InDesign: Introduction Course

This session covers the basics of InDesign. So how do you start InDesign and open a new or existing document? We then look at how the screen is laid out to help you understand how to find the tools that you will be working with. Then we look at palettes and all the ways that you can work with and customise them before closing by looking at how to zoom into and save documents. The last section introduces some of the best keyboard shortcuts in InDesign.

The key topics trained are:

• Starting Adobe InDesign
• Opening An Existing Document
• The Document Window
• Understanding The Document Window
• Understanding Palettes
• Displaying And Hiding Palettes
• Floating And Docking Palettes
• Saving The Workspace
• Navigating A Document
• Zooming A Document
• Using Keyboard Shortcuts
• Using Shortcut Menus
• Saving And Closing An Existing Document

The tools palette is mainly for selecting, editing and creating elements on your page. We look at how to select the tool that you would like before we look at how frames and shapes work and also how they can be created. The penultimate topic is selecting objects before we move to showing you how the line tool works.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding The Tools Palette
• Selecting Tools
• Understanding Frames And Shapes
• Selecting Objects
• Creating Frames And Shapes
• Selecting Text
• Understanding The Line Tools
• Using The Line Tools

Now that you understand the basics of creating documents and how to structure both your pages and your view in InDesign to let you work most efficiently, we start with how to create and save a document. Then we look at how to create master pages and how to work with them before we turn to auto-numbering, document characteristics and rulers. We finish with looking at column guides so that you have a good understanding of setting up your page.

The key topics trained are:

• The Project
• Understanding Documents
• Creating A Blank Document
• Saving A New Document
• Understanding Master Pages
• Creating Ruler Guides
• Setting Document Bleed And Slug
• Changing Screen Views
• Creating Master Pages
• Inserting Auto Page Numbering
• Applying A Master To Pages
• Adjusting Column Guides

We are now ready to start introducing text into our document. Understanding how to work with text frames is a key skill that you will use a lot working with InDesign. This session focuses on them to ensure that you understand exactly how to make them do what you need. It also covers importing text from Microsoft Word which can be a great time saver if a lot of your existing materials are in Word at the moment.

The key skills trained are:

• Creating Text Frames
• Assignment Creating Text Frames
• Threading Text Frames
• Assignment Threading Text Frames
• Typing Text In Text Frames
• Importing Text From A Word Document
• Assignment Importing Word Documents
• Editing Text In Place
• Editing Text Using The Story Editor
• Using Glyphs

Formatting your text to ensure that it is easily readable and stands out can give your document far more impact. This session focuses on this area of document design. We cover the whole topic, including typefaces, font size, alignment and indentation, kerning, tabs and lists.

The key topics trained are:

• Applying a Typeface And Type Style
• Changing Font Size And Leading
• Changing The Vertical Text Alignment
• Changing The Horizontal Text
• Alignment
• Applying An Indent
• Applying a First Line Indent
• Adjusting Kerning
• Adjusting Tracking
• Setting Tabs
• Setting Drop Caps
• Applying Subscript Or Superscript To Text
• Creating a Bulleted List

The next step in creating an impactful document is introducing graphics. Bright, clear graphics make documents far more appealing and allow you to communicate your message much more quickly.

Introducing graphics into your document is made simple by InDesign’s tools. This session leads you through all areas of this skill. It includes wrapping text around graphics and creating captions, once we have shown you how to insert your graphic into your document.

The key skills trained include:

• Understanding File Formats
• Placing Graphics
• Assignment Placing Graphics
• Fitting Graphics
• Positioning Graphics Within A Frame
• Using Adobe Bridge To Place Graphics
• Using The Links Palette
• Placing InLine Graphics
• Embedding Graphics
• Creating A Clipping Path
• Applying Text Wraps
• Adjusting Text Wraps
• Creating a Caption
• Changing Display Performance

All InDesign documents are composed of one or more transparent named layers. These layers are used to contain and edit different types of content. So for example, all of your text could be held in one layer while your images are held in another layer. Understanding how to make the most of these layers will make your InDesign work much faster.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Layers
• Understanding The Layers Palette
• Creating a Layer
• Assigning Objects To Layers
• Naming And Colouring Layers
• Hiding And Viewing Layers
• Reordering Layers
• Understanding Colour Terminology
• Creating And Adding Process Colours
• Creating Spot Colours
• Applying Fill Colour
• Applying Stroke Colour
• Creating A Tint
• Creating A Gradient
• Removing Colour

Objects in Indesign are any item that you can create in your document or add to your document. They include images, paths, shapes and artwork. Understanding how to control, manipulate and arrange your objects quickly and accurately will speed up your work a lot. This session is focused on objects and covers multiple parts of the basics of working with them.

The key topics trained are:

• Understanding Objects
• Creating Objects
• Modifying Objects
• Assignment Creating And Modifying Objects
• Creating Objects Using Pathfinder
• Duplicating Objects
• Arranging Objects
• Grouping Objects
• Aligning & Distributing Objects
• Creating An Outline
• Placing Graphics In An Outline

The previous session was an introduction to working with objects in InDesign. This session takes that knowledge a step further and shows you how to apply formats and effects to your objects for maximum impact.

The key topics trained are:

• Applying Corner Effects To An Object
• Applying A Drop Shadow To An Object
• Applying Transparency To An Object
• Applying Feathering To An Object
• Using The Eyedropper Tool
• Creating A Snippet
• Inserting A Snippet
• Assignment Inserting Snippets

Styles are a collection of formatting attributes that can easily be applied in a single step. Character styles apply to text, paragraph styles to paragraphs and object styles to objects. They let you edit the style of your chosen object very quickly and simply.

The key topics trained in this section are:

• Understanding Styles
• Creating Character Styles
• Applying Character Styles
• Creating Paragraph Styles
• Creating A Style From Existing Formatting
• Applying Paragraph Styles
• Editing Styles
• Creating Object Styles
• Applying Object Styles

Tables are a very quick and simple way to display information. InDesign lets you create, edit and populate tables very quickly and simply. It also allows you to import tables from Microsoft Excel very easily as that is usually where the data you will be working with is stored. This session covers all aspects of tables from creating one to editing and formatting one.

The key topics trained include:

• Understanding Tables
• Creating A Table
• Selecting Tables And Table Cells
• Entering Text In Table Cells
• Deleting A Table And Table Contents
• Importing A Microsoft Excel Table
• Adjusting A Table
• Formatting Text In A Table
• Aligning Text In Table Cells
• Applying Colour To Tables

Once you have created your document in InDesign you will want to print it out. Printing your professionally prepared document requires a little more thought than pressing print if you want to get the best output. This session covers the basics of getting the best from your document.

The topics trained include:

• Running A Preflight Check
• Printing A Document
• Defining A Print Preset
• Understanding Ink Handling Terms
• Adjusting OverPrint And Trap Settings
• Creating A Postscript File
• Exporting A PDF
• Soft Proofing
• Packaging A Document