60 best tutorials for learning InDesign

June 20th, 2016
Tutorials

Adobe InDesign has been the primary tool used by print designers for almost a decade now. It offers numerous features and capabilities that make it an ideal choice for both beginners and experienced professionals. However, the software can be overwhelming to use due to the sheer number of features packed into it.

That’s why we have compiled a comprehensive list of the best InDesign tutorials available online to help you improve your skills and expand your knowledge of the software. These resources are especially useful for graphic designers who are just starting out and want to familiarize themselves with the tools and features available in InDesign.

In this list, you’ll find a variety of tutorials that cover different aspects of InDesign, such as typography, layout design, and even interactive features. By bookmarking and referring back to this list in the future, you will have a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips that will help you become a better designer.

Furthermore, we encourage you to share any InDesign tutorials that we may have missed in the comments section below. We believe in the power of collaboration and are always looking to add to our list of resources. Let’s work together to help others learn and grow their skills in InDesign!

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1. Design a Custom, Print Ready Pocket Folder in Adobe InDesign

A pocket folder is a very powerful business device when created the right way. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to set up a dieline, create a multi-page spread with bleed to accommodate your dieline, and apply a full design to the exterior and interior of the pocket folder in Adobe InDesign. This pocket folder will highlight two popular folder styles in one: the hidden pocket and standard pocket. Finally, you’ll learn how to save your print ready file for delivery to your printer.

2. Use a column grid to align your typography

In this tutorial It will show you how to set up a column grid structure the old-fashioned way. Of course, InDesign enables you to create columns (the quick way) with margins and gutters when you create a new document, but by mastering column-grid structures in Illustrator, you can gain a real understanding of the mathematics and principles involved in creating the perfect grid-based design.

3. Design a Fold-Out City Guide in Adobe InDesign

Designing a print document that’s going to be folded can be tricky, but in this tutorial we look at how you can make it ultra simple… and fun!

4. How to Create Layouts for a Fashion Magazine in Adobe InDesign

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to design your own three-spread layout for a magazine feature using Adobe InDesign. We’ll look at how to prepare a grid, work with Masters to create visual uniformity across the pages, and how to select colors, images and typefaces to create a professional-standard design.

5. Invitation Design in Adobe InDesign

Associate Designer for Layers Magazine, Christy Winter creates a Baby Shower/Party Invitation in InDesign with downloadable files so you can follow along!.

6. Quick Tip: Basic Page Numbering with InDesign CS5

In this tutorial you will gain experience working with the page palette and special characters to make a basic page numbering system. You will also learn a few shortcuts that will help you work faster with InDesign.

7. Designing a Basic Letterhead with InDesign

Quick Tip you are going to set up a letterhead within InDesign. However, before we can start, you need to have a logo, some content (you can also use place holder text) and contact details ready.

8. Create an InDesign Table from an Excel File

In this tutorial you are going to take a look at how to create a table from an Excel file using Table Styles. To spice things little bit up we will add a neat drop shadow effect to our table and also a nice background image.

9. Create a 3D calendar with InDesign

In this tutorial your create a cube net utilising some of the great functions in InDesign, including smart guides, X and Y positioning, and the height and width text fields. The usual choice for vector graphics work would be Illustrator, but for me it’s faster to work in InDesign – the program has many of the same functions as Illustrator, so it can easily be used to create simple vector-based graphics.

10. How to Design an Effective eBook Cover Using Adobe InDesign

Digital publishing is an ever-growing industry. Both professional and self-published authors are taking advantage of the eBook medium to reach larger readerships and offer their literary work at great value prices.

11. Design a Hardback Cover for a Young Adult Fiction Book in Adobe InDesign

In this tutorial we’ll be creating a design for a hardback dust jacket, with flaps that allow the jacket to fold over the hardcover.

12. An Intermediate Guide to Stylesheets for Adobe InDesign

When laying out a publication, consistency is key. Having the same look and feel throughout a book or magazine is essential to the viewer’s reading experience. But maintaining the same fonts, spacing, and styles in a 200-page catalog can be painstaking. Luckily stylesheets are there to save hours upon hours of work hunting down inconsistent formatting when making edits to text and graphics

13. Create layouts faster in InDesign

These intuitive features enable you to manipulate objects without having to leave the spread or constantly switch tools – shaving valuable seconds off repetitive tasks.

14. Using the Auto-Fit feature in InDesign CS5

The introduction of the Auto-Fit feature to CS5 should not be over looked. By the end of this Quick tip you – the designer – will be able to save some valuable time when importing images and graphics.

15. How To Create A Modern CV/Resumé With InDesign

In this tutorial we’re going to be learning how to use InDesign to create a clean and structured CV/Resumé design. We will be using basic tools and techniques (but ever so important ones!) to create the design. If you haven’t already, you should check out our “Getting To Grips With InDesign” series to brush up on your InDesign skills.

16. Use glyphs to design a poster

This tutorial will take an in-depth look at InDesign’s Glyphs panel, showing you how to use glyphs and all the options available to speed up your workflow.

