Good book for learning InDesign ?

[QT Luong]

I've been tinkering with Adobe InDesign. I managed to make a few sample pages for a photo book proposal, however I realize the need of a good tutorial. Something not geared to experienced users, not too long, illustrated with good design, and possibly relevant to bookmaking. I've looked at the beginning of an online video tutorial at http://movielibrary.lynda.com/home/D....aspx?lpk2=349 but I think I'd rather use a book.

Any recommendations for a InDesign book ?

[Martin Miller]

Not cheap, but I've found these tutorials get me productive much faster than learning from a book. You might still want a book for broader coverage of the details although you can generally learn how to do specific things by googling.

http://www.totaltraining.com/prod/ad...igncs4_ess.asp

Depends on how much time you have to devote to it. For me inDesign is not real intuitive.

[r.e.]

When I was learning this programme about three years ago, I picked up books by the usual suspects and found myself drowning in minutiae. Then I found a book by a gentleman named Nigel French, whose book called InDesign Type: Professional Typography with Adobe InDesign CS2 was a breath of fresh air. There have been a couple of iterations of InDesign since, but this book cuts through a lot of the complexity and puts the programme in the broader context of what design is about. Here is the Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/InDesign-Type-...846641&sr=8-36

If you want to get the best out of the programme, I strongly recommend Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style, which is a delightful read as well as being pretty much the bible on book design and typography: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Typog...5847257&sr=1-1

There is also Marshall Lee's Bookmaking: Editing, Design, Production, which is very good, but focused on nuts and bolts and increasingly dated: http://www.amazon.com/Bookmaking-Edi...847642&sr=1-14

[QT Luong]

Robert, thanks for the recommendation, but aren't those books focused primarily on type ? I understand type is important, but my interest is to make a photo book.

[r.e.]

They are focused on book design, and in the case of French on designing books with InDesign in particular. Bringhurst's chapters on the physical book (essentially, layout) are just plain brilliant. All of these books deal with type as an important element of design; which it is, even for books consisting of graphics or photographs. I doubt very much if you will find a text on book design that is worth reading that doesn't deal with type. For a book designer, typography is itself an important element of the graphic design, and an inescapable one, starting with the title on the cover.

[r.e.]

QT, if the only reason that you want to learn InDesign is to put together a pitch/proposal on a book, save yourself the learning curve, which is significant, and do the proposal in Word. InDesign is pointless unless you are designing.

[Jon Shiu]

Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book is a good tutorial.

Jon

[J D Clark]

I like "Real World InDesign CS4." It has all the information needed to make a photo book.

I found the Classroom in a Book a little harder to negotiate; more of a structured tutorial, and I didn't have the patience to go through the tutorials step-by-step.

John Clark
www.johndclark.com

[QT Luong]

QT, if the only reason that you want to learn InDesign is to put together a pitch/proposal on a book, save yourself the learning curve, which is significant, and do the proposal in Word. InDesign is pointless unless you are designing.

I don't know how to use Word (besides using it to read some business documents sent to me). I don't use any Microsoft software, but I have CS3. I also may end up actually designing in a variety of scenarios.

[Kuzano]

In my experience, the first place to look is the Adobe Press books. I've often found them to be as good or better than most of the third party materials out there.

There is a book listed as a favorite for InDesign on this web page:

http://www.adobepress.com/index.asp

Also, don't overlook the Classroom in a Book titles, which are done expressly by Adobe.

http://www.adobepress.com/series/series.asp?ser=334674

I have an 80 year old, ABSOLUTELY computer illiterate client, who won't even hook up to the internet. I gave him my Adobe Press classroom in a book for Photoshop Elements 6.0. I am amazed at the progress he is making on photo editing by following the step by step instructions from the book. I'd say the Adobe Press books are definitely for beginners.