paragraph Style window, set the Style Name to Headline. Select Basic Character Formats from the left side menu and use the following settings:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:22 pt
Leading:22 pt
Tracking:20
Select the Character Color option from the left menu. Set the color to the darker blue. Click OK.
Perfect! Now let’s create a few more styles, and then we will be ready to format text boxes. Use the following settings for the tagline:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Medium
Size:10 pt
Leading:12 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the subheading:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Black
Size:12 pt
Leading:14.4 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Regular
Size:8 pt
Leading:9.6 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:14 pt
Leading:16.8 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Step 2
Perfect! Select the Text Tool (T) from the toolbar.Draw a text box opposite the logo. Add a headline and a tagline.
Select the headline by highlighting it with the text tool. Select the Headline style from the Paragraph style panel. Keep in mind you can still customize text boxes. For the headline, I will set the second line in the dark grey color.
Select the tagline and set it to the Tagline style on the Paragraph panel.
Step 3
If you’ve been working on the Images layer, select the text box. Head over to the Layers panel, and click and drag the blue square to the Copy layer. This action will transfer the objects from one layer to the other.
Step 4
Let’s work on the inside pages of the medical brochure. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle at the very top of the pages. Make sure it is going over to the bleed mark. Set the color to dark blue.
Create a few text boxes using the Text Tool (T). Don’t worry about the placement for now—we can move them around as we develop the rest of the pages.
Step 5
Press Command-D to Place these two images:Smiling medical team and Sisters smiling.I’ve arranged the two photos as shown in the image below:
Profile headshots are an important part of medical brochures. They’ll give the target market a chance to get to know some faces. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) from the toolbar.Click on the document and set the Width and Height to 2 cm.
Head over to the Control bar, and set the Stroke Weight to 3 pt. Set the Stroke color to dark blue.
Step 6
Duplicate the circle by pressing Shift-Option and dragging. Have a total of four circles.
To distribute the four objects evenly, place two of them on each side of the page, ideally just inside the margin. Head over to Window > Object and Layout > Align to open the Align panel. Select all four objects and press the Distribute Horizontal Center button.
Step 7
Select one of the circles and press Command-D. Select the Healthcare workers image and click OK.
Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), and set the Scale to 40%. This image contains several headshots, so repeat this action for the rest of the circles.
Step 8
To bring it all together, we will add some blue vectors at the back. Use the Rectangle Tool (M), and click on the document. Set the Width to 15 cm and the Height to 3.45 cm. Place this object behind the headshots.
Create another rectangle with the same dimensions. Place it on the opposite page. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the top right point and move it downwards. This will create some movement on the spread.
Select both items and press Command-L to Lock boththe objects.
Step 9
Let’s add some names to the headshots. Using the Text Tool (T), draw text boxes under each photo. Use the Paragraph Styles to set the styles. Remember you can still change the format of the text box after setting a style. I’ve chosen Body Copy to make sure the size is uniform but changed the color to white and the name to the Bold family.
To align the text boxes to the headshots, use the Align panel and select the Align Horizontal Center button.
Step 10
Let’s add some icons on the right page. This is perfect to promote any kind of services. Open the colored version of the healthcare icons in Adobe Illustrator. Select three icons of your choice to copy to the medical brochure design. Use Command-C to Copy and Command-V to Paste.
Head back to the brochure design. Select all three icons, and on the Align panel, select the Top Edge button.
Head over to the Control panel, activate the Constrain Proportions button, and set the Height to 1.5 cm.
Step 11
This time, to divide the icons equally, we will use Guides. This is a second method of dividing objects across a page.
Head over to Layout > Create Guides. In the Create Guides option window, set the Columns to 3 and the Gutter to 0.5 cm. Set Fit Guides to: Margins and click OK.
Step 12
Create three text boxes using the Text Tool (T) on each column. Use Paragraph Styles to format the text. Set the Alignment to Align Center.
Step 13
Select an icon and a text box. On the Align panel, select the Align Horizontal Center button. The two objects will align; place them on one of the columns. Repeat this with the other objects until you’ve centered each on a column.
Let’s add a divider in the gutter. Select the Line Tool (\) from the toolbar.Hold Shift and drag to create a straight line.
Step 14
Let’s work on the back cover. Press Command-D to add an image. Place the image on the top two-thirds of the brochure. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move the image within the frame.
Repeat the blue stripe by using the Rectangle Tool (M). Set the Width to 15.4 cm and the Height to 0.4 cm. This time, place it under the image.
Using the Text Tool (T), add a pull quote over the image. Use the Pull quote style from the Paragraph Styles panel.
Place a logo on the bottom right side using the Command-D shortcut.
Select the Text Tool (T)to add contact information. Place this text box opposite the logo, and use Paragraph Styles to format the text.
4.How to Export a PDF File for Printing
Before exporting a file for printing, it is useful to take a look around the edges of each page. Make sure all the objects that are meant to bleed out of the page are touching the bleeds.
Step 1
To export the file, go to File > Export. Name the file medical brochure templateand choose Adobe PDF (Print) from the Format dropdown menu. Click Save.
Step 2
In the Export Adobe PDF window, set the Adobe PDF Preset to Press Quality.
On the left side of the panel, select Marks and Bleeds. Check All Printer’s Marks and Use Document Bleed Settings. Click Export. You will have a ready-to-print PDF file.
Great Job! You’ve Finished This Tutorial!
In this tutorial, we learned how to make a medical brochure template in InDesign. Marketing is an important part of any business, and brochures play an important role in making it effective. Today, we’ve learned to:
Looking for a simple, clean, easy-to-edit medical brochure? This tutorial shows you how to make a brochure template in InDesign.
Brochure designs play an important role in the impact of your marketing communication. Brochures are a nice way to engage customers by providing key points of your medical center, clinic, or hospital.
In this tutorial, we will set up a ready-to-print template using color swatches and paragraph styles. These two panels will make it easier for you edit the design in a variety of colors and fonts. This template is fully editable and a time saver! This template is packed with design essentials, ready to get your business up and running.
What You Will Need
You’ll need access to Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. If you don’t have the software, you can download a trial from the Adobe website. You’ll also need the following assets:
In InDesign, go to File > New. Name the document Medical Brochure Template. We will create an A5 brochure template.Set the file to the following dimensions:
Width to 14.8 cm
Height to 21 cm
Orientation to Portrait
Pages to 4
Check Facing Pages
Margins to 1 cm
Bleeds to 0.3 cm (it’s best to seek your professional printer’s preference)
Click Create.
Step 2
For this brochure design tutorial, we will work with two Layers. Organizing layers is an important practice when designing a template.
Bring up the Layers panel by going to Window > Layers. Double-click on Layer 1 and rename it Images/Vector.
On the Layers panel main menu, select New Layer. Name it Copy. Click OK. This is where all of the text will go.
Step 3
Before we start with the design, let’s organize the color swatches. Head over to Window > Color > Swatches to expand the Swatches panel. Select the default swatches, and Right-Click > Delete Swatch.
Choose New Color Swatch button from the main menu. Add the following colors:
Dark Blue: C=100 M=50 Y=0 K=40
Light Blue: C=45 M=10 Y=0 K=0
Dark Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=50
Light Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=15
Click Add after inputting each color value. Click Done.
2.How to Place Images and Create Vectors in Adobe InDesign
Step 1
On the Layers panel, make sure you are selecting the Images/Vector layer.
On the toolbar,select the Pen Tool (P). We will create a path. Click outside the left side of the page to create the first point—this is an anchor point. Next, click inside the page, and hold and drag to create a curve. This is called a direction point, and you can alter this later. Click outside the right side of the page to complete the curve. Close the object by going around the page until you meet the initial point.
