Creating Graphics in Publisher
A How to Get Started Guide for Beginners
Creating Graphics in Publisher
A How to Get Started Guide for Beginners
This document is aimed at those new to Publisher or with limited experience,
taking them step-by-step through the basic elements of creating graphics such
as posters, flyers and leaflets, and for making eye-catching drawings of your
own. You need no previous artistic experience in order to produce great results.
The guide is richly illustrated throughout to show you how it’s done.
The intention is that you should work your way steadily through this guide in
conjunction with practical experience in order to develop your skills as we point
out many of the versatile tools and techniques that can be employed in creating
your graphics. Once you have been through the guide and tried out the various
methods mentioned for yourself, you can then use it as a reference manual until
you can navigate your way effortlessly around Publisher on your own. You will
be surprised at just how quick and simple it is to use to produce graphics you
can feel proud of. The more you use Publisher, the easier it will become; the
more you practice and experiment, the better your graphics will be. Use the
links on the Contents Page to navigate to the article you require.
I always find using Publisher an absorbing experience and also a thoroughly
pleasurable and satisfying one. We hope you will too. Above all, enjoy it!
Contents
Creating a New Publisher Document ……… 4
Changing the Unit of Measurement ……….. 5
Hyphenation …………………………………………... 5
Adjusting the Margin Guides ………………….. 6
Master Page ……………………………………………. 6
Guides …………………………………………………….. 7
Magnification ………………………………………….. 8
Objects …………………………………………………….. 9
Putting Objects onto the Page …………………. 10
Insert Page ……………………………………………….. 10
Shapes ……………………………………………………… 11
Basic Shapes …………………………………………….. 12
Rotate ………………………………………………………. 13
Inserting Pictures …………………………………….. 15
Cropping Pictures …………………………………….. 16
Formatting ……………………………………………….. 17
Color …………………………………………………………. 17
Custom Color …………………………………………. 18
Sample Color …………………………………………. 19
Recent Color ………………………………………….. 19
Recolor Picture ………………………………………. 20
Other Fills
Gradient Fill …………………………………………… 20
Texture Fill …………………………………………….. 24
Picture Fill ……………………………………………... 24
Outlines ……………………………………………………. 25
Weight ………………………………………………….. 25
Outline Style (Dashed) ………………………….. 26
Lines …………………………………………………………. 27
Arrow Lines …………………………………………… 27
Scribble Line ………………………………………….. 28
Curve Line ……………………………………………… 29
Arranging (Bring Forward, Send Backward) 31
Grouping ………………………………………………….. 33
Shadows …………………………………………………… 34
3-D Effects ………………………………………………… 36
3-D Color ……………………………………………….. 37
3-D Depth ……………………………………………… 38
3-D Lighting ………………………………………….. 39
3-D Surface ……………………………………………. 40
3-D Direction …………………………………………. 40
WordArt ……………………………………………………. 41
Save As… ………………………………………………….. 45
Wrap Text …………………………………………………. 47
Styles (for Text) ………………………………………… 50
Bullet Points ……………………………………………… 52
Techniques & Tips
Making a Basic Sign ………………………………….. 54
Centring ……………………………………………………. 59
Fonts …………………………………………………………. 61
Drawing ……………………………………………………. 62
Freehand Drawing ……………………………………. 71
Crop Marks ………………………………………………. 76
Creating a New Publisher Document
If you use Publisher regularly, a shortcut can be found on your Start Menu. Otherwise, it can be found by
going to All Programs and then Microsoft Office. The page shown below will then appear. This offers you
a number of options for page sizes. The most commonly used one is Blank A4 (Portrait) but there are
more options in More Blank Page Sizes, such as A5 and A3. Remember, whatever size you start with you
can always change it later to something else, though it will always print on the paper size in the printer.
From the More Blank Page Sizes (shown below), select the page size and orientation you need and either
click on it and then on the Create button, or double-click on your option. Size and orientation can be
changed at any time.
Create New Page Size allows you to determine the dimensions of your page, which can be a useful option for
purposes such as creating scale drawings, for instance.
Changing the Unit of Measurement
To change the unit of measurement, use the File Tab to
navigate to Options, near the bottom (Shown left).
The Options page opens. We need to select Advanced
(below).
From the Advanced options select the unit of measurement required from the dropdown list. Pixels can be
a useful option when sizing images for web pages for example.
Unchecking the Automatically hyphenate in new text boxes will prevent hyphenation occurring.
Options also offers a range of other choices, such as Languages, which allows you to choose other languages
to work with, and Proofing, where you can also select dictionaries and AutoCorrect options to suit your
needs. There are some useful tools there, which you should investigate but here we are concentrating on
the graphics side of Publisher
Adjusting the Margin Guides
From the Page Design Tab, go to Margins and click on the
downward arrow to access the dropdown menu. A number of
options will be displayed, including the default 1.27 cm all round.
We want to go to Custom Margins at the bottom to set our
values. Once this has been done, those values will appear as an
option on the menu as a Custom Margins icon
The Layout Guides dialogue box appears. Type in the values
for the margins required for Left, Right, Top and Bottom
and click OK. In this case, we have opted for 1cm all round.
The up and down arrows to the right of values can also be
used to change values by set increments. These values will
now be used for every page in the document and are
indicated by the blue box.
Sometimes, as in the case of a book, facing pages may
require different values (a larger central margin, for
instance). In Master Pages, check the Two-page master
option. The Right and Left will then change to Inside and
Outside. Type in (or use the arrows) to set the values
required. Here, we have gone for a wider central margin
(Inside). The Preview pane shows how the margins will
appear. Click OK.
It is worth mentioning at this stage that, as always, you should regularly Save
your work and this is particularly true with Publisher, when files can become
extremely large and can occasionally crash unexpectedly. The first time you
save your file, choose the File Tab then Save As, type in a name and save as a
Publisher file (the default) to be able to continue editing. Once you have given
the file a name, you can then use Save.
Save As also allows you to save different versions, meaning you that you can
keep the version you’re happy with and try something out on the new version,
thus being able to revert to the original if you go wrong.
Guides
One very useful advantage Publisher has over Word is the ability to place Guides on the page, which makes it
easy to position objects very accurately. These appear as green lines and can be either horizontal or vertical.
You can use as many of these as you require.
Hover the cursor over one of the rulers, at the top or
left, and it changes to an icon of parallel lines with a
double-headed arrow. Hold the left mouse button
down and drag the ruler to the required position. By
increasing the magnification (see below), you can
adjust the ruler to a high a degree of accuracy by
dragging in the same way.
Guides sit behind objects so will be hidden by filled
objects such as pictures. You can only get hold of
them in order to move them from outside an object.
To move the guide indicated by the arrow, you need
to grab it from any point outside the area occupied by
the photograph (right).
By putting the cursor on the guide and holding the
left mouse button, the guide can be seen through the
picture or object.
If you end up with too many guides on the page to see what you are doing properly, drag some of the ones
no longer needed off the page. Guides can sometimes make it difficult to get an impression of how the page
really looks. Go to the View Tab (shown above left) and uncheck the Guides box, at which the guides will be
hidden. This option is often quicker than going to Print Preview, which can be slow to load if the file has
become big. Recheck the Guides box to see the guides again.
Note that guides do not print.
Page Navigation in the View Tab is very useful for moving easily between pages in your publication. Check
the box and it appears on the left of the page. It is shown in the top image on this page. We only have one
page currently but, when more are added, click on the page icon to go to that page. Right click on a page icon
to delete that page.
Magnification
This is another tool that is much more versatile and easier to use than in Word. This is also found in the View
Tab and is especially useful when it comes to positioning objects accurately on the page and in relation to
each other. It is generally best to position your object in roughly the right place at a low magnification and
then move to a higher magnification to finally position it precisely. Once an object has been selected, it can
be moved either by dragging or by using the arrow keys. The arrow keys move in set increments according to
the magnification you are using. Each arrow key press at a low magnification will move the object much
further than when using a high magnification, whereas the high magnification allows you to adjust by tiny
amounts, thus affording high levels of accuracy.
There are several options available here, all of which
are very useful.
The 100% icon shows your object in its true size.
The Whole Page allows an overall view of your page,
good for seeing how it will print, especially with the
guides turned off.
There is also a Page Width option (hidden behind the
dropdown list here) in which the page stretches
across the Desktop. A little practice will tell you which
option is best for your requirements.
The dropdown option lets you choose from a list of preset magnifications, from 10% right up to a maximum
of 800% (whereas Word only goes up to 500%).
You can also type in your own value for magnification by clicking in the window. The value turns blue (as
shown) and then you can type in any figure up to 800%, then press Enter. Remember that at high
magnifications you will achieve much greater accuracy but the incremental moves will be much smaller and
responses will be noticeably slower than at smaller ones.
Notice the difference between the two rulers at different magnifications. On the left is an 800% level, which
shows measurement increments in half millimetres, whilst the 100% on the right shows only millimetres.
Guides can be placed anywhere and are not limited to sitting on the measurement markers.
Objects
Anything you place on the page is known as an object, be that a picture, Clip Art, a shape, a text box or
WordArt. Publisher offers a good range of options for formatting objects, such as resizing, colouring,
cropping, rotating, and positioning in front of or behind other objects, plus the extremely useful Group. You
can also add effects, such as shadows or 3-D. We will look closer at all these options later.
The majority of objects (with the obvious exception of the lines) have an internal space that can be
formatted using choices from Fill, plus they also all have an Outline, which can also be formatted in a range
of different ways.
Personally, I do not care much for Clip Art, which is a wide range of readymade graphic images, mainly
because they will always look exactly like what they are: Clip Art. In my opinion, most of them are tacky in
the extreme but you may find some useful for your purposes. For this reason, we will not be looking at Clip
Art, other than to mention that the one thing I have found it handy for is for segments of circles, which are
hard to produce otherwise. Go to the Insert tab then to Clip Art and type ‘pie slice’ into the Search For box.
Here it is the one on the top left.
The illustration also shows the general low quality of the artwork on offer,
though the photographs can occasionally prove useful.
Find the piece you want and click on it to select it (in this case, the pie slice)
and drag and drop it onto your page.
The pie slice in the centre image has been selected, which is indicated by the box surrounding it and the
circular shapes at each corner and at the middle of each side. These are called Handles. To select any object
simply click on it and the handles appear. The green handle on the top can be used for pulling the object up
or down on the page and can also be used for rotating. Notice also the yellow diamonds: any object that has
these diamonds can be manipulated in certain ways, which we will come onto soon. With the object selected
we can then format it as desired.
In the right image, the slice has been formatted into a half circle (using the diamonds), the default shadow
has been turned off and a red Fill has been applied. The slice has then been rotated 90 degrees.
Putting Objects onto the Page
An object, as we have already seen, is the term used for anything that gets placed on the page, which
includes photographs and pictures, shapes and lines, text boxes, WordArt, tables and so on. Many of these
options are available in Word but Publisher offers a great deal more versatility when creating documents of a
graphic nature. In Publisher, the objects are placed on the page by using the Insert Tab.
On the extreme left is the Page button. Clicking on the page
image will insert a blank page after the one you are
currently on (highlighted in yellow in the Navigation Pane,
switched on from the View Tab).
Alternatively, you can click on the arrow below the word
Page to reveal the Page Menu. Selecting Insert Page… will
bring up the Insert Page dialogue box.
In this box you can add as many pages as you want
at one go. There is also the option to insert the
page (or pages) Before or After current page.
Remember that the current page will be
highlighted in yellow in the Navigation Pane
(available from View Tab), so be aware of which is
your actual current page before inserting.
Useful Tip: Control and Z option for when you
make mistakes, as this will Undo the last move and
will keep on undoing each time they are clicked
together, right back to the last time you Saved.
