Adobe InDesign is a page layout design application that sees near ubiquitous use in the traditional print publishing industry. Whether you are designing a magazine page, a poster, a business card, a pamphlet or an entire book, there is a good chance you will use InDesign to construct the layout and populate it before publication. The program has been the industry-standard for page layout design since its release in 1999 (supplanting Adobe’s other page layout application PageMaker). While the tool is less used as digital design becomes more central to even the traditional publishing industry, learning to use InDesign is still a vital tool for a large swath of creative professionals. One way to ensure you have the training you need to find a job using Adobe InDesign is to become certified in the program, either by completing a certificate-granting program or passing Adobe’s certification exam. Read on to learn more about the options students have for becoming certified in InDesign.
Noble Desktop: InDesign Bootcamp
Key Information: This 18-hour, full-time training program offers students the opportunity to learn InDesign in-person at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan campus or in a live digital classroom. Students who complete the course will receive a certificate of completion that signals their industry-recognized skills training, and all students will be able to retake the course for free within one year.
Noble Desktop offers an InDesign Bootcamp for students looking to learn how to use the program to build everything from one-page advertisements to multi-page brochures. During this course, students will get hands-on experience working with the application and learn how it is utilized in various professional contexts. This course is designed to provide students with the comprehensive training they need to start using InDesign professionally. The program is designed with beginners in mind, so students with no prior design experience are welcome to start learning how to use the application. By the end of the program, students will have a thorough understanding of Adobe InDesign, its practical functionalities and the ways in which it is integrated with other Adobe Creative Cloud applications.
This course introduces students to the basic InDesign interface and teaches them how to create simple, single-page layouts for projects like advertising posters, infographics and business cards. Students will learn basic design principles, including how to work with color and text and the ways in which page designs need to guide a viewer’s attention and direct their eyelines. Students will also learn how to use InDesign to build templates and multi-page layouts using InDesign’s Parent Page system. This training will help students improve their workflow with the application and build larger and more complex designs. Finally, students will learn to work with InDesign tools like anchored objects, tables and libraries.
This course runs for 18 hours over three days, and students will have the opportunity to take the course in-person at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan campus or online in a private digital classroom. Regardless, students who enroll in this program will receive expert instruction from Noble’s experienced graphic design experts, and since the courses take place in real time, they can get immediate feedback and assistance on their work. Students will work on practical design projects that they can add to their professional portfolio, and since the course is career-focused, all of the lessons will mirror real-world projects. Students who complete the course will receive an official, industry-recognized certificate of proficiency, and all students will have the chance to retake the class within one year, giving them even more chances to practice using InDesign.
Noble Desktop: Graphic Design Certificate
Key Information: This career-focused training program runs in one-month full-time and three-month part-time sessions at Noble Desktop’s Manhattan campus and in live online classrooms. Students enrolled in this program will receive live professional instruction and professional development services, including one-on-one career mentoring sessions and portfolio development workshops. Students will also have the opportunity to retake the course for free within one year.
Students seeking a more comprehensive, career-based training program should consider Noble Desktop’s Graphic Design Certificate program. In this course, students will learn how to use the industry's three most common desktop graphic design applications: Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. In this career-focused training program, students will learn through hands-on design exercises that mirror real-world projects and get detailed training in design theories and philosophies that will help strengthen their work. Despite being a beginner-friendly program, the course aims to ensure that once a student graduates, they will be prepared to start working in the field of graphic design in a professional capacity.
Students will begin by learning theories of design and composition, including color theory and principles related to typography, organization and viewer engagement. Then, students will learn how to use Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop to apply those theories and principles to practical designs. Students will get experience using Photoshop as a retouching and photo manipulation tool and Illustrator as a vector-graphics drawing application. Then, students will learn how to use InDesign to create page layouts for everything from posters to brochures that will be populated with their Photoshop and Illustrator designs. One of the reasons that Adobe applications are so popular in the industry is that they are closely integrated, and students will learn how knowing all the major design applications complement one another and open up new creative possibilities for designers.
This program is offered in full-time and part-time sessions; students can take the course in-person or online. In any case, students enrolled in the course will receive detailed professional instruction from experienced design experts and be able to ask questions and receive feedback in real time. The lessons are designed to prepare students for professional design work, and the hands-on instruction aims to ensure that students are comfortable using these tools. In addition, students will be working on practical projects to add to the design portfolios they take onto the job market. In addition to portfolio-building workshops, students enrolled in this class will receive one-on-one career mentoring sessions that they can use to address any issues they have in their job search, and students can retake the course for free within one year.