To edit the curve, select the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the toolbar.Select the center point and move the handles around until you’ve achieved a curve you are happy with.
Duplicate the object by pressing Shift-Option and dragging to the side. Duplicate this once more—we will go back to these two objects shortly.
Step 2
Select the original object that is currently on the page. Press Command-D to Place an image. Select the Happy doctor image, and click OK.
Head over to the control bar and activate the Constrain Proportion Scaling button. Set the Scale to 56%. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to Move the image within the object.
Lock the object by pressing Command-L.
Step 3
Let’s go back to the duplicate objects. Color each object by going to the Swatches panel. Color one object with light grey and the other object with dark blue.
Select both objects and press Shift-Command-[ tosend the objects to the back. Spread both objects across the page to create a wave below the image.
Step 4
As mentioned before, keeping the files clean is ideal, especially if you will be using this as a medical brochure template. We will cut out the leftover part hanging outside the bleed mark. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle covering the outside of the bleed and just enough to cover one of the shapes. Select the new rectangle and the grey object.
Bring up the Pathfinder panel by going to Window > Object & Layout > Pathfinder. Select the Subtract button. Repeat the process for the second object. Perfect!
Step 5
To add a logo, press Command-D and select the logo. Click OK. Drag on the document instead of clicking to place the object at a smaller size than the original. If you click on the document, the software will place the object at 100% scale.
Place the logo on the bottom right side.
To create a cohesive look, draw a rectangle at the bottom of the cover. It should cover the width of the page. I set the Height to 0.6 cm on the Control bar.
3.How to Create Paragraph Styles in Adobe InDesign
Paragraph styles are a great tool when creating a template. We can set text styles, similar to the colors on the Swatches panel. This will allow us to create a cohesive look throughout the brochure template. It will also be faster to edit to specific brand guidelines.
For this project, we will set styles for a title, tagline, subheading, body copy, and pull quote.
Step 1
Open up the Paragraph Styles panel by going to Windows > Styles > Paragraph Styles.
From the main menu, select New Paragraph Style.
In the New Paragraph Style window, set the Style Name to Headline. Select Basic Character Formats from the left side menu and use the following settings:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:22 pt
Leading:22 pt
Tracking:20
Select the Character Color option from the left menu. Set the color to the darker blue. Click OK.
Perfect! Now let’s create a few more styles, and then we will be ready to format text boxes. Use the following settings for the tagline:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Medium
Size:10 pt
Leading:12 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the subheading:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Black
Size:12 pt
Leading:14.4 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Regular
Size:8 pt
Leading:9.6 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:14 pt
Leading:16.8 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Step 2
Perfect! Select the Text Tool (T) from the toolbar.Draw a text box opposite the logo. Add a headline and a tagline.
Select the headline by highlighting it with the text tool. Select the Headline style from the Paragraph style panel. Keep in mind you can still customize text boxes. For the headline, I will set the second line in the dark grey color.
Select the tagline and set it to the Tagline style on the Paragraph panel.
Step 3
If you’ve been working on the Images layer, select the text box. Head over to the Layers panel, and click and drag the blue square to the Copy layer. This action will transfer the objects from one layer to the other.
Step 4
Let’s work on the inside pages of the medical brochure. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle at the very top of the pages. Make sure it is going over to the bleed mark. Set the color to dark blue.
Create a few text boxes using the Text Tool (T). Don’t worry about the placement for now—we can move them around as we develop the rest of the pages.
Step 5
Press Command-D to Place these two images:Smiling medical team and Sisters smiling.I’ve arranged the two photos as shown in the image below:
Profile headshots are an important part of medical brochures. They’ll give the target market a chance to get to know some faces. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) from the toolbar.Click on the document and set the Width and Height to 2 cm.
Head over to the Control bar, and set the Stroke Weight to 3 pt. Set the Stroke color to dark blue.
Step 6
Duplicate the circle by pressing Shift-Option and dragging. Have a total of four circles.
To distribute the four objects evenly, place two of them on each side of the page, ideally just inside the margin. Head over to Window > Object and Layout > Align to open the Align panel. Select all four objects and press the Distribute Horizontal Center button.
Step 7
Select one of the circles and press Command-D. Select the Healthcare workers image and click OK.
Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), and set the Scale to 40%. This image contains several headshots, so repeat this action for the rest of the circles.
Step 8
To bring it all together, we will add some blue vectors at the back. Use the Rectangle Tool (M), and click on the document. Set the Width to 15 cm and the Height to 3.45 cm. Place this object behind the headshots.
Create another rectangle with the same dimensions. Place it on the opposite page. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the top right point and move it downwards. This will create some movement on the spread.
Select both items and press Command-L to Lock boththe objects.
Step 9
Let’s add some names to the headshots. Using the Text Tool (T), draw text boxes under each photo. Use the Paragraph Styles to set the styles. Remember you can still change the format of the text box after setting a style. I’ve chosen Body Copy to make sure the size is uniform but changed the color to white and the name to the Bold family.
To align the text boxes to the headshots, use the Align panel and select the Align Horizontal Center button.
Step 10
Let’s add some icons on the right page. This is perfect to promote any kind of services. Open the colored version of the healthcare icons in Adobe Illustrator. Select three icons of your choice to copy to the medical brochure design. Use Command-C to Copy and Command-V to Paste.
Head back to the brochure design. Select all three icons, and on the Align panel, select the Top Edge button.
Head over to the Control panel, activate the Constrain Proportions button, and set the Height to 1.5 cm.
Step 11
This time, to divide the icons equally, we will use Guides. This is a second method of dividing objects across a page.
Head over to Layout > Create Guides. In the Create Guides option window, set the Columns to 3 and the Gutter to 0.5 cm. Set Fit Guides to: Margins and click OK.
Step 12
Create three text boxes using the Text Tool (T) on each column. Use Paragraph Styles to format the text. Set the Alignment to Align Center.
Step 13
Select an icon and a text box. On the Align panel, select the Align Horizontal Center button. The two objects will align; place them on one of the columns. Repeat this with the other objects until you’ve centered each on a column.
Let’s add a divider in the gutter. Select the Line Tool (\) from the toolbar.Hold Shift and drag to create a straight line.
Step 14
Let’s work on the back cover. Press Command-D to add an image. Place the image on the top two-thirds of the brochure. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move the image within the frame.
Repeat the blue stripe by using the Rectangle Tool (M). Set the Width to 15.4 cm and the Height to 0.4 cm. This time, place it under the image.
Using the Text Tool (T), add a pull quote over the image. Use the Pull quote style from the Paragraph Styles panel.
Place a logo on the bottom right side using the Command-D shortcut.
Select the Text Tool (T)to add contact information. Place this text box opposite the logo, and use Paragraph Styles to format the text.
4.How to Export a PDF File for Printing
Before exporting a file for printing, it is useful to take a look around the edges of each page. Make sure all the objects that are meant to bleed out of the page are touching the bleeds.
Step 1
To export the file, go to File > Export. Name the file medical brochure templateand choose Adobe PDF (Print) from the Format dropdown menu. Click Save.
Step 2
In the Export Adobe PDF window, set the Adobe PDF Preset to Press Quality.
On the left side of the panel, select Marks and Bleeds. Check All Printer’s Marks and Use Document Bleed Settings. Click Export. You will have a ready-to-print PDF file.
Great Job! You’ve Finished This Tutorial!
