Typeplus is our principal solution for layout automations.
It is the distillate of years of experience and analysis focused on the development of a general purpose solution
for the automated building of layouts based on custom formats.
The logic processes that make the value of experienced typesetters are turned into a solid core implementation
that easily adapts to the specificity of your editorial formats and takes your productivity to a new era of speed and efficiency.
Ilion Tech Ltd — Product Architecture
TypePlus
Engine Architecture
A new paradigm for automated layout production — IDML-first, format-agnostic, designed to emulate the professional typesetter’s mind.
Format agnostic
IDML-first
No InDesign runtime
In-memory projection
Java Spring Boot
Processing Pipeline
01
RAW
Import original sources as-is
02
NORM
Normalize to clean XML
03
CONTENT
Style & size tiles; pre-calculate sizing
04
PLACEABLE
Factor in frames hosting content
05
PROJECTION
Exact position & final sizing of all elements
06
BUILD
Generate final output files
07
RELEASE
Expose or deliver outputs
IDML Maps
Publication format property repository
Spreads Map
Styles Map
Hyperlinks Map
Occupancy Map
Logic Unit Types Map
Data Maps
Content & resource inputs
Content Manifests (XML)
Contents (texts, images, data)
Metadata
Fonts (metric calculation)
Policies
Page design logic as code
Raw Import rules
Normalization rules
Styled Content rules
Placement rules
Projection rules
Build & Release rules
Engine Core
TypePlus Engine
CORE
Java Spring Boot 3.4.5
P1
IDML as Property Repository
Not a template — a format specification. Friendly configuration of document properties, logic types, and styles.
P2
Logic Unit Types
Any InDesign element tagged with a unique name becomes a Logic Unit Type, mapping semantic flags to style or content values.
P3
In-Memory Maps
All format properties loaded into memory at startup. Zero I/O during projection. Core source of speed.
P4
Sequential Policy Execution
Page design logic encoded as ordered, composable policies — the engine equivalent of a typesetter’s decision process.
P5
Accurate Text Metrics
Font data used to calculate exact text sizing, enabling true projection without InDesign rendering.
P6
Minimal I/O & Connections
Lean persistence layer. No InDesign Server dependency. No Adobe licensing required in the generation pipeline.
Roadmap
READY
Proof of Concept
SPRING 2026
Headless version launch
LATE 2026
ReactJs Frontend release
Known Restraints — v1.0
Projections based on metric kerning only
Textframe baseline: “leading” mode only
Standard left indenting on bullets
3s
processing time
7s
end-to-end
7-page market report — tables, charts & news — fully editable IDML output.
+4s upload/download overhead · No InDesign runtime · Scales without Adobe licensing
+4s upload/download overhead · No InDesign runtime · Scales without Adobe licensing