The hanging indent

I still remember the first time I came upon a hanging indent. I was a young lad, still in art school working as an intern. I was on my own, no official schooling in design I was lost in the steamy jungle that is Quark Xpress. My trusty steed was an old Mac Quadra, breathing hot, ion-laden air into my cubicle. The document was a no-design, corporate informational piece, the kill should have been easy. I circled around back making the changes with the ease of a seasoned professional. Then, suddenly I came on something I wasn’t expecting. It came at me fast and hard. I didn’t know how to react, what to do. What was the mysterious character hidden at the end of the tab? Why was the indent moving so seamlessly? I was hurt, scared! I found myself lying on the floor in a heap of sweat, sobbing, I couldn’t remember what happened or how I got there. It took me days to recover, maybe I never really did. I knew, though, that whatever I had come across was a powerful thing, an ally if I could tame it, an enemy if I didn’t understand it.

Soon, I came upon what I believe to be the most powerful tool a designer has in print work, the hanging indent. It has become my constant companion, finding it’s way into every document I create.

For the uninitiated, the hanging indent is a single keystroke that causes all soft break text underneath to align to the position of the keystroke. That magical keystroke is a simple command-\ placed where you want your text aligned.

Best practices? Make sure you indent with a single, set tab for positioning. AFTER the tab add the hanging indent. It will not show, but it will be there none the less. All type entered until a hard break will align there. Feel free to use soft-breaks in there, they will align perfectly! DON’T use spaces to align the hanging indent, tabs are more reliable, even if one space would work. DON’T use the indent controls in the tab pallette. They are unreliable and don’t align as well as hanging indents.

Go now, use them wisely! They will serve you well.

Antelope

Needle felted wool bunny

Made this little guy for a Christmas present for my father-in-laws dog… Cute little felted wool bunny, made from organic raw wool I bought a while back. The dog destroyed it inside five minutes!!

A change…

I don’t really have any regular readers to inform about this, but consider this a marker for all future visitors to this site. I am changing gears from a person who posts occasionally their drawings to a never-read site, to a guy who actually wants to write things that might be worth reading. I don’t know if anyone will or not, but for those of you who do, I’m here for you.

Going forward this blog is going to be focused on some how-to type of writings aimed at other graphic designers. It will be interspersed with some personal stuff and occasionally I’ll post a design or a hobby something that I’m particularly proud of. After all, everybody likes to brag occasionally, right?

Reverse monster

This guy was drawn to be reversed on a black background… Kind of fun though like a negative monster!

Reverse monster - negative space

Monster Cupcake!!

This is a monster cupcake for a t-shirt that I’m making for my daughters birthday party. I like cupcakes.

He's gonna eat you!

Monster Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Here it is, Monster Wednesday!!

Monster Wednesday, June 24, 2009

So todays monster is a dancing skeleton with a flaming top hat. Happy Monster Wednesday!!

Monster Wendesday, June 9, 2009

Okay, here he is, a griffin.

Angry guy

A silly friday sketch of an angry thug. He has a tattoo. Of an anchor.

Monster Wednesday May 27!!!

Awarded the coveted three exclamation points, it’s Monster Wednesday for May 27th, 2009!!!

Yes, it is in fact a coffee bean chasing Mr. Peanut.