In this tutorial, we learned how to make a medical brochure template in InDesign. Marketing is an important part of any business, and brochures play an important role in making it effective. Today, we’ve learned to:
Looking for a simple, clean, easy-to-edit medical brochure? This tutorial shows you how to make a brochure template in InDesign.
Brochure designs play an important role in the impact of your marketing communication. Brochures are a nice way to engage customers by providing key points of your medical center, clinic, or hospital.
In this tutorial, we will set up a ready-to-print template using color swatches and paragraph styles. These two panels will make it easier for you edit the design in a variety of colors and fonts. This template is fully editable and a time saver! This template is packed with design essentials, ready to get your business up and running.
What You Will Need
You’ll need access to Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. If you don’t have the software, you can download a trial from the Adobe website. You’ll also need the following assets:
In InDesign, go to File > New. Name the document Medical Brochure Template. We will create an A5 brochure template.Set the file to the following dimensions:
Width to 14.8 cm
Height to 21 cm
Orientation to Portrait
Pages to 4
Check Facing Pages
Margins to 1 cm
Bleeds to 0.3 cm (it’s best to seek your professional printer’s preference)
Click Create.
Step 2
For this brochure design tutorial, we will work with two Layers. Organizing layers is an important practice when designing a template.
Bring up the Layers panel by going to Window > Layers. Double-click on Layer 1 and rename it Images/Vector.
On the Layers panel main menu, select New Layer. Name it Copy. Click OK. This is where all of the text will go.
Step 3
Before we start with the design, let’s organize the color swatches. Head over to Window > Color > Swatches to expand the Swatches panel. Select the default swatches, and Right-Click > Delete Swatch.
Choose New Color Swatch button from the main menu. Add the following colors:
Dark Blue: C=100 M=50 Y=0 K=40
Light Blue: C=45 M=10 Y=0 K=0
Dark Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=50
Light Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=15
Click Add after inputting each color value. Click Done.
2.How to Place Images and Create Vectors in Adobe InDesign
Step 1
On the Layers panel, make sure you are selecting the Images/Vector layer.
On the toolbar,select the Pen Tool (P). We will create a path. Click outside the left side of the page to create the first point—this is an anchor point. Next, click inside the page, and hold and drag to create a curve. This is called a direction point, and you can alter this later. Click outside the right side of the page to complete the curve. Close the object by going around the page until you meet the initial point.
To edit the curve, select the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the toolbar.Select the center point and move the handles around until you’ve achieved a curve you are happy with.
Duplicate the object by pressing Shift-Option and dragging to the side. Duplicate this once more—we will go back to these two objects shortly.
Step 2
Select the original object that is currently on the page. Press Command-D to Place an image. Select the Happy doctor image, and click OK.
Head over to the control bar and activate the Constrain Proportion Scaling button. Set the Scale to 56%. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to Move the image within the object.
Lock the object by pressing Command-L.
Step 3
Let’s go back to the duplicate objects. Color each object by going to the Swatches panel. Color one object with light grey and the other object with dark blue.
Select both objects and press Shift-Command-[ tosend the objects to the back. Spread both objects across the page to create a wave below the image.
Step 4
As mentioned before, keeping the files clean is ideal, especially if you will be using this as a medical brochure template. We will cut out the leftover part hanging outside the bleed mark. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle covering the outside of the bleed and just enough to cover one of the shapes. Select the new rectangle and the grey object.
Bring up the Pathfinder panel by going to Window > Object & Layout > Pathfinder. Select the Subtract button. Repeat the process for the second object. Perfect!
Step 5
To add a logo, press Command-D and select the logo. Click OK. Drag on the document instead of clicking to place the object at a smaller size than the original. If you click on the document, the software will place the object at 100% scale.
Place the logo on the bottom right side.
To create a cohesive look, draw a rectangle at the bottom of the cover. It should cover the width of the page. I set the Height to 0.6 cm on the Control bar.
3.How to Create Paragraph Styles in Adobe InDesign
Paragraph styles are a great tool when creating a template. We can set text styles, similar to the colors on the Swatches panel. This will allow us to create a cohesive look throughout the brochure template. It will also be faster to edit to specific brand guidelines.
For this project, we will set styles for a title, tagline, subheading, body copy, and pull quote.
Step 1
Open up the Paragraph Styles panel by going to Windows > Styles > Paragraph Styles.
From the main menu, select New Paragraph Style.
In the New Paragraph Style window, set the Style Name to Headline. Select Basic Character Formats from the left side menu and use the following settings:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:22 pt
Leading:22 pt
Tracking:20
Select the Character Color option from the left menu. Set the color to the darker blue. Click OK.
Perfect! Now let’s create a few more styles, and then we will be ready to format text boxes. Use the following settings for the tagline:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Medium
Size:10 pt
Leading:12 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the subheading:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Black
Size:12 pt
Leading:14.4 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Regular
Size:8 pt
Leading:9.6 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:14 pt
Leading:16.8 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Step 2
Perfect! Select the Text Tool (T) from the toolbar.Draw a text box opposite the logo. Add a headline and a tagline.
Select the headline by highlighting it with the text tool. Select the Headline style from the Paragraph style panel. Keep in mind you can still customize text boxes. For the headline, I will set the second line in the dark grey color.
Select the tagline and set it to the Tagline style on the Paragraph panel.
Step 3
If you’ve been working on the Images layer, select the text box. Head over to the Layers panel, and click and drag the blue square to the Copy layer. This action will transfer the objects from one layer to the other.
Step 4
Let’s work on the inside pages of the medical brochure. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle at the very top of the pages. Make sure it is going over to the bleed mark. Set the color to dark blue.
Create a few text boxes using the Text Tool (T). Don’t worry about the placement for now—we can move them around as we develop the rest of the pages.
Step 5
Press Command-D to Place these two images:Smiling medical team and Sisters smiling.I’ve arranged the two photos as shown in the image below:
Profile headshots are an important part of medical brochures. They’ll give the target market a chance to get to know some faces. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) from the toolbar.Click on the document and set the Width and Height to 2 cm.
Head over to the Control bar, and set the Stroke Weight to 3 pt. Set the Stroke color to dark blue.
Step 6
Duplicate the circle by pressing Shift-Option and dragging. Have a total of four circles.
To distribute the four objects evenly, place two of them on each side of the page, ideally just inside the margin. Head over to Window > Object and Layout > Align to open the Align panel. Select all four objects and press the Distribute Horizontal Center button.
Step 7
Select one of the circles and press Command-D. Select the Healthcare workers image and click OK.
Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), and set the Scale to 40%. This image contains several headshots, so repeat this action for the rest of the circles.
Step 8
To bring it all together, we will add some blue vectors at the back. Use the Rectangle Tool (M), and click on the document. Set the Width to 15 cm and the Height to 3.45 cm. Place this object behind the headshots.
Create another rectangle with the same dimensions. Place it on the opposite page. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the top right point and move it downwards. This will create some movement on the spread.
Select both items and press Command-L to Lock boththe objects.
Step 9
Let’s add some names to the headshots. Using the Text Tool (T), draw text boxes under each photo. Use the Paragraph Styles to set the styles. Remember you can still change the format of the text box after setting a style. I’ve chosen Body Copy to make sure the size is uniform but changed the color to white and the name to the Bold family.
To align the text boxes to the headshots, use the Align panel and select the Align Horizontal Center button.
Step 10
Let’s add some icons on the right page. This is perfect to promote any kind of services. Open the colored version of the healthcare icons in Adobe Illustrator. Select three icons of your choice to copy to the medical brochure design. Use Command-C to Copy and Command-V to Paste.
Head back to the brochure design. Select all three icons, and on the Align panel, select the Top Edge button.
