Key details

InDesign training course for beginners, teaching skills for creating effective page layouts quickly.

Adobe InDesign is the industry-standard tool for laying out pages for print. It also provides everything you need to develop and publish content for playback on iPad and Android tablets.

Introduction to Adobe InDesign training covers key techniques and features, including setting up new documents, shapes, frames and placeholders, textual content, formatting text, working with styles, placing images, using layers, creating special effects, tables, object libraries and preflighting.

This course is ideal for newcomers to InDesign, and those with limited InDesign experience.

You can attend this course as a virtual delegate, from your place of work or home. For a limited time, we’re offering discounts off the usual course price. See Live online training for details.

Upcoming course dates

Accredited InDesign training

Armada is an Adobe Authorised Training Centre (AATC), accredited by Adobe to provide InDesign training.

InDesign courses are hosted by Adobe Certified Instructors from a graphic design background with vast experience of using the application professionally. For further details, see Expert trainers.

How will I learn?

InDesign training is hands-on and practical.

Our trainers teach the necessary theory then demonstrate techniques step-by-step. You then practice the techniques taught on a computer running InDesign.

There is plenty of time to ask questions, and you can take away all the files you create.

InDesign training guide and certificate

Course delegates receive:

• A comprehensive training guide for InDesign, to refer to throughout the course, and to use as a refresher afterwards.
• An e-certificate confirming successful completion of an Adobe‑accredited InDesign training course. Click here to see an example of the certificate you receive.

After course support

Following InDesign training, delegates are entitled to 30 days’ email support from their InDesign trainer to help with any post-course issues. For further details, see Support.

Prerequisites

No prior InDesign knowledge is necessary.

InDesign version

Training is based primarily on InDesign 2020. The techniques taught are relevant to all recent releases of InDesign.

All InDesign training is suitable for both Windows and Mac users.

Our guarantees to you

We offer:

• A price guarantee that you’re getting the best value for money.
• A training guarantee that you’ll learn the concepts and skills you need.

On-request InDesign training available

Introduction to InDesign training is available on-request, i.e. one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group, hosted at one of our centres, your venue or online.

On-request InDesign training can be tailored to take into account any existing knowledge you have, and the work you’re going to be doing. Please contact us for a quote.

General information

Course times

9.30am–4.30pm.

Payment

Payment for InDesign training can be made bank transfer or card.

We accept purchase orders from UK-registered companies.

If you’re self-funding your training, you can pay in staged payments, interest-free, over 12 months.

For further details, see training course payment options.

Cancellations and transfers

If a booking on a scheduled Introduction to InDesign course is cancelled giving less than 10 working days’ notice, a cancellation fee is payable. View cancellation terms.

If a delegate requests a transfer to a different scheduled Introduction to InDesign course giving less than 10 working days’ notice, a transfer fee is payable. View transfer terms.

Terms and conditions

Training course bookings are subject to our terms and conditions.

Expert trainers

Introduction to InDesign training courses are hosted by:

• Phil Talbot
• Philip Odell
• Mark Gatter
• Andrew Moreton
• Greta Powell
• Pete Owen
• Marek Mularczyk

Phil Talbot

Phil works as an Adobe Design Specialist and Adobe Certified Instructor (ACI).

He has expert knowledge of Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat, and uses all four applications extensively in his professional work.

Phil’s professional qualifications and extensive experience provide an ideal base to train delegates using blended learning techniques to improve the individuals’ and organisations’ capabilities.

He has worked with and trained many blue-chip organisations, including FTSE 100 companies, in a career spanning 25 years.

Philip Odell

Philip is an Adobe Certified Instructor (ACI), specialising in Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat and FrameMaker.

Philip began his working life with Texas Instruments, before joining Adobe in 1995, where he worked for five years. Philip still has links with Adobe, manning their stands and carrying out presentations when they’re exhibiting in the UK.

