Adobe InDesign – Level 1
Duration: 14 hours (2 days)
Target audience: Anyone that needs to create print documents such as graphic designers, technical writers, desktop publishing professionals, administrative assistants, communications professionals.
Prerequisites: Introduction to desktop publishing or equivalent knowledge
Related courses: Adobe InDesign – Level 2, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Acrobat – Pre-press
Software version: In addition to the current software version, Documedia teaches previous versions and we can provide customized training that focuses on new features. Please contact us for details.
Course description
With its tight integration with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, as well as its excellent design tools, Adobe InDesign has become very popular with both creative professionals and anyone who needs to publish documents for professional output.
In this course, participants will learn Adobe InDesign’s tools for creating publications, such as setting up documents, using master pages, adding and formatting content such as text, graphics, tables, as well as using InDesign’s drawing tools.
About Adobe InDesign
According to Adobe, Adobe InDesign is page layout software that is “built for demanding workflows, InDesign integrates smoothly with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, InCopy, and Dreamweaver software; offers powerful features for creating richer, more complex documents; and reliably outputs pages to multiple media. With its sophisticated design features and enhanced productivity tools for streamlining repetitive tasks, InDesign lets you work faster and better than ever.”
Course objectives
By the end of this course, you should be able to create quality publications using Adobe InDesign.
Unit 1 – Getting to know Adobe InDesign
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Identify the uses, advantages and purposes of Adobe InDesign
- Recognize the main elements of the interface such as the palettes and the menus
- Make useful changes to the preferences
Unit 2 – Setting up a document
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Create and setup a new document
- Add and move pages
- Configure the printer settings
Unit 3 – Using objects
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Identify the purpose and how different types of objects are used
- Select and deselect objects
- Modify the properties, shape and content of objects
- Create and apply object styles
Unit 4 – Applying layouts
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Identify how different types of guides are used for page layout
- Work with individual ruler guides and the create guides command
- Position objects with the control palette
- Group, rotate, lock, align and stack objects
Unit 5 – Inserting text frames
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Create a text frame
- Modify a text frame’s options
- Input text
- Edit text
- Flow text between text frames
Unit 6 – Formatting text
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Format character properties
- Format paragraph properties
- Use the baseline grid
Unit 7 – Applying styles to text
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Create paragraph and character styles
- Apply paragraph and character styles
Unit 8 – Using tools and utilities
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Checking spelling
- Find and change to replace text and many other elements
- Use variables
Unit 9 – Inserting graphic frames
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Add graphics using frames
- Modify a graphic frame and its borders
- Apply text wrap
- Manage graphics using the links palette
- Add effects to imported graphics
Unit 10 – Drawing
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Draw lines and béziers
- Draw and modify shapes
- Enter text using the type on path tool
Unit 11 – Adding colours
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Define spot and process colours as swatches
- Apply colours to objects, text and graphics
- Use tints and gradients on objects
- Apply transparency
Unit 12 – Inserting tables
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Create tables
- Edit rows and columns
- Format tables and table cells
- Enter and format text within table cells
- Import tables from other applications like Microsoft Word
- Create and apply table styles
Unit 13 – Creating master pages
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:
- Create and apply master pages
- Use special characters in headers and footers
- Manage pages in the pages palette
- Create section numbering
Teaching method
The concepts will be presented by your instructor and procedures will be demonstrated step-by-step. This will be followed up by practical exercises where you will be able to apply your newly acquired skills with the guidance of your instructor.