Problems sending large files? Try our new file share system.
One of the most frustrating things about sending large files is waiting several minutes for your file to send, only to receive it back informing you the file was to big. With LPi’s online file sharing service, bounce backs are eliminated.
LPi Central Region now has a tool to send those large files. Transfer files back and forth using the easy to use web-base “Fileshare”. No software to install, simply login to “Fileshare”, create a folder, pick your file and upload. Your files are secure and available immediately upon a successful upload. This file transfer system is great for sending those large Publisher and/or InDesign templates when working with your LPi graphic designer.
Contact your Tech Support Representative at ext. 1-800-920-9952 ext. 2200 for assistance in uploading your files.
 You’ve probably heard the saying, “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” So how do you judge if your design is “good,” “bad,” or just average? If you’ve ever thought about evaluating whether or not your publication could use a facelift, here are a few general guidelines to keep in mind.
Overall Look and Aesthetic Appeal
Is your design attractive? Although completely subjective, one good way to measure your progress is to ask for opinions. Try to get feedback from your readers, as well as others who have never seen your publication before. Don’t be afraid to listen to suggestions, and consider any positive comments and constructive criticism you may receive. LPi’s graphic designers are also more than happy to provide our input as well. Just give us a call!
Photos
Photos are a great design element when used effectively. They can capture a moment in time, elicit emotions, and also help to illustrate a point better than words alone. On the flip side, if you use a cell phone to take your pictures, and/or if they are dark, out of focus, or blurry, they can ruin your reader’s perception of your design. Picasa is a great free tool you can use to lighten dark photos, remove redeye, add contrast and even experiment with fun filters that turn your pictures into “pencil sketches” and more.
Relevance
Who is your publication meant for? Consider your audience’s needs in order to keep them engaged and interested in reading. Think about what your readers find most important, and be sure to place that content front and center. For example, if the Easter mass times are buried in the middle of the bulletin, perhaps it would make more sense to put them on the cover or first page where they can easily be found. Also, remember that your advertisers are most likely a source of revenue for your publication. Be sure to find a way to acknowledge, recognize, and thank them, because chances are, they are reading! Check the Art and Media Portal for ideas on how to provide an added value for the businesses that support your publication.
Colors
Your choice of colors can really affect the overall tone and feel of your publication. Are your colors readable? Black text on a dark background is never a good idea. Are your colors complementary, or do they clash? Certain colors just do not work together, while other color schemes can be stunning. If you need some ideas, visit kuler.adobe.com to see popular themes created by artists and designers, and you can use similar colors in your publication.
Do your colors fit your branding? If you have a logo, the newsletter/bulletin colors should match or complement it, and it’s also a good idea to keep your design elements consistent between your website, newsletter, letterhead and other print materials to build recognition among your patrons.
Fonts
Is your type clear and legible? Even the most beautiful decorative font is completely useless if it doesn’t serve its purpose, which is to be read! Specialty fonts may look nice in theory, but before choosing them, stop and think about whether they are practical for your publication. As with bolding and underlining, special fonts should be used sparingly to draw attention and provide emphasis, but if they are overused, your reader will not know what to focus on and may lose interest. See our blog post on Using Typefaces Effectively for more info.
Layout/Use of Space
Is your information organized in a logical manner? Sections with headings can really help readers to easily search for and find the content that pertains to them. Also, white space is considered an important element in graphic design, as it brings a sense of order to your layout, and makes it appear uncluttered, which can help improve readability. Therefore, try not to cram too much information into a small amount of space. Hold some articles for future issues if necessary, in order to keep your publication clean and easy to read.
The above categories should be a good starting point to help you gauge how you are doing with your publication design. If you decide that you want a new look, keep in mind that LPi provides free design services, so if you’d like, we can work with you to come up with a different layout. Otherwise, feel free to try making some updates on your own. Sometimes just a few little tweaks, like changing a color or a font, can make all the difference in helping turn your bulletin or newsletter into a masterpiece.
When speaking to us here at LPi, you will likely hear us use the term “link” or “hyperlink” as in “click on the link” but what does that mean?
The terms “link”, “hyperlink” and “hypertext” all refer to the same basic idea, that is a way to quickly change the internet web page you are viewing or quickly jump to other content from the document you are on.
If you use the Art & Media Portal, then you have been taking advantage of this technology that has been around since the 1960’s!
