It’s Science Week here at Envato Tuts+, and this fun infographic is a great way to celebrate! With a focus on the future of space travel, you’ll be able to show off your knowledge of SpaceX and Virgin Galactic to your friends.
If you’ve used Adobe InDesign before but are new to putting together infographic layouts, this tutorial is a great introduction to combining type and graphics in a visually interesting way.
Short on time? You can find easy-to-edit infographic templates on GraphicRiver and Envato Elements.
Let’s get started!
What You’ll Need to Create Your Infographic
You’ll need access to both Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator, and to download the following images and fonts from Envato Elements:
1. How to Create a Web Document in InDesign
Step 1
Open InDesign and go to File > New > Document.
With the intent set to Web, set the Width of the page to 435 px and Height to 1300 px. This is a good size for sharing on sites like Pinterest.
Set the Margins to 36 px, and click Create.
Step 2
Expand the Layers panel (Window > Layers), and double-click on Layer 1, renaming it Background.
Create four more new layers—Arrows, Rocket, Icons and finally, Type.
Then lock all the layers except Background.
2. How to Create a Celestial Backdrop
Step 1
Use the Rectangle Frame Tool (F) to create an image frame across the whole page.
File > Place, navigate to the Space Backgrounds folder and choose the ‘07.jpg’ image. Click Open and allow it to fill up the whole frame.
Step 2
Switch to the Rectangle Tool (M) and drag across the top of the page to create a rough square shape.
From the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches), set the Fill to [Black].
With the shape selected, go to Object > Effects > Gradient Feather. Set the Type to Linear and allow the gradient to extend from darker at the top to transparent towards the bottom of the shape. Click OK.
Step 3
Select the shape and Edit > Copy, Edit > Paste it. Then, on the copy, Right-Click > Transform > Flip Vertical.
Move to the bottom of the page, and extend the height of the shape upwards to about halfway up the page.
Step 4
Open the space shuttle illustration in Illustrator.
Select only the rocket shape, plus one of the transparent layers of smoke along the bottom of the image, pictured below. Then Copy these.
Create a new Illustrator document, and Paste these elements onto the page, before going to File > Save As and saving this as an Illustrator EPS file.
Step 5
Return to your InDesign document and lock the Background layer. Unlock the Rocket layer.
Create an image frame using the Rectangle Frame Tool (F) at the bottom of the page and File > Place, choosing the edited rocket EPS image. Open, and make sure the rocket image is centered on the page.
3. How to Create a Starry Header for Your Infographic
Step 1
Lock the Rocket layer and unlock the top layer, Type.
Zoom in on the top of the page, take the Type Tool (T), and create a text frame across the top-center of the page.
Type in ‘SPACE’, and from either the top Controls panel or the Character and Paragraph panels (Window > Type & Tables > Character/Paragraph), set the Font to BW Modelica Black, Size 100 pt, Tracking 100, and Align Center.
From the Swatches panel, set the Font Color to [Paper].
Step 2
Add two text frames above and below ‘SPACE’, set in BW Modelica ExtraBold, Size 30 pt, Tracking 230, and Align Center.
The first should read ‘THE FUTURE OF’ and the bottom simply ‘TRAVEL’.
Step 3
Select the ‘SPACE’ text frame and head up to Type > Create Outlines, to vectorize the text.
Set the Color Fill of the outlined text to [None].
Then File > Place, choose one of the images from the Space Backgrounds folder (I’ve opted for ‘04.jpg’ for contrast), and Open, allowing it to fill up the whole word.
4. How to Build Up Graphics on Your Layout
Step 1
Lock the Type layer and unlock the Arrows layer.
Use the Line Tool (\) to create a vertical line running from the top of the rocket to about a quarter of the way down the page.
Set the Stroke Color to [Paper]. From the Stroke panel (Window > Stroke), set the Weight of the line to 20 pt, and add a Triangle shape to the End of the line.
Step 2
With the line selected, go to Object > Effects > Gradient Feather.
Add a Linear gradient at a 90 Degree Angle, allowing the arrow to be more transparent towards the base.
Step 3
Copy and Paste the arrow, moving it over to the right side of the page, and shortening it so that it hits about halfway up the page.
Paste more arrows across the page, in the formation shown below, shortening them as needed.
Step 4
Open up the space icon set in Illustrator.
Right-Click > Ungroup the image, so you can select icons individually.
Select the ‘Mars’ icon on the fourth row down, and Edit > Copy it.
Step 5
Back in your InDesign document, lock the Arrows layer and unlock the Icons layer.
Edit > Paste the icon onto the page, and move it so that it sits at the top of the central arrow.
From the Swatches panel, choose New Color Swatch from the panel’s main menu. Create a new RGB swatch, R=41 G=156 B=186. Click Add and Done.
Apply this swatch to the Fill of the circle sitting behind the planet.
Step 6
Head back to the Illustrator icons, and select the ‘Rocket’ icon. Copy it.
Paste this directly onto your InDesign document, and position it at the top of the arrow on the far-right side of the page.
Create a new RGB swatch, R=239 G=79 B=77, and apply this to the circle. Right-Click > Transform > Rotate the rocket to a 45 degree angle.
Step 7
Continue to copy and paste more icons, ‘Astronaut’, ‘Orbit’, and ‘Earth’, onto the infographic, placing these in the positions shown below.
Create new RGB swatches of your own choosing and apply these to each of the background circles.
Step 8
Isolate the figure of the ‘Alien’ on the icons image, and copy and paste this onto the infographic too.
Position it on the bottom-right of the layout.
Step 9
Lock the Icons layer and unlock the Type layer.
With your icons in place, you can now start to build up text on your infographic, to match each icon.
Select the Type Tool (T) and create a text frame to the right of the ‘Mars’ icon at the top. Type in a subtitle, and set the Font to BW Modelica ExtraBold, Size 30 pt, Tracking 90, and Align Right. Set the Font Color to [Paper].
Step 10
Create a second text frame below this, typing in your chosen fact, and setting the Font to BW Modelica Bold, Size 12 pt, Tracking 60, and Align Right.
Step 11
Now you can select both the heading and body text frames and Copy and Paste these, to populate your infographic with more text.
Adjust the text alignment as you go to suit their position on the page.
Step 12
If you have any areas of the infographic where the text is difficult to read because of the background, you can create circles in [Black] using the Ellipse Tool (L).
Go to Object > Effects > Gradient Feather to apply a Radial gradient to these shapes.
Then make sure to Right-Click > Arrange > Send to Back to push them behind the text.
Step 13
If you want to make a feature of certain statistics, you can set numbers in large size BW Modelica.
Then go to Type > Create Outlines.
File > Place, choosing one of the space background images, and Open. This will really make the figure pop on the page.
Conclusion: Your Finished Infographic
Your infographic is finished—awesome work!
It’s really simple to share your infographic online. Simply go to File > Export and choose either PNG or JPEG from the Format options available.
Then you can upload your image to Pinterest or another social media site.
You can download a full-size version of the infographic above here.
You can find more infographic templates and icons to use on your designs over on GraphicRiver and Envato Elements.
Discover more infographic tutorials right here:
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