As an additional design element adding glyphs to an Indesign document can enhance the look and feel of an otherwise mundane header or footer element. We demonstrate how to add glyphs in our Adobe Indesign training courses.
In the case of a header or footer, we would first double-click to enter the Master-page environment. Then, after creating some suitable text in the header or footer area, we could right-click in the text box and add some extra white space via Add White Space > Em Space. Then go to the Type drop-down menu and choose Add Glyphs. In the dialog box that opens go to the Show List menu and choose Entire Font – this will reveal all the available characters in this particular font.
Alternatively select Symbols to show only the symbols subset within that font.  Simply double-click on a character to add that glyph into your text box. It’s important to realize that most fonts have their own sets of special characters, and it may take some time to find the right glyph for your purposes.
Indesign also helpfully lists your most recently used glyphs so that you can easily repeat them in future.
More tips and techniques can be found at Adobe user groups which meet regularly in most capital cities, and are free forums for designers to discuss topics and the latest Indesign features. See also many examples of our own clients’ work on our Facebook page.
Other related Indesign Blog Posts:

• Indesign images and text
  
• Indesign workflow
• Indesign templates
• Indesign page numbers
• Indesign add hyperlink