Once on LPi’s home page www.4lpi.com, you can find lots of links. Let’s focus on just the Art & Media Portal for this explanation. There are a few ways to find the Portal. One is to simply click on the Customer Login button at the top of the page and click on the link for the Art & Media Portal Login. You can also scroll or move down to the bottom of the page and look for the words Art & Media Portal. As you move your cursor over those words you should see it change into a small hand that is pointing at the link. Click on it. There, you have just used a link!
In the paragraph that begins with “Pay a visit to…” there is another link that will redirect you to the Portal. If you click on it you will be taken to a different web page, that of the Art & Media portal. After logging in with your username and password you will see all the content we provide for the creation of your bulletin or newsletter. What you are seeing are lots of links. When you click on the Download button, that is a form of hyperlink. As you look over the page for different clip art or perform a search for a specific image and decide you want to go back to the initial starting point on the Portal here’s a tip: on the top of the page you will see the words, “Art & Media Portal”. Move your cursor over the words and as you see it turn into the small pointing hand just click. You’ve just used another form of a link.
While they may not be as filling as sausage links, hyperlinks can be a part of a fulfilling web experience!
If you’ve upgraded to Microsoft Publisher 2010, you may have encountered a problem with Publisher not retaining specific color values. The problem occurs when you right click an object and use the “Format <object type>” dialog box to specify particular CMYK values.
The workaround is to use the appropriate feature on the ribbon, e.g. the “Recolor” button in the “Adjust” group on the “Picture Tools / Format” tab.
Use the simple techniques listed below to avoid this problem:
- To apply color to text, highlight the text and go Home > Font Color > More Colors… > Custom > CMYK and input the CMYK values or use the color picker.
 To apply a colored shape outline (border), select the object and go Drawing Tools / Format > Shape Outline > More Outline Colors > Custom > CMYK and input the CMYK values or use the color picker.
- To apply a colored shape fill, select the object and go Drawing Tools / Format > Shape Fill > More Fill Colors > Custom > CMYK and input the CMYK values or use the color picker.
- To recolor an image, select the image and go Picture Tools / Format > Recolor > More Variations… > Color > More Colors… > Custom > CMYK and input the CMYK values or use the color picker.
Another workaround is to create a custom color scheme and use the swatches in the custom color scheme to apply the desired color. Follow the steps below to create a custom color scheme:
- On the Page Design tab, in the Schemes group, click the More arrow in the lower right-hand corner of the color schemes gallery.
- Click Create new color scheme.
- In the Create New Color Scheme dialog box, under New, click the arrow next to each color that you want to change and then select a new color.
- Type a name for your custom color scheme and then click Save.
Your custom color scheme is now the default color scheme. All objects in your publication that were filled with scheme colors are now filled with the colors in your custom color scheme. The colors that you selected can now be used as the scheme colors when selecting colors throughout your publication.
One word of caution: before creating a custom color scheme, check with you LPi technical support specialist to ensure that your color scheme is compatible with LPi printing standards.
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Your history is our history and it has been for 40 years.
 One thing has stayed the same since 1972: Liturgical Publications Inc has helped churches, synagogues, and senior centers become better at communicating and engaging with their members. But the ways we’ve helped looked quite different then.
In 1972, bulletins were typed, on a typewriter, by our customer. We picked them up and typeset them, added graphics and ads, took a picture of them and printed them, in one color.
In 2012 you create your own bulletin or newsletter using graphic design software. You add your own graphics, selecting from over 30,000 in our exclusive online collection—including many in full color and even photographic—and then you submit it to us by clicking print and it transmits over the internet. The turnaround is hours instead of days and the quality you experience would have been unimaginable in 1972. And, you can further engage your parishioners with products from LPi helping you offer online giving, a better Web site, and even social networking.
We know many of our customers have been working with LPi since the beginning—or at least for a large percentage of our years in business. We want to hear your stories—about what it used to be like to create your bulletin or newsletter, about the LPi employee you remember most (chance are they might still work here—we have almost 3,000 years of experience in our offices). Between now and April 30 we’ll be collecting your stories. Then for the rest of the year we’ll be sharing those stories with you, via this monthly newsletter and on our Web site. If we use your story, we’ll thank you with a $100 gift card. If we use a story that mentions a current employee, that employee gets the same $100 thank you!
