Explore layout design in InDesign by working through real-world publishing projects. Discover how typography, grids, and color combine to create cohesive, professional results.
Learn how to design professional page layouts with text & graphics in Adobe InDesign. This course covers styling, importing, packaging, and advanced techniques like styles, master pages, and tables. Perfect for creating books, magazines, and ads.
Begin your journey as a professional graphic designer by learning the essential skills and tools used by industry experts. Gain hands-on experience in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, and create a stunning portfolio to showcase your talent to potential employers or clients.
Advance your layout and design expertise while preparing for the Adobe Certified Professional exam in this hands-on InDesign Certification Program. Through expert-led classes, personalized tutoring, and real-world projects, you'll gain the skills and confidence to create polished magazines, brochures, books, and more.
Founded over 40 years ago, Adobe has multiple products and technologies that help you imagine, create, and bring your digital ideas to life. InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout design software application that was first released by Adobe in 1999. It’s the go-to software for designing posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, books, and ebooks. Known as the industry-standard editing software for laying out long-form multi-page documents, Adobe InDesign can actually be used for so much more. Think of it as the software you use to create anything that combines text and graphics, like creating stationery, annual reports, business cards, or interactive digital publications.
What sets InDesign apart from the other software in Adobe’s suite is its ability to experiment with and customize typography by choosing from hundreds of different fonts and manipulating their kerning, dimensions, and style. The software even includes customizable grids and guides to assist with layout and typesetting, and all of these features mean you can create a font or typeface that is wholly unique to you.
Being an Adobe InDesign expert can open many doors. Not only can you create eye-catching long-form documents, but you can also create a one-of-a-kind font to represent your brand and solidify your identity in both print and digital spaces.
InDesign is a must-have software for creatives. You can perfect a magazine or chapbook layout and format your self-published novel and ensure any multi-page project is organized and cohesive. If you’re looking to promote your business, you can design custom business cards that help you stand out at networking events, work conferences, or even casual conversations in a coffee house.
If you’re into web design, Adobe InDesign can help with that, too. The addition of pixel measurement since CS6 has helped improve InDesign’s role in web design. You can use it for the actual development of the design and even to output the final.jpg or.png files for each asset on your website—from backgrounds to individual page graphics. It can also ensure all files are a manageable size so that opening them won’t use up several gigs of memory.
As you can see, there are many ways to use InDesign for both digital and print products. Keep reading below to learn more about what you’ll learn in an InDesign training course and what industries and jobs will open to you once you’re an InDesign expert.
Each InDesign course will cover varying topics that are dictated by the class’s difficulty level and the intended use of InDesign. Most of these courses will cover the same basics though, so you can expect to learn the below skills in any online or in-person course. This list is not exhaustive, so be prepared to learn even more when you enroll!
Developing layout and design are the primary uses for InDesign, so having an eye for design and creative vision will be something most courses will explore. Elements such as typography, spacing, and color will come into play and help you create cohesive, distinctive, and visually appealing designs.
Managing files, including importing, exporting, and organizing, will be an extremely important skill. InDesign can import files from several formats, including Microsoft Word and Adobe Illustrator, and can export files in various formats like PDF, EPUB, and HTML. Messy InDesign files and poor file organization can slow down your workflow, create errors, and make it harder to collaborate with others. Luckily, a training course will walk you through tips and tricks to manage your files with ease.
InDesign is used to combine images and text, so you’ll need to be able to confidently add images to your documents, transform images, manage image linking, and wrap text around images. Tools like the Place command and the Selection Tool will be taught in an introductory InDesign course so you can add, resize, and redesign images with ease in InDesign.
Mastering text handling will be equally important. Working with text includes understanding the tools used to create frames (Type Tool, Frame tools, and Shape tools) located in the toolbox. Text and images in InDesign reside within a frame. When you place text in InDesign, a frame is created automatically for that content and indicates the area where the text is to be shown. You can also connect frames so that text can flow from one frame to the next. These skills and tools are essential for success with InDesign.
This is more of a soft skill, but it’s just as important as those listed above. Collaboration is key to creative pursuits, and Adobe InDesign and Adobe Creative Cloud make it easy. You’ll want to know how to share files online (either with a private link or a secure password-protected public link), review documents online, and manage feedback. Streamlining your collaboration will help projects run more efficiently and produce better final products.
Adobe InDesign is considered to be relatively easy to learn, but it can be difficult to master. The difficulty of learning InDesign depends on several factors like your previous experience with other Adobe products and your artistic and technical acumen. Generally speaking though, new users can start utilizing the program’s basic features quickly, letting them experiment with the program’s design tools with only a few hours of training.