For the last eighteen years, Philip has worked as a graphic design specialist, consultant and trainer. He continues to use Adobe applications extensively in his day-to-day professional work.

Mark Gatter

Mark is an Adobe Certified Instructor (ACI) with expert knowledge of Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat.

Mark has specialised in all aspects of the digital pre-press process for over three decades, including 18 years in California, where he worked as the production manager for the biggest print shop in the north part of the state.

He began training in 1998, and he holds a teaching qualification.

He has published five books, which you’ll find on Amazon, covering topics relating to graphic design and polytunnel gardening, one of Mark’s interests when not delivering training.

Andrew Moreton

Andrew has been working in all areas of digital publishing for most of his life.

He’s an Adobe Certified Instructor in Photoshop, InDesign and Dreamweaver and has worked as a Designer, Art-worker, Production and repro person, trainer and mentor.

When he’s not doing digital things, he cooks, listens to loud music, reads and runs a kids comics club at his local library.

Greta Powell

Greta Powell is long-established consultant and trainer in graphic design, print and digital publishing, specialising in the key Adobe applications: InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator.

She has worked as a consultant to some of the biggest publishing companies in Europe.

Greta also has expert knowledge of Adobe’s e-Learning development application, Captivate, and the Microsoft Office suite of applications.

Away from her training and consultancy work, Greta has a passion for photography.

Pete Owen

As a long-standing Adobe Certified Instructor, Pete has trained and facilitated individuals and teams from a wide range of industries from organisations including Coca Cola, Disney, Nestlé, Guinness and McDonald’s. expertise

Adobe applications in which Pete runs regular training courses include InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

In his professional work, Pete has worked in the field of design across a broad range of media for many years. He has specialist knowledge in a wide range of topics including:

• Illustration: Pete is an award-wining illustrator.
• Author: Pete has designed, written and illustrated over twenty published traditional print books on a variety of subjects including graphic arts.
• Interactive media, mobile publishing and app development for tablets and smartphones.
• Website development.

Away from training, Pete spends as much time as possible indulging his passion for outdoor pursuits.

Marek Mularczyk

Marek is a long-established Adobe Certified Instructor.

Adobe applications which Marek has expert knowledge of include InDesign, Photoshop, Lightroom, Animate and Acrobat. He is an Adobe Certified Expert in all of these applications, and he uses them regularly in his professional work.

Marek is the author of a range of published books and video training DVDs including The Complete Photoshop CC, The Complete Lightroom CC and Unleash the power of Photoshop.

Based on delegate feedback collected by Adobe in 2015, Marek was ranked in the top 10 Adobe Certified Instructors in the world!

Prior to focusing on training, Marek worked as a professional photographer for over 12 years. Photography remains his passion, and in his spare time he travels Europe in search of that perfect picture.

Course content

The work area

• Using toolbox, panels and menus
• Opening, saving and closing files
• Navigation
• Customising the work area
• Preferences and defaults
• File export

Setting up new documents

• Creating new documents
• Setting up master pages
• Using ruler guides, smart guides and grids

Text

• Inserting text
• Placing text – incl. file formats
• Threading text – flowing text
• Import options – what can be imported
• Entering special characters
• Using the Story Editor
• Tracking changes
• Using Find/Change
• Spell checking – incl. languages

Colour

• Colour theory – RGB/CMYK/Spot colours
• Applying colour
• Colour swatches
• Gradients
• Filling and stroking shapes and transforming objects
• Eyedropper tool

Typography

• Formatting text
• Size/leading/tracking/kerning/ indents/spaces…

Stylesheets

• Formatting Paragraphs
• Character, Paragraph and Object styles
• Importing and deleting styles

Working with images

• Placing images
• Using the content collector tool
• Modifying graphic frames and their contents
• Using the spacing tool
• Creating in-line frames
• Wrapping text around objects and managing links.

