InDesign Advanced

This 2-day advanced class is aimed at existing InDesign users who need to create more complex projects like books or decks, as well as learn how to improve productivity by using some of the more advanced features in InDesign.

Our instructors will lead you step-by-step through 10 unique projects. These include a movie poster, a restuarant menu, how to format copy using GREP, a novel (including cover and table of contents), a pitch deck, interactive presentations and much more.

Live face-to-face instructor. No minimum class size - all classes guaranteed to run!

It is recommended that you complete the InDesign Fundamentals class prior to commencing this training. Training available on Mac and PC.

Course Outline

Movie Poster Design

In this lesson, you will learn how to use Illustrator in conjunction with InDesign to make powerful vector art to create a movie poster.

• Reasons use Illustrator with InDesign
• A quick introduction to text in Illustrator
• Working with Decorative Type Titles
• Multi-Frame Title Treatments
• Getting vector art into InDesign from AI
• Troubleshooting AI to ID Graphics Transfers
• Working with Simple Tables
• Formatting film poster credits
• The Color Theme Tool
• Working with SVG Graphics
• Simple Graphic Edits in Illustrator
• Flattening Graphics in Illustrator

Wonka Bar Menu - Intro to Tables

In this lesson, you will learn how to create, manage and style Tables and the content within.

• Creating Tables from Scratch
• Stylizing Tables
• Stylizing Table Content
• Selecting & Modifying Cells
• Excel to InDesign Tables
• Tab Delimited File Imports
• Text to Table Conversions
• Colorizing Tables
• Creative Table Design

Ghost Toys - Intro to GREP

An introduction to GREP. GREP is a special language that lets you tell InDesign to find, change and apply all kinds of formatting - including Conditions that hide and show text at your command.

• What is GREP
• Tips on Learning GREP
• Two Ways of Adding GREP in your Projects
• Composing a GREP Phrase
• Creating conditions for conditional text
• Using GREP to apply conditions
• Creating sets to manage conditions
• Using conditional images
• GREP in Paragraph and Character Styles

Fiction Novel - Formatting a Book

Learn how to setup a Fiction Novel from scratch and use Paragraph, Character Styles & GREP to manage the books content.

• Documents & Book Project contrasts
• The Anatomy of a Book
• Classic Trade book sizes
• Setting up a standard paperback book
• Creating Book Styles for easy formatting
• Formatting Master Pages
• Defining Sections
• Numbering and Organizing Sections
• Importing and Stylizing book text
• Auto-flow text
• Placeholder text for pre-formatting
• GREP for eliminating “Runts”
• Fixing and Eliminating Forced Line Breaks

Fiction Novel - Indexes, TOCs & Beyond

An introduction to GREP. GREP is a special language that lets you tell InDesign to find, change and apply all kinds of formatting - including Conditions that hide and show text at your command.

• The Difference between TOCs and Indexes
• Preparing content for a TOC
• Creating a Table of Contents
• Formatting between Numbers and Chapters
• Stylizing a Table of Content
• Working with Next Style
• Prepping a document for an Index
• Creating an Index
• Working with Scripts to manage data
• What are XMLs? How are they used?

Fiction Novel - Creating a Cover

Use InDesign to get creative and design and layout a cover for a Fiction Novel complete with Spine.

• Setup for 6” x 9” Trade Book with 200 Pages
• Creating a document with a Spine
• Manipulating multiple pages as one document
• Working with Photoshop and InDesign
• Working with Importing layered content
• Working with InDesign’s Layers Panel
• Naming and Arranging Layers
• Creating a Title for a Book Cover

Working with Book Projects

Learn about the benefits and power of working with Book Projects in InDesign.

• More details about Documents vs Book Projects
• When a Book Project might be useful
• Creating a Book Project from scratch
• INDB File Formats
• Anatomy of the Book Panel
• Synchronizing Projects
• Preflighting your Book
• Error Reporting Details
• Status Symbols Meaning
• Page Numbering and Conversion
• Exporting your book to a PDF

Deck Design & Layout

In this lesson, you will learn about Pitch Decks and how to create them in InDesign.

• What is a Pitch Deck?
• How your Pitch Deck is going to be used
• Creating your Pitch Deck document
• Pitch Deck Sections
• Setting up Pitch Deck Master Pages
• Creative Continuity with Master Pages
• Designing a Title Page for the Deck
• Creativity with Transform More Options
• Organizing Layers in the Layer Panel
• Creative Page Titles with FX
• Getting Creative with Image Frame

Deck Design - Style & Graphics

Create and manage attractive graphics through your Pitch Deck Project.

• Working with Object Styles
• Color Continuity
• Enhancing Titles using Blend Modes
• Formatting Text using Styles and Next Style
• Creating a Gallery-Style TOC
• Understanding Clippings Masks
• Creating a Clipping Mask
• Pitch Deck Tweaks
• Exporting Deck to Preview

Deck Design - Interactive Documents

Convert and Design your Pitch Deck to be an Interactive Document for presentations and more.

• Switching to the Interactive Workspace
• So many interactive features, so little time
• Exploring Interactive PDFs
• Create and manage Hyperlinks
• Understanding Text Anchors
• Interactive In-Document Navigation
• How to embed Video and Audio
• Buttons and Forms menu
• Exporting an Interactive PDF
• Testing your Interactive PDF