Indesign Printing/Setup Resources

With my writing beginning to near its end, we've reached the biggest challenge so far. Actually setting up the Indesign spreads and laying them all out. Now, trust me, I know this seems like a bit of a daunting task but lucky we have assistance! 

The website I've chosen to print with is Mixam! This was mostly from researching other artists printing videos, and seeing how good of reviews they've gotten. Depending on what you're printing, they're pretty affordable. They have tons of different options for printing, and even more options for specifications. If you're wanting to do all of the page layouts in-house, they have options for that as well. Not as customizable as Indesign per say, but you can get the job done there. 

But what I wanted to share incase anyone else was thinking of using Indesign was their very thorough tutorials! 

Tutorial on Creating a Cover and Spine Spread: [ https://youtu.be/UWyb-KeDcq0?si=-wFgxDKHCr739RaQ ] 

Tutorial on Setting up Page Spreads: [ https://youtu.be/YXikgW18vCE?si=M771_H9tt-Qply_- ]

Tutorial on Setting up Bleed: [ https://youtu.be/FG3GjYl7H_U?si=AqkZFl99SCYog9Nq ] 

As someone who is completely new to using InDesign, these tutorials have been extremely beneficial. Not only have they helped me understand how to go about setting up the page specs, but they're presented in a way that is easy to follow along with. I honestly didn't consider a lot of what she touched on, such as the spine of the book needing to be a certain size for the cover to envelop all the pages. 

Because it's straight from Mixam's own Youtube channel, they touch on different layouts for different printing styles as well! She talks about less involved styles and goes all the way up to proper book styles. I don't know if the woman who made these is still apart of the company, but she needs an entire award for creating these resources. 

Mini Catch Up

 Welcome back to the blog! It's been a little bit since we've sat down and had a chat, what with all the snow days and breaks in-between. I think this is a good time, however, to catch you up a bit more on how my idea has been changing. 

Although I adore the idea of being able to do a Zine for a project...this project is just a little too big for that. There's almost too much content for the medium, and my big fear was that I wouldn't be able to do it justice. While I could go the photo book route, that was almost a bit too visual and it would be really hard to get you to care about what I'm doing. So, after consulting both Laura (and ChatGPT with permission I could), I ended up finding something that I could fit the project into. 

A Travel Memoir is a recollection of a trip that is built around a central theme or message. It can be various topics such as how did the trip change you, what did you discover about yourself, what did you learn. This theme is then meant to be carried throughout the entire writing itself, acting like the glue of the entire project. While I usually don't like to do this, finding a label to put behind this project has definitely helped clear up some confusion. It helps give me more direction to find resources that actually are hitting what I want to do, rather than some weird amalgamation. Do I think this might be a little bit more artsy compared to literary travel memoirs? Maybe just a tad. 

One of the advantages of doing something more literary is being able to work on it outside of the Mac Labs. Not having to pray there isn't some type of class there to worry about. Both of the following resources have been super helpful so far with creating a balance with the writing aspect. One of the bigger issues that kept emerging when I started was that the writing sounded a little too...academia. You could tell I was trying to still be "professional" and that I wasn't writing like I usually would. While I was a bit hesitant to "go all the way" with the writing, a lot of writing resources really push you to! A lot of the appeal of a Travel Memoir stems from an author's unique writing voice; it's what sets them apart from each other! Upon learning that, I ended up completely changing the style I was writing in. While there are still some included educational blurbs/sections, most of the stories have been more geared towards creating a cultural/story connection. Experiencing another country-- let alone another culture-- goes so far to appreciating diversity and understanding of the world, and realizing that is what I want to showcase has vastly helped me feel more sure in this project. 

Resources: 

LinkedIn Resource: [ https://www.linkedin.com/advice/0/how-do-you-craft-compelling-narrative-voice-your?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&utm_campaign=copy ]

NY Book Editors: [ https://nybookeditors.com/2017/08/tips-writing-travel-memoir/