Adobe: Adobe InDesign Certified Professional
Key Information: Adobe offers a professional certification award to students who successfully pass their fifty-minute skills proficiency exam in Adobe InDesign. Adobe anticipates the exam will require 150 hours of professional training or experience. The certification is good for three years.
Students with existing InDesign training or experience should consider becoming certified by completing the Adobe InDesign Certified Professional exam. This exam is designed to test professionals’ knowledge of the design industry and their proficiency with InDesign. The exam covers general-purpose questions about working with clients and collaborators (including broad philosophical and specific legal questions) and practical skills demonstrations of a student’s ability to use InDesign. Students will need to demonstrate organizational skills and proficiency with the InDesign interface. The bulk of the exam covers the student’s knowledge of creating and editing layouts using InDesign, with the final section of the exam covering their ability to prepare a completed file for publication.
This exam lasts fifty minutes, and it is available for students at dedicated test centers or online on their own personal computers. The exam covers a wide variety of InDesign skills, and Adobe anticipates that prospective test-takers will need about 150 hours of InDesign training and practical experience to pass the exam. Adobe doesn’t provide formal skills training but offers free study materials, supplemental training content and sample exams for students looking to prepare for the text. Students who pass the exam will receive a professional certification that lasts for three years, at which point students will need to pass the most recent version to keep their certification up-to-date.
Adobe: Visual Design Specialty
Key Information: The Adobe Visual Design Specialty certification is awarded to students who pass Photoshop and one or both of the Illustrator and InDesign certification exams. Nothing about the content of the exams changes, but the certification signals a student’s more robust understanding of graphic design tools.
Adobe also offers a specialty certification award to students who pass multiple complementary exams to indicate a robust professional certification. One of these programs is the Visual Design Certified Professional Specialty which combines the Adobe Photoshop certification exam and one or both of the Illustrator and InDesign exams. The program allows students to take their existing knowledge of these applications and receive a certification that indicates that they are prepared to start working on elaborate design projects that require more than one graphic design application. At the time of writing, there is no other specialty certification option that includes the InDesign certification exam.
The visual design specialty is a specific certification awarded to students who pass the relevant exams as part of their own professional development. This means that nothing about the exams change for students pursuing this path. Each exam remains independent of one another, and they are all fifty-minute, in-person or online affairs. It is worth considering that there is professional overlap between the applications, so some of the subjects covered between the exams may be similar. Nevertheless, students are encouraged to treat each exam as a separate test of their knowledge and skills, anticipating that 150 hours of training will be necessary. Like the individual exams, the specialty will expire after three years, after which students must retake any certification exams that have lapsed.
Training Connection: InDesign Bootcamp
Key Information: Training Connections offers a live online InDesign bootcamp for five days of full-time study. The program aims to provide students with professional InDesign skills. Students who complete the program will receive a certificate of completion, and anyone enrolled in the course can retake it for free within six months.
Training Connection offers a robust InDesign Bootcamp that provides students with live, hands-on instruction in using the page layout application. In this program, students will learn basic and advanced InDesign skills, and they will learn through interactive, practical projects that give them experience designing real-world layouts. The course begins with lessons in basic page layout design, and students will create posters, advertisements and other single and double-page layouts. Then, students will begin incorporating more complex elements into their designs, including graphics, tables, indexes and appendices. By the end of the program, students will have built nearly a dozen different page design projects, including interactive digital layouts and templates that they can apply to many different projects. The program aims to give students a robust skill set they can draw upon when using Adobe InDesign.
The program runs for five days of full-time study and is taught through a live, online delivery system. Students will learn InDesign from skilled instructors who can provide feedback and assistance when issues arise. The course aims to teach students how to use InDesign in a professional setting, which includes learning common workflow, collaboration and efficiency skills. Students enrolled in this course will receive a first-party training manual covering basic and advanced InDesign skills and a certificate of completion upon graduation. In addition, anyone enrolled in the class can take it again, for free, within six months, giving themselves even more opportunities to practice with InDesign.
