How to Create Stylish Magazine Pull Quotes
Pull quotes are a great technique for drawing attention to key items of text on a layout, and are often used in editorial design to make a feature of interesting soundbites.
It’s quick and easy to create pull quotes in InDesign once you know a few tips. In this bitesize tutorial we’ll look at two ways of creating pull quotes that are simple to do and look really effective.
Method #1: Wrap Text Around Your Pull Quote
If you want to add pull quotes over the top of existing paragraphs of text, applying a text wrap is an easy way of ensuring quotes and body text work seamlessly together.
Step 1
Use the Type Tool (T) to create a text frame near to or over the top of the body text where you want the pull quote to appear.
Type in the quote, and use either the top Controls panel or the Character panel (Window > Type & Tables > Character) to format the text. Here I’ve set the font to Cardo Italic.
Step 2
With the text frame selected go to Window > Text Wrap.
Choose Wrap around bounding box from the options at the top of the window, before adjusting the Offset values until the body text around the quote is pushed away equally from the edges of the text frame.
You may need to apply subtly different Offset values to create an evenly spaced look.
Step 3
If you want to create multiple pull quotes across columns sitting next to each other, you can ensure the baseline of the body text remains consistent by copying and pasting the pull quote frame, preserving the same text wrap settings.
Method #2: Adjust the Inset Spacing of Your Pull Quote
If you want to layer a pull quote over an image, you can give your text frame a color fill and adjust the inset spacing to create a seamless effect. Here’s how to do it.
Step 1
Use the Type Tool (T) to create a text frame for your pull quote, and type up the quote.
Format the quote using the Controls panel or the Character panel (Window > Type & Tables > Character). The font I’ve used here is Futura Extra Bold.
I’ve also used the Swatches panel (Window > Color > Swatches) to add a different Font Color to the quotation marks.
Step 2
Go to Window > Type & Tables > Story.
With the text frame selected check the Optical Margin Alignment box. This will shift outlying elements of text like quotation marks to the outside of the text frame, creating a tidier look for your quote.
Step 3
Use the Swatches panel to add a Fill Color to your text frame.
If, for example, you were creating a layout set on blank, white paper, you could set the Fill to [Paper] to match the background and create a seamless overlapping effect.
Step 4
With the text frame selected go to Object > Text Frame Options.
Adjust the Inset Spacing values so that the text frame has a generous margin around the outside. Make sure the Preview box is checked, to allow you to see how much spacing you are adding. This will frame the quote nicely, and create a more attractive final result. When you’re happy, click OK to exit the window.
And there we have it! Two quick and easy techniques for creating magazine pull quotes. Really simple, and really effective.