17. Keys to Alignment in InDesign CS6

Jeff Witchel goes through the alignment features in InDesign CS6, starting with the basics and moving on to new features like the ability to align selected objects to a key object.

18. Formatting Typography and the Use of Styles in Adobe InDesign

This tutorial assumes you already know some of the basics of InDesign, but I will cover some of the basics quickly for new users. We’ll look at paragraph styles first, and then learn about character styles.

19. Place and Link Multiple Instances of the Same Content in Adobe InDesign

Place and Link is a very useful feature in Adobe InDesign CS6 and onwards, which can link several instances of the same content or objects in your InDesign projects. In this tutorial you will learn how to make the most of this new feature and understand the many advantages of it.

20. An Introduction to Typesetting Books in Adobe InDesign

In this tutorial you’ll create the inside pages for a short, eight-page section of a book, the much-loved classic Moby Dick by Herman Melville. You will learn how to create Masters with page numbers and running headers, thread text throughout the book, choose appropriate sizing and fonts, and apply Styles to the text.

21. Design a Fashion Magazine Cover in Adobe InDesign

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create your own cover for a fictional fashion magazine, with a glamorous winter feel. We’ll explore how to use layer images and text to create a dynamic, three-dimensional design, select and apply typography effectively and appropriately, and account for practical issues like pricing and binding.

22. Design Striking Layouts for Your Own Cookery Book Using InDesign

In this tutorial you’ll create a variety of layouts for a Cookery Book intended for self-publishing, either in print or as an eBook, using Adobe InDesign. I’ll show you how you can showcase simple, striking photos to create minimal, colourful designs for your pages.

23. How White Space Can Transform Your Adobe InDesign Layouts

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a simple two-sided flyer in Adobe InDesign, create a simple grid for feeding in text and images, and be sparing with placing your elements to create a contemporary, calming design.

24. Design a Glamorous Art Deco Menu in Adobe InDesign

25. Booklet Essentials: Page Counts and Binding

Booklets are an extremely versatile print design thanks to their size, format and ease of use. You’ve more than likely run across booklets when skimming through a playbill at your local theater or a retail catalog in the mail. Those are the common uses, but booklets can also be used in a variety of marketing situations such as chapter sample booklets for authors, mini brochures, media kits for blog sponsorship, and more.

26. Speed up your InDesign layouts

Neshantheny Kumana simplifies object selection and frame editing with InDesign’s easy-to-use Gap tool and Live Corner Effects.

27. Quick Tip: Designing a Basic Compliment Slip with InDesign CS5

Make the most of InDesign’s tools and features to create an Compliment Slip for yourself or client. During this tut we will explore the Page tool and palette, Guides and Rulers.

28. Quick Tip: Creating a French Fold Template in InDesign

In this Quick Tip you will learn how to make a French Fold template using Indesign version CS3 through to CS5. This tut will explain how to set your InDesign document up for printing, including guidance on safe areas/bleed, orientation of the panels and using guides.

29. Create a newsprint publication

Creating your own newsprint publication doesn’t have to be difficult. With some forward planning and a smooth workflow in place, it’s possible to produce a well-designed publication with a clear purpose. Key to this process is having a clear knowledge of what your publication will be and who you’re targeting it at.

30. Master InDesign’s Page tool

Neshantheny Kumana demonstrates an easy way to control multiple page sizes within a single document.

31. Magazine Cover Design in InDesign

It may sound like a simple thing, but you better believe that a lot of thought goes into the design of a magazine cover. Covers compete for attention next to dozens of other magazines on the rack. In this tutorial, we’ll not only take you through the process of creating a cover, but also reveal techniques that designers use to make their covers stand out.

32. Design distinctive monotone layouts

Designing for print with one or two colours can create a beautiful, pared-back effect, giving a project a refined feel, and saving money in the process. Limiting your colour choice can also leave you to focus on layout, and the relationship between the type and images – it’s a good way to learn the basics.

33. How to Create a Professional Magazine Layout

34. Master multi-doc projects with the Book function

David Donaghy demonstrates the simple way to bring control and consistency to your projects.

35. Quick Tip: Creating Live Captions in InDesign CS5

Live captions are perfect for adding descriptions to images placed within an InDesign document. InDesign uses the metadata from an imported file and generates a text frame. For example, if you have a contact sheet set up from an image library you can use Live Caption to automatically add descriptions to each frame. If you are interested in saving time, read on.

36. Quick Tip: How to Make Tables With Rounded Corners in InDesign

This tutorial will show you how to make fully editable tables with rounded corners in InDesign, quickly and easily. It’s actually a bit trickier than you would expect it to be, but if you follow this Quick Tip you will be making great looking tables in no-time!

37. Designing a Business Card in InDesign

In this tutorial Christy Winter, Associate Designer for Layers Magazine, creates a Business Card in InDesign and shows how using Layers, Libraries and Object Styles can save you time.

38. Design a simple index with InDesign

An index can give any published title authority, as well as increased usability, yet some designers are still none the wiser about how best to create one. There are many different kinds of index, so I’ll walk you through the basics, which will enable you to get started. I’ll be using samples from a title that I’ve been working on recently, indexing just one section of the brochure.

