Introduction to Layouts

Introduction

Kadanza Layouts is a powerful and flexible web-to-publish platform that allows users to create on-brand communication material without the need for design software or design knowledge. It is a frontend on CHILI Publish and GraFx Studio, a creative automation tool to build smart templates for static (print) content and animated (online) output.

Overall, users can create a document from a template after they are added to your installation. There are certain restrictions on what users can do based on their permissions. Users can add text, change images, choose a different header layout, and more, while other users with different permissions can only update the text of the documents. However, no one can change the company colors, logo, or font style, so you can be confident that the documents are always on brand.

Template creation

Important to mention upfront is the template creation.

Templates are created within CHILI GraFx. The templates are based on your existing designs, but are optimized and rationalized for creative automation. When Layouts of GraFx Studio is activated in your Kadanza license, a number of active templates can be configured in your Kadanza installation. Your users can use these active templates to create documents.

You can compare CHILI with Indesign on steroids. It’s a complex (online) design tool with a vast amount of possibilities and options to create smart templates. In-depth training sessions are needed before you can get started with the editor and create useful templates.

If you have your own CHILI license, you can of course create your own templates. If you don’t (yet) have your own CHILI license, we can recommend different service partners who can create templates for you. Keep in mind that the creation of templates is not included in your Kadanza license fee, only the amount of active templates (when Layouts or GraFx Studio is enabled) is a part of the license fee. As the cost of creating a template depends on the template’s complexity, creating templates is always done on quote.

Getting started with creative automation is both challenging and fun. As templates help to automate design tasks, there are some limitations in the flexibility many designers are used to having when designing. The more designs are rationalized, the less exceptions are possible (which is both a pro and a con). In the beginning this might seem overwhelming, but our template creation partners will guide you through this transition and help you get more familiar with creative automation with each template that is created and activated in Kadanza. During workshops, we get a clear view on which requirements you have, what kind of templates are needed, how the templates should work, which workflows are needed,… Once this is all clear, an estimate will be provided for the template creation.

If you have your own CHILI GraFx license, and the Layouts extension is included in your Kadanza license, you can create and add these smart templates to your Kadanza installation without the need of a service partner.

Fonts and licenses

One last thing before we get into details about what you can do with Kadanza Layouts and GraFx Studio is fonts and licensing. Most people aren’t aware that a font is considered a piece of software. So just like “regular” software, you are not allowed to distribute fonts without having the correct license.

When your creative team makes designs, they use fonts. And when the smart templates are created, the same fonts will be used in these templates. It is important to check if you are allowed to use the fonts in an online Web-2-Publish tool. Although nearly every font can be used in CHILI, not every font foundry allows you to use a font in an online editor without having the proper license.

Having the correct license in place is the responsibility of the license owner. So please make sure you check the license for the fonts you want to use in the templates. Under no circumstance, Kadanza can be held responsible for using fonts without the correct license.

Workshops

If you don't have your own CHILI GraFx license, our service partners can help with creating the templates. Together with one of our service partners, we will organize workshops to go through your communication material and decide on an ideal approach for your templates. The template developers will go through each document with your design/communication team to discuss all the options and come up with a template proposal.

This is what we call design automation: optimizing and rationalizing designs to be easily replicated as a template while still looking great and on-brand.

After these workshop(s), we usually know:

Which templates to create.
If multiple designs can be combined into one template.
If design elements need to be simplified or structured differently.
Which elements should be fixed and which can be variable.
Which workflows should be configured.
If master data sets or metadata will be used.
If approval flows are required.

Based on this outcome, a budget estimate for the template creation is presented. And when approved, the template developers can start creating templates based on the InDesign documents or PDF files from your design team.

Source files

The source file is the design for the template. It usually is created by your design team, and it shows the template developers what a finalized document should look like.

Ideally, the template developers can start from an Indesign Package containing all the links and information. This InDesign file needs to fit certain requirements, so please use the following checklist in order to optimize the source file:

Layout

Delete all objects that are not used from the artboard (text frames, frames, objects,...).
Delete all objects and frames outside the artboard.
Try to keep the width and height of the frames logical and consistent.
Properly name your color swatches and delete all unused ones.
Set the text frames as big as they could be to fit all possible content (keep space for extra text, translations,...).

Styles

Try to use character styles where possible. These are easier to use than paragraph styles when editing content in the template.
Check the character styles and paragraph styles and delete the ones that are not in use.
Do not use nested styles, these will not be converted and can cause issues when creating a template.
The names of your styles will be used in the final templates, so name your styles in a way that makes sense for people that will use the templates.
Check previous documents or templates and use the same names for styles where possible. This keeps your templates consistent and will improve the user experience.