Head over to the Control panel, activate the Constrain Proportions button, and set the Height to 1.5 cm.
Step 11
This time, to divide the icons equally, we will use Guides. This is a second method of dividing objects across a page.
Head over to Layout > Create Guides. In the Create Guides option window, set the Columns to 3 and the Gutter to 0.5 cm. Set Fit Guides to: Margins and click OK.
Step 12
Create three text boxes using the Text Tool (T) on each column. Use Paragraph Styles to format the text. Set the Alignment to Align Center.
Step 13
Select an icon and a text box. On the Align panel, select the Align Horizontal Center button. The two objects will align; place them on one of the columns. Repeat this with the other objects until you’ve centered each on a column.
Let’s add a divider in the gutter. Select the Line Tool (\) from the toolbar.Hold Shift and drag to create a straight line.
Step 14
Let’s work on the back cover. Press Command-D to add an image. Place the image on the top two-thirds of the brochure. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move the image within the frame.
Repeat the blue stripe by using the Rectangle Tool (M). Set the Width to 15.4 cm and the Height to 0.4 cm. This time, place it under the image.
Using the Text Tool (T), add a pull quote over the image. Use the Pull quote style from the Paragraph Styles panel.
Place a logo on the bottom right side using the Command-D shortcut.
Select the Text Tool (T)to add contact information. Place this text box opposite the logo, and use Paragraph Styles to format the text.
4.How to Export a PDF File for Printing
Before exporting a file for printing, it is useful to take a look around the edges of each page. Make sure all the objects that are meant to bleed out of the page are touching the bleeds.
Step 1
To export the file, go to File > Export. Name the file medical brochure templateand choose Adobe PDF (Print) from the Format dropdown menu. Click Save.
Step 2
In the Export Adobe PDF window, set the Adobe PDF Preset to Press Quality.
On the left side of the panel, select Marks and Bleeds. Check All Printer’s Marks and Use Document Bleed Settings. Click Export. You will have a ready-to-print PDF file.
Great Job! You’ve Finished This Tutorial!
In this tutorial, we learned how to make a medical brochure template in InDesign. Marketing is an important part of any business, and brochures play an important role in making it effective. Today, we’ve learned to:
Looking for a simple, clean, easy-to-edit medical brochure? This tutorial shows you how to make a brochure template in InDesign.
Brochure designs play an important role in the impact of your marketing communication. Brochures are a nice way to engage customers by providing key points of your medical center, clinic, or hospital.
In this tutorial, we will set up a ready-to-print template using color swatches and paragraph styles. These two panels will make it easier for you edit the design in a variety of colors and fonts. This template is fully editable and a time saver! This template is packed with design essentials, ready to get your business up and running.
What You Will Need
You’ll need access to Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator. If you don’t have the software, you can download a trial from the Adobe website. You’ll also need the following assets:
In InDesign, go to File > New. Name the document Medical Brochure Template. We will create an A5 brochure template.Set the file to the following dimensions:
Width to 14.8 cm
Height to 21 cm
Orientation to Portrait
Pages to 4
Check Facing Pages
Margins to 1 cm
Bleeds to 0.3 cm (it’s best to seek your professional printer’s preference)
Click Create.
Step 2
For this brochure design tutorial, we will work with two Layers. Organizing layers is an important practice when designing a template.
Bring up the Layers panel by going to Window > Layers. Double-click on Layer 1 and rename it Images/Vector.
On the Layers panel main menu, select New Layer. Name it Copy. Click OK. This is where all of the text will go.
Step 3
Before we start with the design, let’s organize the color swatches. Head over to Window > Color > Swatches to expand the Swatches panel. Select the default swatches, and Right-Click > Delete Swatch.
Choose New Color Swatch button from the main menu. Add the following colors:
Dark Blue: C=100 M=50 Y=0 K=40
Light Blue: C=45 M=10 Y=0 K=0
Dark Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=50
Light Grey: C=0 M=0 Y=0 K=15
Click Add after inputting each color value. Click Done.
2.How to Place Images and Create Vectors in Adobe InDesign
Step 1
On the Layers panel, make sure you are selecting the Images/Vector layer.
On the toolbar,select the Pen Tool (P). We will create a path. Click outside the left side of the page to create the first point—this is an anchor point. Next, click inside the page, and hold and drag to create a curve. This is called a direction point, and you can alter this later. Click outside the right side of the page to complete the curve. Close the object by going around the page until you meet the initial point.
To edit the curve, select the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the toolbar.Select the center point and move the handles around until you’ve achieved a curve you are happy with.
Duplicate the object by pressing Shift-Option and dragging to the side. Duplicate this once more—we will go back to these two objects shortly.
Step 2
Select the original object that is currently on the page. Press Command-D to Place an image. Select the Happy doctor image, and click OK.
Head over to the control bar and activate the Constrain Proportion Scaling button. Set the Scale to 56%. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to Move the image within the object.
Lock the object by pressing Command-L.
Step 3
Let’s go back to the duplicate objects. Color each object by going to the Swatches panel. Color one object with light grey and the other object with dark blue.
Select both objects and press Shift-Command-[ tosend the objects to the back. Spread both objects across the page to create a wave below the image.
Step 4
As mentioned before, keeping the files clean is ideal, especially if you will be using this as a medical brochure template. We will cut out the leftover part hanging outside the bleed mark. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle covering the outside of the bleed and just enough to cover one of the shapes. Select the new rectangle and the grey object.
Bring up the Pathfinder panel by going to Window > Object & Layout > Pathfinder. Select the Subtract button. Repeat the process for the second object. Perfect!
Step 5
To add a logo, press Command-D and select the logo. Click OK. Drag on the document instead of clicking to place the object at a smaller size than the original. If you click on the document, the software will place the object at 100% scale.
Place the logo on the bottom right side.
To create a cohesive look, draw a rectangle at the bottom of the cover. It should cover the width of the page. I set the Height to 0.6 cm on the Control bar.
3.How to Create Paragraph Styles in Adobe InDesign
Paragraph styles are a great tool when creating a template. We can set text styles, similar to the colors on the Swatches panel. This will allow us to create a cohesive look throughout the brochure template. It will also be faster to edit to specific brand guidelines.
For this project, we will set styles for a title, tagline, subheading, body copy, and pull quote.
Step 1
Open up the Paragraph Styles panel by going to Windows > Styles > Paragraph Styles.
From the main menu, select New Paragraph Style.
In the New Paragraph Style window, set the Style Name to Headline. Select Basic Character Formats from the left side menu and use the following settings:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:22 pt
Leading:22 pt
Tracking:20
Select the Character Color option from the left menu. Set the color to the darker blue. Click OK.
Perfect! Now let’s create a few more styles, and then we will be ready to format text boxes. Use the following settings for the tagline:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Medium
Size:10 pt
Leading:12 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the subheading:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Black
Size:12 pt
Leading:14.4 pt
Tracking:45
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Regular
Size:8 pt
Leading:9.6 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark grey. Click OK.
Use the following settings for the body copy:
Font Family:Catesque
Font Style:Bold
Size:14 pt
Leading:16.8 pt
Tracking:0
Set the Character Color to dark blue. Click OK.
Step 2
Perfect! Select the Text Tool (T) from the toolbar.Draw a text box opposite the logo. Add a headline and a tagline.
Select the headline by highlighting it with the text tool. Select the Headline style from the Paragraph style panel. Keep in mind you can still customize text boxes. For the headline, I will set the second line in the dark grey color.
Select the tagline and set it to the Tagline style on the Paragraph panel.
