Intermediate InDesign CC

Learn to use advanced features in Adobe InDesign Creative Cloud (CC) to produce professional brochures, forms, and documents. This course will not only make you comfortable designing and planning workflows and templates, but also efficient and effective at amping up your publications.

SHARE
6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs
Currently Enrolling
Offered in partnership with your preferred school

ed2go

Change School
Learning method

Intermediate InDesign CC

Enroll Now

Course code: nnc

If you've ever struggled to complete a project in InDesign, or wondered how to save time and increase efficiency in your work, this is the course for you! You'll get hands-on training and experience using many of the more advanced tools and features of this powerful program. While the course focuses on using InDesign in the Creative Cloud (CC), it includes instruction and practice files for any version of InDesign CS4 or later.

In each lesson, you'll master important features as you prepare a range of print and online products for a fictional resort and conference center. You'll get dozens of files to work with, including templates and partially completed InDesign documents to start each lesson, and the graphics, fonts, and other content to complete the project. Many lessons include advanced content, such as techniques for managing snippets, swatch files, and color. For reference, you'll always get a copy of the finished InDesign project file—usable in InDesign CS4 and newer.

Lesson by lesson, you'll discover how to use program features to produce professional brochures, forms, and documents, and produce publications for different page sizes and devices. By the time you finish the course, you'll not only be comfortable designing and planning your own workflows and templates, you'll also know the most efficient and effective ways to take your InDesign publications to the next level.

What you will learn

  • Learn how to duplicate and alter multiple Master pages and how to create a template using different page sizes and Master pages
  • Learn how to start a custom publication from scratch
  • Explore different ways to build and format tables and their contents
  • Learn how to put a book publication together, setting one document as the style source
  • Discover how to check the files, add page numbering, and build a table of contents
  • Learn how to use data from images to create automatic captions
  • Learn how to use snippets to construct a document quickly
  • Learn about producing alternate document versions for devices

How you will benefit

  • Save time and increase efficiency in your work
  • Get hands-on training and experience using many of the more advanced tools and features of InDesign
  • Get dozens of templates and partially finished project files

How the course is taught

  • Instructor-led or self-paced online course
  • 6 Weeks or 3 Months access
  • 24 course hours

If you've worked with InDesign for a while now, you probably know there's much more to the program than you use regularly—if only you knew about it! There's bound to be ways to work more efficiently, if only you had the time to figure them out! There are probably a lot of great projects you could be working on, if you knew how to start! How about creating a booklet for your employee orientation? Or some multilayered effects to take your newsletter to the next level? If this describes you, then get ready for some intensive learning! You'll spend this lesson exploring some time-saving InDesign features as you dig into the first project: a master style sheet you'll develop and use throughout the course.

You know that the better organized you are, the easier it is to get your work done. You're going to delve into more organizing in this lesson. You'll start by defining your own workspace in InDesign, tailoring it to how you like to find and access tools and features. Picking up from where you left off before, you're going to make a library from the images you assembled in the first lesson, and a business logo. Then you'll get started on a multiuse template for your resort, using various InDesign features to save time and add consistency to your publications.

Master pages are one of the most important tools in your InDesign toolkit. In this lesson, you'll finish the basic template for your resort business. You'll create multiple Master pages you can quickly apply for different projects. You'll see how to use the multiple page size feature in InDesign CC to build a letterhead and an envelope for your business, using the Library and other time-saving features in InDesign.

Have you ever seen publications using features like text wraps that add a professional touch? That's what you're doing in this lesson. You're going to start from an existing publication containing the images and text sitting on the pasteboard. Then comes the fun! First, you'll see how to adjust image sizes and locations. You'll work with different types of text wraps to control how the text flows on the page—and you don't have to be an illustrator to do it! Then you'll learn how to attach a small graphic to text to give the headings in the project some extra pizzazz.

There are usually several ways to do the same task in InDesign, and there's often one method that's more advanced than others. In this lesson, you'll dig into some of the ways you can design features to help you work faster and smarter. You'll learn how to use facing pages and double-page spreads as you create part of the guest room guide for your example business. Along the way, you'll work with several character styles and create a nested style to apply several styles at one time in the same paragraph. Then you'll see how to build and use an object style.

