Award Certificate Templates

[twriterext]

I am looking for a source for free award certificate templates for InDesign.

I have InDesign CS3 (v. 5.0.4), and only 1 certificate template is included (and I don't care for it).

I searched this forum without success; I searched the Adobe website without success (lots of info on how to use templates); even used Google, but found nothing relevant that is free.

Can anyone help?

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 with a 1.5 Ghz Pentium M processor, 2 GB RAM, Win XP/Pro SP3

[Guest]

A quick search at istockphoto.com shows several hundred clip art certificates. They arent free, but they are so cheap, they might as well be.

[Eugene Tyson]

You might find some here

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?l=-1&s=5&o=desc&exc=19&cat=225&event=producthome

[macinbytes · Accepted solution]

I generate a border from Quark since it has it a box style. They are pretty crunchy as vector, so I rasterize the thing and get pretty good results. I use a grayscale tif and color it in InDesign. 300 ppi for 8.5 x 11 tif at the following link. Use your direct selection tool to color it.

http://db.tt/1xCyevo

[twriterext]

Thanks to macinbytes for the link to the certificate border.  That works for me.

And thanks to MutantPixel and Eugene Tyson for your responses.  However, for this project I really needed the certificate to be free, and I did not find anything on the Exchange website.

[macinbytes]

Glad it works for you. If you ever find yourself in the same jam but with a different style generally a generic frame from Quark with the Certificate Border will get you where you need to be. I've used it for the occasional giant presenter's check and gift certificate jobs.

Definitely trick bag material at best. I've bought a few of them from stock photo sites and they all have proven to be no better than what you get on out of the box Quark 36 point stroke, pdf, rasterize, colorize and push it out the door.

[Eugene Tyson]

twriterext wrote:

Thanks to macinbytes for the link to the certificate border.  That works for me.

And thanks to MutantPixel and Eugene Tyson for your responses.  However, for this project I really needed the certificate to be free, and I did not find anything on the Exchange website.

From clicking the link I posted and I switched from searching InDesign to searching ALL for "Frame Border" these are the results from the 1st page of 50 pages.

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=2225522

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1873522

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1779522

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1703565

http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1041901

[twriterext]

Thanks again.

You have proved, once again, the value of these forums.  I searched using Certificate or Award Certificate and variations (with and without the word Template) on those words.  It never occurred to me to use Frame Border.

[Eugene Tyson]

I guess I'm just used to researching images and things - I seem to do it on a regular basis, finding images for the most obscure topics has somehow been integrated into my daily job

[Peter Spier]

Or go to Staples and buy some blank certificate paper....

[macinbytes]

Dwight Shrute would not approve of that approach, Peter.

[Peter Spier]

But you can get gold embossed borders! Try doing that on your inkjet.

[Ian C. Matthew]

I don't know about certificates as such. However, I use a nifty little prog called GraphicType Designer. I paid for mine BUT it's now available as a FREE download. See below:

http://www.graphictype.co.uk/products.php?

GraphicType Designer can create surface pattern designs, separators AND borders, including certificates. However, to achieve this you really need to purchase the fonts which are TrueType decorative fonts. Sort of like Dingbats / Wingdings but which adjoin one another in a unique way to create various patterns and designs. This should easily offer more scope than the limited stroke designs found in InDesign.

Here is a certificate border design knocked up in seconds:

As you can se, you can get a great looking certificate design. They export as WMF, RTF and plain txt formats. Indesign, Illustrator and Photoshop can all paste these designs.  These designs come into their own when you overlap them using different design and colour combinations. You can even use the seperators in Illustratot to create brushes.

This is NOT win Vista or 7 64bit ready. However, it works with 32 bit versions and Win XP is fine. it even works well in Win XP mode on 64 bit Win 7! I have been using this program myself since 1996!

Sorry if i sound like a salesman, but this could be tha answer you're looking for. Plus you'll be creating original work rather than relying on a template!

[Eugene Tyson]

You can do something very similar by using InDesign text frame ant the Type on Path Tool

Use a font like Adobe Caslon pro that has nice decorations in the Glyphs.

The fill the path with a glyph and adjust the tracking/kerning.

You may have to bevel the frame edges to get a smooth corner for the award frame.

I didn't do the one below very well.

I believe that InDesign CS2 came with some templates and I think this is how they were created too???

[twriterext]

I downloaded and installed the Graphic Type Design program, out of curiosity.  I was especially interested in how easy it might be to use with a word processor (specifically MS Word - in my case I have version 2002).

It is reasonably straighforward to use the program with Word.  Inexperienced computer users, however, will have to be instructed that the best way (in my opinion) to use the result in a word processor is to use the "Behind Text" text wrap option (in Word) and then use the Enter key and (probably) the Indent button to properly position the text.

One oddity that occurred.  I was experimenting with the Corner Character and Adjacent Character choices, along with the Automatic Selection enabled/disabled.  When I first started experimenting, the character number, in the small field below the character display, started at 1.  Now it won't go below 32, using the GT-Sample font that is supplied with the program (or any other font).  There don't however, seem to be any missing glyphs.

There are a few other minor oddities (not appropriate for this forum discussion), but overall, I have to conclude it is a useful utility for those not familiar with true DTP applications (and even for those who are).

Thanks for the tip.

[Herculred]

Award winning 2020