Step 3
If you’ve been working on the Images layer, select the text box. Head over to the Layers panel, and click and drag the blue square to the Copy layer. This action will transfer the objects from one layer to the other.
Step 4
Let’s work on the inside pages of the medical brochure. Using the Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle at the very top of the pages. Make sure it is going over to the bleed mark. Set the color to dark blue.
Create a few text boxes using the Text Tool (T). Don’t worry about the placement for now—we can move them around as we develop the rest of the pages.
Step 5
Press Command-D to Place these two images:Smiling medical team and Sisters smiling.I’ve arranged the two photos as shown in the image below:
Profile headshots are an important part of medical brochures. They’ll give the target market a chance to get to know some faces. Select the Ellipse Tool (L) from the toolbar.Click on the document and set the Width and Height to 2 cm.
Head over to the Control bar, and set the Stroke Weight to 3 pt. Set the Stroke color to dark blue.
Step 6
Duplicate the circle by pressing Shift-Option and dragging. Have a total of four circles.
To distribute the four objects evenly, place two of them on each side of the page, ideally just inside the margin. Head over to Window > Object and Layout > Align to open the Align panel. Select all four objects and press the Distribute Horizontal Center button.
Step 7
Select one of the circles and press Command-D. Select the Healthcare workers image and click OK.
Select the Direct Selection Tool (A), and set the Scale to 40%. This image contains several headshots, so repeat this action for the rest of the circles.
Step 8
To bring it all together, we will add some blue vectors at the back. Use the Rectangle Tool (M), and click on the document. Set the Width to 15 cm and the Height to 3.45 cm. Place this object behind the headshots.
Create another rectangle with the same dimensions. Place it on the opposite page. Using the Direct Selection Tool (A), select the top right point and move it downwards. This will create some movement on the spread.
Select both items and press Command-L to Lock boththe objects.
Step 9
Let’s add some names to the headshots. Using the Text Tool (T), draw text boxes under each photo. Use the Paragraph Styles to set the styles. Remember you can still change the format of the text box after setting a style. I’ve chosen Body Copy to make sure the size is uniform but changed the color to white and the name to the Bold family.
To align the text boxes to the headshots, use the Align panel and select the Align Horizontal Center button.
Step 10
Let’s add some icons on the right page. This is perfect to promote any kind of services. Open the colored version of the healthcare icons in Adobe Illustrator. Select three icons of your choice to copy to the medical brochure design. Use Command-C to Copy and Command-V to Paste.
Head back to the brochure design. Select all three icons, and on the Align panel, select the Top Edge button.
Head over to the Control panel, activate the Constrain Proportions button, and set the Height to 1.5 cm.
Step 11
This time, to divide the icons equally, we will use Guides. This is a second method of dividing objects across a page.
Head over to Layout > Create Guides. In the Create Guides option window, set the Columns to 3 and the Gutter to 0.5 cm. Set Fit Guides to: Margins and click OK.
Step 12
Create three text boxes using the Text Tool (T) on each column. Use Paragraph Styles to format the text. Set the Alignment to Align Center.
Step 13
Select an icon and a text box. On the Align panel, select the Align Horizontal Center button. The two objects will align; place them on one of the columns. Repeat this with the other objects until you’ve centered each on a column.
Let’s add a divider in the gutter. Select the Line Tool (\) from the toolbar.Hold Shift and drag to create a straight line.
Step 14
Let’s work on the back cover. Press Command-D to add an image. Place the image on the top two-thirds of the brochure. Use the Direct Selection Tool (A) to move the image within the frame.
Repeat the blue stripe by using the Rectangle Tool (M). Set the Width to 15.4 cm and the Height to 0.4 cm. This time, place it under the image.
Using the Text Tool (T), add a pull quote over the image. Use the Pull quote style from the Paragraph Styles panel.
Place a logo on the bottom right side using the Command-D shortcut.
Select the Text Tool (T)to add contact information. Place this text box opposite the logo, and use Paragraph Styles to format the text.
4.How to Export a PDF File for Printing
Before exporting a file for printing, it is useful to take a look around the edges of each page. Make sure all the objects that are meant to bleed out of the page are touching the bleeds.
Step 1
To export the file, go to File > Export. Name the file medical brochure templateand choose Adobe PDF (Print) from the Format dropdown menu. Click Save.
Step 2
In the Export Adobe PDF window, set the Adobe PDF Preset to Press Quality.
On the left side of the panel, select Marks and Bleeds. Check All Printer’s Marks and Use Document Bleed Settings. Click Export. You will have a ready-to-print PDF file.
Great Job! You’ve Finished This Tutorial!
In this tutorial, we learned how to make a medical brochure template in InDesign. Marketing is an important part of any business, and brochures play an important role in making it effective. Today, we’ve learned to:
Last year, the team here at CSS-Tricks compiled a list of our favorite posts, trends, topics, and resources from around the world of front-end development. We had a blast doing it and found it to be a nice recap of the industry as we saw it over the course of the year. Well, we’re doing it again this year!
With that, here’s everything that Sarah, Robin, Chris and I saw and enjoyed over the past year.
There are a few themes that cross languages, and one of them is good code review. Even though Nina Zakharenko gives talks and makes resources about Python, her talk about code review skills is especially notable because it applies across many disciplines. She’s got a great arc to this talk and I think her deck is an excellent resource, but you can take this a step even further and think critically about your own team, what works for it, and what practices might need to be reconsidered.
I also enjoyed this sarcastic tweet that brings up a good point:
When reviewing a PR, it’s essential that you leave a comment. Any comment. Even the PR looks great and you have no substantial feedback, find something trivial to nitpick or question. This communicates intelligence and mastery, and is widely appreciated by your colleagues.
I’ve been guilty myself of commenting on a really clean pull request just to say something, and it’s healthy for us as a community to revisit why we do things like this.
Sophie Alpert, manager of the React core team, also wrote a great post along these lines right at the end of the year called Why Review Code. It’s a good resource to turn to when you’d like to explain the need for code reviews in the development process.
The year of (creative) code
So many wonderful creative coding resources were made this year. Creative coding projects might seem frivolous but you can actually learn a ton from making and playing with them. Matt DesLauriers recently taught a course called Creative Coding with Canvas & WebGL for Frontend Masters that serves as a good example.
CodePen is always one of my favorite places to check out creative work because it provides a way to reverse-engineer the work of other people and learn from their source code. CodePen has also started coding challenges adding yet another way to motivate creative experiments and collective learning opportunities. Marie Mosley did a lot of work to make that happen and her work on CodePen’s great newsletter is equally awesome.
You should also consider checking out Monica Dinculescu’s work because she has been sharing some amazing work. There’s not one, not two, but three (!) that use machine learning alone. Go see all of her Glitch projects. And, for what it’s worth, Glitch is a great place to explore creative code and remix your own as well.
GitHub Actions
I think hands-down one of the most game-changing developments this year is GitHub Actions. The fact that you can manage all of your testing, deployments, and project issues as containers chained in a unified workflow is quite amazing.
Containers are a great for actions because of their flexibility — you’re not limited to a single kind of compute and so much is possible! I did a writeup about GitHub Actions covering the feature in full. And, if you’re digging into containers, you might find the dive repo helpful because it provides a way to explore a docker image and layer contents.
Actions are still in beta but you can request access — they’re slowly rolling out now.
UI property generators
I really like that we’re automating some of the code that we need to make beautiful front-end experiences these days. In terms of color there’s color by Adobe, coolors, and uiGradients. There are even generators for other things, like gradients, clip-path, font pairings, and box-shadow. I am very much all for this. These are the kind of tools that speed up development and allow us to use advanced effects, no matter the skill level.
