INDESIGN BOOTCAMP

Become an InDesign Pro in just 4 days with

InDesign Bootcamp

InDesign Bootcamp is targeted at those who are new to the InDesign package and wanting to master InDesign to a high level.

Whether you want to work with paragraph, character and objects styles, create automated tables of contents, or use conditional text we cover it all here. During the course you will go from learning the absolute basics, right through to creating more advanced interactivity, applying accessibility features and lots more.

If you are going to be using InDesign on a regular basis and are starting from scratch, then this is a great way to go from nothing to understanding many of the advanced features within InDesign in no time at all

In addition to learning the more powerful features of InDesign, we will even introduce you to how InDesign can be used in conjunction with products like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Experienced Instructors

Over 20 years experience

Post Course Support

Hours of videos & more

Closed Courses

Live Online or inhouse

Secure Online Booking

£795.00

Scheduled Live Online Course Dates
Stages must be completed in order shown

Stage 1

Stage 2

Clear

Prices ex VAT. Highlander standard terms and conditions apply to all bookings.
Please contact us if you would like a private or onsite course.

Stage of the InDesign Bootcamp covers a wide range of topics and we try hard to ensure any specific requirements you might have are met. The standard topics we cover are listed below.

Stage 1 - InDesign Getting Started (2 days)

INTRODUCTION

What is Desktop Publishing
Why InDesign
What you will learn

INDESIGN INTERFACE

Overview of the interface
Creating customised Workspaces
Organising Panels
Customising Menus
Changing Default Settings

DOCUMENT CREATION

Creating a New Document
Bleed, Slug and Margins
Facing Pages
Columns and Gutter

FRAMES AND SHAPES

What are frames
Creating frames
Moving frames
Aligning frames
Sizing and positioning
Rounded corners
Anchoring frames
Rotating and skewing
Creating frames from text

WORKING WITH TEXT

Creating text frames
Using placeholder text
Inserting special characters
Glyphs
Threading text frames
Viewing threads
The Story Editor
Text frame options, inset spacing etc..
Hyphenation
Paragraph shading
Importing from Word

FORMATTING TEXT

Leading
Kerning & tracking
Drop caps
Baseline shift
Justification & Alignment
Uppercase, lowercase, sentence case & title case
Indents
Bullets
Formatting Bullets

WORKING WITH OBJECTS

Grouping and ungrouping
Change object shape
Rotating a spread
Arranging objects
Layers Panel

IMAGES

Different file formats
Placing images
Frame Fitting Options
Text wrap options
Resizing and positioning images
Select v direct select
Content Grabber (and how to turn it off)
Display performance
Clipping paths

LAYOUT

Creating layouts
Guides and smart guides
The gap tool
Using the page tool
Live distribute
Merging frames
Compound shapes
Gridify
Align Panel

PARENTS AND PAGES

Working with parents
Creating parents
Importing parents
Applying parents
Parents options
Page numbering
Numbering and sections
Parents based on parents

COLOURS

Understanding Colours: CMYK, RGB, Pantone etc..
Creating colours
Saving colours as swatches
Sampling colours from images
Exporting and importing colours
Applying colours to strokes and fills
Adobe colour themes panel
Creating gradients
Saving gradients as swatches
Applying gradients to items

TABLES

Creating a new table
Convert text to table
Strokes and fills
Alternating row and column strokes
Adding rows and columns
Deleting rows and columns
Merge and unmerge
Placing images into tables

EFFECTS

Applied to what?
Drop & Inner Shadow
Inner & Outer Glow
Bevel and Emboss
Satin
Transparency
Feathering
Gradient Feather

BASIC STYLES

Character styles
Paragraph styles
Style priority
Creating styles
Applying and removing styles
Overrides
Redefining styles
Importing styles
Removing unused styles
Setting default styles

CC LIBRARIES

Creating a library
Adding content to library
Using content from a library
Collaborating

PREFLIGHTING

Why preflighting
Detecting errors
Identify & correct errors
Custom profiles
Import a preflight profile

OUTPUT

Packaging all files
PDF Presets (print ready, small size etc.)
Including printers marks / bleed
Compression
Export to interactive PDF
Page transitions (eg: fade, blind, etc.)
Publish Online

Stage two of the Bootcamp covers more advanced InDesign topics and our instructors work hard to accommodate questions outside the topics listed. The standard topics we cover are listed below.

