Scale Drawings in Portfolio

Ok, so I am just starting to work on getting all of my projects together in InDesign for my first portfolio. I am running across some obstacles.

First off, the margins. Should there be margins? Or is that a design decision I should make on my own? I've decided to do Landscape layout 8.5 x 11.

Secondly,regarding the scale drawings. My site plans and sections are at a larger scale like 1" = 40' or 1"= 16'. These drawings are HUGE and would cover a whole 36' x 48' board. Should I just place these huge drawings into InDesign and when I convert the portfolio into .pdf I should be fine? I have already saved each of these images that I am placing into InDesign as a .pdf file that has been compressed to the smallest size possible, but each file size is still fairly large. About 2-5 mb per image that I am placing.

Thirdly, placing the drawings into InDesign in a 8.5 x 11 will obviously change the scale of the drawing. So is that ok? For example, the drawing of a site plan will state that the image is 1"=16' although its not....will that be acceptable?

I know these questions are somewhat silly, but I am an amateur at this and trying to tackle this portfolio. It's been such a challenge for me as I keep running into problems. Thanks! :)

Tags: InDesign, Scale

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Permalink Reply by MG on May 8, 2012 at 8:45pm

Thank you Chris! You really helped me out. Ya, that's what I'll stick to. I am going to individually compress and downsize each image when I am converting them into pdfs. Than place them into InDesign. When I am done with the portfolio, I'll do one final pdf conversion and downsize it further. One last question for you, when I place the pdfs into InDesign, they look pixilated and unclear. Is this normal?

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Permalink Reply by Rob on May 8, 2012 at 9:08pm

The pixelated look in InDesign is normal. I think that displaying images at full resolution slows the processing speed down, so the InDesign default for on-screen display is at a lower quality. You can change this if you go to Edit-->Preferences --> Display Performance. I would recommend leaving it as is, though, because displaying at a higher quality slows things down. If you want to verify exactly what your pages will look like when converted to pdf, just press Ctrl+E and export one of your pages to pdf to see how it looks.

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Permalink Reply by MG on May 8, 2012 at 9:13pm

Thank you Rob! That really helps. :)

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Permalink Reply by Zach Watson on May 9, 2012 at 11:21pm

Meena you can also Preview what the layout will look like [making the images look normal] by clicking View --> Overprint Preview [it should be the first option in the drop down menu.

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Permalink Reply by MG on May 10, 2012 at 1:32am

Hey thanks Zach! I just tried it out. I've run into a problem though. Whenever I preview the drawing in either method, some of my layers (mostly the ones that I worked on in Photoshop) disappear and the vector lines that I worked on Illustrator remain. I don't know why this is happening.

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Permalink Reply by Zach Watson on May 10, 2012 at 8:36am

That is one issue that I don't remember coming across. I would try exporting/printing and to see if they appear in the final image. I'll think about it thought and see if I can come up with an answer. It's just a little more difficult to know what is happening without seeing all of the settings myself. Best of Luck!

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Permalink Reply by MG on May 10, 2012 at 3:39pm

Ok, I'll give that a try and see what happens. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Jason T. Radice on May 9, 2012 at 11:51pm

You can also right click (for those of us with a right mouse button, sorry Mac people) and select it from there. Right mouse button...one of many reasons I havn't switched to Mac.

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Permalink Reply by MG on May 10, 2012 at 1:37am

I am actually using a wireless mouse. So I can right click, hehe. Thanks!

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Permalink Reply by ALEX P on May 16, 2012 at 7:56pm

1. never use a landscape layout, gah. it looks like a "portfolio" not a well designed print document.. why do you think magazines are portait.. it look better.. easier to handle.

2. dump the scales. it doesnt matter. they look clunky and ugly, seriously who will notice that its 20 scale or 100 scale..

3. stop worrying about all these presumed rules. just do what makes your work look the best.

4. make something that you are proud of, not in papyrus!!!!