Pages

• Master Pages – creating ‘page templates’
• Auto page numbering

Layers

• Creating, locking, hiding, printing

Effects and styling

• Transparency
• Feathering

Bullets and Numbers

• Bulleted and Numbered Lists
• Customising Bullets and Numbers

Tabs

• Setting up Tabs

Tables

• Creating and editing tables
• Adding content and formatting tables

Libraries

• Creating assets for use in InDesign and across CC

Preflighting, packaging and outputting

• Managing Links

Online features

• Publish online feature
• Publish on Behance

Mobile apps

• Adobe Comp
• Adobe Capture

Live online training

Live online training lets you participate in a real InDesign course from your place of work or home. You can:

• See and hear our trainer and other delegates participating in the InDesign training.
• Allow our trainer and the other delegates to see you (if you have a webcam, and you’re agreeable).
• Interact by speaking, using chat, or raising your ‘virtual hand’ if you need assistance.
• Share your screen with our trainer to show them what you’re seeing.

Your experience will be as close as possible to actually being in the classroom…

• The training will follow the same syllabus as our classroom-based Introduction to InDesign courses.
• It will be presented by the same Adobe Certified Instructors.
• We’ll post you a training guide, and send you all the information you need to participate in the training. We’ll even post you a headset and microphone if you need one.
• You’ll receive the same e-certificate confirming successful completion of an Adobe-accredited course as classroom-based delegates.
• You’ll carry out exercises in InDesign, assisted by our trainer, just as if you were in-class. If you haven’t got InDesign installed on your computer, we’ll send you a link to fully-functional trial software that you can download and install.
• You’ll be entitled to 30 days’ email support from your trainer.

All you need is an internet-connected computer. The setup is simple, but if there’s anything you’re not sure about we’re always here to help.

When you attend live online InDesign training, you’re participating in a real course, hosted by a real trainer, in real time.

For a limited time, we’re offering discounts off the usual Introduction to InDesign course price for live online training.

Discounts and bundles

To make your InDesign training as affordable as possible, we offer:

• A discounted InDesign training bundle.
• A range of training discounts on our scheduled (public) InDesign training courses.
• A price guarantee that you won’t get InDesign training for less.

InDesign training bundle

Book classroom-based courses in:

• Introduction to InDesign (2 days), and
• Advanced InDesign (1 day)

for £495 + VAT, saving £45+ VAT.

The bundle price is applied automatically when you book these two courses.

Training discounts

Multiple places

If you book multiple course places, we can offer you:

• 10% discount if you book two places.
• 15% discount if you book three or four places.
• 20% discount if you book five or more places.

This can be for several people attending one course, one person attending several courses, or a combination.

These discounts are available for both classroom-based courses and remote training.

Concessions

We offer a 10% discount on scheduled InDesign course places to:

• Students, teachers and lecturers.
• People who work for a registered charity.
• ISTC members.

These discounts are available for both classroom-based courses and remote training.

Please call us if you qualify for a discount. Evidence of your status that entitles you to a discount may be requested.

Terms and exclusions

Only one of the above discounts can be applied to any booking.

The above discounts are not available for training bundles or on-request course bookings (one-to-one training or a ‘closed course’ for your group).

Price guarantee

When you book training with Armada, we want you to be certain that you’re not paying over-the-odds. So, if you book a place on any scheduled (public) course and then find the same course at a lower price elsewhere, we will match that price.

To qualify for the price match:

• The course you find must be comparable. By this we mean it must:
  • Cover the same subject.
  • Be the same duration or longer.
  • Hold the same accreditations as our course, i.e. it must be provided by an Adobe Authorised Training Centre (AATC).
  • For classroom-based courses, be in the same region, i.e. within 50 miles of our centre.
  • For remote training, be a live course, i.e. not pre-prepared e-learning content.
• The lower price must be advertised on the other company’s website.

To claim a price match, just call any time before attending your course and tell us where you saw the price.