Ire has been writing a near constant stream of wondrous articles about front-end development on her blog, Bits of Code, over the past year, and it’s been super exciting to keep up with her work. It seems like she’s posting something I find useful almost every day, from basic stuff like when hover, focus and active states apply to accessibility tips like the aria-live attribute.
„The All Powerful Front-end Developer”
Chris gave a talk this year about the ways the role of front-end development are changing… and for the better. It was perhaps the most inspiring talk I saw this year. Talks about front-end stuff are sometimes pretty dry, but Chris does something else here. He covers a host of new tools we can use today to do things that previously required a ton of back-end skills. Chris even made a website all about these new tools which are often categorized as „Serverless.”
Even if none of these tools excite you, I would recommend checking out the talk – Chris’s enthusiasm is electric and made me want to pull up my sleeves and get to work on something fun, weird and exciting.
Future Fonts
The Future Fonts marketplace turned out to be a great place to find new and experimental typefaces this year. Obviously is a good example of that. But the difference between Future Fonts and other marketplaces is that you can buy fonts that are in beta and still currently under development. If you get in on the ground floor and buy a font for $10, then that shows the developer the interest in a particular font which may spur more features for it, like new weights, widths or even OpenType features.
It’s a great way to support type designers while getting a ton of neat and experimental typefaces at the same time.
React Conf 2018
The talks from React Conf 2018 will get you up to speed with the latest React news. It’s interesting to see how React Hooks let you „use state and other React features without writing a class.”
It’s also worth calling out that a lot of folks really improved our Guide to React here on CSS-Tricks so that it now contains a ton of advice about how to get started and how to level up on both basic and advanced practices.
The Victorian Internet
This is a weird recommendation because The Victorian Internet is a book and it wasn’t published this year. But! It’s certainly the best book I’ve read this year, even if it’s only tangentially related to web stuff. It made me realize that the internet we’re building today is one that’s much older than I first expected. The book focuses on the laying of the Transatlantic submarine cables, the design of codes and the codebreakers, fraudsters that used the telegraph to find their marks, and those that used it to find the person they’d marry. I really can’t recommend this book enough.
Figma
The browser-based design tool Figma continued to release a wave of new features that makes building design systems and UI kits easier than ever before. I’ve been doing a ton of experiments with it to see how it helps designers communicate, as well as how to build more resilient components. It’s super impressive to see how much the tools have improved over the past year and I’m excited to see it improve in the new year, too.
It seems there was a lot of chatter this year about the impact of third party scripts. Whether it’s the growing ubiquity of all-things-JavaScript or whatever, this topic covers a wide and interesting ground, including performance, security and even hard costs, to name a few.
My personal favorite post about this was Paulo Mioni’s deep dive into the anatomy of a malicious script. Sure, the technical bits are a great learning opportunity, but what really makes this piece is the way it reads like a true crime novel.
Gutenberg, Gutenberg and more Gutenberg
There was so much noise leading up to the new WordPress editor that the release of WordPress 5.0 containing it felt anti-climactic. No one was hurt or injured amid plenty of concerns, though there is indeed room for improvement.
Lara Schneck and Andy Bell teamed up for a hefty seven-party series aimed at getting developers like us primed for the changes and it’s incredible. No stone is left unturned and it perfectly suitable for beginners and experts alike.
Solving real life issues with UX
I like to think that I care a lot about users in the work I do and that I do my best to empathize so that I can anticipate needs or feelings as they interact with the site or app. That said, my mind was blown away by a study Lucas Chae did on the search engine experience of people looking for a way to kill themselves. I mean, depression and suicide are topics that are near and dear to my heart, but I never thought about finding a practical solution for handling it in an online experience.
So, thanks for that, Lucas. It inspired me to piggyback on his recommendations with a few of my own. Hopefully, this is a conversation that goes well beyond 2018 and sparks meaningful change in this department.
The growing gig economy
Freelancing is one of my favorite things to talk about at great length with anyone and everyone who is willing to talk shop and that’s largely because I’ve learned a lot about it in the five years I’ve been in it.
But if you take my experience and quadruple it, then you get a treasure trove of wisdom like Adam Coti shared in his collection of freelancing lessons learned over 20 years of service.
Freelancing isn’t for everyone. Neither is remote work. Adam’s advice is what I wish I had going into this five years ago.
Browser ecology
I absolutely love the way Rachel Nabors likens web browsers to a biological ecosystem. It’s a stellar analogy and leads into the long and winding history of browser evolution.
Speaking of history, Jason Hoffman’s telling of the history about browsers and web standards is equally interesting and a good chunk of context to carry in your back pocket.
These posts were timely because this year saw a lot of movement in the browser landscape. Microsoft is dropping EdgeHTML for Blink and Google ramped up its AMP product. 2018 felt like a dizzying year of significant changes for industry giants!
„Don’t tell me how to build a front end!” we, front-end developers, cry out. We are very powerful now. We like to bring our own front-end stack, then use your back-end data and APIs. As this is happening, we’re seeing healthy things happen like content management systems evolving to headless frameworks and focus on what they are best at: content management. We’re seeing performance and security improvements through the power of static and CDN-backed hosting. We’re seeing hosting and server usage cost reductions.
But we’re also seeing unhealthy things we need to work through, like front-end developers being spread too thin. We have JavaScript-focused engineers failing to write clean, extensible, performant, accessible markup and styles, and, on the flip side, we have UX-focused engineers feeling left out, left behind, or asked to do development work suddenly quite far away from their current expertise.
GraphQL
Speaking of powerful front-end developers, giving us front-end developers a well-oiled GraphQL setup is extremely empowering. No longer do we need to be roadblocked by waiting for an API to be finished or data to be massaged into some needed format. All the data you want is available at your fingertips, so go get and use it as you will. This makes building and iterating on the front end faster, easier, and more fun, which will lead us to building better products. Apollo GraphQL is the thing to look at here.
While front-end is having a massive love affair with JavaScript, there are plenty of front-end developers happily focused elsewhere
This is what I was getting at in my first section. There is a divide happening. It’s always been there, but with JavaScript being absolutely enormous right now and showing no signs of slowing down, people are starting to fall through the schism. Can I still be a front-end developer if I’m not deep into JavaScript? Of course. I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t learn JavaScript, because it’s pretty cool and powerful and you just might love it, but if you’re focused on UX, UI, animation, accessibility, semantics, layout, architecture, design patterns, illustration, copywriting, and any combination of that and whatever else, you’re still awesome and useful and always will be. Hugs. 🤗
Just look at the book Refactoring UI or the course Learn UI Design as proof there is lots to know about UI design and being great at it requires a lot of training, practice, and skill just like any other aspect of front-end development.
Shamelessly using grid and custom properties everywhere
I remember when I first learned flexbox, it was all I reached for to make layouts. I still love flexbox, but now that we have grid and the browser support is nearly just as good, I find myself reaching for grid even more. Not that it’s a competition; they are different tools useful in different situations. But admittedly, there were things I would have used flexbox for a year ago that I use grid for now and grid feels more intuitive and more like the right tool.
I’m still swooning over the amazing illustrations Lynn Fisher did for both our grid and flexbox guides.
Massive discussions around CSS-in-JS and approaches, like Tailwind
These discussions can get quite heated, but there is no ignoring the fact that the landscape of CSS-in-JS is huge, has a lot of fans, and seems to be hitting the right notes for a lot of folks. But it’s far from settled down. Libraries like Vue and Angular have their own framework-prescribed way of handling it, whereas React has literally dozens of options and a fast-moving landscape with libraries popping up and popular ones spinning down in favor of others. It does seem like the feature set is starting to settle down a little, so this next year will be interesting to watch.
