Introduction to InDesign CC

Learn how to use Adobe InDesign CC software to create professional-quality letterhead, brochures, forms, eBooks, business materials and more. This course uses hands-on exercises and expert instruction to help you discover how the program features relate to producing actual usable documents.

6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs

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Self-paced

$185

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Instructor-led

$170

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Starting September 13 | October 18

Details + Objectives

Course code: inc

Have you ever seen a terrific-looking brochure or newsletter and wondered how it was made? Chances are the designer used Adobe InDesign CC, the industry-standard desktop publishing software now available through the Creative Cloud.

In each lesson, you will learn an important aspect of InDesign CC and prepare a range of print and online products for a fictional company. You will get dozens of files to work with, including a partially completed InDesign document used to start each lesson. Then you will use the downloaded graphics, images, fonts, and other content to complete the project. To check your work or troubleshoot any problems you encounter, you will always get a copy of the finished InDesign project file.

Lesson by lesson, you will discover how the program features relate to producing actual usable documents. You will explore the best ways to create different types of material, how to reuse items such as colors and artwork, and how to produce publications for different page sizes and devices. You will come away knowing how to use this popular page layout software to design and create professional-quality letterhead, business cards, brochures, forms, interactive PDF files, an eBook, and more.

What you will learn

Learn everything you need to know to successfully use this popular page layout software
Gain hands-on experience as you use graphics, images, fonts, and other content to complete projects
Check your work or troubleshoot any problems you encounter with the finished InDesign project files explore the best ways to create different types of materials
Explore the best ways to create different types of materials
Learn how to produce publications for different page sizes and devices

How you will benefit

Feel confident using InDesign to create professional-quality business publications
Gain the skills you need for a great new hobby and way to express your creativity
Open the door to new freelance and employment opportunities as a designer of business publications

How the course is taught

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

Outline

Wouldn't it be terrific if you could use one program to create all the different types of print materials—such as letterhead, forms, and even brochures and business cards? Well, you can. This first lesson introduces the different types of content you can produce with InDesign's workspace and tools. And then you will start working on your first project—a logo for a fictional business.

This lesson focuses on starting and saving a new print document. What's one of the most common types of print documents? If you said "letterhead," you would be right and well on your way to this lesson's project. By the end of the lesson, you will know how to choose settings for a new file, add background images, and organize your content to create a custom letterhead.

Organization is a key ingredient in successful work of any kind, and it's critical to successfully using InDesign. This lesson introduces organizing documents in two ways. In the process, you will complete three projects: a sheet of address stickers, a sheet of business cards, and a reusable business card template.

Many of your projects will use multiple pages with different layouts. Designing a catalog layout is the perfect way to learn these skills, and that's what this lesson focuses on. You will see how to add a graphic into an existing frame, as well as how to add content instantly using a file called a snippet.

Managing text in precise and interesting ways is one of the big advantages of working with InDesign rather than a word-processing program. In this lesson, you will start a two-page brochure project that will take you two lessons to complete.

The two key elements in any print project are, of course, text and images. This lesson concludes your two-page brochure project. You will learn different techniques for working with images, such as adding them to the page, adjusting their positions, and coordinating their sizes.

You might be surprised to learn that InDesign provides you with some of the same sophisticated drawing tools that you will find in Adobe Illustrator. In this lesson, you will learn how to work with some of the drawing tools to design a poster for a fashion show.

Did you know that your eyes can see over 16 million different colors? It's true! Fortunately, you don't have to work with that many colors in InDesign. In this lesson, you will learn the best methods for choosing, naming, and organizing colors for your greeting card project.

When you need to display easy-to-read information in your publication, it's time to use a table. InDesign offers numerous tools for designing and formatting tables while ensuring your content coordinates with other documents. You will see how this works in this lesson when you build a table for an invoice form.

Recycling doesn't just apply to physical items. In this lesson, you will learn how to use recycling in InDesign to complete a newsletter project. As you modify colors and styles from previous lessons to create new styles, you will also reuse a lot of the tools and skills you learned in previous lessons.

InDesign provides many options for exporting, reusing, and printing a document. In this lesson, you will design a postcard using special fonts, colors, and image layout features. By the time you finish, you will know how to export a publication and print directly from your desktop.

In the final lesson, you will test InDesign's versatility. First, you will use a two-color version of the business cards used previously to delve into color separations—a common method of preparing a file for a professional print shop. Finally, you will round out the course by creating an e-book.

Instructors & Support

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.

Requirements

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.
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), or Adobe InDesign CC Student or Retail versions (Mac or Windows). Older versions of Adobe InDesign are also applicable, including all versions of Adobe InDesign CS5 and CS4 (not included in enrollment).
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.

FAQ

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.

Reviews

This was another great lesson. I really enjoyed learning how to make an eBook as I had not done that before. While I had a little bit of knowledge in InDesign, this course taught me a lot of great information I wouldn't have learned on my own. Thank you for a great class!

Great lesson! I have worked in printing for 13 years and this lesson showed a lot of key points that many designers still do not understand or take the time to learn. It is key to work with the person/company outputting your final product. Poor files in many times will mean a poor product output and a very frustrated vendor. Thank you for making this a part of the class!

I really feel like I learned much more than I thought I would. Having the InDesign book is great butit was very difficult to wade through because I didn't particularly understand the lingo. You have helpled me with that immensely and now when I look in the book I understand what it's talking about.

I am completely enjoying the class and learning so much! I am excited to be able to maneuver through this program.

I want to thank you, Donna, for this awesome class! It has helped me learn new things about InDesign, even though there are so many things to learn with this program. I know we haven't scratched the surface, but what we have accomplished in this course is a lot. You're an excellent teacher and I hope to take another class of yours in the future!

This lesson was very interesting in many ways...You definitely know how to pack a lesson full of information.

It’s been years since I invested my time into learning a new computer program, but after seeing the first lesson broken down into simple steps that I can easily understand, I’m glad I enrolled in this course. I had no idea that learning InDesign could be fun and this is just the beginning!

As a writer of training programs, myself, I must commend you on the detail of this one on InDesign. I cannot imagine the proofreading and checking that has been done as the various iterations were completed. This is an extraordinary accomplishment!

Let me thank you sincerely for this wonderful introductory course. A teacher myself, I know how much time and effort goes into prepping any one lesson, let alone a whole course with such step-by-step instructions, supplementary materials and groundwork. I also think it's pretty amazing that you're so involved with your students progress - there isn't a single question that wasn't answered or concern that wasn't addressed. I'm really happy I stumbled upon this course and I am looking forward to taking the intermediate one in the future!

I am completely enjoying the class and learning so much! I am excited to be able to maneuver through this program.

This lesson was very interesting in many ways...You definitely know how to pack a lesson full of information.

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Introduction to InDesign CC

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