(Ctrl+Z = Undo)
As you will see from the top illustration, there is a wide selection of options available to you on the Insert
menu, many of which may already be familiar to you from Word. For the purposes of this document, and
because we are most interested in graphics-based work here, we will be mainly concentrating on a selection
of them.
Shapes
Shapes are available from the Insert Tab. Clicking on the Shapes Icon will reveal the large selection you can
choose from. However, though there are many on show, you will find you use some regularly and others
hardly ever at all, and some never. Practice will show which ones are most useful to you but there will be
something for almost everything you wish to do.
The top section here shows your Recently Used
Shapes. Mine, as can be seen, contains the usual
suspects of text box, line, rectangle, circle and so
on. We will look closer at some of these shortly.
Hovering the cursor over the shape will reveal its
name.
Next we have Lines, a few of which are already in
Recently Used. Lines are slightly different from
other shapes, as we will see later.
Basic Shapes contains all the standard geometric
shapes including text box.
Block Arrows is exactly what it says, with some
variations that have different degrees of usefulness,
again dependent on what sort of document you are
creating.
Flowchart is not my area at all but contains shapes
ideal for those who do involve themselves in that
particular sphere. These will mostly be used in
conjunction
with text
boxes
and
with
the
connectors shown in Lines.
Callouts is the Publisher term for speech bubbles or
balloons, including the one used for thought in
comics. These can occasionally be handy but mainly
have limited scope.
The same applies to Stars and Banners, though the
two explosions on the left and the star (fourth from
left) are often useful but are not for overuse.
Practice and experiment will show you exactly which shapes are going to be of most use to you.
Once you have clicked on the shape you want, you then go to the page where the cursor will appear as a
cross, which you then drag sideways or downwards to create your shape. Lines work slightly differently, as
mentioned. Once you have drawn your shape, you can then begin to format and position it.
Basic Shapes
We will now look at some of the most basic (and also most useful and used) shapes. You can draw them very
roughly to begin with in most cases as there are many possibilities when it comes to formatting. All objects
(with the exception of lines) have both an outline and a fill area that can be formatted in a large number of
ways. They can also be resized using different methods.
In this example, we have clicked on the Rectangle shape and then dragged it
out onto the page. It is still selected, as can be seen by the handles. The
Drawing Tools Tab appears when a shape is selected and by clicking on the
tab you will see the formatting options available. Also shown are the Shape
Fill (paint pot icon) and the Shape Outline (pencil icon) options and these
allow you to do a great many creative things with your shape.
Useful Tip: With some shapes, especially rectangle and circle, by holding
down Control and Shift as you drag you will create a perfect version of the
shape. Height and width will be the same, as shown in the Size box on the
extreme right (shown right).
Some shapes when selected will show a Yellow Diamond. This diamond
can be used to manipulate the shape’s appearance in certain ways,
according to which shape has been chosen. With the arrow (shown right),
the size of the head and the width of the shaft can be changed (shown
The Rounded Rectangle lets you change
the curvature of the corners to suit your
needs.
Rotate
This is a very useful and versatile tool. It will be found on the Home Tab or on the Drawing Tool Format Tab.
All the objects on the page can be rotated in a number of different ways, which alter the shape according to
which option you select.
The Rotate option is found over on the
right. The icon will show the last option
you used and clicking on it will activate
that rotation. Clicking on the down arrow
brings up the Rotate Menu.
The shape must be selected to rotate it. We have chosen an asymmetrical shape
in order to best illustrate what happens when it is rotated in various ways
chosen from the Rotate menu.
Here the shape has been rotated, first by using the
Rotate Right 90° option, followed by the Rotate Left 90°
option. Each click will move the shape 90° further in the
chosen direction.
In this illustration, we have used the Flip Vertical option
(which turns it on its head), followed by the Flip
Horizontal option (which turns it 180° side to side).
Here we have used the green Rotate Handle that appears at
the top when the shape is selected. Hover the cursor over the
green circular rotate handle until it turns into a circling arrow
cursor. You can now tilt the shape in the direction required by
holding down the left mouse button and dragging.
In order to get a higher sensitivity of rotation (and move the
shape in finer increments), use a higher magnification
Another option available from the Rotate menu is Free Rotate. When
this is chosen with the shape selected, the handles turn into green
Rotate Handles at each corner. These work in exactly the same way as
the default Rotate Handle. Free Rotate is especially useful at high
magnifications when you may not be able to see the whole shape
because you can go to the nearest available corner to rotate your shape.
Once you have repositioned your shape, return to the Rotate menu and
click Free Rotate again. The default handles will then reappear. Clicking
anywhere outside the shape will also remove the Rotate handles and
deselect the shape.
The final option available from the Rotate menu
is in More Rotate Options. Clicking on this
produces the Format AutoShape dialogue box,
which appears with the Size Tab open. You can
then select a very accurate value for rotating
your shape by going to the Rotation window and
either using the up or down arrows or typing in
your value to achieve the desired level of
rotation. In the example shown, we have opted
for 45°.
Clicking OK once you have selected your rotation value then rotates
the shape by the chosen number of degrees. Note that it rotates the
shape to the right. Typing in a negative value (such as -45°, using a
minus sign) rotates the shape in the opposite direction, or left. This
option allows for extremely accurate rotation, letting you turn your
shape to precisely where you want it.
Remember that all objects, including text boxes, can be rotated.
Inserting Pictures
Pictures in Publisher includes all types of image files, such as photographs, JPEGs, PNGs, screenshots and so
on. To Insert a Picture onto your page, go to the Picture option. This is another feature which is such a
popular option in Publisher that it is available on both the Home Tab (near the centre) and the Insert Tab
(Picture is fourth from the left, in Illustrations) for ease of access.
The illustration shows the Picture option from the
Insert tab. Clicking on the Picture icon allows you to
search for the picture you require. Make sure you
know the name of your file before you start browsing,
in order to insert the right one. You may wish to
rename it before you begin.
Once you have located the correct image - in this case we are using CRAIG ONE - click on it to select it and
the border will turn blue to indicate that it has been selected. Then click on the Insert button at the bottom
right (in blue in the illustration) to place the image onto your page. Or double-click on the image icon.
The image has now been placed onto the page. Whilst and whenever the image is selected, the Picture Tools
Format Tab becomes available. Clicking on this tab gives access to a number of formatting options. How
useful you find these options will depend on your own preferences. Personally, I find that the Brightness and
Contrast (over to the left), which only offer increments of 10°, too crude and the Picture Styles (near the
centre) too naff, though don’t be put off from investigating and experimenting. I would always get my
picture into a finished state beforehand by using PhotoShop or a similar picture formatting program. Options
that I use regularly myself are Recolour (left), Picture Border (centre), Wrap Text (to the right), Bring
Forward and Send Backward and Rotate (right), Crop and Size, all of which we will go on to look at in more
detail soon.
Cropping Pictures
Cropping is an easy way to resize pictures (such as photographs and screenshots) into the ratio you want or
to get rid of parts of the pictures at the edges that are not needed in order to improve composition. When
your picture is selected, go to the Picture Tools Format tab to find the Crop Tool over to the right of the
toolbar. It turns yellow to indicate it has been selected.
When the Crop Tool has been activated (and is yellow), the
circular handles on the picture turn into black Crop Handles.
Use these handles to drag the edges in to remove unwanted
portions of the picture.
Clicking on the Crop Tool again will turn the handles back to
the regular circular ones and keep the picture selected.
Clicking anywhere outside the picture will deactivate the
Crop Tool.
We can adjust our picture to feature only the bride by
activating the Crop Tool and dragging the handles. The
portion to be deleted will be dimmed, whilst the retained
part remains bright to allow you to crop to the desired
point.
As always, higher magnifications will give you greater
accuracy with your positioning.
Cropping is a non-destructive technique so later on we can
select the picture and the Crop Tool and restore our picture
to its original size and content.
However, if you save your file in a format other than
Publisher (such as JPEG, for instance), the picture will then
not allow restoration.
Formatting
Everything that you place on your page can be formatted in a wide variety of ways. This includes Fills
(colouring), Lines, Resizing, Ordering, Grouping and so on. Once you know your way around the basics, you
will be able to apply them quickly and easily to your objects.
Colour
Everything you place on the page has both a Line and a Fill (with the obvious exception of lines themselves)
that can be formatted. The tools available are hugely versatile, as we will see. Using Fills really makes your
graphic come to life and you can change them as much and as often as you wish.
Once you have placed your shape on the page and with it selected, the
Drawing Tools Format Tab becomes available and here you will find the
Fill options. The Shape Fill icon is a tipping paint pot with a coloured line
underneath it. Clicking on the paint pot icon itself will fill your shape with
the same colour as the line below it (which is also the last colour you
used).
Clicking on the down arrow reveals the Fill Menu, which includes a set of
Scheme Colors and another of Standard Colors, plus the No Fill option,
which will be useful on occasions. Whilst these offer a fair range of
standard choices, this is nowhere near the limit as there are plenty more
options available from the menus below the No Fill option, all of which
are worth getting to know as they can make a huge difference to your
work and the results you obtain.
The Standard Colors tab allows you to select from a
wide range of colours, including black through greys
to white. Click on the honeycomb at the desired cell
and that colour is then displayed in the New and
Current box in the bottom right. This box is actually
split into top and bottom halves. If you have
previously coloured your shape with a fill, this will be
shown in the Current (bottom) half, whilst your new
selection will be shown in the New (top) half. In this
illustration, the selected colour is the same as the
previous colour, so they appear the same. When
using other options, this will be a useful tool for
comparison.
You will need to click on either OK (to use that colour)
or Cancel (to keep the original) to close the box.
The Custom Colors Tab offers a much wider range
of options for you to choose from and then adjust
to suit. Put the cursor in the rainbow box of colours
(it changes into an open cross) and select a cell at
the centre of it. This then appears in the New box.
Once you have chosen your colour, the bar on the
right (with the triangular arrow) lets you choose
tints (whitened) or shades (darkened) of your
selected option, which will then appear in the New
box. Click on the bar at the shade or tint you want.
Colours at the top of the rainbow box are pure,
whilst lower down they become more grey
(desaturated). Experiment by clicking in various
places to see the effect each time.
The Color model dropdown offers three choices,
which are only really used when sending work out to
a professional printers’ who may specify that the
document should be in CMYK (based on Cyan (blue),
Magenta (red), Yellow and Black). You will rarely need
to use any option other than the default RGB (Red,
Green, Blue) but it is worth knowing that the choice is
available.
In RGB mode, you can adjust the colour in
increments between 0 and 255 for each of the
Red, Green and Blue options. 0 0 255 gives a pure
blue (shown). 255 255 255 will produce white.
You can either type in your value into the box or
use the arrows to adjust the colour. This option is
especially useful for reproducing a particular
colour that you have used before.
Transparency is not particularly useful in my opinion and seems not to print very well, but do experiment
with it. The Pantone tab is another only useful when using commercial printing.
Be aware that colours on your screen may appear very different when printed, especially blues and greens.
Printing may also not be as subtle as the image you have on your screen—the only way to find out how it will
look is to print it out.
One particularly useful advantage that Publisher has over Word is the
Sample Fill Color option with the dropper icon. Selecting this tool allows
you to choose your Fill or Line colour from anywhere on your page,
including from a photograph. The cursor will change to a dropper and it
will select the colour from single pixel at the tip. When you click on the
chosen colour, it appears in a square near the cursor.
The Sample Color can now be
adjusted and finessed by going to
the More Fill Colors option.
Recent Colors shows the colours you have used
recently (surprisingly enough), in this case the red
(value 255 0 0), the white (255 255 255) and two
violets sampled from the photograph. When you
have been using a lot of variations of the same
colour, hovering the cursor over a Recent Color
reveals its RGB value.
