Design tip bits

Ever heard of the Rorschach inkblot test? Good news you can draw them yourself in Illustrator. Who knows you may find out more about your inner self. It works as follows 1. Draw an object and select it. 2. Go to Effect> Distort and Transform> Transform. 3. Enter the following values and check the Reflect Y. Make sure the reference point is below and centre and set copies to 1. Click OK. A copy of your image will be placed. 4. Select the object. 5. Go to Window> Graphic Styles and click on the new graphic style icon to add the style. Now you can apply this Graphic Styles to any object. 6. You can also apply the style to a layer. Make a new layer. target this layer by clicking on the button. Then click on the graphic style. The style will now be applied to everything you draw.

If you want to apply a paragraph style to text, this can be done via several different panels. The paragraph styles panel, the pulldown menu in the control bar and less known via 'Quick Apply". Place the text cursor in the paragraph. Use the keys Command-enter (Mac) Control-enter (Win) and a panel will open with a list of all your styles. Click on the desired style for your paragraph and press the enter key. As you can see there is a lot more then just styles in the list. You can also select menus, tools, etc. By typing the first few letters of your style InDesign will find that style for you in the list. That's why you should give your styles logical and sensible names. Press the enter key to apply the style.