InDesign Basics

Layout designers today need the skills to move seamlessly between print and digital projects. Luckily, Adobe InDesign can handle it all. In this online InDesign course, you’ll explore a host of essential InDesign techniques and focus on developing efficient workflows.

The course will impart a working knowledge of InDesign's main capabilities, everything from basic features to using parent pages, importing and manipulating objects, controlling text flow and style, and organizing content with tables, layers, links, and conveyor tools.

Projects give you training in a range of real world print/digital publishing projects, from brochures to catalogs, magazines to ePubs, and even an interactive folio for the iPad.

Students in this course can expect to learn to:

• Efficiently set up and structure documents, including importing and placing text, working with the Story Editor, and using frames for the placement of images and graphics.
• Format text using character and paragraph styles, and build color themes, including gradients.
• Create a brochure with a two-fold configuration that incorporates properly formatted text and graphics.
• Use swatches and styles to streamline a workflow and prepare documents for collaboration.
• Manage page elements, including flowing text between frames, using the Links panel to keep track of linked and embedded images, aligning and arranging objects, using layers to manage page content, and incorporating tables to organize data.
• Create a full-color catalog that features a design with clear visual hierarchy.
• Manage multiple pages with a variety of techniques, including parent pages, content duplication using text linking and conveyor tools, and paragraph rules.
• Plan for alternate layouts using liquid and object rules.
• Produce an attractive cover and interior of a magazine for both print and tablet output.
• Develop an understanding of technical and aesthetic book design fundamentals for both print and ePub workflows, including an automated table of contents.
• Add interactivity to documents, including hyperlinks, videos, and navigation controls.
• Produce an interactive magazine and use the Digital Publishing Suite to export iPad-ready folios.