Ledet Training: Adobe InDesign Bootcamp
Key Information: This five-day full-time Adobe InDesign training program combines three different levels of Ledet’s InDesign training courses. Students who enroll in this course will receive live online instruction, and graduating students will receive a signed certificate of proficiency.
Ledet Training combines its Adobe InDesign 101,201, and 301 training programs into its Adobe InDesign Bootcamp. As an Adobe-certified training provider, Leder Training offers a robust InDesign instruction program for students looking to learn how to use the program in a professional capacity or looking to pass a certification exam. The course begins by introducing students to the basics of designing page layouts and the processes that go into building simple advertisements, posters, or business cards. Students will then start working with more complex design projects, including building indexes, title pages, templates and appendices. Students will also learn how InDesign can be used in web design projects. Finally, students will work extensively on creating ebooks and other electronic publications, one of the most rapidly expanding fields for InDesign professionals. This program aims to provide students with robust InDesign training that they can apply to a wide range of professional contexts.
This program combines multiple courses that last for about a week, and students can enroll in the individual courses on their own schedule. Ledet Training is a certified Adobe skills training program, meaning that the lessons that they teach will apply to students looking to pass the InDesign Certified Professional exam. Live online instructors teach the classes, and students who complete the program will receive a certificate of completion that signals their professional skills training. Ledet Training also allows students to register for the Adobe certification exam, but the exam cost is not included in any of their training programs.
FMC Training Center: Adobe InDesign Master Class
Key Information: This live online training program lasts five days and combines an introductory and advanced InDesign course. This course gives students a career-focused education in Adobe InDesign, and students who complete the class will receive an official certificate. The course allows students to prepare for the Certified Professional exams with a certified-training provider.
FMC Training Center is a certified Adobe applications training program that provides students with an Adobe InDesign Master Class, combining their beginner and advanced InDesign classes into a single comprehensive program. Students new to using the application will get hands-on experience building simple page layout designs in the introductory course, learning how to create designs that include objects, assets created in other programs and text. Students will also learn how to create tables and modify graphic designs to add to their InDesign layouts. In the advanced portion of the course, students will take their knowledge of InDesign and begin creating complex, multi-page layouts that utilize the application's more elaborate design features. Students will learn how to manage color, create template layouts and add interactivity and animation to their designs. Finally, students will learn how to prepare complex, completed page layouts for online and digital publication. This program aims to provide students with a complete picture of the projects that InDesign is built to handle, it provides them with the skills necessary to work with the program professionally.
This course is available through live online instruction and takes place over five full-time sessions. Since it combines introductory and advanced classes, students can enroll in those courses back-to-back or take a break between sessions. The program gives students the flexibility they need to learn InDesign at a professional level, and students who complete the course will receive a professional development certificate. FMC is also an official provider of the Adobe Certified Professional exam, meaning that all of these training programs consider the importance of this exam when designing their lessons. In addition to the training provided in this course, they also offer free and paid on-demand support for test takers preparing for the exam. The exam price is not included in any of these training services.
UCLA Extension: InDesign
Key Information: This asynchronous, online training program runs for 11 weeks and requires students to complete practical InDesign assignments and exercises regularly. Students can interface with their instructors and classmates over a digital learning platform. Students who graduate will receive a signed certificate from the university.
Offered through the UCLA extension school, this InDesign course offers students a flexible, part-time option for learning the program online. Students enrolled in this course will learn how to create evocative page designs using basic techniques and tools like style brushes and grids. This will help introduce students to the design principles used to make memorable print objects and page layouts. Then, students will learn more advanced InDesign techniques, like creating templates, multi-page layouts and layouts with interactive or digital assets. Over the course of the seminar, students will learn how these skills can be practically applied to the design of print media like brochures, magazines, and books, and advertising and promotional materials like brand identity, annual reports, print advertisements, and catalogs. This course will give students the robust InDesign knowledge they need to start creating their own elaborate designs for a wide variety of different professional and personal projects.
This program is taught through live online instruction, and there are no formal online meetings for the course. UCLA schedules the class for eleven weeks, during which students can interact directly with their classmates and instructors as their schedules permit. Assignments are due regularly as a means of keeping students up-to-date and on track with their lessons, but the course still gives students the flexibility they need to work on assignments as their schedule allows. The program expects only a few hours of work a week from students while still providing them with a comprehensive InDesign education. Students who graduate from the course will receive a certificate of completion from UCLA.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Difference Between a Certificate and a Certification?
