InDesign Certification Course Online
A certification track built on VDCI's 18-hour Adobe InDesign course, covering layouts for magazines, brochures, books, and similar publications and preparing students for the Adobe Certified Professional exam in InDesign. Tuition adds six hours of private...
What's included
- Access to Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Certified Professional exam for InDesign with retake
- Exam proctoring
- 24 hours of project-based instruction
- 26 training videos
- Instruction from an Adobe Certified Professional
- Course workbooks
- Supplemental refresher video library
- Class recordings for 30 days
- Verified digital certificate of completion
- Instruction at an ACCET-accredited school
- Six hours of private tutoring
- One class retake within a year
Overview
A certification track built on VDCI's 18-hour Adobe InDesign course, covering layouts for magazines, brochures, books, and similar publications and preparing students for the Adobe Certified Professional exam in InDesign.
Tuition adds six hours of private tutoring in two three-hour sessions plus supplementary exam-prep video. The exam is included with one free retake, and students can substitute an additional tutoring hour for it.
Who this course is for
Designers and production staff in publishing, marketing, and design who want a recognized InDesign credential.
Tuition & enrollment
Enroll with Virtual Design and Construction Institute, the course provider.
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Preview the course
Watch free previews and explore the lessons included with enrollment at VDCI.
Adobe InDesign Course Online
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Course Overview & Setup
Lesson 1: InDesign Basics & Business Card Design
1:04
Discover how to use Adobe InDesign to create professional print and digital layouts, including business cards, brochures, magazines, and books.
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Document Setup & Importing Graphics
Lesson 1: InDesign Basics & Business Card Design
10:00
Set up Adobe InDesign correctly by resetting preferences, adjusting measurement units, and understanding print versus digital presets.
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Enrollment required
Adding Text
Lesson 1: InDesign Basics & Business Card Design
15:03
Add and position text frames for a business card using placement techniques and alignment tools.
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Enrollment required
Color & Swatches
Lesson 1: InDesign Basics & Business Card Design
28:41
Create and manage color swatches for consistent print design using CMYK values.
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Enrollment required
QR Code Design
Lesson 1: InDesign Basics & Business Card Design
16:56
Design the back of a business card with a QR code and custom border styling.
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OpenType Features
Lesson 1: InDesign Basics & Business Card Design
12:11
Activate Adobe Fonts and explore OpenType features to enhance typography with swashes and advanced character options.
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Brochure Setup
Lesson 2: Brochure Design & Layout
10:00
Create a folded brochure layout with correct page sizing, facing pages, bleed settings, and page numbering control.
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Layers & Images
Lesson 2: Brochure Design & Layout
10:00
Organize brochure layouts using layers to manage background and content.
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Enrollment required
Advanced Typography
Lesson 2: Brochure Design & Layout
31:59
Refine brochure typography using paragraph spacing, hidden characters, measurement units, and picas.
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Tab Formatting
Lesson 2: Brochure Design & Layout
12:12
Format pricing layouts using tabbed text and custom tab stops in Adobe InDesign.
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Exporting PDFs
Lesson 2: Brochure Design & Layout
29:33
Prepare print-ready and client-ready PDFs by configuring bleed, crop marks, compression, and color conversion settings.
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Menu Setup & Leading
Lesson 3: Restaurant Menu Design
10:00
Understand leading (line spacing) in Adobe InDesign and configure it as a paragraph-based setting for consistent typography control.
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Character Styles
Lesson 3: Restaurant Menu Design
10:00
Create and apply character styles to format prices and labels independently from paragraph styles.
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Enrollment required
Keep Options & Spanning
Lesson 3: Restaurant Menu Design
6:35
Prevent awkward text breaks using Keep Options and span headings across multiple columns for cleaner layouts.
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Bulleted Lists
Lesson 4: Magazine Layout Design
10:11
Convert comma-separated text into formatted bulleted lists using Find/Change and custom bullet styling.
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Magazine Layout Setup
Lesson 4: Magazine Layout Design
17:38
Create a professional magazine spread with facing pages, modular column grids, bleed settings, and photo placement.
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Magazine Styles
Lesson 4: Magazine Layout Design
13:57
Establish paragraph styles for headings and body text to ensure consistency across magazine articles.
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Color Themes & Shapes
Lesson 4: Magazine Layout Design
13:35
Generate cohesive color palettes using the Color Theme tool and apply them to typography and graphic elements.
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Text Wrap Techniques
Lesson 5: Advanced Magazine Techniques
10:00
Create dynamic layouts by wrapping text around custom shapes and images using Text Wrap settings.
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Enrollment required
Page Control
Lesson 5: Advanced Magazine Techniques
11:45
Control page insertion, document reflow, and section numbering in Adobe InDesign.
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Book Document Setup
Lesson 5: Advanced Magazine Techniques
19:59
Set up a multi-page book layout in InDesign using primary text frames and smart text reflow.
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Book Styles
Lesson 6: Book Design & Typography
10:00
Create professional paragraph styles for chapter numbers, chapter titles, body text, and drop caps.
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Hyphenation & Justification
Lesson 6: Book Design & Typography
10:00
Improve book typography by refining hyphenation settings, justification controls, and paragraph composition.
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Enrollment required
Baseline Grid Setup
Lesson 6: Book Design & Typography
5:48
Align body text across facing pages using a baseline grid for consistent vertical rhythm.
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Running Heads & Parent Pages
Lesson 6: Book Design & Typography
17:52
Create dynamic running heads using text variables that automatically update by chapter title.
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Course Outro
Lesson 6: Book Design & Typography
0:13
Reinforce key Adobe InDesign skills learned throughout the course and encourage continued practice to build speed and confidence.
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Curriculum
What you'll learn
- Build multi-page layouts using master pages, grids, and guides
- Set and style type with paragraph and character styles
- Place, fit, and manage images and graphics within a layout
- Assemble long documents with tables of contents, sections, and page numbering
- Preflight and export print-ready and interactive PDFs
- Work through the objectives of the Adobe Certified Professional exam for InDesign
Course outline
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Adobe InDesign Course Online 30 hours
Build professional page layout skills in Adobe InDesign at your own pace. In this self-paced course, you will learn how to style text, import graphics, package files, and apply advanced techniques such as styles, parent pages, and more. Create projects like books, magazines, brochures, and other polished layouts.
- Create layouts that combine text, color, and graphics
- Import text and apply styling
- Add and manage color within your designs
- Design short or long documents such as brochures, business cards, restaurant menus, magazines, and books
- Prepare files for final output, whether for printing or PDF
- Create and modify paragraph and character styles to format and update text across a design with ease
- Use parent pages to manage and control layouts in multi-page documents