Adobe InDesign (Beginners) - 1 day - on-Site Training

Adobe InDesign Course for beginners

This Adobe InDesign beginners course in will teach you the basics of desktop publishing and design and how to use Adobe InDesign to create simple documents like posters, small adverts, leaflets, etc.

Adobe InDesign courses available in Birmingham and Midlands and around the UK.

Level: beginners introduction

Software version: Adobe InDesign CS or Adobe InDesign CS2 or Adobe InDesign CS3

Numbers: One to one or small groups of up to 4 trainees
Trainees in a group should have the same skill level and the same requirements.

Adobe InDesign course for beginners - 1 day course outline

Introduction to Adobe InDesign and desktop publishing.

1) Creating a new InDesign Document

Starting a new document - setting size and margins, columns and other options
Using guidelines to help control layout
Modifying document properties
Saving a document and organising files

2) Tools & InDesign Basics

Overview of the main tools and palettes in InDesign

Selection Tools : Selection, Direct Selection

Shape tools & Frames
Creating shapes (rectangle, ellipse, star or polygon)
Setting precise shape dimensions

Set fill colour
Set line colour and line weight

Line tool
Create a line, set line weight and colour
Set line style and arrows

Zooming in and out
Zoom tool, keyboard shortcuts, menu

Moving around the document

Floating palettes : opening and hiding palettes

3) Shapes and Selected Objects

Using the Control Palette to set size and position of a selected object
Shape Modifying (transform, rotate, scale)
Duplicating selected objects
Grouping objects
Locking objects
Align & Distribute
Create multiple identical objects with equal spacing using Step & Repeat

4) Pictures and Graphics

Place a picture on the page
(discussion of correct file types, image resolution and image size)
Placing an image inside a frame

Resizing the frame (cropping the image)
Resizing the image
Resizing both image and frame
Changing image position within the frame
Using the Control palette to modify image or frame properties

Putting a border around an image
Checking linked images with the Links palette and Info palette

5) Colours

Choosing RGB, CMYK or Pantone Spot colours
Mix a new colour and save in the Swatches palette
Create a tint of a swatch
Make a new gradient swatch and apply to object
Modify the gradient with gradient palette and gradient tool.
Editing and deleting swatches

6) Text & Type

Text Tools
Create a text frame
Type in the frame or add placeholder text
Importing a text document (changing import options)

Basic typography (Leading, Kerning, Tracking, Indents, etc.)
Set type colour

Threading type between two or more text frames
Setting options for the text frame
Changing the number of columns of text in a text frame

Checking Spelling

Using with Text Wrap to wrap text around a picture or shape
Using the Eyedropper tool to pick up attributes from another block of text

8) Pages

Adding new pages, organising pages, deleting pages
Basic overview of how a master page works and adding content to the master page

9) Create a small document

Create a small simple document such as a single page newsletter, with text and images. This could be a simple document of your own - e.g. a poster, leaflet, postcard, magazine advert, simple newsletter or other small document.

This course is also available as a 2 day beginners and intermediate InDesign course


A similar Adobe InDesign course may be available with other trainers around the UK.