Stage 2 - InDesign Advanced (2 days)

Using Stylesheets

Setting up character and paragraph styles
Styling bullets
Using next paragraph style
Advanced nested styles

Object Styles

What are object styles
Creating an object style
Applying paragraph styles within an object
Using quick apply
Setting a default object style

Styling Tables

Table styles
Cell styles
Paragraph styles in cells
Cell styles in tables
Creating table styles
Applying table styles

Page Numbering

Automated table of contents
Formatting the TOC
Updating the TOC
Styling table of contents
Dynamic story jumps

Advanced Layout Options

Gridify
Live distribute
Liquid layout
Liquid page rules
Alternate layout
Alignment tips

Pen tool, Paths and Pathfinder

Creating paths
Creating custom frames
Combining different shapes
Type on a path
Formatting type on a path
Placing text in a custom frame
Merging frames
Compound frames

Working with Objects

Grouping and ungrouping
Change object shape
Rotating a spread
Arranging objects
Layers Panel

Interactivity

Export to interactive pdf
Buttons
Hyperlinks
Transitions
Animation
Video
Interactive page curls

Forms

Overview of pdf forms
Text and signature fields
List and combo boxes
Checkboxes and radio buttons
Setting tab order for pdf forms
Submit, print and clear actions
Outputting a form
Testing in Acrobat

Adobe Bridge

Bridge Workspaces
Working with Mini Bridge
Image Metadata in Bridge
Metadata Templates
Live image captions

Working with images

Using PDF files in InDesign
Using Illustrator files
Embedding images
Preflighting and images
Images and transparency

Colour and Colour themes

Mixed ink colours and groups
Separations preview panel
The ink manager
What is Adobe Color Themes
Creating a colour theme
Managing colour themes
Using .ASE files

Importing

Word and Excel content
Import options
Importing styles
Handling style conflicts
Import presets
Importing text

Exporting

Export interactive PDFs
Export as HTML5
Export for Kindle
Export as SWF
Export as ePub
ePub 2 v 3

Working with text

Using conditional text
Convert text to frames
Tracking text changes
Custom autocorreect
Custom spell check
Link content between documents

GREP

What is grep
Find and replace with GREP
Using GREP styles
Some sample GREP styles

Snippets

Saving as snippets
Showing snippets in Bridge
Reuse snippets on document

Libraries

Libraries versus snippets
Creating a library
The library panel
Adding items to a library

Data Merge

How to setup a merge source
Add merge fields
Styling
Output

The InDesign Bootcamp course introduces a wide range of skills aimed at those who are completely new to InDesign, teaching you best practice right from the start, and progressing through to more advanced topics

You will learn to

Customise the InDesign interface to be more efficient
Setup new documents with the correct settings
Layout text, graphics and other content in a document
Create different shapes of frame for your content
Use character and paragraph styles to speed up formatting
Ensure you are using the right images for print, digital etc..
Use parents to apply content on multiple pages
Create colour swatches in RGB, CMYK or Pantones
Understand how images are handled in InDesign
Prepare and output a document for print
Use a variety of styles to automate formatting of content
Automatically generate tables of contents from document
Easily create and maintain interactive pdf forms
Add interactive features to your digital documents including video, audio, buttons, links, animation, hotspots and more.
Generate image captions from image metadata
Make use of Photoshop channels and clipping paths in InDesign (no PS experience needed)
Export to a variety of formats such as PDF, HTML5, ePub and more.
Localise a single InDesign document to handle multiple versions of content eg:
- A catalogue that has pricing in dollars, pounds and euros.
- A company brochure that has offices in different areas.
Reuse content across and within documents
Format text based on common "patterns" in the text, eg: format all email addresses
Use content from a spreadsheet or database to generate a document, eg: a product catalogue

Who should attend this course

This InDesign course is suitable for those who wants to learn to use InDesign but have no previous experience. If you already have experience using InDesign than you might want to consider our Advanced InDesign Training Course instead.

If you are unsure which InDesign courses are most suitable then why not try our free InDesign Skills Test to help you test your current skills.

Comments from delegates that attended

"I found the instructor to be very clear, methodical and approachable. He didn't mind how many questions I asked - very patient."
Graphic Designer, ARM

"He is an InDesign genius. So helpful. He first explained what a certain button did, gave us an example, and then made us practice it. really productive way of learning."
PA, Chapman Taylor

"Very friendly and patient with all our questions! He knew what he was talking about and explained things in a simple way we could understand. Was very good at linking things together to back up points and expand our knowledge."
Marketing Executive, Kelly Services

"Everything was explained clearly, and he made sure we were all happy before moving on to other stages, anything I was not sure about was shown to me."
Reprographics Manager, New Hall School

"Obviously Andy knows InDesign inside and out! Great course, great tutor - I would highly recommend it to friends and colleagues."
Marketing Executive, Association of Corporate Treasurers

"Friendly and very knowledgable - would recommend"
Associate Editor, Springer

"The instructor knowledge was fantastic and the working examples were very useful."
Comms Exec, Tesco

"Instructor took the course at the right pace and explained further when prompted. Overall a very good instructor, he also was willing to discuss areas outside the course agenda when it was of interest to one of the students. I like how it was varied and covered many useful aspects of the software, including features you may otherwise not come across (tips, tricks etc)."
Marketing Communications, Siemens