Adobe InDesign Training Course - beginners and intermediate
This Adobe InDesign training course will teach you the basics of desktop publishing with Adobe InDesign and give you the skills you need to get started in desktop publishing and design and to work accurately and efficiently as you progress on to more advanced document designs.
Two day Beginners & Intermediate Adobe InDesign training course available in Birmingham and Midlands and around the UK
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Adobe InDesign Training - Beginners and Intermediate - Summary
Adobe InDesign training duration: 2 days.
Level: beginners / intermediate
Software version:
Adobe InDesign CS4, Adobe InDesign CS3, InDesign CS2 or CS
Numbers: One to one or small groups of up
to 4 trainees
Trainees in a group should have the same skill level and the same requirements.
Locations:
1) At client's site in Birmingham, Midlands and around the UK.
2) One to one, here in South Birmingham (limited availability) (CS3 or CS2).
Adobe
InDesign training requirements:
You should have good computer skills. Some previous knowledge of design
software will be helpful, particularly Adobe Photoshop for image resizing
and colour correction.
Adobe InDesign Training -
Beginners and Intermediate
2 day course outline
Day 1 - Beginners Adobe InDesign Training
Day 2 - Intermediate Adobe InDesign Training
Introduction to Adobe InDesign and desktop publishing - day 1
1) Creating a new InDesign Document
Starting a new document - setting size and margins, columns and other
options
Using guidelines to help control layout
Modifying document properties
Saving a document and organising files
2) Tools & InDesign Basics
Overview of the main tools and palettes in InDesign
Selection Tools : Selection, Direct Selection
Shape tools & Frames
Creating shapes (rectangle, ellipse, star or polygon)
Setting precise shape dimensions
Set fill colour
Set line colour and line weight
Line tool
Create a line, set line weight and colour
Set line style and arrows
Zooming in and out
Zoom tool, keyboard shortcuts, menu
Moving around the document
Floating palettes : opening and hiding palettes
3) Shapes and Selected Objects
Using the Control Palette to set size and position of a selected
object
Shape Modifying (transform, rotate, scale)
Duplicating selected objects
Grouping objects
Locking objects
Align & Distribute
Create multiple identical objects with equal spacing using Step & Repeat
4) Pictures and Graphics
Place a picture on the page
(discussion of correct file types, image resolution
and image size)
Placing an image inside a frame
Resizing the frame (cropping the image)
Resizing the image
Resizing both image and frame
Changing image position within
the frame
Using the Control palette to modify image or frame properties
Putting a border around an image
Checking linked images with the Links palette and Info palette
5) Colours
Choosing RGB, CMYK or Pantone Spot colours
Mix a new colour and save in the Swatches palette
Create a tint of a swatch
Make a new gradient swatch and apply to object
Modify the gradient with gradient palette and gradient tool.
Editing and deleting swatches
6) Text & Type
Text Tools
Create a text frame
Type in the frame or add placeholder text
Importing a text document (changing import options)
Basic typography (Leading, Kerning, Tracking, Indents, etc.)
Set type colour
Threading type between two or more text frames
Setting options for the text frame
Changing the number of columns of text in a text frame
Checking Spelling
Using with Text Wrap to wrap text around a picture or shape
Using the Eyedropper tool to pick up attributes from another block of text
8) Pages
Adding new pages, organising pages, deleting pages
Basic overview of how a master page works and adding content to the master page
9) Create a small document
Create a small simple document such as a single page newsletter, with text and images. This could be a simple document of your own - e.g. a poster, leaflet, postcard, magazine advert, simple newsletter or other small document.
Day 1 - Beginners Adobe InDesign Training
Day 2 - Intermediate Adobe InDesign Training
Intermediate Adobe InDesign training - day 2
Use the techniques below to create typical documents which you will normally produce.
This is a typical course outline but may be modified to suit your requirements.
1) Pages & Master Pages
Working with multi-page documents
Creating a spread of 2 or more pages
Creating Master Pages
Applying a master page to document pages
Editing and duplicating master pages
Automatic page numbering
2) Working with Text Frames and Type
Threading text between text frames
Viewing and changing text threading
Using the Story Editor to edit text
Inline graphics (using graphics inside a line of type )
Using Find & Replace to change or replace repeated text elements in a document
3) Typography
More text formatting and typography:
drop caps, baseline shift, paragraph
rules, keep options
Using the Control palette, the Character palette or Paragraph palette to format
type
Controlling line breaks, paragraph breaks and column breaks
Glyphs and special characters e.g. • © ™ etc.
Showing hidden characters (paragraphs, tabs, spaces, etc.) within the text
Tabs - hanging indents and tabbed lists
Bullets and Numbering options
4) Style Sheets
Style Sheets to format type ( font, colour, alignment, indents, tabs,
etc.)
Character and Paragraph Style Sheets
Applying and editing Style Sheets
Importing styles from other documents
5) Tables
Designing tables
Formatting cell colours and cell stroke properties
Resizing cells, merging cells, adding or removing rows or columns
Importing table data from spreadsheet documents
Creating a table from existing text
Formatting text, setting cell inset
spacing
Adding images to table
6) Objects, Images and Colours
Adding a drop shadow to an image or other object
Transparency and blending effects between objects
Automatically loading a predefined set of colours with every new document
Using a clipping path in an image file
7) Layers
Using Layers to organise images, graphics and text
Creating, deleting, and changing stacking order
Visibility and locking layers
Moving selected objects between layers
8) Printing and Output options
Preflight
Checking images, fonts and colours used in the document
Package
Collecting together all files and fonts needed for printing
PDF creation basics
9) Create a document of your own design
Create a multi-page document of your own design or based on your own examples.
Other InDesign techniques which can be included in the training if required.
Above are the main areas which will normally be covered in most intermediate InDesign courses.
The areas below can be covered if required and if there is time available
or alternatively could be covered in a third day of training if necessary.
Larger groups or those who are new to design software may need extra time if they want to look at all of the areas available.
Please request these in advance of the training as some may require extra preparation.
Custom Shapes and Artwork with InDesign
Using the pen tools to create and modify custom shapes
Use pathfinder to modify shapes
Compound shapes (e.g. a hollow ring)
Using the pencil tool, smooth and erase tools
Using the scissors tool
Text , Tables, Pictures and Objects
Nested Style Sheets for complex multi-level styling (great for price lists)
Running type along a path
Type on path options
Converting type into outlines which can be filled or manipulated like any shape or frame
Manual text wrap around custom shape
Using Object Styles
Using Library Items
Advanced table design (large & complex tables)
Table Styles
Working with long documents
Design of larger multi-page and multi-section documents
Auto flowing imported text documents to as many pages as are needed
Generating a table of contents from page headings
Document Sections:
Dividing a document into sections
Setting section numbering options
Using Sections with Master Pages to automatically add section headings
Creating a book with multiple chapters
PDF documents - adding Hyperlinks to other pages, web sites or email.
Custom Adobe InDesign training is available if required based on the 2 day beginners intermediate InDesign course.
If you already have Desktop Publishing skills you could have a
1 day intermediate custom Adobe InDesign training - tailored to your requirements.
Based on the contents of the beginners / intermediate
InDesign course
Adobe InDesign training is available on-site in Birmingham and Midlands areas and around the UK. Also one to one training at out premises in South Birmingham.
Adobe InDesign Training Courses