InDesign Fundamentals: An Introduction to InDesign CC

Adobe InDesign CC software speaks the language of professional designers, delivering unparalleled creative freedom, productivity, and precision for designing superb pages. It works seamlessly with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, providing a single integrated design environment that doesn't interrupt your creative process.

This 3-day course provides a thorough overview of the interface, the tools, the features, and the production tips for page layout and design using InDesign. The course is an ideal combination of instructor-led demonstration and hands-on practice.

Professional designers who are new to InDesign.

• Practical working knowledge of computers and basic Mac OS X or Windows skills
• Photoshop Fundamentals: An Introduction to Photoshop class or equivalent experience is recommended.

Note: The curricula below comprise activities typically covered in a class at this skill level. The instructor may, at his/her discretion, adjust the lesson plan to meet the needs of the class.

Lesson 1: Introducing the Workspace

• Looking at the workspace
• Working with panels
• Customizing the workspace
• Changing the magnification of a document
• Navigating through a document
• Using context menus
• Modifying Interface preferences
• Exploring on your own

Lesson 2: Getting to Know InDesign

• Viewing guides
• Preflighting as you work
• Adding text
• Working with styles
• Working with graphics
• Working with objects
• Working with object styles
• Viewing the document in Presentation mode
• Exploring on your own

Lesson 3: Setting Up a Document and Working with Pages

• Creating and saving custom document settings
• Creating a new document
• Switching between open InDesign documents
• Working with master pages
• Applying master pages to document pages
• Adding new document pages
• Rearranging and deleting document pages
• Changing the size of pages
• Adding sections to change page numbering
• Overriding master page items on document pages and placing text and graphics
• Viewing the completed spread
• Exploring on your own

Lesson 4: Working with Objects

• Working with layers
• Creating and modifying text frames
• Creating and modifying graphics frames
• Adding metadata captions to graphics frames
• Placing and linking graphics frames
• Changing the shape of a frame
• Wrapping text around a graphic
• Modifying the shape of frames
• Transforming and aligning objects
• Selecting and modifying grouped objects
• Creating a QR code
• Finishing up

Lesson 5: Flowing Text

• Flowing text into an existing frame
• Flowing text manually
• Creating text frames while flowing text
• Flowing text automatically
• Creating threaded frames automatically
• Resizing text frames automatically
• Adding a jump line page number
• Exploring on your own

Lesson 6: Editing Text

• Finding and changing a missing font
• Entering and importing text
• Finding and changing text and formatting
• Checking spelling
• Editing text by dragging and dropping
• Using the Story Editor
• Tracking changes

Lesson 7: Working with Typography

• Adjusting vertical spacing
• Changing fonts and type styles
• Fine-tuning columns
• Changing paragraph alignment
• Creating a drop cap
• Adjusting letter and word spacing
• Adjusting line breaks
• Setting tabs
• Adding a rule above a paragraph

Lesson 8: Working with Color

• Managing color
• Defining printing requirements
• Creating and applying colors
• Working with gradients
• Creating a tint
• Creating a spot color
• Applying colors to text and objects
• Using advanced gradient techniques

Lesson 9: Working with Styles

• Creating and applying paragraph styles
• Creating and applying character styles
• Nesting character styles inside paragraph styles
• Creating and applying object styles
• Creating and applying table and cell styles
• Globally updating styles
• Loading styles from another document

Lesson 10: Importing and Modifying Graphics

• Adding graphics from other programs
• Comparing vector and bitmap graphics
• Managing links to imported files
• Updating revised graphics
• Adjusting display quality
• Working with clipping paths
• Working with alpha channels
• Importing native Adobe graphics files
• Using a library to manage objects
• Using Adobe Bridge to import graphics

Lesson 11: Printing and Exporting

• Preflighting files
• Packaging files
• Creating an Adobe PDF proof