Then there is the concept of atomic CSS on the other side of the spectrum, and interesting in that doesn’t seem to have slowed down at all either. Tailwind CSS is perhaps the hottest framework out there, gaining enough traction that Adam is going full time on it.
What could really shake this up is if the web platform itself decides to get into solving some of the problems that gave rise to these solutions. The shadow DOM already exists in Web Components Land, so perhaps there are answers there? Maybe the return of <style scoped>? Maybe new best practices will evolve that employ a single-stylesheet-per-component? Who knows.
I’ve heard of multiple agencies where design systems are literally what they make for their clients. Not websites, design systems. I get it. If you give a team a really powerful and flexible toolbox to build their own site with, they will do just that. Giving them some finished pages, as polished as they might be, leaves them needing to dissect those themselves and figure out how to extend and build upon them when that need inevitably arrives. I think it makes sense for agencies, or special teams, to focus on extensible component-driven libraries that are used to build sites.
Machine Learning
Stuff like this blows me away:
I made a music sequencer! In JavaScript! It even uses Machine Learning to try to match drums to a synth melody you create!
Having open source libraries that help with machine learning and that are actually accessible for regular ol’ developers to use is a big deal.
Stuff like this will have real world-bettering implications:
🔥 I think I used machine learning to be nice to people! In this proof of concept, I’m creating dynamic alt text for screenreaders with Azure’s Computer Vision API. 💫https://t.co/Y21AHbRT4Ypic.twitter.com/KDfPZ4Sue0
You gotta check out the Unicode Pattern work (more) that Yuan Chuan does. He even shared some of his work and how he does it right here on CSS-Tricks. And follow that name link to CodePen for even more. This <css-doodle> thing they have created is fantastic.
Last year, the team here at CSS-Tricks compiled a list of our favorite posts, trends, topics, and resources from around the world of front-end development. We had a blast doing it and found it to be a nice recap of the industry as we saw it over the course of the year. Well, we’re doing it again this year!
With that, here’s everything that Sarah, Robin, Chris and I saw and enjoyed over the past year.
There are a few themes that cross languages, and one of them is good code review. Even though Nina Zakharenko gives talks and makes resources about Python, her talk about code review skills is especially notable because it applies across many disciplines. She’s got a great arc to this talk and I think her deck is an excellent resource, but you can take this a step even further and think critically about your own team, what works for it, and what practices might need to be reconsidered.
I also enjoyed this sarcastic tweet that brings up a good point:
When reviewing a PR, it’s essential that you leave a comment. Any comment. Even the PR looks great and you have no substantial feedback, find something trivial to nitpick or question. This communicates intelligence and mastery, and is widely appreciated by your colleagues.
I’ve been guilty myself of commenting on a really clean pull request just to say something, and it’s healthy for us as a community to revisit why we do things like this.
Sophie Alpert, manager of the React core team, also wrote a great post along these lines right at the end of the year called Why Review Code. It’s a good resource to turn to when you’d like to explain the need for code reviews in the development process.
The year of (creative) code
So many wonderful creative coding resources were made this year. Creative coding projects might seem frivolous but you can actually learn a ton from making and playing with them. Matt DesLauriers recently taught a course called Creative Coding with Canvas & WebGL for Frontend Masters that serves as a good example.
CodePen is always one of my favorite places to check out creative work because it provides a way to reverse-engineer the work of other people and learn from their source code. CodePen has also started coding challenges adding yet another way to motivate creative experiments and collective learning opportunities. Marie Mosley did a lot of work to make that happen and her work on CodePen’s great newsletter is equally awesome.
You should also consider checking out Monica Dinculescu’s work because she has been sharing some amazing work. There’s not one, not two, but three (!) that use machine learning alone. Go see all of her Glitch projects. And, for what it’s worth, Glitch is a great place to explore creative code and remix your own as well.
GitHub Actions
I think hands-down one of the most game-changing developments this year is GitHub Actions. The fact that you can manage all of your testing, deployments, and project issues as containers chained in a unified workflow is quite amazing.
Containers are a great for actions because of their flexibility — you’re not limited to a single kind of compute and so much is possible! I did a writeup about GitHub Actions covering the feature in full. And, if you’re digging into containers, you might find the dive repo helpful because it provides a way to explore a docker image and layer contents.
Actions are still in beta but you can request access — they’re slowly rolling out now.
UI property generators
I really like that we’re automating some of the code that we need to make beautiful front-end experiences these days. In terms of color there’s color by Adobe, coolors, and uiGradients. There are even generators for other things, like gradients, clip-path, font pairings, and box-shadow. I am very much all for this. These are the kind of tools that speed up development and allow us to use advanced effects, no matter the skill level.
Ire has been writing a near constant stream of wondrous articles about front-end development on her blog, Bits of Code, over the past year, and it’s been super exciting to keep up with her work. It seems like she’s posting something I find useful almost every day, from basic stuff like when hover, focus and active states apply to accessibility tips like the aria-live attribute.
„The All Powerful Front-end Developer”
Chris gave a talk this year about the ways the role of front-end development are changing… and for the better. It was perhaps the most inspiring talk I saw this year. Talks about front-end stuff are sometimes pretty dry, but Chris does something else here. He covers a host of new tools we can use today to do things that previously required a ton of back-end skills. Chris even made a website all about these new tools which are often categorized as „Serverless.”
Even if none of these tools excite you, I would recommend checking out the talk – Chris’s enthusiasm is electric and made me want to pull up my sleeves and get to work on something fun, weird and exciting.
Future Fonts
The Future Fonts marketplace turned out to be a great place to find new and experimental typefaces this year. Obviously is a good example of that. But the difference between Future Fonts and other marketplaces is that you can buy fonts that are in beta and still currently under development. If you get in on the ground floor and buy a font for $10, then that shows the developer the interest in a particular font which may spur more features for it, like new weights, widths or even OpenType features.
It’s a great way to support type designers while getting a ton of neat and experimental typefaces at the same time.
React Conf 2018
The talks from React Conf 2018 will get you up to speed with the latest React news. It’s interesting to see how React Hooks let you „use state and other React features without writing a class.”
It’s also worth calling out that a lot of folks really improved our Guide to React here on CSS-Tricks so that it now contains a ton of advice about how to get started and how to level up on both basic and advanced practices.
The Victorian Internet
This is a weird recommendation because The Victorian Internet is a book and it wasn’t published this year. But! It’s certainly the best book I’ve read this year, even if it’s only tangentially related to web stuff. It made me realize that the internet we’re building today is one that’s much older than I first expected. The book focuses on the laying of the Transatlantic submarine cables, the design of codes and the codebreakers, fraudsters that used the telegraph to find their marks, and those that used it to find the person they’d marry. I really can’t recommend this book enough.
Figma
The browser-based design tool Figma continued to release a wave of new features that makes building design systems and UI kits easier than ever before. I’ve been doing a ton of experiments with it to see how it helps designers communicate, as well as how to build more resilient components. It’s super impressive to see how much the tools have improved over the past year and I’m excited to see it improve in the new year, too.
It seems there was a lot of chatter this year about the impact of third party scripts. Whether it’s the growing ubiquity of all-things-JavaScript or whatever, this topic covers a wide and interesting ground, including performance, security and even hard costs, to name a few.
My personal favorite post about this was Paulo Mioni’s deep dive into the anatomy of a malicious script. Sure, the technical bits are a great learning opportunity, but what really makes this piece is the way it reads like a true crime novel.