Photographs can be recoloured, as mentioned
earlier. With the image selected, go to the Picture
Tools Format Tab and then click on the down arrow
to reveal the Recolor dropdown list. Near the
bottom is the More Variations option with the
palette icon. Selecting this option opens the
Recolor Picture dialogue box with more options to
choose from.
The Recolor Picture dialogue box holds a
Preview Pane showing how your image will
appear when recoloured, and a Color
Dropdown list where the Color Options can
be found.
All the colouring options previously described are available
here with the exception of Sample Color. However, our
Sampled Colours are still available in the Recent Colors
selection. We will opt for the paler violet for an example of
Recoloring. Once a Recolor choice has been made, the
Preview Pane will display how the image will look.
Again, this is a non-destructive technique.
The Restore Original Colors button allows
you to return the image to its natural state
at any time.
The other Fill options include Picture, Gradient, Texture and
Pattern and these tend to be of more limited usefulness
generally but can come in handy now and then, so are
worth knowing about. Each of them allows you to choose
from a number of options and they all do what their names
suggest they will. Personally, I find the Gradient option of
the most frequent use and Picture of occasional use but do
experiment with them to find out what can be done with
them.
The Gradient Fill option offers a wide range of
choices. By default, the Fill will be a flat overall
colour, which is fine for many purposes, but
there will be times when you need something
rather more versatile. Practice and experiment
will discover its best uses for you but we’ll just
take a simple example to illustrate. We want to
create a basic landscape, so we add a rectangle
with a blue fill for sky and another with a green
one for land.
From the Fill dropdown menu, click on Gradient to reveal the
Gradient menu. This offers No Gradient, which will not alter
your colour but will remove a gradient if you later don’t like it;
then Light Variations, which offers your colour bleeding
towards white in the chosen direction; and Dark Variations,
which bleed towards black in the same choice of directions.
However, to get a better idea and to see more choices, we will
go to More Gradients at the bottom. We have got our sky blue
rectangle selected before we begin.
The Gradient Dialogue Box opens, offering a number of
choices. Under Colours, we have checked the One
colour option and our sky blue shows under Color 1. The
Dark/Light Slider will alter the shading or tinting, which
we will look at shortly. Transparency can look
impressive on the screen but generally fails to print at all
well, so I tend to ignore this option. Shading styles
offers the same range as those in the previous
illustration, and here Horizontal has been checked. The
Variants offer four choices, with dark on top or bottom
or in the centre or the edges. Click on the one you would
like to use. Here the top left is selected and is shown in
the sample square on the bottom right.
To make a reasonably convincing sky effect, we want
the top to be a deeper blue than at the horizon, so we
have pushed the Dark/Light Slider towards the Light
end and chosen the top left square from the Variants
options. Click OK to select your choices.
The sky now looks like this. We have also applied
a gradient to the land, this time with the Dark/
Light Slider pushed towards dark. The effect is
simple but already there is more depth and a
more interesting image.
Checking the Two colors option offers a choice of two
colours to mix together in much the same way. Click the
down arrow by Color 1 to reveal the familiar choice of
colour options. We will now change our landscape into a
night scene in order to illustrate the possibilities available
in Gradients. Select a colour for Color 1 and then do the
same for Color 2, which for our purposes will be a very
dark blue with a more medium blue below it.
When using different colours, such as red with yellow, try
alternating between which one is Color 1 and which Color
2 to see the way this will change the appearance. It does
make a significant difference to how it looks.
These are the two colours we will now apply,
with the darker blue as Color 1. We will also add
some other elements that have alternative
gradient fills.
The sky has been filled as described and the land has now had a two colour Diagonal gradient added, whilst
the sun has a red and yellow gradient fill From Centre, and the moon a Vertical two colour gradient fill. This
gives a very basic idea of the possibilities available by using this Fill option. In our image, the sun has been
Sent Backward to hide part of it and this is another highly useful element of Publisher that we will soon
come onto.
Preset offers a range of suites to choose from, these having
rather twee names (such as Early Sunset, shown). They can
have their uses but, like Clip Art, they soon tend to look
what they are. I have found the metallic ones like Chrome
and Silver occasionally useful, but you should try them for
yourself. Chrome and Gold are shown below.
The Texture Fill option (right) I have personally never
found a use for in my own work but it is another one worth
knowing about, depending on the sort of graphics you are
going to produce.
The Pattern Fill option has more obvious uses in
graphic work with a range of patterns to choose from,
plus there is also the option to choose your own colours
(in the ways we have seen already) for Foreground and
Background. Here they are shown as shade and tint of
the same colour but you can select contrasts for more
dramatic effects. This is another to experiment with.
The final option in Fill is to insert a Picture, which
can be any kind of picture file, such as a
photograph, JPEG, PNG or a graphic you have
prepared earlier. To illustrate the effect best, we
have used a freehand shape (right) drawn using
the Scribble Tool (which we will come onto later).
The example below shows how a Text Box can be
filled in any of the ways already described.
OWL & LAMP
Outlines
The other element of objects that can be formatted is the Shape Outline. In pictures, these are called Picture
Border. You can manipulate the Colour, Weight and Style to suit your needs. The illustrations in this
document have Black (Automatic) outlines with a 1/4 point weight and use the default solid or unbroken
style. Place a shape on your page and while it is selected go to the Drawing Tools Format Tab. The Shape
Outline icon appears as a Pencil with a coloured line beneath it (the last Shape Outline colour you used).
Clicking on the icon will turn the line to that colour. To see the other line options, click on the down arrow.
Most of these options we have already encountered in Shape Fills.
These include Scheme Colors, Standard Colors, Recent Colors and the
option to use No Outline. Below can be seen More Outline Colors
and Sample Colors, the same as with Shape Fills, meaning you can
choose to pick a Custom Color and adjust that, type in a colour value
using RGB or Sample the Line Color from somewhere else on the
page.
We will click the arrow by the side of Weight to reveal the choices
available.
Useful Tip: Remember that Outline Weight is an absolute value. This
means that a (say) 6pt line will remain at 6pts, should you decide to
resize your object later. Thus the apparent thickness of the Outline in
relationship to the object will alter accordingly.
We now see the standard choices of Outline Weight,
including the 1/4 pt one that has been used in these
illustrations. These will be enough for most purposes
but More Lines at the bottom offers a wide range of
further options.
Below shows how the Outline Weight changes
according to choice. They are 1/4pt, 1½pt, 3pt and
6pt.
Below is an illustration showing how the ratio of the Outline changes when you resize your object. The same
square with a 3pt line when it has been resized to 4cm, then 1cm and 12cm. They have been shown at the
same size here to illustrate how the outline relationship with the object changes.
Clicking on More Lines opens the Format
AutoShape box. From this you can alter a
number of elements of your shape, including the
Fill Color and the Shape Size. Here we will look at
the Line options, which include Color, Dashed,
Style and Weight.
In the Weight box, type your own value in or use
the up and down arrows to change the Outline
Weight value in increments of 1/4 points. You
can change the Outline Weight at any time later.
Below shows the Dashed Outline options, with the long dashes selected and, next to it, our square with this
Outline applied in 3pts.
Lines
Lines are objects that can be used independently of Shapes. Go to the Insert Tab and select Shape to see the
options there.
Hovering the cursor over an option reveals its name. The
most commonly used one is Line. Once selected, you can
drag a straight line in any desired direction. It can then be
formatted in a number of ways.
Useful Tip: Holding Shift as you drag the line keeps it true
vertical or horizontal on the page. (You can always Rotate
it later, if you wish.)
Now when you go to Shape Outline then Weight then
More Lines, you see some different options in the
Format AutoShape box. The Fill option is dimmed to
show it as unavailable (there is no Fill), but you can alter
the Line Color, Dashing and Weight in the same as with
Outline.
Whilst you can select an arrow line from the Shapes
choices, a basic line can be changed to an arrow at this
point by going to the Arrows boxes on the righthand
side of Format AutoShape.
Use the options in the Begin Style and End Style dropdowns. In this
example we have opted for the flared arrow head to begin and a
round one to end, but you can make a double-headed arrow if
needs be.
Begin Size and End Size offers another set of options here.
Below is a 3pt line with our selections applied.
Scribble
Another very useful Line option is Scribble, which allows you to
draw the line rapidly in all directions for as long as you hold the
left mouse button down. Taking the line back close to the
starting point will form a sealed shape, which can then have a Fill
applied to it.
Here we have drawn a basic heart shape and filled it with red, then given
it a black outline. You will notice that it does appear very freehand but
the Scribble tool is very useful for creating rough drawings. One use I put
it to regularly is to colour in areas on complicated drawings, which we
will see later on.
In this example, the Scribble Tool has literally been used to
scribble in an uncontrolled way and then taken back to its
starting point. A green Fill has then been applied, which
appears unpredictably because the line has recrossed itself
in many places, leaving some areas blank or negative. The
Trapezoid shape has been inserted for a trunk. The whole
thing was done in a matter of seconds and so looks quite
crude but does illustrate the effect.
This drawing - whilst not about to receive accolades and
prizes - was made in just a few minutes using only the
Scribble Line and then various Fills. The Line Weight is the
default 3/4 pt.
Curve Line
The third line tool that I find indispensable is the
Curve Line. In some ways it is much like the
Scribble Line but it offers you much more control
and produces a smoother, less freehand result.
Select the Curve Line and drag whilst holding
down the right mouse button. Release the button
each time you want to change direction and then
hold and drag to continue. You can do this as
many times as necessary. To finish you need to
double-click to let go of the line.
The Curve Line takes a little practice to get used to but is
well worth it. Describing in words what happens each
time you release and then go on again does not really
convey the effect of what is happening. You will need to
experiment with it yourself to see best, so have a go.
Taking the Curve Line back to its starting point will also
create a sealed shape once you double-click to let go
and this can be Filled in any of the ways we have already
seen.
On the right is our heart shape again, this time done
with the Curve Line and you can see how much less
freehand it appears than the Scribble version.
Even if you do not take the Curve Line back to its own
starting point it can still have a Fill applied. However,
like the Scribble Line, the Fill will be less predictable
and will only appear in what is considered to be
inside the Curve Line.
The images on the right illustrate this.
In this example, the Curve Line has been allowed
to cross and recross itself a number of times
before returning to its own start point. A red Fill
has been applied. The same was done with a
second Curve Line, which then has a green Fill
applied and it was then Sent Backwards to behind
the red. We will look at positioning later.
Most of these examples have been nothing more than mere doodles executed very rapidly in order to
illustrate the particular tool in action and to hopefully show the possibilities that can be obtained by using
them. Practice and experiment is the best way to discover how the various tools are going to be of most use
to you for your own purposes.
I use the three line tools - Line, Scribble and Curve - in conjunction when creating complicated drawings and
especially when it is not possible to use the standard shapes to make them. These do take time to complete
but it is possible to produce some highly effective results, as we will see later.
Arranging
Arrange can be found in both the Home Tab and also the Drawing Tools Format Tab, across to the right.
This contains some very useful tools, including the Send Backward and Bring Forward tools and a feature
that allows you to Group and Ungroup. All of these I use on a very regular basis.
Whenever you place a new object on the page, it will
automatically be placed “at the front” of the others
that are already there. This becomes more apparent
when one shape (or more) overlaps another.
Here we have drawn and filled an arrow, then a circle
followed by a square (in that order). The square is
thus at the front. What we now want to achieve is the
square at the back, with the circle on top of it and the
arrow right at the front.
With the blue square selected, go to Arrange and find
Send Backward. Clicking on the icon will send the
square one place backwards each time you click. You
can also use the dropdown to select either Send
Backward to achieve the same, or Send to Back,
which will send it straight to the back.