39. Quick Tip: Using Nested Styles with InDesign

You probably use Paragraph Styles to format text. Nested Styles takes it a step further by allowing you to set up multiple styles within a paragraph, based on criteria that you specify. Taking some time to create a Nested Style upfront will save you lots of time in the long run.

40. Quick Tip: Using the Print Booklet Feature in InDesign CS5

Sitting at the bottom of the File menu within InDesign is the Print Booklet feature. This feature has the potential to virtually cut out imposition time and for that reason it should not be overlooked. As print machines, paper sizes and ways of working vary I will try to keep this tut as generalised as possible. However the tut will be easier to follow if your design is portrait, saddle stitched(stapled) and contains eight pages or more.

41. Preparing InDesign Files for your Print Service

Often times when it comes to preparing files for a printer it can get really complicated really fast. Often times when I’m creating a design there are a lot of elements that I use in a file, most of which are images and fonts. It’s so complicated to remember EVERYTHING you put into a file so I discovered this cool trick you can use in InDesign to help package up all of your information for you! That way you don’t have to worry about missing anything. The function is called packaging. Here is how to package a fileand what it does exactly.

42. Design a Coffee Shop Menu Layout from Scratch with Photoshop and InDesign

This is the second part of this tutorial series about creating a ready to print booklet menu for an imaginary coffee shop named “Violet Coffee.” In this final part of the two part series, you’ll learn to create a ready to print booklet on InDesign, work with master pages, text, tabs, paragraph and character styles, import external files and actually print the booklet.

43. Create a Five-color Magazine Cover using a Spot Metallic

This is an advanced tutorial commissioned especially for Graphic Design Week. I’ll demonstrate how to integrate a spot-colormetallic ink into your workflow using InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and Acrobat Professional.

44. Design a Print-ready Ad in Adobe InDesign

Want to learn how to make an ad that could go into a magazine? Jump into Adobe InDesign with this real-world tutorial on creating a print-ready ad. This tutorial is perfect for you if you’re familiar with Adobe Illustrator and want to get started with a layout program suited toward publication design.

45. Create Numbered Tickets the Easy Way in InDesign

In this tutorial, It will ll explain how to do an easy setup in InDesign for automatically numbered tickets. We will look at the handy “Data Merge Tool,” which is a great time-saver.

46. Master PDF exports

Adobe instructor Tony Harmer shows you how use CS4 to create PDFs for every occasion.

47. Using InDesign to Publish Your iPad Magazine

Adobe just took the wraps off the long-awaited Digital Publishing Suite that powers the Wired magazine and The New Yorker iPad apps. With InDesign CS5 at the core, you can now author your layouts, including interactive content, and export it out in the new .issue format.

48. How to Create a Music Magazine Cover in InDesign

In this tutorial, you’ll look at how to create a magazine cover in InDesign. You’ll learn how to set up a page layout and add text. This is an introduction to InDesign and no previous knowledge is required. This is a simple project put together to help get you started with InDesign.

49. How to Create a Flag Graphic with Type in InDesign

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use InDesign’s ability to create type on a curve, and flow that type from one curve to another. Along the way, you’ll learn a slick technique for step and repeat and how to apply gradients to text. This technique will work in InDesign CS or later. This technique would also will work in Illustrator, with minor modifications.

50. Magazine Design with InDesign Part 1 of 3

As faculty advisor to a student newspaper, I’ve seen what problems university students often run into and concepts that are most useful to them when laying out a publication in InDesign. In my opinion, Adobe InDesign is the best layout software available. If you have Adobe InDesign CS2 or later (or an earlier version, though some steps may be slightly different), you can follow along with this three-part tutorial in creating a small four-page magazine, in order to learn a few techniques and concepts along the way.

51. Create a newsprint magazine

Studio Newwork walks through the design process behind its large-format biannual arts title magazine.

52. Create a Grid Based Resume/CV Layout in InDesign

Use the power of grid based designs to create a structured and professional page layout in InDesign, which can then be populated with a range of information to produce a polished CV or Resume.

53. Work with type in InDesign

When it comes to typography, everyone has their own preferences, from typefaces to weight to alignment.

54. Work style magic in InDesign

Tony Harmer demonstrates how to harness various style options to speed up your work with both text and graphics.

55. How to Create a Coupon in InDesign

In this tutorial, you’ll explain how to create a coupon, double-sided in InDesign. This is a beginner level tutorial and by no means meant for print. It gives you a small intro into tabs, style sheets and glyphs.

56. Create and Print a Brochure with Photoshop, Indesign and UPrinting.com

Years ago when I first decided that I’d like to try out print design (my background is in web and screen work), I had this impression that there was some magically difficult things you had to know to get stuff printed. The reality is that for simple projects it’s actually very easy. In this tutorial I will walk you through the complete process of designing a simple brochure, getting it ready for print and then actually uploading it to a commercial online printer, checking the proof and seeing the finished product.

58. Design a multi-page mag feature

One of the new features introduced in InDesign CS5 is Live Captions; this feature enables you to generate captions using information stored or added to an image’s metadata. It also offers you a number of different methods you can use to generate captions, controlling the look, location and style of the caption.