What’s your story about LPi?
Looking for a neat way to keep things in line within your bulletin? Give your space bar a break and consider using Tabs, a convenient method for organizing your information in a clean, easy-to-read format. When set up correctly, all you need to do is press Tab on your keyboard, and Microsoft Publisher will automatically position your text in the location you want. You have the option of lining everything up to the left side, right side, center, or at the decimal points. Search for “Tabs” in Microsoft Publisher’s Help menu for more information and detailed instructions.
Tabs are very useful for laying out your mass times and intentions, activity schedules, contact information, and many types of lists and forms. Check out the following examples and try these quick tutorials for your bulletin or newsletter!
3-Column Weekly Activity Schedule
List activities for the week, using columns for date, event, and time.
 Before  After Steps:
- Create a new text box with the heading “Upcoming Events.”
- Enter a date, then press tab. Enter an event name, then press tab again. Finally, enter the event time. Press Return or Enter to begin a new line.
- For example, Type Nov. 27, then hit tab. Type Choir, then hit tab. Type 9:00 am. Press Enter. Repeat this process for several lines.
- Highlight all of the text you inserted, and then click Format, Tabs.
- Click Clear All to remove any previous formatting.
- Click in the field under Tab stop position. Type 1.15 as your measurement. This will determine the placement of your tab.
- Select Left alignment.
- Click Set to apply your selections to your highlighted content.
- Click in the Tab stop position field again, and type 3.5.
- Under Alignment, click Right.
- Click Set.
- Click Ok. You’ll notice that your lines are now reformatted. If things are not lining up the way you want, just start at step 3 again, and adjust your tab stop measurements and alignments as needed.
Contact Information
Use tabs and leaders to organize names and phone numbers so readers can easily find the specific information they need.
 Before
 After Steps:
- Create a new text box with the heading “Contacts.”
- Type a first and last name, then hit tab. Next, type that person’s phone number or extension. Press Return or Enter to start a new line. Repeat this process on the next several lines, until you have typed all names and phone numbers.
- Highlight the text you inserted, and then click Format, Tabs.
- Click Clear All to remove any previous formatting.
- Click in the field under Tab stop position. Type 3.3 as your measurement. This will determine the placement of your tab.
- Select Right alignment.
- Under Leader, select Dot.
- Click Set to apply your selections to your highlighted content.
- Click Ok. You’ll notice that your lines are now reformatted, and should include dots between the names and phone numbers. If things are not lining up the way you want, just start at step 3 again, and adjust your tab stop measurements and alignments as needed.
Weekly Collections
Use the decimal alignment tab to position collection amounts in your Stewardship area.
 Before
 After Steps:
- Create a new text box with the heading “Church Support.”
- Type “Previous Balance,” then press tab. Type your previous balance amount in this format: $x,xxx.xx. Hit Enter or Return to begin a new line. Type “Contributions,” then press tab. Type your parish’s contribution amount in this format: $x,xxx.xx. Hit Enter or Return to begin a new line. Type “Total,” then press tab. Type your total donation amount in this format: $x,xxx.xx.
- Highlight all the text you inserted, and then click Format, Tabs.
- Click Clear All to remove any previous formatting.
- Click in the field under Tab stop position. Type 3.2 as your measurement. This will determine the placement of your tab.
- Select Decimal alignment.*
- Under Leader, select Dot.
- Click Set to apply your selections to your highlighted content.
- Click Ok. You’ll notice that your lines are now reformatted, and all numbers should be aligned at the decimal point. If things are not lining up the way you want, just go back to step 3, and adjust your measurements and alignments as needed.
*You can also try using the right alignment setting for this example.
Although it may seem daunting at first, with just a little practice and some determination, you can master the above techniques and use them to make your publications more attractive and helpful for your readers! Remember that all of the above examples can be adjusted to fit your needs. For instance, if you typically use different categories for your church support section, name them accordingly. Or, if you’d prefer a 2-column activity list, just create one set of tab stops, instead of two.
Have you tried using Tabs in your publications? Please comment about your experiences. Would you recommend Tabs, or is there a different method that works better for you? Share your tips and tricks!
Co-Authored by Jeff Pelletier
Overflowing text boxes in Microsoft publisher tend to be a common problem as we always have so much to say but don’t always have enough room to write it.
