Article Advise

submitted: May 16th 2008 | by: AndrewWhiteman | Total views: 2 | Word Count: 464 | |

Graphic designers are increasingly adopting InDesign as their preferred page layout tool and are constantly singing its praises. I've personally been conducted numerous conversion courses for designers keen to make the switch from QuarkXPress to InDesign. However, as a trainer, I have noticed another trend: the widespread adoption of InDesign by corporations keen to have their own staff produce in-house documents which have hitherto been outsourced. Running training courses for this new type of user accounts for a significant amount of the InDesign training that I offer.

When attending a training course on InDesign, general users need more than an explanation of how to use the various tools and functions of the software. They need to learn about the page layout arena and how it differs from familiar programs like Microsoft Word. They need an overview of the typographical controls offered by InDesign, an explanation of how to specify colour for print and how to work with images.

InDesign is a precision tool, allowing the user to very accurately specify the attributes of all elements on the page and the relationship between them. Most general users will remain unaware of this precision unless it is pointed out to them. During training, they should learn the use of ruler guides, grids and baseline grids and basically how to make elements align correctly and print in the right place on the page.

The terms used in InDesign often refer back to the pre-electronic age of the typographic industry and is often mystifying to the average user. It's important to explain these terms, perhaps by giving users some background information and, if possible, by making comparisons with similar features in software they already know. For example, we could compare the term "leading" in InDesign with line spacing in Microsoft Word.

Because InDesign provides so much flexibility in transforming imported images, the average user often goes too far and ends up resizing images either up or down by significant factors. The trainer should explain that resizing up or down by more than 10% or so is not a good idea since this can cause artefacts to appear when the image is printed.

Colour terminology can also confuse the general InDesign user. The key facts that people will need to be taught here are, firstly, the difference between the RGB and CMYK colour spaces; secondly, how the colour print job gets separated into the four different plates and, thirdly, the difference between process and spot colours.

InDesign is meant to be used to create high quality output. Regardless of their background, new users must have it drummed into them how important it is to pre-flight documents, resolve errors and then package the job ready to be sent off to a printing company. They also need to learn how to produce a high- resolution PDF file.

About the Author

The writer of this article is a developer and trainer with Macresource Computer Solutions, an independent computer training company offering Adobe InDesign Classes in London and throughout the UK.

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