Being able to adjust the positioning of your objects in
one place increments allows you to fine-tune when
the graphic is made up of numerous objects.
The Bring Forward and Bring to Front tools operate in the same
(but reverse) way.
We have now arranged our objects into the order required, and
then used the arrow keys to nudge them into their final
positions. All objects, including Text Boxes, are subject to
ordering.
It is worth taking a quick look at this point at what
happens when a shape is placed in front of a Text
Box, as it can be quite surprising when you first
encounter the effect. Dealing with this is very
simple, though there are some points to bear in
mind here.
We can simply send the red rectangle
backwards to correct the setting of the
text but, if we want to move or delete the
red shape later, because it is completely
behind the text box with no part of it
protruding, we will not be able to “get
hold of it” to select it. The solution is
simply to send the text box behind the
red shape temporarily in order to select
and adjust the shape.
On the subject of Text Boxes, you can, of
On the subject of Text Boxes, you can, of
course, Fill and Outline them in the ways we
course, Fill and Outline them in the ways we
have already seen. However, whilst this can
have already seen. However, whilst this can
be perfectly acceptable in many cases, it
be perfectly acceptable in many cases, it
does not always create a completely
does not always create a completely
satisfying or balanced result.
satisfying or balanced result.
In the above (yellow) example, the text
appears very squeezed by the edges of the
box. We could adjust the margins by going to
the Text Box Tools Format tab but it is much
easier to simply draw an independent
rectangle (from Insert and Shapes) and
format that instead. We will then Group the
two boxes into a single object, once we are
happy with our arrangement. This will allow
the text rather more space to breathe. You
will need to send the new box behind the
text before grouping.
In the above (yellow) example, the text
appears very squeezed by the edges of the
box. We could adjust the margins by going to
the Text Box Tools Format tab but it is much
easier to simply draw an independent
rectangle (from Insert and Shapes) and
format that instead. We will then Group the
two boxes into a single object, once we are
happy with our arrangement. This will allow
the text rather more space to breathe. You
will need to send the new box behind the
text before grouping.
Grouping
This is an especially useful feature of Publisher. Once objects have been Grouped they then act as a single
object, allowing you to retain your composition when resizing or moving it to another place on the page, or
using Copy and Paste to transfer it to another document altogether. All types of object, including Text Boxes,
can be Grouped together in this way. Grouping also prevents objects from being shifted inadvertently, thus
protecting your arrangement as you continue to work.
To Group your objects, you need to select them
all. If there are only a few you can select each in
turn while holding Control until they have all
been selected.
To select a larger number of objects, drag the
cursor around all the objects - remember, you
need to capture each object entirely, so pay
special attention to Text Boxes, which may spill
further than they appear to.
All the selected objects will have their handles on
show. Now click on Group (in either the Home Tab
or the Drawing Tools Format Tab) to turn them
into a single object. The individual handles will be
replaced by a single set belonging to the new
object.
You can Ungroup at any time in the same way by
selecting the new object and clicking on Ungroup.
The handles will reappear on the individual
objects. You will need to click outside the shapes
to deselect them all before you do anything
further.
REMEMBER - whilst your objects are grouped they are a single entity. If you apply another formatting, such
as an Outline Color, each and every object grouped there will be affected by the changes you have applied.
In the case of an Outline Color, they will all have the same coloured line applied to them. To format
separately, Ungroup the objects, format and then Group together again.
Also, Text and Line Weight have absolute values, so if you resize your newly Grouped object, these will
remain of the value given to them and your composition will suffer.
Shadows
Personally, I am not a big fan of the Shadow Tool, preferring to draw my own when needed. However, it is a
simple option that is available and can prove very handy. Used sparingly, this can create good graphics but it
is another that soon begins to look like a little too much.
With a shape selected, go to the Drawing Tools
Format Tab, find Shadow Effects and click on the
downward arrow to show the options available.
The default is No Shadow Effect, right at the top,
which you should choose if you later wish to get
rid of a shadow you have applied, and also when
using WordArt.
Below are the Drop Shadow options, which gives
the impression that your shape is floating above
the page. For an example, we will select the first
option, which places the shadow left and above
the shape. We can then manipulate the shadow
in a number of ways.
The selected shadow has now been applied. As you will
notice (with difficulty), the shadow can barely be seen yet.
This is because Publisher automatically applies a semitransparent shadow, which is usually more convincing
visually but, when the shadow colour is pale to start with,
this is the result you get. With the shape selected, we will
now go to Shadow Color down at the bottom to alter this.
We now see the familiar set of options, with the addition of Semitransparent Shadow, which we can see is
checked. Unchecking it will make the shadow exactly the colour you select. For now, we will leave it checked.
The shadow colour that was automatically applied is an extremely pale version of a desaturated (greyed out)
yellow.
The red rectangle here has been placed on a blue
ground. The Shadow Color for the rectangle has been
changed to a deeper, cleaner (no yellow) shade of grey.
As Semitransparent has remained checked, the Shadow
Color is allowed to pick up some of the blue tone to give
a more convincing impression of light being blocked out
by the red shape.
The effect here is that the light comes from the lower
right and the rectangle is close to the page. We can
change this as we wish.
Next to the Shadow Effects icon are five
buttons that are used for changing the position
of the shadow in relation to its parent shape.
The central one (highlighted yellow here)
applies a shadow or removes it again with each
click (with the shape selected).
The other four move the shadow in set increments in the direction shown each time you click on it (with the
shape selected. This means that even if you start with shadow to the top left you can change this at any
point (such as bottom right). These buttons will also alter the apparent distance of shape from page.
Remember: at lower magnifications the shadow will shift much further than it will at higher ones.
Here, the same set has been manipulated using the directional
buttons so that the shadow is now bottom right and much
further out, giving the impression that the rectangle is now
floating much higher above the page.
Use the Perspective Shadow options to apply a shadow thrown either forwards or backwards, as indicated.
The shape will then appear to be standing upright. These can be manipulated in the same way, though the
effect with these is much more limited.
3-D Effects
This is a particularly useful and versatile tool in Publisher and it will allow you to manipulate and format your
shapes in a wide range of ways. Some really good effects can be quickly and easily applied. To apply a 3-D
Effect, select your shape, go to the Picture Tools Format Tab and then find 3-D Effects next to Shadow
Effects.
As with Shadow Effects, the default is No 3-D Effect.
Below are the options for Parallel 3-D and for
Perspective 3-D. There is also Rotate in Perspective
but, as we will see, we can control the rotation in
another way. This also means that whichever option
you select from Parallel or Perspective, you will be able
to change this using the method we will look at
shortly.
At the bottom are the options for 3-D Color and
Depth, Direction and Lighting, and also one for
Surface, which I find least useful of these choices but
does have one option that is occasionally useful. The
combinations of choices you make from these options
will alter the appearance in some unexpected ways
and only practice and experiment will tell you which is
going to be the right one for your needs.
On the right is the same red shape with first a
Parallel applied and then a Perspective. The effect
looks fairly similar in both cases until we begin to
manipulate them. Notice how the colour has also
been effected by these applications. This can also
be changed.
Use the 3-D Effects directional buttons to Tilt your
shape up or down and to the left or right. To see
what happens with each click (with the shape
selected), you really need to try this for yourself. The
effects really are magical. Notice how the colours in
your shape alter as you tilt and turn it. This is
dependent on 3-D Color and Lighting.
3-D Color
The options at the bottom of the 3-D Effects dropdown
menu all have arrows to their right. By clicking one of
these arrows we can access a further range of options,
depending on which we have selected.
In 3-D Color, the familiar choices for formatting will
appear.
This shape has had 3-D applied and has then been tilted. The
shade of red on each of the faces will change as you tilt,
according to which direction the lighting is coming from (we
will be coming on to that later). As a default, the sides of the
shape - the 3-D Color - will be the same as the Fill Color of the
shape itself, but adjusted to give the appearance of the light
coming from a certain angle. In most cases, this would be the
natural choice for 3-D Color.
Selecting a darker shade of the same Fill Color is a simple way in
which to give more emphasis to the 3-D illusion. Remember
that if you later change the lighting, this will alter the
appearance again. Only by trying various combinations will you
discover all the possibilities available in your toolkit.
Note that both the shape above and the shape to the left have
identical Fill Colors (i.e. the main face) and the apparent
difference merely an optical illusion.
The 3-D Color can also be used to make a
contrast will the Fill Effect, as we can see from
the examples on the right. This can be
especially effective when using a Picture Fill
(shown) or in conjunction with WordArt. Again,
experimenting will help you to discover all the
possibilities that are available to use.
Depth
The Depth options, in simple terms,
controls how much “sticks out” from the
parent shape. In the examples on the
previous page, the depth value selected
was 36 pts. There are six options in all,
though Infinity will only become available
in situations where the shape is fairly
square on to the page. 0pt, 36pt and 72pts
will be the most regular choices - the
others
soon
start
to
look
rather
hackneyed.
Above, the same shape with depths applied of Infinity,
288pts and 144pts respectively.
Left, the same again with depths of 72pts,
36pts and 0pts applied.
As with any Publisher tools, the 3-D Effects can be changed as often as you wish or need. As you alter each of
the available options (Fill, 3-D Color, Depth, Lighting and Direction) you will find you then want to tinker with
another of the options to get the effect you desire.
Handy Tip: It is worth a reminder at this stage that saving your work regularly is crucial to avoid losing a
graphic you have spent time working on. Use the Save As option to keep a version you are happy with and
don’t want to lose, and then continue to work on another version, especially if you are trying things out. You
can delete all the unwanted file versions when you have finished.
Lighting
Lighting offers possibly the widest range of the 3-D
Effect options but, for that very reason, in can take
the most mastering. Once again, trial and error is
the best way to find out what can be achieved here.
There are nine directional options, including from
within (central and highlighted in the example) and
each of these applied to the same object will affect
it very differently in terms of colour and appearance.
The same is true of the three options listed below Bright (selected), Normal and Dim.
Above, the same shape showing each of the lighting options with Bright selected from the lower list.
Below, the first option above (lit from the left side) using Bright then Normal then Dim.
Surface
This feature is one that, personally, I rarely use. It can look radically different and impressive on screen but it
tends not to print out like that. It is worth knowing about, however, and you may find more use for it.
The four options available are Matte, Plastic, Metal
and the rather different Wire Frame. These are
illustrated below in this order.
Direction
Direction is the final 3-D Effects option and another that I rarely use. It basically offers a shortcut to changing
the direction of your 3-D effect, with the addition of allowing either Perspective or Parallel. In Parallel, the
sides do not diminish towards a vanishing point as they do in Perspective. (See below).
WordArt
WordArt is a highly useful option but one that should be used sparingly as it soon becomes cheap and
cheesy. Unlike normal text, it allows far more formatting options, including letting you resize it to particular
dimensions or to fit a certain space. It can be formatted in all the ways previously described, including 3-D
Effects.
From the Insert Tab click on
the
WordArt
downward
arrow to display the WordArt
options. As a rule, I tend to
use the top left option from
the Plain WordArt Styles
box.
Click on your chosen option. The Edit WordArt Text dialog
box will appear. Type your text into the Text Window. You
can then select a Font from the dropdown list, plus Size,
Bold and/or Italic. All of these can be edited and
reformatted at any point later on.
In the example on the left, we have typed our word, selected the
Impact font in Size 20 Bold. Now click OK. Impact is a good font
for having the letters close together, unlike some looser fonts,
but you should familiarise yourself with all the fonts available
here to find out how they appear on the page.
Remember that all these values can be altered at any point later.
Your WordArt text now appears on the page in the
Default settings. We are now ready to start formatting
it to change its appearance to how we would like it.
Like all objects, WordArt text has a Line and a Fill,
though the Line will be unavailable when using 3-D
Effects.