Students coming to their InDesign training as novices may be surprised to learn that there are differences between certifications and certificates. While they are both ways to become certified and demonstrate your InDesign proficiency to potential employers, they gauge your proficiency differently. Certifications are awarded to students who pass proctored exams authorized by first-party publishers (in this case, Adobe). These exams test whether or not a student has the skills and knowledge necessary to utilize all of the major aspects of the program in a professional capacity and, since they test existing skills, expect students to build their knowledge base before taking the exam. As such, they do not tend to come with any formal training, though Adobe (and many third-party providers) offer free or paid training materials and sample exams. Certifications tend to expire after a fixed period of time, after which students will need to take a more recent version of the exam to become recertified.
Certificates are more akin to diplomas and are awarded to students who complete industry-recognized training programs that provide them with the InDesign skills they need to utilize the program professionally. These courses aim to give students training in InDesign so that they can feel comfortable working with the program and signal to employers that they have received dedicated training in using the application. These programs tend to be longer and more expensive, but they provide students with the skills training that they would already have dedicated the time and effort to master elsewhere. Certificate programs also often come with career-support services to help students prepare for the job market, and they do not tend to expire.
Do I Need to Become Certified to Find a Job?
While it will vary from job opening to job opening, very few InDesign-related jobs will require applicants to have any specific form of certification. However, becoming certified is still a good way to set your application apart from the competition in the eyes of prospective employers. Being certified in InDesign will signal that you are prepared to start working immediately and know your way around the program. In addition, students who complete a certificate-granting program are likely to have spent time building a design portfolio of practical layouts that they can add to their job materials. This will make them even more marketable since the portfolio is often the most important part of a job application.
How Can I Become Certified?
This best method for becoming certified will depend on how much experience you have working with InDesign and your long-term career goals with the program. Students with experience, either through professional training or on-the-job experience, are most likely to benefit from taking a certification exam. Since these exams test existing skills, they are ideally suited for students with formal skills training. They are also less time-consuming than certificate programs, which makes them less of a hassle to complete if you are confident in your training. Since these certifications do expire, professionals will need to keep this in mind and keep themselves up-to-date on their InDesign training, though they are likely to achieve this in their professional lives.
Students needing more training or without experience will want to consider enrolling in a certificate-granting program. These courses are a space for students to get hands-on experience working with InDesign and guided instruction in using the application in professional settings. These courses tend to be offered to novice designers and are a good way to develop marketable skills. In these classes, experienced instructors will guide students through building simple and advanced layouts in InDesign, and students will learn the skills that certification exams test them on. Owing to this, certificate-granting programs are also a good place for students to train or study for the Adobe InDesign Certified Professional exam.
Students with larger career aspirations such as those looking to start a new job or break into a new industry, are likely to want to enroll in a more immersive certificate program, like Noble Desktop’s Graphic Design Certificate program. This course aims to teach students the skills they will need to become professional Graphic Designers, even if they have no experience in the field. Covering a wide range of different design skills and topics, courses like these are designed to set students without prior design training up for long-term success in professional creative industries. These programs are longer and more involved than specific skills courses (an introductory InDesign class may take two days, and a career-certificate program might take two months), but students who complete these classes will see their lifetime earning potential increase significantly. They are a greater investment, so students should consider whether or not a career change is in the cards.
How Do I Prepare for a Certification Exam?
Students looking to pass a certification exam will want to ensure they are adequately prepared before sitting for the text. Adobe recommends that students have over 150 hours of practical experience before they complete the certification exam, so students with a decent amount of training may want to take advantage of preparatory study materials before they attempt the InDesign Certified Professional exam. Many service providers, including Adobe, offer free or paid study materials, exam overviews and sample tests that students can use to prepare themselves.Â
Students who think they will need more professional assistance may want to consider enrolling in an advanced InDesign course to receive supplemental training on the skills their exam will test. This can be a more immersive way to prepare for an exam, particularly if you aren’t as confident in your InDesign skills as you would like. Many advanced courses are designed with the exam in mind, so students should consider how focused they want their training to be. Certificate-granting programs can be longer and more expensive, but they are great places to bolster your training and improve your chances of passing a certification exam.