Adobe InDesign is a creative productivity tool for designing professional page layouts. It’s used in both print and digital industries to create page layouts for content such as websites, digital applications, ebooks, and printed magazines. The program is primarily used by Graphic Designers and Web Designers. If you are unsure that learning InDesign is right for you, consider reading on to learn more about the myriad uses of InDesign tools and techniques. Not only will learning InDesign open up a number of new career opportunities, but it also has a lot of potential personal uses.

What is InDesign?

Released in 1999, Adobe InDesign is the industry-standard in page layout design software, and it is one of the software programs that comprise the Adobe Creative Cloud. Together with Photoshop and Illustrator, InDesign is one of the most commonly used creative design tools across a number of industries, ranging from publishing to graphic design. Built to streamline the process of designing page layouts for books and magazines, InDesign has a plethora of uses that make it a versatile tool for many creative endeavors. As part of a heavily integrated array of creative tools, Adobe InDesign gives creatives the chance to create compelling and vibrant page layouts.

Unlike its sister programs, Illustrator and Photoshop, InDesign serves a specific but vital function, building page layouts. Creatives will use InDesign to build prototype layouts for everything from brochures to web pages, and the program has tools for populating those prototypes with graphics, texts, and even interactive elements. While it is primarily used in traditional print media, InDesign is seeing increasing use in the digital sphere, such as the world of ePublishing and website design.

Read more about what InDesign is and why you should learn it.

Professional Uses for InDesign

Adobe InDesign is used by a number of creative professionals, such as Graphic Designers, Digital Designers, Marketing Coordinators, Social Media Managers, Technical Illustrators, Design Editors, Copywriters, Production Artists, Desktop Publishers, and Layout Artists. They are primarily responsible for designing layouts either for print materials such as magazines or fliers or for digital products such as websites, online advertisements, social media content, or mobile applications. Each of these careers offers competitive salaries and often have remote working opportunities.

User Interface Design

User interface (UI) design is the practice of designing the visual appearance and navigation of an application, usually web or mobile. UI design involves arranging text, images, graphics, and interactive elements in a visually appealing and intuitive build. UI Designers learn Adobe InDesign for building wireframes and other mockups to test and evaluate designs. Web Designers can also use InDesign as part of web design and building web pages that are attractive and simple to navigate. 

Desktop Publishing

Desktop publishing involves the creation of marketing or information materials, such as magazines, brochures, flyers, and reports intended for either print or digital formats. For example, a book can be printed or made into an eBook. Publishers, Technical Illustrators, and Copywriters use InDesign to create professional layouts with text, images, and graphics. For digital publishing, InDesign also allows them to add interactive elements.

Digital Marketing

Digital marketing involves promoting brands or companies and growing an audience over the internet and other forms of digital media, such as mobile text messages. Professions such as Marketers, Advertisers, and Social Media Managers must learn digital marketing techniques such as email marketing, search engine marketing, paid aids, and social media marketing, among others. Though InDesign is often thought of as a desktop or print marketing tool, its features can be very helpful in designing the layout of marketing materials for various internet and social media platforms. These platforms all have different image size requirements, and InDesign helps make sure content looks consistent across required changes.

Device Optimization

Device optimization is an important consideration for any marketing or publishing professional. Today’s digital media is consumed on a variety of screen sizes. Therefore, content that is designed for print won’t look the same on the web or on mobile or tablet screens. Marketing or otherwise informational content needs to be designed with these restrictions in mind. InDesign helps make device optimization simple and easy.

Other Uses for InDesign

Learning InDesign doesn’t just provide you with on-the-job skills. The program can also aid you in pursuing personal projects and developing resources for running your own business. From self-publishing to web design, you can apply skills learned through InDesign to your own creative hobbies.

Personal Documents

InDesign can help you create personal stationery, including greeting cards, postcards, party invitations, address labels, and flyers for garage sales, among many others. The program has built-in templates for pure beginners to design documents quickly and easily.

Entrepreneurial Documents

InDesign can help you create print and digital materials for promoting your business, including business cards, professional letterheads, invoices, forms, marketing flyers, and website banners, among others. InDesign’s built-in templates will help you design materials quickly and make your designs consistent with the various print and digital formats. 

Self Publishing

Authors, Copywriters, and others who may engage in self-publishing can also benefit from InDesign. The program’s templates and tools are perfect for creating printed books or magazines and ebooks. PDF can also be easily created. InDesign is the perfect tool for self-creating professional content.

Web Design

Though perhaps not as popular as other web development tools, InDesign is still useful for designing web pages. InDesign can be used for producing wireframes, which work as a rough draft of web page design. This can make InDesign a useful web tool for entrepreneurs and other individuals interested in building their own websites. InDesign allows you to test out the layout of text, graphics, and navigation before building the site, ultimately saving time and making the development process more productive.

Learn InDesign Skills with Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop offers a wide range of training options for students seeking to learn Adobe InDesign. Ranging from introductory courses such as InDesign in a Day to immersive career training programs like the Graphic Design Certificate program, Noble has a training program built to fit your needs. These courses are all taught by professional instructors with years of training as both teachers and graphic designers. Each course comes with the option to retake the course for free within a year of the initial enrollment, meaning that students have the option to take the courses again in order to receive more hands-on experience with InDesign or to gain more training in skills that they found difficult the first time through.

The Adobe InDesign Bootcamp gives students hands-on experience working with InDesign through exercises that mirror the kinds of projects that professional Graphic Designers would work on. Students will learn how to create layouts with InDesign’s text, color, and graphic tools, they will learn how to import formats and styles to easily build layouts, and they will learn how to work with parent pages to easily create complex, multi-page designs for projects like brochures and magazines. This course is ideal for students who want to learn the advanced features of InDesign within a professional context. At the end of this bootcamp, students will be prepared to use InDesign as part of their professional lives, and they will be able to demonstrate to their employers that they have received in-depth InDesign training.

Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate program takes this InDesign training and pairs it with career-focused training in Photoshop and Illustrator. Students will learn the background of graphic design, receiving training in philosophies of composition, color theory, and typography. Then, they will learn how to use Illustrator and Photoshop to create digital illustrations and assets that can be imported to InDesign to populate finished page layouts. Bringing these programs together, the Graphic Design Certificate program is built to take students from novice users to trained designers, aiming to help them find a new career once they’ve completed the course. This certificate program also provides students with one-on-one career mentoring so that when the course is complete, graduates will be ready to enter the workforce as Graphic Designers.

Key Takeaways

• InDesign skills can be applied to a number of creative, publishing, marketing, and technical professions.
• Common professions that use InDesign include graphic design, digital design, digital and social media marketing, publishing, and copywriting, among others.
• InDesign has a number of uses beyond professional skill development.
• InDesign skills can be applied to personal projects that involve designing documents or building your own websites. 
• InDesign skills are excellent for entrepreneurs who wish to build an online presence or create business documents and other print materials.
• You can receive comprehensive InDesign training through Noble Desktop, either in person or online.