Note that this style of WordArt has a default
shadow on it, so we will first remove that. Notice
also that it has a yellow diamond option, which
allows you to make the text slope (as seen below)
or to make italic fonts upright.
With your WordArt text selected, go to the WordArt Tools Format tab. You will then see the familiar Shape
Fill and Outline, Shadow Effects and 3-D Effects options. There are also Edit Text, Spacing and other Text
tools and a window to change the WordArt Style. We will now look at some of these to see what they can do.
The WordArt text has now had a red Fill applied,
along with a black 3pt line.
In the top left of the menu bar is Edit Text. Clicking
on this will bring up the Text Edit dialogue box as
before, where you can change the Font, Size and
Bold/Italic options.
Next to Edit Text is Spacing. Click on the downward
arrow to see the options. These are (from top to
bottom) Very Tight, Tight, Normal (selected), Loose
and Very Loose. These control the spacing between
the individual letters in your text and they are
illustrated below from Very Tight to Very Loose.
Next come the options of Even Height,
Vertical Text and Alignment.
Even Height will make all the letters the
same height, including the lower case ones,
so we have put our WordArt text into
mixed cases to illustrate.
Vertical Text stacks the letters one on top
of another to read downwards (far right).
Alignment offers a number of options when you are using
text over multiple lines, as in the example left. Click on
Alignment to display these options.
Selecting each of these options in turn will display the
lines of text as shown below.
Left Align
Centre
Right Align
Word Justify
Letter Justify
You can also apply Spacing to these types of
lettering, so the possibilities are almost endless.
Stretch Justify
The illustration below has employed several of the techniques we have seen earlier. We have applied a 3-D
Effect and then tilted the WordArt (notice that the Outline has now gone). Internal lighting and Normal have
been applied from the 3-D Effects Lighting options.
The WordArt was then selected and Copied (or Ctrl & C), then Pasted (or Ctrl & V), the depth from 3-D
Effects Depth was reduced to 0pts and then it was sent to the back using the Drawing Tools Format tab and
selecting Send to Back from Send Backward.
The blue rectangle was then drawn around both from the Insert tab and then selecting rectangle from the
Shapes options, this had a blue Fill applied and was sent to the back.
Finally, the copied WordArt with no depth was selected and recoloured in a shade of blue to give the
impression of shadow and then repositioned using the arrow keys on the keyboard to make the red WordArt
appear to be floating. These were then Grouped into one single unit using Group from the Drawing Tools
Format tab.
We have not looked at the WordArt Transform Style options that are available when you first select Insert
and then WordArt, and which are then available later in the WordArt Styles window by scrolling down.
There are many options available here for all kinds of curved and other types of lettering but, for me, these
quickly start to look rather hackneyed and so I don’t tend to use them much. Do not let this stop you from
experimenting to find out what is there and what you can do with them (most come with a yellow diamond
to manipulate it with) because you may well find them useful in your own line of work.
Save As …
Once you are happy with your Publisher document, you will almost certainly want to save it in a different
format, such as an image file (JPEG, PNG etc.) or a PDF perhaps, which generally makes for a considerably
smaller file size. First of all, however, save the document as a Publisher file using Save to make the document
available for further editing later.
We will now save our prepared graphic as an image file. When saving as an image, remember that the entire
page size will be saved as part of the image, meaning there will be white space around it. We can always crop
this off when we come to use the image again but there are occasions, such as uploading onto websites,
when uncropped images will appear with unwanted grey borders. Personally I prefer to save the image
“clean,” though this is always a question of personal choice, so use whichever method suits you best.
To avoid white space, we need to make the page ever so slightly smaller than our graphic. First of all, we
have to Ungroup the graphic so that we can apply No Fill to the rectangle and thus see where the page
below is. Then we Group the graphic again to make it act as one unit. The black Outline has been left on the
rectangle here to show its position for now. Resize the page using the Page Design Tab and selecting Size to
type in values that will make it only very slightly smaller than the image (as shown). Reposition the graphic
by dragging and using the arrow keys. Remember, only what is within the page size will be in the image file
and anything overlapping will be not be included. Now Ungroup the graphic, Fill the rectangle (the original
colour should still be available in Recent Fill Colors), select No Outline and then Group the graphic once
more.
From the File tab select Save As… and the Save As dialog
box appears. Select the destination for your image file
(shown here as Desktop) and type a name into the File
Name box (shown here as IMAGINE). Click on the
downward arrow for Save as type and select a file type for
your graphic. Here JPEG has been selected. This file type
now appears in the Save as type box.
Before clicking on Save, notice the Resolution window,
which as default offers 150dpi. For sending to commercial
printing this will need to be 300dpi so click on the
Change… button.
The Change Resolution box now opens. This generally
appears in the top left of the screen and is not always
immediately apparent at first sight. There are three
options here: 96dpi for Web, Standard of 150dpi and
High quality of 300dpi, so choose the one that best suits
your needs. Remember, the higher the resolution, the
bigger the file. Click OK, and then you are ready to save
the image by clicking the Save button.
Using Save As… can also be used to save the file as a PDF
using the same method. Once again, it will offer you choices
for quality so select the one to suit your needs. High quality
printing is as high a resolution as we will normally want to go
and will be fine for sending to a printer’s for printing.
Commercial Press is a much more technical option and only
required by specialists.
Using Save As… to save as a PDF will produce a page or pages
of A4 size at least, even if your Publisher page size was A5. If
your original was A5, you may want to add Crop Marks (or
even Bleed Marks, if the colour runs to the edge of the page)
and to do this use the Print Options… button at the bottom
left. In the Print Options box that appears, check Crop Marks
and Bleed Marks as required and then set the Paper Size to
larger than your original.
Click OK and Save as before.
Wrap Text
One other feature in our Publisher introduction is Wrap Text. You may well have come across this in Word
but it is well worth another look at here. Wrap Text is basically used when you want to set an image “in
amongst” your text, much like you see in daily newspapers. It is available in both the Home Tab or the
Picture/Drawing Tools Format Tabs.
Click on the Wrap Text icon to reveal the Wrap Text dropdown
list of options. These include: None, Square, Tight, Top and
Bottom, Through and the highly useful Edit Wrap Points option.
We will look at all these in turn. The More Layout Options
brings up a dialog box with a number of different options but
this is something to look at once you have got to grips and are
comfortable with the basics of Publisher.
For illustration, we will use a photograph of the Worth Valley
Railway in the heart of Bronte country, so we use the Wrap Text
from the Picture Tools Format tab.
If you are visiting Bronte country, you will want to take in all the
many attractions of the area. Why not begin your experience by
travelling into the village of Haworth in style aboard the
Haworth & Worth Valley Light Railway. Crossing from the
platform at which the Keighley train pulls in, you will find
yourself stepping back in time to the nostalgic days of steam
power. Sit back in your carriage and relax as the scenery passes
sedately past your window, or you can visit the buffet for snacks
and drinks, including genuine tap beer poured before your very
eyes. Experience all the sights and sounds of yesteryear on the
inside while the rolling hills and vales go by outside.
Enjoy all the tiny wayside stations along the way until, in no
time at all, you will find yourself in historic Haworth, where
This example uses the None option and, as
can be seen, the text lies over the picture
crossing the bridge will take you into the picturesque village
as it has been brought to the front using
itself, with the famous Bull hostelry, Parsonage and churchyard
Bring Forward option. If it is not brought to
cluster close together at the top of the very steep main street
the front it will be hidden behind the
with, beyond that, the vast rolling moors made famous by the
photograph. (The text has been formatted
immortal pages of Wuthering Heights.
to red to make it more visible.)
If you are visiting Bronte country, you will want to take in all the
many attractions
This example shows the Square wrap
of the area. Why
option, which puts the text tight around
not begin your
the picture, and above and below,
experience
by
travelling into the
depending on the positioning of the
village
of
photograph.
Haworth in style
Notice the effect that this wrap has on
aboard
Haworth
the justified text, which has become
Worth
the
&
Valley
rather spaced out in places and you may
Light Railway. Crossing from the platform at which the Keighley
wish to convert to a left alignment to
train pulls in, you will find yourself stepping back in time to the
eliminate this.
nostalgic days of steam power. Sit back in your carriage and
relax as the scenery passes sedately past your window, or you
The Tight option will appear much the
can visit the buffet for snacks and drinks, including genuine tap
same as Square.
beer poured before your very eyes. Experience all the sights and
sounds of yesteryear on the inside while the rolling hills and
vales go by outside.
If you are visiting Bronte country, you will want to take in all the
many attractions of the area. Why not begin your experience by
travelling into the village of Haworth in style aboard the
Top and Bottom does pretty much what it
implies. This can be a highly satisfactory
formatting for publications and works well
with justified text, as we can see here.
Simply position the photograph where it
looks best for your purposes. This is
especially useful when working with
columns or folded leaflets.
Haworth & Worth Valley Light Railway. Crossing from the
platform at which the Keighley train pulls in, you will find
yourself stepping back in time to the nostalgic days of steam
power. Sit back in your carriage and relax as the scenery passes
sedately past your window, or you can visit the buffet for snacks
and drinks, including genuine tap beer poured before your very
eyes. Experience all the sights and sounds of yesteryear on the
inside while the rolling hills and vales go by outside.
If you are visiting Bronte country, you will want to take in all the
many attractions of the area. Why not begin your experience by
travelling into the village of Haworth in style aboard the
The Wrap Text option of Through is similar
Haworth
to Top and Bottom except that it places text
&
Worth
Valley
Light
Railway.
Crossing from the
platform
at which the
Keighley
train pulls in,
you will
find yourself
stepping
back in time
to
the
nostalgic days
apply a Fill of Picture.) When using non-
of
steam
power. Sit back
rectangular shapes, the Through Wrap Text
in
option is particularly effective, though you
as the scenery
to the sides of the picture as well as above
and below.
In this example, we have used a Circle shape
(Insert tab, Shape and then select circle and
your
carriage and relax
passes sedately past
your window, or you can visit the buffet for snacks and drinks,
can still use rectangular images perfectly
including genuine tap beer poured before your very eyes.
well.
Experience all the sights and sounds of yesteryear on the inside
while the rolling hills and vales go by outside.
In this illustration, the picture has been selected and then
from the Wrap Text dropdown list we have chosen Edit
Wrap Points. Black square handles appear at the corners,
whilst the picture itself is surrounded by a red border.
This red line defines how close the text is allowed to get
to the image. Use the handles to drag the border into the
desired position.
Here, once again, we have used a shape to illustrate
what is happening and how Edit Wrap Points can be
used. The red border has been pulled out parallel on
all sides, a little at top and bottom and slightly more
at the sides. You can, however, move each handle
independently to wherever it suits your needs best.
This is an extreme
example of what is
possible
option
with
this
(left)
and
how it looks once
unselected
(right).
Do experiment with
this
highly
option.
useful
Styles (for Text)
One last element to look at before we finish this part of our introduction is Styles, which can be found using
the Home Tab very near the centre of the menu bar. These work in much the same way as in Word but are
worth another glance into. One of the key rules of creating a Publisher document is to limit the number of
fonts you use in it, keeping it to a single one if at all possible - too many fonts will soon start to look ugly.
Another recommendation would be to use the White Space (those parts containing no object or text) as an
integral part of your design, giving your elements plenty of room to breathe.
This entire document has been created using two
styles, which can be seen on the Styles dropdown
list as AA TEXT and HEADING. As they have been
used regularly, they appear at the top of the list,
but naming one AA TEXT will force it high on the list
to start with.
To create a new style, click on Styles to show the dropdown list and
then go to the bottom and click on New Style, where you can
define your new style. You can modify this later (which will change
every instance in the entire document to reflect these
modifications, remember) by right-clicking on the name of the style
and selecting Modify… from the list. Both the dialog boxes look
very similar.