Layers and pages

Create two layers in your document:

Background: contains all the elements that are not editable
Editable: contains all the adjustable or editable objects. This also includes fixed images that are linked to other frames.

Add different page layouts on individual pages.

Fonts

Include all fonts in the InDesign package.
Only include fonts in the InDesign package in .otf or .ttf format. Other formats are not supported.
Please check if the fonts that are used have all the right (server) licenses. Kadanza is not responsible for the fonts used in the online editor.

Files

Keep the image file size as low as possible by optimizing the image (300 dpi on actual size).
Use .jpg or .pdf file types for the images.
Make sure that every image used in the document is in CMYK color mode (for printed output) or RGB (for online output).
Give all links a clear and understandable name.
Include all the linked files in the InDesign package.

Workflows

In Kadanza Layouts, there are several workflow combinations possible, and different workflows can be defined for each template. It all depends on the document visibility and the user groups per template.

Document visibilityLink

Document visibility depends on the configuration. In your Kadanza installation, you can create Layouts pages and add and configure templates on these pages. The page will contain a list of documents that were created from the linked templates. Which documents a user can see depends on the configuration of the list:

Owner and editor: users will only see documents they created or are currently editing. If a user transfers a document they created to another user, they will temporarily lose the ability to edit the document and it will appear greyed out in the document list. However, users can always reclaim documents they created by double-clicking the disabled document name.

All Users: users can see every document from every user. They can claim documents from other users to work on. This setting is often used for admins only, so they can see what kind of documents users are creating

Changing editor

Although it is not possible to collaborate on a document (two or more users working in the same document at the same time), it is possible to transfer a document to another user to work on. The ability to transfer documents depends on the configuration of the collaboration settings.

You can add one or more groups, and users of these groups will be able to transfer documents between them by selecting another user from the editor list. Using the group “All users” for the collaboration settings would result in a list of all users in the editor dropdown, meaning you can transfer the document to any of the users on the platform. That might not be what you have in mind, so select the correct user groups to create a specific workflow per template.

Approving documents

Depending on the template, documents might need to be reviewed and approved before a user can download a high-resolution file or send the document to a print partner. This setting can be done per template.

In the configuration of the template, an approval group can be set. When a user requests approval, all users from the selected approval group will be notified via email. Approvers can open the document in review mode. They can change the content, decline or approve the document, and leave a message for the creator to provide some feedback.

Once approval has been requested, it is no longer possible to delete or archive a document. Users can still make changes to documents for which approval is requested, but after saving the changes, they have to request approval for the new version. And when a document has been approved for use, it can be downloaded in high resolution or sent to a print partner.

When approved, documents can no longer be edited. In order to make changes, users have to make a duplicate of the approved document.

Exporting or ordering documents

Export options

Documents can be exported as a PDF, as an image (jpg or png) or as movie (.mov and .mp4). If required, PDFs can be processed using Pitstop Server (via Enfocus), so any type of PDF flavor is possible (high resolution, low resolution, PDF x1a, x4 with crop marks, without crop marks, etc.).

These settings are discussed during the setup workshops, and each template can have different output settings based on the user groups.

Some frequently used export profiles are:

Low-resolution PDF
High-resolution PDF with crop marks
High-resolution PDF without crop marks
JPG
PNG

You can allow user groups to use one (or more) of the export profiles. For example, the design team can use every export profile to download pdf files, while marketing can only use the “High resolution with crop marks" and the “order at print partner” profiles.

Connecting a print partner

In Kadanza, you can connect your favorite print partners so users can immediately order printed material. Kadanza offers an order flow, where an order form can be configured to match your print partners' requirements.

An order generates a production-ready PDF (according to the print specifications of the print partner) and an order XML containing all the order specifications for your print partner. This XML can be configured to meet the requirements of your print partner so their internal order system can pick up the order. The PDF and order XML are transferred to an FTP server at the print partner, after which the printer will follow up on payment and delivery.

Again based on the user groups, multiple print partners can be connected per template to make sure every user can order documents via the nearest printer.

Note: A meeting with the print partner is required to discuss some technicalities about the FTP connection, define a structure for the XML files, and set up a connection.

Locking and archiving documents

Locked documents

Locked documents have a specific status (locked) and can no longer be edited. In the template configuration, you can decide whether or not a document is locked after it is exported.

All documents are automatically locked when you send them to a print partner to ensure no version issues can arise. In order to make changes to a locked document, users should create a copy of the document.