Exclusive Excerpt: Adobe InDesign CS2 @Work by Cate Brosseau Indiano

Exclusive excerpt of new, projects-based how-to book on Adobe InDesign CS2.

Adobe InDesign CS2 @ Work

Quark VS InDesign​.com is proud to host an exclu­sive excerpt from Cate Brosseau Indiano’s Adobe InDesign CS2 @Work: Projects You Can Use on the Job, a projects-based book that teach­es you InDesign CS2 in the con­text of real-world projects that graph­ic design­ers and pro­duc­tion artists must com­plete every day on the job in agen­cies, pro­duc­tion depart­ments, and free­lance assign­ments. Adobe InDesign CS2 @Work, which dis­cuss­es why you would choose a par­tic­u­lar tool, task, or method­ol­o­gy as well as how to use them, focus­es on under­stand­ing and build­ing an effi­cient work­flow around InDesign-based projects.

From the book’s introduction:

When we first start­ed dis­cussing this series, I kept think­ing of it as cur­ricu­lum and then I adjust­ed my think­ing to “self-taught” cur­ricu­lum. I’m a trainer–hands-on, onsite, instructor-led is our mantra. Throughout the years, I can’t remem­ber find­ing a pub­lished work I felt con­tained exer­cis­es geared to our cus­tomer base. They either were too basic or taught fea­tures that would be infre­quent­ly used.

So, in devel­op­ing the out­line for the book, it was impor­tant that I kept in mind you, the read­er. Who are you? I imag­ine you are in some form of mar­ket­ing, com­mu­ni­ca­tions, pub­lish­ing, or graph­ic arts.

You need a prac­ti­cal guide to step you through com­mon lay­outs and pub­li­ca­tions using the fea­tures of an appli­ca­tion you bare­ly know, if at all. In addi­tion, you prob­a­bly have lit­tle or no expe­ri­ence with regard to media pro­duc­tion and dis­tri­b­u­tion. So, in addi­tion to InDesign skills, you are going to get a healthy dose of prac­ti­cal pro­duc­tion advice from me. 

Geniune projects you create on the job, in the real design world

Adobe InDesign CS2 @Work: Projects You Can Use on the Job is part of a new type of soft­ware learn­ing book from Sam’s Publishing, the @Work series, which includes Adobe Illustrator CS2 @Work by Pariah S. Burke.

Most how-to books teach the broad­est pos­si­ble user base with task-based education–explaining how to draw a shape or add a drop shadow–disconnected tasks that leave the read­er to fig­ure out how to string them togeth­er to build a work­flow. As every­one who has ever tried to learn from one of these books knows, task-based edu­ca­tion fails the vast major­i­ty of learners.

The @Work series approach­es the process of learn­ing mission-critical appli­ca­tions like Adobe Illustrator CS2 and InDesign CS2 from the per­spec­tive of cre­ative pros work­ing in the real, make or break, deadline-driven world of graph­ic design, pub­lish­ing, pre­press, and illus­tra­tion. Each chap­ter of Adobe InDesign CS2 @Work and Adobe Illustrator CS2 @Work is a com­plete project cre­at­ed every day on the job by real pro­fes­sion­al cre­atives. Each project begins with a blank page, and fin­ish­es with pol­ished deliv­er­ables. Along the way, vet­er­an design­ers, print­ing pros, and edu­ca­tors Burke and Indiano teach both how and why to use a par­tic­u­lar tool, com­mand, or technique.

Read cov­er to cov­er, each @Work book teach­es and uses all the appli­ca­tion’s fea­tures and func­tions, but, unlike task-based how-tos, read­ing these books cov­er to cov­er isn’t nec­es­sary to get your job done. Every chap­ter stands on its own as a ful­ly hands-on, start-to-finish project that will teach you and get your work done at the same time. Work with pro­vid­ed sam­ple assets or your client files, to pro­duce real world projects and build com­plete, effec­tive workflows.

Download

Download the Quark VS InDesign​.com exclu­sive excerpt, the com­plete Adobe InDesign CS2 @Work chap­ter 9: “Developing a Newsletter” in ">PDF for­mat (4 MB).

Would you like to read an excerpt from Pariah S. Burke’s Adobe Illustrator CS2 @Work? Designorati hosts the exclu­sive full-chapter excerpt, Chapter 3: “Adding Logos and Artwork to Non-Flat Objects.”