First, in the top left box, type in a name for your style (or select it
from the dropdown, if modifying). In the Style for the following
paragraph: box, Publisher will automatically put the same name. If
your document involves Heading, Text, Heading, Text each time,
you will want to select Heading from the dropdown list here,
though you will need to have created such a style first.
You can now define the characteristics of your style using the button options.
The Modify version is shown here, but in New Style it is exactly the same. The
options listed include Font, Character spacing, Paragraph, Bullets and
Numbering, Horizontal rules and Tabs. The main ones to use at this point are
Font and Paragraph but, with all of these options, you can alter them or define
them at any point later on, though remember that changes later will ALL
existing and subsequent instances of that style.
We have already stopped hyphenation, as described
earlier (File Tab, Options, Advanced and uncheck
the Automatic Hyphenation option).
Now we choose our Font, which in this AA TEXT style
is Calibri. The Font style (from choices of Regular,
Italic, Bold and Bold Italic) we have chosen is
Regular, whilst the Size is a standard 12 points,
which is the very smallest you should use if you have
Sight Impaired readers using your document.
There are other options available, such as Color,
which in certain cases you may want to change but
the three main ones mentioned should be enough to
get started with. Once you have made your
selections, click OK.
Now use the Paragraph button to make your selections.
The options we have gone for are Justified from
Alignment (you can choose from Left, Right, Centre,
Justified, Distributed and Distribute All Lines), 6pts
After paragraphs (the spacing after each paragraph you can also add a Space Before Paragraph. In either
case, use the up and down arrows or type in your own
value) and 1.25spaces between each line of text in the
paragraph. Again, use the up and down arrows or type
in your own value. This can be less than a whole line
space (eg 0.9, though anything below 0.8 will start to
look squeezed.) We have chosen not to indent the first
line but you can also do this here too, should you prefer
that. It offers you Flush Left, First Line, Hanging (the
whole paragraph becomes indented), Hanging Indent (a
combination of the first two) and Quotation.
Of the other options available in Styles, you can add your Tabs, Bullets and Numbering as you need them.
Most of the others are rather specialist and we cannot go into those here, though you may want to
investigate them later, when you become proficient in Publisher. And you will, very quickly, especially
through regular use and trying options out for yourself.
Always remember to Save regularly and that you can use Save As to preserve a version you are happy with
whilst trying something out on another.
Bullet Points
When using bulleted lists, you may want to format them so that the bullets and the text are different colours
for more visual impact. This is easy to do, though finding out how to do it is not at all intuitive, which is why
we are including it here.
Formatting the text is done in the usual
manner, by selecting the text and then
making your choices from the Font Options.
In this example, the headings are going to be
made bold and red.
If, however, you select all the text at once, or an
entire paragraph, the bullets will become recoloured
at the same time.
To change the colour of the bullet, select the
Special Characters Button on the menu bar
(highlighted,
with
the
Paragraph
symbol,
beneath the Text Box Tools Format Tab and to
the left of Styles). This reveals the symbols for
the formatting the text contains: the arrow is an
indent or tab, the dots show spaces between
characters, and the Paragraph symbol (the
“backward P”) shows where Enter has been
used to drop down a line and start a new
paragraph. This option is also useful when
proofreading.
Select the Paragraph Symbol by placing the
cursor next to it and double-clicking. Then
use the Text Colour Option to format the
bullet as you would with text.
Clicking on the Special Characters Button
again will dim it and hide the symbols.
Publisher in Practice
Techniques and Tips
The following pages contain notes on how I use Publisher for creating graphics.
You will find some of these techniques and tips useful in your own
graphic work but there will be many other ways in which you can
use Publisher which will not be covered here—the more you use
Publisher, the more you will discover and the easier you will find it
to use.
Making a Basic Sign
Let’s try setting up a basic sign or notice. The methods we will be covering can also be used to make flyers
and handouts, where you can use text with graphics and pictures.
Creating a Page
Open Publisher. From the File Tab select New.
The preset Page Size Options open. As we have
seen, you can choose from all the standard sizes or
create your own custom page size by selecting
More Blank Page Sizes.
For our example, we will choose Blank A4
(Portrait) and click the Create Button.
Setting the Margins
To set the blue margins, go to the Page Design Tab
and select Margins and from the dropdown list select
Custom Margins …
You can set the margins to the dimensions you
require and you can also set them to nil to get rid of
them altogether. Margins can be useful but the
drawback to them is that if you place a rectangle
completely on top, you will not be able to see the
margin guides—using Guides instead will mean you
will still be able to see them, even with a shape on
top.
Here we have set our margins to 0.5cm but you
will notice that the bottom has been set to 0.8.
This is in order to take account of the foibles of
the end printer you are going to be using to
produce your graphic, where the printable area
will vary according to the machine. A commercial
printer will print right to the edges but to find
out the limitations of your printer, fill the entire
page with a coloured rectangle and then print it
out. You can then measure the white spaces at
the edges.
We will now add a border to our sign.
From the Insert Tab select Shapes and then select
the Rectangle option to draw the border.
Having drawn the rectangle out to the margins,
we will then pull out a Guide to use as a Centre
Line, which in A4 will be at 10.5 centimetres.
Hover over the Vertical Ruler to make the parallel
lines icon appear, then click and drag into
position. Set it roughly in position at a low
magnification, then use a higher magnification
(like 400%) by going to the View Tab and selecting
400% from the Zoom Dropdown—or you can type
in the value and press Enter.
The border should now be sitting exactly on the Margin Guides and also on the Centre Line. With the
rectangle selected, use a high magnification to check and adjust if necessary. The rectangle should show in
the Size Box as 20cm width (21cm page minus two 0.5 margins makes 20cm).
With the rectangle still selected, use the
Drawing Tools Format Tab to set the Outline
Colour and the Outline Weight. I normally
use an Outline Weight of 8points, which
means going to Outline Weight and then
selecting More Lines … and typing 8 into the
Line Weight Dialogue Box. I find 8 points an
elegant weight for a border but you should
use the value that suits you best. You will
need to print out to see how it actually looks
in hardcopy, though we can always adjust
this later, so we’ll get a little further on
before we actually print out.
The colour you use for your border will be
defined by your needs. For our example we
will use our corporate hue for our Shape
Outline by clicking the dropdown, choosing
More Outline Colors… and then typing in our
values: 121 0 36.
We have now created our basic sign with its coloured
border in the corporate hue in 8pts and we have again
checked at 400% magnification that the edges of the
borders sit on the Margin Guides exactly. Because our
rectangle (the border) obscures the Margin Guides, I find it
helpful to drag Guides in from the Rulers so that they can
be seen easily. Place them precisely by using a high
magnification.
It is good practice to Save regularly, so we will use Save
As… to give our basic sign template a name, such as A4
Portrait Sign Template by going to the File Tab, selecting
Save As…, choosing a File Name and Destination Folder
and then clicking OK.
As an extra touch, we will now label our sign to show who is supplying the information it will contain. To do
this, we will go to the Insert Tab, select WordArt from near the centre of the Menu Bar and select the option
on the top left, which is a fairly basic format. There are many more options available here, which you should
investigate and experiment with, but they will very soon look like WordArt if you overuse them.
In the Edit WordArt Text Dialogue Box, type in
your text. Then select your Font, of which
there are many to choose from (we have opted
for Calibri here), a Font Size (in this example,
we are choosing 10pts as this will be fairly
close to what we require here) and we have
also opted for Bold Text. Then click OK.
Our WordArt text has now been placed on the
page. First select the text then check there is no
Shadow lurking there, which might not be
obvious, by going to Shadow Effects and
selecting No Shadow.
Now format the text. In this case we will use
Shape Fill to make the text the same colour as
the border by typing in our values (121 0 36) or
by using Sample Fill Colour and then placing the
dropper icon over the border colour and clicking
on it. In Shape Outline we will opt for No
Outline. Try using Outlines of different Weights
and Outline Colors to see the effect.
Drag the WordArt down roughly into position and
then use a higher magnification to finalise the size
and positioning—we’ll make the text the same
height as the border: as it is the same colour as
the border, temporarily change the colour to
something that will be seen.
Having resized the text to the height of the border, go to the Insert Tab, then to Shapes to select a rectangle
and drag the rectangle around the WordArt and position it on the Centre Line. Fill the rectangle with white
and then use the Send Backward Icon to send the rectangle behind the WordArt but in front of the border. A
final finishing touch is to select the rectangle and then use Outline Color to make its border the same as the
main border and adjust the Outline Weight to suit
Having returned the WordArt text to the correct colour and finalised the positioning, we’ll now keep the
rectangle and WordArt as a single unit by using the Group option. Select both the WordArt and rectangle by
using Ctrl whilst selecting, or by dragging the cursor (from off the page) around both objects. From either the
Home Tab or the Drawing Tools Format Tab select the Group option. Remember you will need to use
Ungroup to do any further formatting on the WordArt or Rectangle. And now Save.
Now we have made an A4 Portrait sign template, we
can use the existing elements to quickly create a
Landscape version of the same. Go to the Page
Design Tab and then to Orientation and select
Landscape. We then need to reposition our guides,
including the Centre Line, and we will also add a
Centre Line across the page.
We have now dragged the border back to the Guides and repositioned the WordArt in its box so that it is
centred on the border and hanging off the vertical Centre Line. In this example, the borders are 0.5cm all
round, meaning the horizontal Centre Line Guide should be sitting on 10.5 cm. Had we still been using a
margin of 0.8 at the bottom, we would want the horizontal Centre Line Guide to sit in the centre of the
rectangle (rather than the page), meaning it would be sitting on 10.35cm. With an offset rectangle, simply
select the rectangle and then drag the guide down to place it on its centre handle—use a high magnification
to place it accurately.
Now use Save As… to save this template with a different name, such as A4 Landscape Sign Template.
Centring
Personally, I like to use the principle of Centring for positioning objects on the page. This tends to give a
satisfying sense of balance to the composition and is particularly useful for setting objects of differing sizes
(such as images and text boxes) so that they look balanced in relation to each other.
In the above example, we have placed a logo, a photograph and a block of text onto the page.
We want to treat the text itself (as opposed to the text box, which often leaves more space below the text
than above) as the object. For this reason, we have inserted a red rectangle tight around the text—make the
weight of the outline of the rectangle 1/4pt for accuracy, and use a high magnification to get the rectangle as
tight as possible to the text.
We then hang the photograph and the rectangle off the same vertical centre line, as shown, but note that
this centre line is NOT on the centre of that half of the page in this case. Position the photograph and
rectangle so that the space between the bottom of the photograph and the top of the rectangle is as desired,
according to taste—in this case, we have contained the overall height of the pair to be rather less than the
height of the logo. Select the rectangle and the photograph together by holding Ctrl as you select, and then
Group the two into one object. We now centre this horizontally—we will centre here on the space between
the inside edges of the maroon border as that border is not centrally placed on the page top to bottom.
Using another rectangle, as shown, is the easiest way to establish the centre line in this case, unless you
particularly like maths. Position the logo onto the same horizontal centre line and move the text back so it is
tight within the red rectangle once again.
We now want to remove the unwanted red rectangle. We
must first remember to Ungroup first. Click on the
Grouped objects—the crossed handles indicate the
Grouping. From the Drawing Tools Format Tab click
Ungroup. Click outside the objects to unselect them all,
then select the rectangle to delete it.
We should now Group the text box and the photograph
together ready for positioning them (as one object) in
relation to the logo.
In this example, because there are only a limited amount of objects involved, I like to use the principle of
making the “white space” outside the objects greater than that between them. If they are the same, the
optical effect is that the inner space will appear greater, even though we know it is not. Positioning them so
the white space between is less establishes a visual relationship between the objects and also gives a better
sense of balance.
