From the course: InDesign: Elements of a Layout

Body text size - InDesign Tutorial

From the course: InDesign: Elements of a Layout

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Body text size

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- [Voiceover] Also known as body copy, body text is the main part of the article. Here are some examples from a range of magazines, the body text indicated in yellow highlight. Body text is all at one size. It flows, or is threaded, from column to column and from page to page. Body text is typically but not exclusively in a serif rather than sans serif font. In print, body text is between nine and 11 points. InDesign's default font size of 12 is generally too big for body text. Body text in print is considerably smaller than body text on screen which is around 16 points. Note that different fonts at the same size may not look the same size. In this example, Helvetica looks larger than Caslon despite being the same point size. The leading value or interline spacing of body text is usually between +1 and +2. So if your body text is 10 point, the leading will be 11 or 12 point. When choosing a body text typeface and size, the width of the column is another important consideration. Combined with the point size and leading, the width of the column determines the column measure or number of characters per line. A good compromise between readability and economy is to aim for a column measure of 35 to 45 characters per line. In my starting document, I have text running over two double-page spreads. And the text is in three columns. I'll double-click to insert my type cursor, press Command + A to select all of the text, and change it to Chaparral Pro, a contemporary slab-serif typeface. I want my body text size to be 9.25 and the leading to be 11. Now when I come to my paragraph styles panel, we see the Basic Paragraph has a plus symbol indicating an override next to it. Because Basic Paragraph is going to be the root of all of my paragraph styles, I'm now going to redefine that. And next, I'm going to create a new paragraph style which I will call body text. I have Apply Style to Selection checked, so this style is applied back to my selected text. Now there's much more for me to do with the body text, but I'll continue this in the next movie.

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