InDesign Training in Sacramento

Getting Started with InDesign

The AcademyX introductory InDesign training class begins with a comprehensive overview of the application’s robust user interface. Students master important menu and toolbar features, performing frequently used tasks and customizing their workspace to suit their own personal preferences. Next, we show you how to design your own InDesign document from scratch using the color and info palette to build the ideal look. You’ll learn how to open a new InDesign file, add to or modify your layout, use grid lines, create a master page, and place graphics and text in a balanced and visually appealing manner. Students attending our InDesign training gain step-by-step instruction in layout, design, text and graphic placement, preferred stacking order and the use of various image formats. Through lively discussion and class participation, each student creates his or her own custom color palette, loading and saving swatches, employing the InDesign color picker and creating bleeds. Finally, participants access the InDesign help system to find quick answers to their questions.

Creating Multi-page Documents with InDesign

InDesign is the ultimate graphics tool for use in designing one-page or extensive multi-page documents like bound or e-books, brochures, magazines or manuals. This training class explores master pages, simplifying visual updates and populating them globally throughout your document. Attendees also learn how easy it is to insert a page anywhere in their file, move items between documents and add page numbers for easier reader navigation. Our experienced instructors then guide you in creating, modifying and applying master pages.

Designing With Colors and Effects

Once you’ve created or imported text into your InDesign document, you’ll learn how to use font size and color to increase impact and emphasis. Training instructors demonstrate how to create your own InDesign color swatches, which store custom colors for future access and reuse. You’ll also learn how to apply fills, strokes and gradients to make words or titles stand out.

Formatting Text and Layout

InDesign is a robust tool anyone can use to create high-impact documents. In this training session, attendees move beyond its core word processing functionality and into more creative text and paragraph formatting. You’ll learn how to make a text frame and type path, and then thread your text within frames to connect one path to the next. For example, students will layout newspaper columns, threading the bottom of one column to the top of the next. Our InDesign Intro students then learn how to unthread the same frames. AcademyX instructors help attendees add, format and edit the text on their page. You then create and manage your own InDesign text styles, which simplify formatting for repeated items like titles, sub-titles, chapter heads and body text. InDesign training builds on your visual design skills, showing you how to indent, space and format paragraphs or create numbered and bulleted lists. You’ll also use jump-line page numbers, drop caps and the handy find-and-replace feature, minimizing repetitive editing tasks down to just a few quick clicks. Finally, instructors demonstrate the process for adding, copy/pasting, editing and spell checking your document.

Designing With Colors and Effects

Once you’ve created or imported text into your InDesign document, you’ll learn how to use font size and color to increase impact and emphasis. Training instructors demonstrate how to use your own InDesign color swatches. You’ll also learn how to apply fills, strokes and gradients to use words or titles with added impact.

Modifying Text and Graphics

When you’ve completed your layout, InDesign makes future text and graphic editing extremely easy. Our intro training class includes demonstrations in modifying existing text frames, graphics and grouped items, like charts or diagrams. We also demystify layers, explaining how you can isolate, place and manipulate items on a page. Master InDesign text wrap functionality, format frame edges and modify your graphics using nested frames, frame and graphic rotation – all controlled within the same user interface. Training attendees then create, duplicate, delete or merge layers, assign items to layers and resort layer stacking order to ensure readers focuses on the right thing.

Finalizing Documents

Once your InDesign document is complete, you’ll discover the steps to preparing your file for print or PDF distribution. During this process, layers are flattened and primed for commercial printing. Students also learn how to drag and drop their file to Adobe Bridge for cross-product integration. Instructors guide you through a final document proof using spell check, autocorrect and the InDesign built-in user dictionary. You’ll also create your own printing proofs, use print presets, export your new design into PDF and check picture and font usage. Finally, our InDesign class learns preflight and packaging techniques.

Setting Preferences

InDesign preferences are fully customizable to suit your needs and comfort. In this training session, instructors show you how to set personal preferences not only for the application, but also for each individual document.

Prerequisites:

Basic PC and Windows skills including copy/paste, right-click, file location, program toggling and Windows exploring

InDesign Application Overview

Adobe InDesign, used solo or in combination with the powerful Creative Suite, provides highly sophisticated yet easy-to-use page design and layout tools. Using InDesign, anyone can build professional marketing collateral or interactive PDF electronic documents complete with overlapping graphics, charts, tables and text. To expedite productivity, InDesign integrates with the entire Creative Suite 3 platform including Illustrator, Acrobat, Photoshop, InCopy and Dreamweaver. So designers can unify their brand across a full range of mediums – from web to print. Control creative presentation; create books or multi-page manuscripts with ease, customize your workspace and improve productivity with Adobe InDesign.

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InDesign Training Class