Here are some helpful hints to alleviate some of these complications
Overflow text in Microsoft publisher is detected when you click on a text box and a small white box with three dots followed by a capital A is displayed. This tends to happen when text is copied and pasted into a text box that is too small, or when additional information is added in to the middle of a text box.
The most direct way of solving this problem is to simply resize your text box. You can do this by clicking onto your text box, it when then reveal small squares surrounding your selected text box left click and hold one of those small squares and drag it out to your desired direction to increase the size. If there is not enough room on the page to adjust the text box size, other options such as font size as well as line and paragraph spacing can be adjusted to bring the information back into view.
Using these tools you should be able to fit everything you would like into your publication.
Sometimes it just makes sense to use the same piece of clip art multiple times. If you’re creating string to separate two articles, if you want to frame an article title, or if you just want to decorate a page with a specific type of item. However, having to insert, resize and position the exact same image multiple times can get a bit taxing. Many publishing programs have a shortcut for duplicating any item within your document.
In Publisher and Word, that short cut is to hold the Control key and then click and drag the object. When you are holding the  Control key and move the cursor over an image it generally changes the cursor to include a “+” symbol and a box, this will look a lot like the image shown to the right. From there, if you click and drag the image, it will create an exact duplicate in the location you drop it!
This little trick will most certainly come in handy when creating borders, highlighting articles, or filling a page with stars and snowflakes.
 How effective are your headings? Do they catch attention? Are they readable? Thanks to the computer there are many typefaces available to you, and you will want to choose them wisely. Each typeface has a personality, and you can “match” that personality to the subject of your articles.
While some of these decorative typefaces are fun to use, they are not necessarily appropriate for the entire article. For example, look at the word “Western” in the example to the 1eft.This typeface would make a great heading for a Country Potluck Dinner, but can you imagine reading an entire article about the dinner in that typeface? Your eyes would grow tired, and you might even lose interest in the article.
With this in mind, why not have some fun with your headings? To make headings stand out, they should provide a contrast to the article in some way. A natural tendency may be to put your headings in all capital 1etters.This might be appropriate for very short headings. However, text in all capital letters can be very difficult to read, especially when using script typefaces.
There are many other ways to give your headings some punch. Make them larger or bolder than the article. Choose something more decorative for emphasis. See the variety of examples below:
Most typefaces fall into two broad categories: those that look hand drawn and those that look mechanical. You probably would not use a script typeface to head an article about football, just as you would not use a mechanical typeface to head an article about flowers. Not sure which decorative typeface to use? Use your intuition. Different typefaces for headings can add variety and interest to your publication.
This is the fifth post in a series. Watch this blog during the months to come for further installments in this ongoing series.
The purpose of the series is to define key terms used in the graphic arts industry.
The fifth term in the series is ellipsis.
Ellipsis: a series of marks (as …) used to indicate an omission, a pause in speech, an unfinished thought, or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence. The most common form of ellipsis is a series of three dots.
Tip: to insert an ellipsis into a M icrosoft Word or Microsoft Publisher document, simply type three (3) periods and press the space bar once. Word or Publisher will convert the three periods into an ellipsis.
The sixth term in the series will be font.
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Snickers and Giggles
Time for Church
On a sunny morning, Peter’s mother came into her son’s room and said, “Peter, it’s Sunday. Time to get up! Time for church! Get up!”
Peter mumbled from under the covers, “I don’t want to go!”
“What do you mean?” his mother said. “Don’t be silly! Now get up and get dressed for church!”
“No!” he shot back. “I’ll give you two reasons. I don’t like them, and they don’t like me!”
“Nonsense,” she told him. “I’ll give you two reasons to go. First, you’re forty years old, and second, you are the pastor!”
Driving Lesson
A young boy had just gotten his driving permit. He asked his father, who was a minister, if they could discuss his use of the car. His father said to him, “I’ll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up, study your Bible a little, and get your hair cut, and then we’ll talk about it.”
A month later the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss his use of the car. His father said, “Son, I’m very proud of you. You’ve brought your grades up, you’ve studied your Bible diligently...but you didn’t get your hair cut!”
The young man waited a moment and replied, “You know, Dad, I’ve been thinking about that—Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, Noah had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair.”
His father replied, “Yes son, and they walked everywhere they went.”
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