From the course: Cert Prep: Adobe Certified Associate - InDesign

Create and customize gradients - InDesign Tutorial

From the course: Cert Prep: Adobe Certified Associate - InDesign

Start my 1-month free trial

Create and customize gradients

“

- [Instructor] Let's take a look at how to create and edit gradients in preparation for the InDesign ACA exam. In our file, we have this sidebar on the right part of the page and let's say we wanted to jazz it up a bit by adding a gradient fill. To start, let's create a new gradient swatch by going to the Swatches panel, going to the menu, and choosing New Gradient Swatch. In the dialog box, I'll give it a name, I'll just call it Sidebar Gradient. I'll keep the type as linear, but note you can also have radial gradients and by default, the gradient goes from white to black. To change that, we need to edit the color stops that appear underneath the gradient ramp. I'll click the stop on the left and now I can define a color using any of the methods in the popup menu. So I have Lab, CMYK, RGB, or Swatches. I'll choose Swatches and I'll find my Blue Two swatch and click that. Then I'll on the other color stop to select it and I'll set this to Pink One. I could also add another color to the gradient by clicking just underneath the ramp to add a new stop. And I can drag to change the location of any of the stops or the midpoint between them. But, in this case, I only want two colors, so I'll drag this new stop off altogether to delete it and I'll reset the gradient midpoint by clicking it and setting its location to 50%. I'll click OK. And now to apply the gradient to the background behind the sidebar text, I'll select that frame, target the fill, and find my new swatch, and click it. The gradient is applied from the left edge of the frame to the right edge and if I want to change this, I can take the gradient tool and click and drag. Where I first click will be the location of the first color stop and where I release will be the location of the other color stop. I can click and drag from the top to the bottom or diagonally. I can also use the Gradient panel, which you can open from the Window menu under Color. Here, I can reverse the gradient, change its type, or set a specific angle. I'll go with 90 degrees. And you can also change the location of the color stops and the midpoint. So I'll select the midpoint and put it at 75%. Just be aware that making these kinds of modifications breaks the link to the gradient swatch. So if I were to edit that swatch now, I would not see those changes reflected in the fill of this frame. Also note that there are gradient controls in the Properties panel when you have an object selected. Click on the fill color square and then the gradient button to access these controls. So in this movie, we looked at the process of creating, modifying, and applying gradients in InDesign, which is something you should be ready to demonstrate in the ACA exam.

Contents