Digital to Print

Workflow

Sample of end-to-end workflow for XML pagination in InDesign. Content is authored and built in Directus CMS (Headless) then exported as XML to InDesign).

This workflow is also applicable, but in reverse, “Print to Digital.”

  • InDesign XML Template

    XML & InDesign Field Mapping (Automate export of data content as XML into InDesign XML Template)

    Exported XML source code from Directus CMS

    Reformatted XML source code

    Imported XML source code to InDesign XML Template

    InDesign, HTML & CSS

    Created XML tagging structure in InDesign and in Directus CMS with Tiny MCE

    Built XML metadata, attributes, classes, and ids

    InDesign Style Sheets to render digital pages

    Content styles aligned across platforms


    Figma

    Built wireframe with Entity Relation Diagram


    Directus CMS

    Built Data Model from wireframe

    Database Conditional Fields and Relational Fields (M2M & O2M)

    Full autonomy of Asset Library

1

The InDesign Template To start the workflow, construct an InDesign template and align its content with the content types of the digital component.

Break the content down into individual elements that correspond with fields in the content types of the app.

2

The Digital App Create style sheets for the content types of the digital app to map to the XML tagging structure of the CMS.

4

Data Model This is the blueprint that defines the fields for a content type, resulting in how the content is displayed and rendered.

3

CMS Content Types The goal with the tagging structure is to map the content type structure of the CMS.

5

CMS Data Entry Data entry for a content type in the CMS is information for a structured database that aligns to the print component.

6

CMS Asset Library Having full autonomy of the image assets gives you control over versioning, metadata, and naming conventions relevant to workflow.

7

Conditional and Relational Fields These fields are entries in the CMS database. Entries hold values and attributes for the content types. The CMS database UI is styled in css using Tiny MCE.

8

Export as XML To export the content types as XML, select the data collection needed for the print component.

9

The XML Code The content type data in the XML code targets the tagging structure of the InDesign Template. Some reformatting of code needed.

10

Import the XML Bring up the Map to Styles panel to review the mapping before importing and uploading the XML into the InDesign Template.

11

The Tags to Styles Map The text styles of the InDesign Template is mapped to the structure of the content types.

12

The Print Component To end workflow, the XML populates the InDesign template displaying the content types in the intended text style it is mapped to!
Prototype of Digital Component The wireframe for the app is built using the Data Model and Entity Relation Diagrams.