Move the logo (or the grouped text and photo) to left or right by selecting and using the sideways arrow keys
on the keyboard until you are happy with the relationship, which is pretty much a matter of personal taste.
Now Group the logo and the text/photo block into one object and hang that off the vertical centre line that
splits the page. Remember that you can always go to the View tab and uncheck the Guides box to see how
your page will finally look with just your objects placed on it.
Fonts
With Publisher, there is a large number of fonts to choose from, as there also is in WordArt. Some of them
are useless (like Wingdings), others you will never use at all, some you might use now and then, and a few of
them you will use regularly. Don’t be tempted to use too many different fonts within the same publication,
with three pretty much the absolute maximum, though sticking to one is generally the best option, using
different font sizes for impact and emphasis.
If your organisation has a house font, use that. If it doesn’t, you should try and establish one. While some
fonts (such as Papyrus) make for attractive designs, when it comes to publicity materials it is always best to
stick to the clearest and most legible fonts (Arial, Calibri etc.).
It is a sad fact of modern life that however long you take over your design and no matter how attractive it
might be, people will rarely give it more than a cursory inspection. For this reason, I always think it is best to
use as few words as possible to get your message over at a single glance. Try to avoid negatives like “not”
and especially “do not” whenever possible.
In this example of a flyer, the key information
has been picked out in a colour (Tours, no
booking, when and where, plus the added
optional information about Saturday Workshops
and the Video Tour). This is the “headline data”,
and there is also secondary information, such as
the dates and how long the tours take, which
are in black type in a smaller size.
Try to stick to no more than three or four
different font sizes in all to help keep a balanced
composition.
Two other points about composition here that
you may already be aware of: the picture, with
the strong red line, leads the eye from left to
right with it, which in turn leads the eye into the
centre of the page. If it was on the other side of
the text, the eye would be led away off to the
right. Also, notice the use of white space,
especially at the sides, meaning that the
composition has “room to breathe.”
Drawing
There are two types of drawing methods I use on a regular basis in creating graphics. The first, generally
employed in making instruction sheets for equipment such as photocopiers and printers, involves using
Shapes selected and inserted from the Insert Tab, and then colouring them using Shape Fill and Outline
Color. The second method is used when it is not feasible to use the first one, when we will need to make
what we will refer to as a Freehand Drawing, which we will have to colour by hand.
Using a photograph to work from is something I find very useful, especially when machinery is involved. Try
to take your photograph as square on as possible in order to keep the proportions accurate and to make
positioning the “readymade” shapes easier.
Here we have a picture of a piece of
audio-visual equipment known as an
Extron
Panel,
used
when
making
classroom presentations involving PCs,
video projectors, DVDs etc. As can be
seen, the photo is reasonably square on
and most of the shapes involved are
regular, such as squares, circles and so
on.
This is the finished drawing, which is a
reasonable likeness and certainly adequate
for using on illustrated instructions. The
buttons on most Extron panels are yellow,
unlike in the photograph shown.
We will now look at the various stages
involved in creating this drawing and some
of the little tricks that have been used.
Before we begin, we need to consider the size that the finished piece will be and make our drawing as close
to that size as possible—as we saw earlier, line sizes remain the same value as you originally gave them,
which means that if you Group the whole drawing into a single unit and then shrink or expand it very much,
the line sizes will appear too thick or thin compared to what you intended, the same applying to any text it
may contain. You can, of course, save it as a JPEG to get round this problem but a JPEG will be surrounded by
a white ground (or whatever ground you have given it), which makes it more difficult to group multiple
drawings together convincingly—as with the E-Services logo we have seen previously, which is a collage of a
number of individual drawings.
With our Extron example, this is destined to be placed on an A3 page and will be smaller than A5. We need
to balance the finished size with being able to see the detail in the photograph and we can always
compensate for line weights later, though this can be time-consuming.
Firstly, we create the basic body of the
panel using the Trapezoid from the
Insert Tab and then Shapes. Use the
yellow diamond to alter the angles. The
front face is a Trapezoid too, though you
can always use the Rectangle to square
the drawing up. The Outlines have been
made red at this stage and are
Weighted at half a point. The use of red
makes it easier to see how much you
have completed so far.
For now, we will leave all the Shapes without a Fill Color as we still need to see the photograph until we have
added all the elements. To see how your drawing is progressing, you can always select the photograph and
delete it temporarily. Before you do this, however, always Save first, as it is very awkward to try and
reposition the photograph accurately if you do happen to lose it. Select the photograph, Delete, check your
progress and then use Ctrl+Z (Redo) to put the photograph back.
We will leave the screws out of our drawing in this case, as they would only clutter up the drawing and we
want the main elements to be clear as we are making instructions here, rather than an illustration of the unit
itself.
Apart from the wording, all the buttons are exactly
the same, so we only need to draw it once, then
Group all the elements into one unit. Select all three
shapes by using Ctrl as you select, or by dragging
around the shapes from off the page. Now Group
them together using either the Home Tab or the
Drawing Tools Format Tab and then Group.
Use Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V)
to put in all the buttons. Go to a
high magnification to position them
accurately.
We will now add the lettering using
WordArt.
From the Insert Tab select WordArt. Select the
top left option from the Plain WordArt Styles
Box, which is the one shown below the words
Page Design in the illustration. Type in the text,
in this case OFF. We will then need to search for
a Font that best matches the one used in our
photograph, which can be a time-consuming
process in some cases, though here we are lucky
as Arial is a good match. Select a Size for the
Font—in this case 10 because it is quite small in
the image, select Bold in this case and click OK.
The WordArt is now placed on the page. With it still selected, go to Shadow Effects and ensure No Shadow is
selected. From Shape Outline select No Outline (though in some cases using different thicknesses of Outline
can be used to achieve a closer match) and from Shape Fill choose the red we have already been using. Drag
the WordArt into roughly the right position and then go to a high magnification to size and position it
accurately. Now use the Handles to resize so that you fit the WordArt text over that of the photograph until
it matches exactly. Sometimes you may need to use the AV Spacing Option to make a good match.
Rather than go through the whole process all over again, use Copy and Paste to make the WordArt for the
next button. With the copy still selected, go to Edit Text in the top left corner and change the wording to
what it should be for the next button. Do the same until all the buttons are lettered.
Where two words are involved, as in this example, I find it easiest
to do each word separately as this makes it much easier to
position them accurately.
And don’t forget to Save now.
Once all the buttons have been lettered, we can then colour them
as they will not obscure any part of the photograph that we will
need to see later. Remember that the button shapes have been
Grouped so we will need to Ungroup each button before we can
colour its individual elements.
Once we have Ungrouped the button drawings and
clicked outside to deselect them, we can now set
the colours for the various elements. We will start
with the outer box, as this will sit near the back of
the group of shapes. During the colouring process
we may need to use the Bring Forward or Send
Backward options to Order the shapes correctly.
Select one of the outer boxes. We set the Shape Fill
Color to 113 113 113 and the Shape Outline Color
to 238 236 225 and the Weight to 3/4pt. You will
need to experiment to find the right colour for your
own composition. You could use Sample Fill Color
to pick the colour from the photograph but
experience has shown that light effects etc will
distort the colour into something less natural.
“Mixing” your own is always good practice.
Once you have set the Shape Fill Color and Shape
Outline Color, we can then colour all the other outer
boxes quickly by selecting each in turn. The colour
should now be set in the Shape Fill and Shape Outline
icons (as shown left) or they will appear in Recent
Colors (as shown above). Now repeat for all the other
shapes in the button drawings. Remember that the
shapes will be layered in the order you drew them,
the first being at the back, the last at the front.
We can now put in the lines that
separate the various sections of the
panel. From the Insert Tab go to
Shapes and choose the Rounded
Rectangle Option. We will match the
Line Weight to the photo (in this
case 1pt) but for now we will colour
it red.
The Shape Fill Colour here
will be No Fill as that would hide all
the button drawings behind it.
Use the Yellow Diamond to match
the Rounding of the corners.
This section of the drawing has several tricky areas that
we will need to overcome. The word VOLUME needs to
be over the Rounded Rectangle, which in turn needs to
be broken to allow for it. There is no one shape we can
choose for the semi-circular low-to-high volume
indicator so we will make this out of pieces. We will do
the same with the loudspeaker image and we will also
need to put the “sound” arcs in.
All of these will take a little work but are fairly
straightforward to achieve.
Use WordArt to insert the word VOLUME and
format it to size. Colour it red for now so we can
see where it is and see other elements of the
image.
Now go to Insert and Shapes to draw a
Rectangle whose sides are close to the top and
bottom of VOLUME and reach to where the
Rounded Rectangle is broken. Make the Line
Weight 1/4pt and colour it red again.
The Loudspeaker symbol is a simple matter of Insert and Shapes to add
a Rectangle and a Trapezoid. Use Rotate to turn the Trapezoid to the
correct position and use the Yellow Diamond to match the angles of the
Trapezoid to those of the photograph. Set the Line Weight to 1/4pt and
Outline Colour to red. Once we have completed all the drawing, we will
come back to colour and order the elements of the drawing.
Now it gets a little crowded here as we draw the “sound arcs.” We
could use the Curve Line Shape to insert them but it is difficult to get
them even-looking. Instead, we insert Lines to indicate where the arcs
end and then use the Oval Shape to draw the arcs and match their
Weight to those of the photo. Once again, leave them all coloured red
for now.
We now want to blank out all the parts of the Ovals to leave
only the arcs that appear in the photograph. Use the
Trapezoid and Rectangle Shapes to do this, as shown in blue
here. Make sure you can still get at the loudspeaker shapes
so that you will still be able to select them later on.
We will colour this section of the drawing now in order to
illustrate the process involved. The blue shapes will use the
same Shape Fill Color as the front of the panel will
eventually be and they will have No Shape Outline, thus
making them part of the front panel in essence.
Having chosen and “mixed” a Shape Fill Color for the
front panel (in our example here it is 34 34 34, which
appears slightly paler than in the photograph but is dark
enough to use and still allows black lines to show, if we
choose to use them later on), now colour the blue
shapes with it and apply No Shape Outline. Delete the
two lines we used to indicate where the arcs finish.
“Mix” the Shape Outline Color for the arcs and apply
that. We will use this colour as a standard for other
elements in the drawing where appropriate, to keep it
balanced and to avoid using too many shades.
Now select each of the loudspeaker
symbol shapes and use the Bring Forward
Dropdown to select Bring to Front so
that they sit on top of the drawing in
their correct place. Use the same colour
as the arcs to apply a Shape Fill Color to
them. Remember to change the Shape
Outline to the same Shape Outline Color
or No Outline.
The loudspeaker symbol is now completed.
Obviously, the Rounded Rectangle border is
partly obscured and we will need to deal with
this but we will finish drawing all the elements in
this area before we tackle that.
Next, we will go on to add the Volume control.
We now add the three Ovals that make up the
Volume control knob (shown in red).
To create the “rising volume” symbol, add two more
Ovals, as shown in blue, to match the outer and inner
edges. Then place an obscuring Rectangle so that its
top edge aligns with where the symbol’s ends are, as
shown in yellow. Now apply a Shape Fill Color to this
Rectangle, which will be the same as the front face of
the panel. And remember to colour or No Outline the
line too.
This Rectangle will now be obscuring parts of the
Volume control knob, so select each of the three
Ovals in turn to Bring to Front. As we want the inner
Oval to end up on top, we will Bring to Front in
reverse order, meaning outer first and inner last.
We can now apply Shape Fill Color to the “rising
volume” symbol. The inner one will be the same as
the front of the panel and the outer one the same as
the loudspeaker symbol. Once again, don’t forget to
format your Outline Colors!
