font size issue

[Amanda29370280gx9f]

Hello, I am working on Adobe indesign for my university course making a demo-poster of my work during the semester. My professor included instructions on how to add a text box and that the requirements must have 14pt minimum, serif or sans serif and she also recommended to widen the linespacing to feel less cluttered.

As you can see in the file that I provided below, my font size is set to 14 but the font appears to be jumbo sized (not "downtown reimagining"- this too is the incorrect font as it is set to 10pt). I just want to know how to fix this issue, also I read that I can scale my text but do not know how to confirm if it was done properly. Also my scaling preferences in the general setting are... (scaling is applied to content)

FYI if I get a response past 11pm it will be too late as it is due.

Thanks in advance.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Sorry I wasn't up late, but the first thing I would look at is if any Character Styles are applied to that text, which would override this base setting.

[Amanda29370280gx9f]

I should also mention that this is my first time using Indesign so I may be a little confused about how to check for these things.

When you say check to see if any Character Styles are applied to that text, I would thing they are because isn't that what makes you change the text font, size, and spacing? 

Also, my Paragraph Styles are basically set the same as the Character Styles. I can include a few other files showing the options I have checked off.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Okay, see the + sign at the end of the Character Style name? That means its been modified. In skilled practice, you should never see this marker, because every change should be associated with a fully updated Paragraph or Character style. You NEVER use spot formatting (grab some text, apply a change) in InDesign.

So select the paragraph that's not what you want it to be, and if either the Paragraph or Character Style name in the list has that + marker, right-click on it and click Clear All. That will reset the style to its definition and take away anything that was applied as an override.

Once you clear your overrides, select each paragraph, make all the changes to it you want, and then save it as a new style. Make further change to that style, and keep it updated — don't just "override" or "spot format" your changes. Styles seem like a hurdle, but they make everything very controllable and organized when used right.

InDesign is a great tool, but the initial learning curve is VERY steep. Don't get discouraged. You can't really just hack away at projects like you can in Word; you have to learn a number of basics before you can do even simple things the right way.

Feel free to ask questions here. Ir's pretty much why these forums exist, and why the regulars are here.

[rob day]

Hi @Amanda29370280gx9f , Looks like your ruler units are set to Inches and the page size is around 2.75" x 3.25", so relative to the page size your 14pt text looks right.

[SJRiegel]

What is your page size, and in what units? 

[Amanda29370280gx9f]

These were the instructions for making this project. All the dimensions are indicated on the right side.

[SJRiegel]

The instructions say to make the page 20 inches x 16 inches, but according to your properties panel, your page size is 2.6667 x 3.3333 inches

That's why your text looks large: your page is small

Here is my 14 pt text next to yours on the page set up as 2.6667 x 3.3333 (mine's in green)

Fix your document size, and your text will show up in the proportion you expect to see.

-- It looks like you originally set your page size as 16 x 20 picas. That would give you the 2.6667 x 3.3333 inch page size that you ended up with. The new doument dialog defaults to picas for some reason, so it's easy to see how this could happen to a new user.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

That's why your text looks large: your page is small

Good catch. 🙂

I'd say the page was set up using picas, not inches. 20 picas = 3.33 inches.

InDesign is very flexible with its units management. Always make sure you're using the right ones. 🙂 (Hint: Picas are the pro measurement, but you will probably want to stay with inches to stay in step with your class.)

[Amanda29370280gx9f]

That sounds right, it seems as though when I created this new file and changed the dimensions to inches it converted my initial changing of the size and I did not notice. I will restart the project now unless you have any tips to resize my current plan LOL Thanks again! 

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

You should be able to just scale it up by changing the project under File | Document Setup. You'll need to rescale everything, but that might be quicker than starting over.

And yes, part of ID's flexibility with units is that you can enter any unit in any box... by adding the desired unit indicator. I work in picas, but often enter things like "6in" when it's simpler and I can't do math on my fingers right. Sounds like you got tripped up by what should be a useful feature. 🙂

[SJRiegel]

With no documents open, go to InDesign preferences and change your ruler units to inches. Once you have done this, your new document dialog will default to inches instead of picas.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Note this well: ID has the feature/annoyance of setting defaults when they may not be intended. If you have nothing in a document selected, any change you make (units, font, font size, color, stroke, etc.) will be set as the new default for everything you create from then on. To undo this (having everything be Magenta, for example) click on empty area to make sure no object is selected, then set the feature to your desired default.

The same is true for documents: any general setting you make while no document is open will become a new document default. Fix it in the same way.

Knowing this trick/hurdle can make you look like a real genius when someone in your class trips over it. 🙂

[SJRiegel]

One tip for working with text - always style it using Paragraph Styles. The Character Style should be None, unless you are adding special styling to a word or two within a paragraph (e.g. Bold, Italic, Red, etc.) You can set a character style to have only the attribute you want to change, and it will then override only that attribute of the Paragraph Style.