At a glance

• 75 paragraph styles;
~30 core styles per issue
• Character, object, and cell styles throughout
• 3 master page sets (print, full-bleed, digital edition)
• IDML-based workflow for cumulative refinements
• Next Styles for single-pass body copy formatting
• Live captions via Adobe Bridge metadata
• Printer-supplied PDF job options for export
• 30 issues, 8 years

TLDR: Building and maintaining the InDesign production system behind 30 issues of Curl magazine — paragraph styles, object styles, master pages, workflow, and eight years of incremental refinement.

Curl magazine ran for 30 issues over eight years, which meant the InDesign system behind it had to be robust enough to work consistently across hundreds of pages of content — and flexible enough to absorb new content types as the magazine evolved.

The document architecture was built around approximately 75 paragraph styles, with a core set of around 30 used in nearly every issue. The philosophy behind that number: build a style for everything, including variations for hyphenation, baseline grid alignment, and spacing above or below. Styles for everything means fewer manual overrides, and fewer overrides means cleaner export and fewer surprises at preflight. Character styles covered the expected territory: inline bold, italics for titles and publications, hyperlinks for the digital edition.

Object styles handled the repeating structural elements: sidebars, pull quotes, captions, info boxes, section tags, and the stylist directory listings that appeared in every issue. Three sets of master pages covered the full range: a standard master with folio, a duplicate without page numbers for full-page images and ads, and a digital-edition master with an affiliate disclosure footer that could be toggled per page as needed.

Rather than building from a template each issue, production started from an IDML of the previous issue, meaning all the latest style refinements were already present without needing to be re-imported or reconciled. For a solo production workflow, this was more efficient than maintaining a separate template file. (When handing work off to others, I would absolutely build a template file.)

Content arrived via Google Docs early in the magazine’s run, then transitioned to Word once I brought on an assistant editor who preferred tracked changes. Preflight followed standard checks — linked files, image resolution, overset text — with printer-supplied PDF job options handling export settings.

I was self-taught in InDesign when I began Curl, so I learned a lot over the years. Two workflow improvements made a meaningful difference over time. Learning about “next styles” in InDesign allowed large portions of body copy formatting to be applied in a single pass rather than style by style. And for the inspiration photo section — a puzzle-like layout where photos were constantly being repositioned — switching from manually placed style credits to live captions via Adobe Bridge metadata eliminated the risk of a name appearing under the wrong photo, which in a section that moved around constantly was a real vulnerability.

The system grew with the magazine. Styles were added when new content types appeared — updo tutorials, for example, didn’t exist in early issues and required their own formatting system when they were introduced. By issue 30, the document reflected eight years of incremental refinement: still recognizably the same system, just better.

This production system supported these editorial layouts:
11 Photos, 5 Sidebars, One Layout →
Same Subject, Different Story →