If you are unfamiliar with graphic design or creating layouts and various documents, mastering InDesign may be challenging. The software is widely considered to be user-friendly, especially now that it seamlessly integrates with other Adobe Creative Cloud applications, which enhances its functionality.
Other factors can impact InDesign’s level of difficulty, like your personal creative prowess and your familiarity with digital design. The good news is that attending training in Adobe InDesign can help minimize many of these challenges by providing a structured environment and a comprehensive curriculum to guide you through mastering the software.
InDesign is meant for professional use, so it can be a bit overwhelming for beginners. However, thanks to its user-friendly design, new users can grasp the basics of the program in a matter of a few days. If your goal is to learn all of the features of InDesign in a professional capacity, that can take months or even years, depending on your existing skill set in similar programs or Adobe Creative Cloud products. With this in mind, the time it will take to gain the necessary skill level will differ depending on whether you want to learn InDesign for personal or professional use. This means that students who want to make only light use of the program for academic projects or as a personal hobby can learn the basic features of InDesign within less than a week.
Many factors need to be considered when answering this question. First, you’ll need to know what learning environment is best for you. Do you thrive in a collaborative environment that allows you to interact with your peers and receive instant feedback from your instructor? Or, do you prefer a more solitary learning environment where you can learn at your own speed?
You’ll also need to decide how much time you can commit to your education and how much flexibility your schedule requires. Do you want to dive deeply into an intensive program? Do you work full-time and require your classes to be scheduled for evening and weekend hours?
In-person classes offer face-to-face interaction with your fellow students and your expert instructor. This collaborative environment is available for full-time and part-time courses and provides structure and accountability—two things that can help you succeed. Online courses may lack this in-person interaction, but they make up for it with increased flexibility. Live virtual courses still benefit from instant instructor feedback and interactions with other students, while on-demand virtual training allows for the most flexibility since you decide when and where to learn.
The good news is that, no matter which version you attend, you can obtain a quality InDesign education with a top-notch curriculum and expert instructors.
Technically, it is possible to learn InDesign for free online. YouTube videos, blogs, and free short workshops can all be a great way to learn the basics without purchasing educational content. (Don’t forget to watch the most recent uploads so you’re learning the latest trends and techniques.)
But, when it comes to the more advanced skills, an in-depth training course is going to be your best bet. These courses will consist of a curriculum developed and taught by experts, with the ability to receive feedback or troubleshoot any issues with your instructor or a support team. Formal training can also provide the structure and accountability that some students need to stay focused, creating an environment where you’re more likely to succeed. So, if you’re looking to master more than just the basics, a formal workshop or class is a better choice than free online resources.
InDesign is a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, so it’s recommended that you learn a few other Adobe programs as well. Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom are a good place to start. Illustrator is also worth learning, and mastering both InDesign and Illustrator will help you know which projects are best suited for each software. With Illustrator, you can make graphics and other assets that capture readers’ attention. With InDesign, you can craft layouts that allow both text and visuals to exist harmoniously on the page.
Adobe’s products are designed to complement and work well with each other. By mastering most or all of them, you can harness your full potential as a digital creator and design products that are professional, engaging, and pleasing to the eye.
San Diego may be well known for its pristine beaches and temperate year-round weather, but it’s also a major hub for a variety of industries. Below are some of the top industries in the region, each of which will utilize InDesign experts in a variety of ways. Check out these options to get one step closer to your dream career.
The San Diego healthcare market has long been dominated by four health systems: Kaiser Permanente, Sharp HealthCare, Scripps Health, and University of California San Diego (UCSD) Health. As health systems expand population health strategies, they have increased affiliations with medical groups and independent practice associations. Medical groups have also grown as new physicians and independent physicians nearing retirement opt for employment instead of running their own practices.
San Diego is known for its vibrant and diverse retail market. Situated along the beautiful Southern California coastline, this region offers an array of shopping options catering to a multitude of tastes and preferences. San Diego’s retail market is currently in one of its strongest positions in years, with approximately 540,000 square feet of space under construction, representing 0.4% of existing inventory.
San Diego is a hub for advanced manufacturing companies, with more than 3,679 manufacturing establishments currently supporting more than 116,397 jobs. Manufacturing sectors include defense, aerospace, shipbuilding and repair, medical devices, craft brewing, and sports and active lifestyle industries.