Tables aren't just for pages of data! In this lesson, you'll build a folding tent card to display special menu items for the resort. You'll use a custom template, like the ones you'd download from a print shop. You'll see how to convert text into a table, and how to style the table and its contents using colors you sample from the project's logo. Since the project includes a folded page, you'll see how to flip content and the spreads so that you can produce the finished product—without trying to read upside down!

If you've ever wondered how a book comes together, this lesson will answer all your questions. You'll build an employee handbook using several documents combined into a book file. You'll learn how to coordinate the appearance of the content in all the files by setting one file as the style source. Then you'll work your way through the files to make sure they conform to the styles. You'll work with page numbering and headers, and finally create a table of contents to guide your readers through your masterpiece.

Have you ever had to do a mail merge where you plug fields from one table into a boilerplate letter? That's what you'll be doing in this lesson, but in a much more efficient way! Yes, you're going to use fields from a source table and merge them into fields in an InDesign document—but wait until you see the document! Rather than a letter, you're going to work with a photo cube template and make a snazzy invitation to the opening of ArtSpace, the new gallery at The Ferns. You'll work with a table of merged data and use metadata from images you place in the photo cube to automatically add captions to the project.

You know about using InDesign to create all sorts of wonderful print publications from brochures to newsletters. But did you know InDesign has a whole category of features designed for interactive documents, too? You're going to assemble a new file quickly from parts brought in from other documents. Then you'll organize the items and content on the page to make it easier to add interactive content. Once everything is in place, you'll add hyperlinks and buttons to create a snazzy RSVP document and export it from InDesign as a PDF file.

There's nothing like color to add interest to your publications. There's nothing worse than having problems printing color. In this lesson, you'll start a two-part adventure into color. You'll learn how to calibrate your monitor—the first step in using color confidently. Then, you'll see how to work with a Color Management System in Adobe Bridge used across all your Adobe products for consistency. Finally, you'll get into a new InDesign project. You'll be designing a brochure for the wedding services at The Ferns. You'll work with multiple objects and project components and learn about transparency and how to apply it for the most impact.

What's the big deal about printing a color document? As you'll discover, there's a whole lot more to printing color than just making sure you have paper in your printer. You'll dig into the Printing and Proofing workspace and check out what it has to offer. You'll learn about using transparency flattening to make sure your color pages and images print the way you want, and then try some test prints. You'll learn how to evaluate your document using a preflight profile and how to work with color separations and overprint previews. You'll work with spot colors and discover how to produce a two-color publication. Many high-end projects need to be printed at a print shop, so you'll discover how to package up your files for the printer.

In this lesson, you'll start by exploring ways to produce content for different-sized digital devices by using alternate layouts and layout rules. Then you'll work with text and images from Alice in Wonderland to build an EPUB. You'll learn a lot about what does and doesn't work in an EPUB, and work with best practices for producing different types of EPUB documents. You'll create both reflowable and fixed layout EPUB publications.

Doug Sahlin

Doug Sahlin is a professional photographer, author, graphic designer, and instructor living in Venice, Florida. He was President of Superb Images, a wedding and event photography company for three years. He creates fine art images of the flora, fauna, and iconic landscapes and seascapes found on the west coast of Florida. Sahlin has written over twenty how-to books, many of them bestsellers on Amazon.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

  • This course can be taken on either a PC or Mac.

Software Requirements:

  • PC: Windows 8 or later.
  • Mac: macOS 10.7 or later.
  • Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
  • One of the following Adobe InDesign CC Student or retail versions (not included in enrollment):
    • Adobe InDesign CS6 (Windows)
    • Adobe CS6 Design and Web Premium (Windows)
    • Adobe CS6 Master Collection (Windows)
    • InDesign CS6 (Mac)
    • Adobe CS6 Design and Web Premium (Mac)
    • Adobe CS6 Master Collection (Mac)
    • Older versions of Adobe InDesign are also applicable, including all versions of Adobe InDesign CS5, CS5.5, and CS4
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

  • Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Instructor-Led: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.​

Self-Paced: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.​

Instructor-Led: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Paced: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Led: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.​

Self-Paced: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Led: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.​

Self-Paced: Because this course is self-paced, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

Introduction to InDesign CCFundamentalsIntroduction to Photoshop CCFundamentalsDesigning Effective WebsitesFundamentalsSmall Business Marketing on a ShoestringFundamentals
Fundamentals
Introduction to InDesign CC
Fundamentals
Introduction to Photoshop CC
Fundamentals
Designing Effective Websites
Fundamentals
Small Business Marketing on a Shoestring
;