Simple paragraph rule text effects

Paragraph rules are a staple layout tool and have been available in software since the early days of QuarkXPress.

Useful as a way of delineating and providing a decorative frame to text, most InDesign users will be familiar with how they work. Where rules are concerned, however, we can go far beyond the intended effects. InDesign gives us enough control to hijack the rules, pushing Rules Above behind Rules Below, setting both behind the text and opening up a range of possibilities for creative effects.

In this tutorial, we're going to work up a page from a fashion house's footwear brand book. We'll look at the different types of paragraph rules that are available, see how to bend them to suit our purposes and save them as reusable paragraph styles. Once you've got the idea, there is no limit on the range of styles you can achieve using this simple but effective trick.

Click here to download the support files (23.5MB)

Click here to download the tutorial for free

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

The Creative Bloq team is made up of a group of design fans, and has changed and evolved since Creative Bloq began back in 2012. The current website team consists of eight full-time members of staff: Editor Georgia Coggan, Deputy Editor Rosie Hilder, Ecommerce Editor Beren Neale, Senior News Editor Daniel Piper, Editor, Digital Art and 3D Ian Dean, Tech Reviews Editor Erlingur Einarsson and Ecommerce Writer Beth Nicholls and Staff Writer Natalie Fear, as well as a roster of freelancers from around the world. The 3D World and ImagineFX magazine teams also pitch in, ensuring that content from 3D World and ImagineFX is represented on Creative Bloq.