We have now applied the Shape Fill Colors and
the Shape Outline Colors to the Volume control,
plus we have added and formatted the lights.
Notice how you can use different Outline
Weights to create visual effects like the highlight
on the Volume control knob. The blue line has
been used to centre the Ovals of the lights in a
very dark area of the photograph. Don’t forget to
delete this after use!
To complete this area we now need to Bring
Forward the remaining elements but, once again,
we need to layer them in the right order. At the
very front will be the WordArt VOLUME, then the
rectangle around it that obscures part of the
Rounded Rectangle making up the border, and
then the Rounded Rectangle itself. Once again, we
use Bring to Front but selecting the three elements
in reverse order—the Rounded Rectangle first and
the WordArt last. We can then apply colour but
remember that the Rounded Rectangle is No Fill
Color or it will obscure other elements.
Add all the remaining elements in the
same way, using the techniques we have
described. In this example, the brand
name Extron is an obscure font and it
will be a case of adding and sizing a
WordArt element into position and
then, with it selected, using Edit Text
from WordArt to trawl through the
many fonts to find a near match. In this
case we have settled on Angsana New.
We can now drag the photograph away
to one side (keeping it for reference for
now) and fill in the main body of the
panel.
And there we have our finished drawing. One final thing is to Group all the elements into a single unit. To do
this, first delete the photograph completely, then use Ctrl+A to select all. You can also drag the cursor from
off the page right around all the objects to select them all or go to the Home Tab and use the Select
Dropdown on the far right to choose Select All Objects. Then use the Group Option to group them together.
Don’t forget to Save at this stage. We may also want to use Save As… to save the image in a different format.
As this image will be used as a “stand alone” one, we can now use Save As… to save it as a JPEG. Remember,
when saving as a JPEG, you will be able to change the Resolution to High or to Web level, depending on
where it is to be used.
That is how to make a drawing using “off the peg” shapes. You can make eye-catching graphics quickly and
easily using these methods but how much detail (and thus toil) you put into your work is entirely up to you
or should be judged on the importance or prominence of the image. Above all, creating graphics should
always be a pleasurable experience so don’t allow it to become a chore.
Finally, we will take a very brief look at creating a “freehand” drawing, in which the option of using
readymade shapes is not available to us. This will only really be of use to those of you who will be doing a lot
of graphic work but some of the tips and techniques may prove useful in other situations.
Freehand Drawing
In many ways, this is much more like conventional drawing than the methods we have seen previously. It
calls for some dexterity and control but you don’t need to have any artistic training. It can be a very timeconsuming exercise if you let it but you can achieve great results without going to the lengths we will now
see. Try the techniques and experiment to find out how you can make them work best for you and your
needs.
Here is our logo once again, which has all been
created using Publisher techniques. The first thing we
notice is that it is a complex composition. In order to
create it, a number of individual drawings have been
made independently and then put together into the
final composition.
For something of this nature, you will need to have a
very clear idea of what the final image will look like.
The drawings of the hard-drive, the Lettered E, the
monitor, the books (which is actually two copies of
the same drawing placed together), and the scanner
have all been made “off site” in advance. The other
elements have been added during the construction
stage.
Let’s look at how the scanner was drawn now.
I like to save a little work by using a
photograph and I like to have the
control of taking my own. Here, it
was important to get the scanner
nice and square on and we also
needed it well lit and bright in order
to see all the detail that we will later
be putting in.
Wherever we can we will attempt to use readymade shapes that we can use Shape Fill Color as before, but
they are more limited than perhaps it seems at first. In actual fact, this includes little more than the buttons
on the control panel. Also rather surprising is the fact that, for a machine, many of the lines are actually
curved and so we will be using the Curve Line Tool a good deal, which is ideal for making controlled and
elegant drawings.
Next, we need to decide on scale. As we have seen, this will depend on the size of the finished image
balanced against the amount of detail we intend to put into the drawing. In our scanner example, we need to
include a lot of elements to reflect the complicated design of the machine so, even though the final image
will be smallish, we will create the drawing on a larger scale so that we can get close in when we need to,
and then reduce the finished article to fit. Because we will be shrinking later, we will use a thin weight for the
lines of the drawing (they retain their value when shrunk and so will appear ever thicker the more we
reduce). For a reason that will become apparent soon, we will not use the very thinnest (1/4pt) but the next
one up. Once again, we will use a coloured line to be able to see what we’ve done.
From the Insert Tab, go to Shapes and select the
Curve Line Tool. We will draw the curve of the front
of the control panel first, so go to the biggest
magnification at which we can see the whole of this
curve. We could do it in to parts but it is easier to do
it in one go.
With the Curve Line Tool selected, place the cross shaped cursor on one end of the front of the control
panel, hold the left mouse button down and drag the line along the curve. Each time you click the mouse
button, it alters the direction of the Curve Line, which gives great control when following the line of the
machine. The red arrows (above) give a rough idea of when the clicks have been made in this case. Notice
the double arrows at the end—you need to double click at the end in order to release the line.
With the line still selected, apply an Outline Color (yellow in this example) and change the Line Weight to
1/2pt (in this example).
So, to reiterate, whenever the line makes a slight change of direction, click the
mouse button once. There is no limit to the number of times you can change
direction in one line. At first, keeping the cursor on the line may seem quite
hard to achieve but, with a little practice and once you get your hand-eye
coordination settled in, this will become much easier and more natural, rather
like using a pencil. Remember, if you go off line, you can always go back as far
as the time you clicked the mouse. Do persist with this as you can achieve
great results with it.
Now put in all the rest of the lines of the scanner. Use readymade shapes
where you can. Remember to Save regularly.
Here we see the completed line drawing
of the scanner. We have put the buttons
in using readymade Shapes and used
Shape Fill Color to colour them.
The photo has been temporarily deleted
to see how far we’ve got. Always Save
before deleting. Use Redo or Ctrl+Z to
replace the photo.
With the yellow Outline Color, the
drawing is quite hard to make out. To see
it better, put the photo back in place,
then use Select and Select All Objects
(on the extreme right of the Home Tab)
or Ctrl+A to select everything, go to the
Drawing Tools Format Tab and change
the Outline Color to black for now. Then
temporarily delete the photo to check all
the lines are in place.
We will need the yellow (or coloured) Outline to be able to see clearly what we are doing in the next stage.
Put the photo back and select all (as above) to change the Outline Color back to yellow (or the colour you
have chosen). We will now hand colour our drawing, using the Scribble Tool from Insert and Shapes. In a
complex drawing like this one, this will be a highly labour-intensive undertaking—you may want to choose
something more simple to work on first.
Now we drag the photograph to one side – we will need it to refer to when it comes to choosing our colours.
We could use Sample Fill and Outline Colors from the photograph but, as mentioned earlier, these may be
distorted by the lighting under which the picture was take, so we will mix our own.
When the Scribble Line Tool is selected, the cursor turns into a pencil icon and you simply drag the line
around, rather like using a pencil. To make some quick progress, we can roughly colour in a large area (as
shown above). We want to keep the shape we are creating with the Scribble Tool within the lines. When we
get the line back to very close to our starting point, Publisher will join it up to make a sealed shape that we
can then fill using Shape Fill Color. Remember that every time we create a shape in this way we will need to
also change the Outline Color to the same value and change its Weight to the 1/4pt minimum. This will
become clear in a moment.
With the shape selected, we now mix our colour for the Shape Fill. This may take a little time to get it right
but we can then reuse that same colour for other areas. We can also change the Outline Color by using
Sample Outline Color and clicking on our mixed colour in the shape. Remember to change the Outline
Weight to 1/4pt each time.
We now come to the delicate part of the operation when we
begin to fill up to the edges. Select the Scribble Tool again. We
need to drag it steadily along completely contained within the
yellow Outline, for which we need a very steady hand and a
good deal of patience. It cannot be stressed enough that you
need to do this in small sections—if you slip off line and intrude
into the adjacent area, you will have to delete what you’ve just
done, so don’t be greedy and always what preserve what
you’ve successfully done. Little by little is best here.
Use a high magnification when you are drawing up to
the edges. Apply the Shape Fill and Outline Colors and
change the Line Weight to 1/4pt. Now use Send
Backward and Send to Back to place the Scribble
shape behind the yellow line. Repeat this process over
and over until you have completed that area and then
go on to complete all the colouring of the drawing.
Here we see the completed drawing, which we have created gradually and slowly. As we have said, this will
take a great deal of patience so do it bit by bit and remember to Save regularly. For the last touch, select
each yellow Outline and change it to black. Delete the photograph and then we can Select All Objects or use
Ctrl+A and then Group the drawing into one unit, which we can then Copy and Paste into our logo
composition.
This image, with all the hundreds
of individual shapes selected,
shows just how much time and
effort has gone into creating this
drawing. Great lengths have been
gone to over a goodly number of
sessions. But this is something I
enjoy—you should never let it
become a chore and only go as far
as you need to or are happy with
to make your own drawings.
Postscript
One last feature that you may find highly useful if you ever produce graphics on a non-standard page size for instance, to fit a sign holder or even a photograph frame, if any of you recall those from the olden days is printing Crop Marks to show you where to trim your sheet (which will always print on the standard size
paper in the printer, as we have seen earlier). Unfortunately, this is not as intuitive as perhaps it might be,
which is why we’ll look at it now.
Crop Marks
Firstly, we need to set up the page to the
dimensions required. As an example here, we’ll
take the size from an old frame that happens to be
lying around here now: 178mm wide by 228mm
high, which is actually an imperial 7” x 9”.
Go to File and then New and our page choices
appear at the top. We want the More Blank Page
Sizes Option, which is the third one along. Click on
that.
Now we see all our standard choices, including A5 and A3 portrait and landscape, along with a number of
others that you’re fairly unlikely to use. Below is the Custom Bar, at the end of which is Create new page
size… Click on that. Your screen probably won’t look like this to begin with. Personally, I create custom pages
regularly and so my page is showing the most recent ones I’ve created, which is another handy feature.
In the Create New Page Size Dialogue Box type in the
values (Width 17.8 and Height 22.8 in our example).
You may notice that I have chosen to set the Margin
Guides to zero as I don’t like them much, but this is a
personal choice and you should set yours to suit your
job or preference. You can name your page, if you
wish, to use again later, using the Name Window.
Click OK and then click on the Create Button on
the righthand side. The new page size will now
appear on the desktop.
Go to the File Tab and select Print. From the list
of Printers select the one you require. Then click
on the Dropdown Arrow next to its name.
Three further options are now available at the
bottom of the list (shown in the red box). Click
on Advanced Output settings...
In the Advanced Output Settings Dialogue Box
select the Marks and Bleeds Tab. In Printer’s
Marks, near the middle on the left, check the Crop
Marks Box. Click OK.
Your crop marks are now shown in Print Preview
and will be printed on the page when you choose
Print.
Thank You
That now brings us to the end of our introduction to Publisher. We hope you have
found it helpful and informative. With a little practice and application you will soon
have mastered the techniques described and will go on to create eye-catching and
original graphics of your own. Here we have only looked at the ways in which
Publisher can be used for creating graphics, so there are some elements that we have
not looked into at all, such as Tables, Bookmarks and so on. Many of the tools we
have encountered are also available in Word but Publisher has a definite edge when
it comes to creating documents or files that combine text and images as it allows you
such accurate control in placing them exactly where and as you wish. You could use
Publisher to create entire documents, such as this one, and then save them in a wide
range of formats at different resolutions. By trying it out for yourself, experimenting
and applying it your own particular projects, you will soon discover how you can
make it work best for you. Remember to always allow your compositions room to
breathe, especially around the edges, and to save your work regularly.
Now, let’s go and create some powerful graphics, shall we? But, above all, enjoy it!