Live Training on InDesign has STYLE!

For a person interested in designing layouts for print media, InDesign is a relatively easy software to grasp. The main reason this is considered so is that the interface is intuitive and easy to use. Plus, Adobe makes an abundant supply of study material on this program available. 

Familiarizing oneself with the basics of InDesign is pretty simple, and should take no more than a few weeks at best. However, if you want to move beyond working knowledge to a level of fluency and proficiency, it could take a lot longer.

There are many options when it comes to learning InDesign. The tutorials that Adobe offers are comprehensive and engaging. You could also consider the various YouTube videos on this topic.

But the best bet for learning InDesign from head to toe, so to speak, is this online course from SimplivLearning, which offers thorough learning on all aspects of this software. This learning stands out because it offers smart learning, with its many tips and tricks, which are very hands-on.

Full learning of all the features of InDesign could take time. However, you can make your understanding of this software tool systematic by taking up a few structured steps one by one. You could make your learning of InDesign more organized by adapting this step-by-step learning:

1.     Text:

-       Add

-       Format

2.     Graphics:

-       Add and modify

-       Apply effects and colors

3.     Content:

-       Add and edit

-       Create multipage documents

-       Organize and enliven content with layers

4.     Functionality:

-       Share the projects you have created

Well, that is a tough ask. What you can learn in one day depends on how many of the program’s features you would want to become familiar with in the shortest time.

Even for the quickest of learners, at least a few days are needed to get some understanding of the important features of InDesign. We can thus say that expecting to learn InDesign in one day is unrealistic.

It depends on how intense and how high the level of your learning is, and how passionate you are about mastering InDesign. Some learners take months to become proficient in InDesign, while others can become so in only weeks.

To get certified in Adobe InDesign, the leading layout and page design software tool, you need to take up an exam at any Certiport center. Certiport is Adobe’s authorized testing partner for these certifications.

The exam is 50 minutes duration and tests your ability to understand and apply InDesign features and concepts in real-life situations. Adobe recommends the 150-hour, mandatory InDesign skill testing and experience-offering requirement for those who want to take up certification in Adobe InDesign.

You can visit Adobe’s InDesign page to get more details about the Adobe InDesign certification methodology. 

There is only one way by which you can become an expert at InDesign: practice, practice, and practice. If you could put in lots of hours at your study, make your learning organized, and stay motivated, there is no reason for which you cannot master InDesign and become an expert at it.

Adobe offers certification in InDesign. It validates a candidate’s grasp of this software tool and signals to current or future employers that the candidate is equipped with the skills needed for applying InDesign successfully at work.

An Adobe InDesign certification lasts two years. You would have to renew it once every two years by taking up the latest available version of this certification exam. Like all Adobe certifications, if the latest version is not available, your certification will be valid till such time that the latest version becomes available.

If you choose to work for an organization as an InDesign professional, you could earn around $51,000 in the US.

However, the good thing about mastering InDesign and becoming certified in it is that it offers umpteen opportunities outside of regular employment. You can become a self-employed page layout professional, or you could freelance. In either case, there are good opportunities for earning.

Yes. It is one of the most popular software tools for designing resumes, because it offers unlimited options for page layout and graphics, not to speak of the myriad of color combinations you can play around with.

In fact, Adobe itself recommends InDesign for resume creation over both Illustrator and Photoshop.

However, bear a serious note of caution in mind if you are planning to send resumes crafted using InDesign: ensure that the person receiving your resume has the necessary software to run it on. Or else, your valuable resume could end up getting scrapped.

Adobe InDesign starts at a price of $20.99 a month. It is part of the Adobe Creative Cloud package.

The cost of an Adobe Certified Professional certification is USD 150. There are separate costs associated with the exam, which could range from $ 65 to $ 80, with some variation based on the test center.

Styles are what may be called standard templates in an InDesign document. The core purpose of an InDesign style is to reduce the work and the time that a user would need to make design work standard and consistent.

In the absence of styles, this work would consume unimaginable amounts of time and effort since they would have to be applied individually to all the parts of the document.

Character and Paragraph are the two important Style types in InDesign that are used to make the document look consistent throughout.

It is easy to create Styles in InDesign. According to Adobe, all that is needed to create these is to follow these steps:

-       Select text

-       Select Type > Paragraph styles if you want to open Paragraph Styles panel, or Character Styles panel if you want to create a new Character style

-       Click Create a New Style. This will help you create a style with the selected text format

These are the five types of styles that can be used in InDesign:

-       Table style: To standardize Table formats such as a row, column, table spacing, etc.

-       Cell style: To give shape to properties of cells, such as cell insets or text alignment

-       Object style: For standardizing formatting of frames and shapes

-       Character style: Used for character-related aspects such as fonts, words, or individual characters

-       Paragraph style: Inclusive of both character style attributes, as well as paragraph-level formatting, this includes tab, spacing, indents, columns, etc. 

A Character style may be defined as a mix of everything that goes into character formatting that can be applied to a selected text. 

In InDesign, style and template are very crucial writing tools. Using these, you can perform a huge number of functions, which include:

-       Making sure that there is consistency in the look of the various headings and other content types

-       Reproducing and standardizing one document’s look and feel into other documents

-       Rapidly and consistently restyling the document

-       Creating an effective table of contents, and more

Enabling style sheets in InDesign is pretty uncomplicated. Follow these steps:

-       Open the Character, paragraph styles panel

-       Choose from among these options: Select Load Character Styles or Load Paragraph Styles from More Options

-       Double-click the InDesign file in which the styles you want to import are present. This will lead you to the Load Styles dialog

-       From here, just select the styles that you wish to import

With styles, you can choose one single style for the entire document, because of which you save the effort and trouble of having to do it multiple times. Needless to say, this very important feature also saves lots of time.

The primary objective of a style is that with it, the user can keep the document’s structure separate from its visual look.

This means a world of difference to a graphic document because this is a crucial separation that offers a touch of appeal and effectiveness to a document, which would otherwise look crumpled.

Adobe has offered object-style settings for color, stroke, transparency, paragraph styles, drop shadows, and many others. Different transparency effects can be set for objects, strokes, text, and fill. 

-       Table style

-       Object style

-       Character style

-       Cell style

-       Paragraph style