Gutenberg, Gutenberg and more Gutenberg
There was so much noise leading up to the new WordPress editor that the release of WordPress 5.0 containing it felt anti-climactic. No one was hurt or injured amid plenty of concerns, though there is indeed room for improvement.
Lara Schneck and Andy Bell teamed up for a hefty seven-party series aimed at getting developers like us primed for the changes and it’s incredible. No stone is left unturned and it perfectly suitable for beginners and experts alike.
Solving real life issues with UX
I like to think that I care a lot about users in the work I do and that I do my best to empathize so that I can anticipate needs or feelings as they interact with the site or app. That said, my mind was blown away by a study Lucas Chae did on the search engine experience of people looking for a way to kill themselves. I mean, depression and suicide are topics that are near and dear to my heart, but I never thought about finding a practical solution for handling it in an online experience.
So, thanks for that, Lucas. It inspired me to piggyback on his recommendations with a few of my own. Hopefully, this is a conversation that goes well beyond 2018 and sparks meaningful change in this department.
The growing gig economy
Freelancing is one of my favorite things to talk about at great length with anyone and everyone who is willing to talk shop and that’s largely because I’ve learned a lot about it in the five years I’ve been in it.
But if you take my experience and quadruple it, then you get a treasure trove of wisdom like Adam Coti shared in his collection of freelancing lessons learned over 20 years of service.
Freelancing isn’t for everyone. Neither is remote work. Adam’s advice is what I wish I had going into this five years ago.
Browser ecology
I absolutely love the way Rachel Nabors likens web browsers to a biological ecosystem. It’s a stellar analogy and leads into the long and winding history of browser evolution.
Speaking of history, Jason Hoffman’s telling of the history about browsers and web standards is equally interesting and a good chunk of context to carry in your back pocket.
These posts were timely because this year saw a lot of movement in the browser landscape. Microsoft is dropping EdgeHTML for Blink and Google ramped up its AMP product. 2018 felt like a dizzying year of significant changes for industry giants!
„Don’t tell me how to build a front end!” we, front-end developers, cry out. We are very powerful now. We like to bring our own front-end stack, then use your back-end data and APIs. As this is happening, we’re seeing healthy things happen like content management systems evolving to headless frameworks and focus on what they are best at: content management. We’re seeing performance and security improvements through the power of static and CDN-backed hosting. We’re seeing hosting and server usage cost reductions.
But we’re also seeing unhealthy things we need to work through, like front-end developers being spread too thin. We have JavaScript-focused engineers failing to write clean, extensible, performant, accessible markup and styles, and, on the flip side, we have UX-focused engineers feeling left out, left behind, or asked to do development work suddenly quite far away from their current expertise.
GraphQL
Speaking of powerful front-end developers, giving us front-end developers a well-oiled GraphQL setup is extremely empowering. No longer do we need to be roadblocked by waiting for an API to be finished or data to be massaged into some needed format. All the data you want is available at your fingertips, so go get and use it as you will. This makes building and iterating on the front end faster, easier, and more fun, which will lead us to building better products. Apollo GraphQL is the thing to look at here.
While front-end is having a massive love affair with JavaScript, there are plenty of front-end developers happily focused elsewhere
This is what I was getting at in my first section. There is a divide happening. It’s always been there, but with JavaScript being absolutely enormous right now and showing no signs of slowing down, people are starting to fall through the schism. Can I still be a front-end developer if I’m not deep into JavaScript? Of course. I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t learn JavaScript, because it’s pretty cool and powerful and you just might love it, but if you’re focused on UX, UI, animation, accessibility, semantics, layout, architecture, design patterns, illustration, copywriting, and any combination of that and whatever else, you’re still awesome and useful and always will be. Hugs. 🤗
Just look at the book Refactoring UI or the course Learn UI Design as proof there is lots to know about UI design and being great at it requires a lot of training, practice, and skill just like any other aspect of front-end development.
Shamelessly using grid and custom properties everywhere
I remember when I first learned flexbox, it was all I reached for to make layouts. I still love flexbox, but now that we have grid and the browser support is nearly just as good, I find myself reaching for grid even more. Not that it’s a competition; they are different tools useful in different situations. But admittedly, there were things I would have used flexbox for a year ago that I use grid for now and grid feels more intuitive and more like the right tool.
I’m still swooning over the amazing illustrations Lynn Fisher did for both our grid and flexbox guides.
Massive discussions around CSS-in-JS and approaches, like Tailwind
These discussions can get quite heated, but there is no ignoring the fact that the landscape of CSS-in-JS is huge, has a lot of fans, and seems to be hitting the right notes for a lot of folks. But it’s far from settled down. Libraries like Vue and Angular have their own framework-prescribed way of handling it, whereas React has literally dozens of options and a fast-moving landscape with libraries popping up and popular ones spinning down in favor of others. It does seem like the feature set is starting to settle down a little, so this next year will be interesting to watch.
Then there is the concept of atomic CSS on the other side of the spectrum, and interesting in that doesn’t seem to have slowed down at all either. Tailwind CSS is perhaps the hottest framework out there, gaining enough traction that Adam is going full time on it.
What could really shake this up is if the web platform itself decides to get into solving some of the problems that gave rise to these solutions. The shadow DOM already exists in Web Components Land, so perhaps there are answers there? Maybe the return of <style scoped>? Maybe new best practices will evolve that employ a single-stylesheet-per-component? Who knows.
I’ve heard of multiple agencies where design systems are literally what they make for their clients. Not websites, design systems. I get it. If you give a team a really powerful and flexible toolbox to build their own site with, they will do just that. Giving them some finished pages, as polished as they might be, leaves them needing to dissect those themselves and figure out how to extend and build upon them when that need inevitably arrives. I think it makes sense for agencies, or special teams, to focus on extensible component-driven libraries that are used to build sites.
Machine Learning
Stuff like this blows me away:
I made a music sequencer! In JavaScript! It even uses Machine Learning to try to match drums to a synth melody you create!
Having open source libraries that help with machine learning and that are actually accessible for regular ol’ developers to use is a big deal.
Stuff like this will have real world-bettering implications:
🔥 I think I used machine learning to be nice to people! In this proof of concept, I’m creating dynamic alt text for screenreaders with Azure’s Computer Vision API. 💫https://t.co/Y21AHbRT4Ypic.twitter.com/KDfPZ4Sue0
You gotta check out the Unicode Pattern work (more) that Yuan Chuan does. He even shared some of his work and how he does it right here on CSS-Tricks. And follow that name link to CodePen for even more. This <css-doodle> thing they have created is fantastic.
We’ve released the Most Hearted Pens, Posts, and Collections on CodePen for 2018! Just absolutely incredible work on here — it’s well worth exploring.
Remember CodePen has a three-tiered hearting system, so while the number next to the heart reflects the number of users who hearted the item, each of those could be worth 1, 2, or 3 hearts total. This list is a great place to find awesome people to follow on CodePen as well, and we’re working on ways to make following people a lot more interesting in 2019.
I recently attended and had the chance to speak at WordCamp US 2018 in Nashville. I had a great time. I love conferences that bring people together around a tight theme because it’s very likely you’ll have something to talk about with every person there. Plus, I rather like WordPress and its community. The vibe was very centered around Gutenberg, as it was released in WordPress 5.0 just as the conference started.
Matt’s State of the Word gets into all that:
I took the opportunity to give a brand new talk I’ve been working on I’ve called, “Thinking Like a Front-End Developer”:
There were loads of wonderful people there and loads of wonderful talks. Here’s a playlist!
