Adobe InDesign Training

2 day Beginners & Intermediate Adobe InDesign training course in Birmingham and Midlands.

This Adobe InDesign 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.

Courses > Adobe InDesign training courses list

 

Adobe InDesign Training - Beginners and Intermediate - Summary

Adobe InDesign training duration: 2 days.
Level:  beginners / intermediate
Software version: 
Adobe InDesign CS3, Adobe InDesign CS2, Adobe InDesign CS or Adobe InDesign 2
Numbers: One to one or small groups of up to 4
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) For one or two trainees, here in South Birmingham.
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 and grids to help control layout
Modifying page properties
Saving a document and organising files

2) Tools & InDesign Basics

Selection Tools - Selection - Direct Selection

Shape tools (& Frames)
Creating shapes (rectangle, ellipse, star or polygon)
Specify 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

Floating palettes
Opening, shrinking and expanding to see extra options
Hiding palettes

Zooming in and out
Zoom tool, keyboard shortcuts, menu

Moving around the document

3) Shapes and Selected Objects

Using the Control Palette (CS / CS2) to set size and position of a selected object
Shape Modifying (transform, rotate, scale, shear)
Duplicating selected objects
Grouping selected objects and transforming a group
Locking objects
Align & Distribute

4) Pictures and Graphics

Place a picture on the page (discuss the correct file type, 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
Using the direct selection tool to resize and change image position within the frame
Using the scale tool to resize image and frame
Using frame options to size and position image
Using the Control palette to modify image or frame properties
Putting a border around an image
Adding a drop shadow
Checking linked images with the Links palette

5) Colours

Choosing RGB, CMYK & Pantone Spot colours
Mix a new colour and save to swatches
Mix 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
Automatically loading a predefined set of colours with every new document
Use the Eyedropper to pick colour from another object

6) Text & Type

Text Tools
Create a text frame
Type in the frame or add placeholder text
Importing a text document (changing import options)
Threading type between two or more text frames
Setting options for the text frame
Changing the number of columns of text
Checking Spelling

Basic typography (Leading, Kerning, Tracking, Indents, etc.)
Set type colour

Using with Text Wrap to wrap text around a picture or shape
Using the Eyedropper to transfer attributes from one block of text to another

Create a small simple table

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) Pages

Adding new pages, arranging pages, deleting pages
How a master page works and adding content to the master page

9) Create a small document of your choice

e.g. a poster, leaflet, postcard, magazine advert or other small document

 

Adobe InDesign training - TOP

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.
Typical course outline - may be modified to suit requirements.

1) Pages & Master Pages

Working with multi-page documents
Creating a spread of 2 or more pages
Customising guides and columns

Creating Master Pages
Applying a master page to document pages
Editing and duplicating master pages
Automatic page numbering

2) Document Sections

Dividing a document into sections
Setting section numbering options
Using Sections with Master Pages to automatically add section headings

3) Working with Text

Threading text between frames and objects
Viewing and changing text threading

Auto flowing imported text to as many pages as are needed

Using the Story Editor to edit text

Inserting Glyphs and special characters e.g. • © ™  etc.

Using Find & Replace to replace repeated text elements in a document
Showing hidden characters (paragraphs, tabs, spaces, etc.) within the text

4) Typography and Style Sheets

More text formatting and typography: drop caps, baseline shift, paragraph rules, keep options
Using the Character palette and Paragraph palette to format type

Controlling paragraph breaks and column breaks

Tabs - hanging indents and tabbed lists
Bullets and Numbering options

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 small 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 cells

6) Custom Shapes and Drawing 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

7) Text , Pictures and Objects

Running type along a path
Type on path options

Inline graphics (graphics inside the type )

Convert type into outlines which can be filled or manipulated like any shape or frame
Manual text wrap around custom shape
Using a clipping path from an image file

Create multiple identical objects or frames with equal spacing using Step & Repeat

Using the Transform palette

Transparency and blending between objects

Using Object Styles (CS2)

Using Library Items

8) Printing and Output options

Preflight
Information on images, fonts and colours are used in the document.

Package
Collecting together all files and fonts for needed for printing

PDF creation basics

9) Optional Areas
Can be included if required.
Must be requested in advance of the training.

Design of larger multi page or multi section documents
Generating a table of contents from page headings
Creating a book with multiple chapters
Advanced table design (large & complex tables)
PDF documents - adding Hyperlinks to other pages, web sites, email.
Nested Style Sheets (InDesign CS / CS2)

This is a typical course outline, the techniques included may vary depending on requirements of trainees, the time available and the version of the software you are using.

 

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 onsite in Birmingham and Midlands areas, and also for one or two people at out premises in South Birmingham.
Similar Adobe InDesign training is available with other trainers around the UK.

 

Adobe InDesign Training Courses

Dates for InDesign training

Prices for InDesign course

 

Adobe InDesign training - TOP