A world leader in wireless technologies, San Diego companies are driving local and global innovation that keeps us all connected. Founded in San Diego in 1985, Qualcomm invented technologies at the heart of 3G and 4G wireless and the first smartphone, and it boasts a $4 billion economic impact. Employing over 63,000 professionals across more than 4,000 companies, the average annual salary is around $160,000, well above the national average.
InDesign can lead to a vibrant and successful career in a variety of industries. There are several roles you could pursue, depending on your level of experience. Listed below are a few of the most common positions you’ll see listed, as well as a brief description of what each does and how much you can expect to be compensated.
There are many different careers you could pursue that require Adobe certification. You could become a Graphic Designer and use graphics, text, colors, and animations to develop branding, advertising, and messaging. Graphic Designers often use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator in their daily work, so it’s a good idea to become certified in these two programs. The average salary for a Graphic Designer in San Diego falls somewhere around $78,000 or more, depending on your level of experience.
If you want to be a Web Designer, credentials with Dreamweaver, After Effects, and Bridge are worth pursuing. As a Web Designer, you’ll work on a team with Web Developers, Software Engineers, UX Designers, and Project Managers to create websites that are appealing and easy to use. Web Designers in San Diego typically make an average salary between $76,000 and $82,000.
As a Drafter at an architecture firm, you could use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Fresco to sketch out designs and develop detailed diagrams, maps, and schematics. Drafters create technical plans by gathering drawings, determining specifications, outlining material and equipment needs, and creating diagrams using computer-aided design (CAD) software. Drafter salaries typically fall between $78,000 and $95,000, depending on your experience.
A Marketing Coordinator develops strategies and monitors sales across a variety of channels, from email to web to social. Marketing Coordinators can use Adobe InDesign to create interactive and engaging PDF documents, helping them—or the company they work for—stand out against their competitors. All of this is true for other marketing roles as well (copywriter, SEO specialist, and Social Media Manager), but as a Marketing Coordinator, you can expect to earn around $77,000. More specialized roles within marketing can earn much more, and in some cases, even exceed six figures.
Offered by San Diego State University, this course teaches the three programs focused on visual design: Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. You’ll learn how to work with Illustrator to create graphics and illustrations, methods to use InDesign to create professional layouts and typography, and the best practices with Photoshop for image sizing and editing, and color correction.
By the end of this course, you’ll be ready to launch your career as a graphic or Web Designer, thanks to your mastery of key programs in Adobe’s Creative Suite. You’ll also be prepared to take the Adobe Certified Professional in Visual Design exam, propelling your career even further. There are no prerequisites for this course but you’ll need to be familiar with either a Mac or a PC and have the Adobe programs installed before the start of class.
Offered by Noble Desktop, this comprehensive course will cover everything you need to know for working with InDesign. You’ll practice creating page layouts with text, graphics, and multiple pages while you learn to style text, import photos and graphics, define/use colors, add multiple pages, thread text frames, and much more. You’ll also master paragraph/character styles, master pages, baseline grid, hyphenation, libraries, tables, and more. You’ll be able to package your files to send them to be printed and generate PDFs for print or web. You’ll even learn essential techniques for professional typesetting.
While not offered in-person in Minneapolis, this in-depth Noble Desktop course still offers face-to-face interaction through its live online format. This three-month part-time (or one-month full-time) training offers hands-on experience in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, three essential programs for Graphic Designers. You’ll learn to edit and retouch photos in Photoshop, create vector graphics in Illustrator, and design page layouts in InDesign. Throughout the course, you’ll create a stunning portfolio to showcase your talent to potential employers or clients.
Tuition for this course includes one-on-one mentoring, setup assistance, and a free retake. Payment plans and other forms of financial assistance are available for those who need it.
Noble Desktop also offers this quick one-day course that’s perfect for beginners. You’ll learn the fundamentals of InDesign including page layout, typography, and image manipulation so that you can create professional documents with ease. Included in the cost of this course is a free retake, setup assistance, and a guaranteed small class size so that you can get the attention you deserve from an expert instructor.
If you’re looking to offer in-person or online training to your office or team, Noble Desktop can help. They offer a variety of corporate training programs, including Adobe InDesign. You can order vouchers in bulk at a discount, choose which courses are available to employees, and even let your employees choose their own schedule. Plus, you can choose to have your training hosted at a location of your choosing, live online, or at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan office.
With a top-notch customizable curriculum and instructors who are experts in their industries, Noble Desktop’s corporate training is designed to cater to your business or organization’s needs. For more information or to schedule a free consultation, you can reach out to Noble Desktop at corporate@nobledesktop.com.