Home / Non-Accredited / Graphic Design & CAD / Graphic Design Fundamentals Training (2 days)
Quick Look Course Summary:Graphic Design Fundamentals Training (2 days)
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Length: 2 day(s)
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Price (at your venue): 1 Person R 10,326 EX VAT 3 Person R 7,594 EX VAT 10 Person R 5,537 EX VAT
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Certification Type:Non-Accredited
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Locations & Venues: Off-site or in-house. We train in all major city centres throughout South Africa.
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Graphic Design Fundamentals Training (2 days)
Your staff produce clear, on-brand flyers, posters and documents – and hand printers files that work first time.
Many businesses pay an agency for every banner, flyer and social tile, or accept home-made artwork that looks cluttered and prints badly. A short graphic design course gives marketing, communications and admin staff the principles and the software skills to handle routine design work themselves – faster, cheaper and closer to the brand.
This two-day foundation course combines design thinking with hands-on software. Day one covers the basics every designer uses – the design process from brief to artwork, layout principles, colour and typography – then moves into Adobe Photoshop to select, retouch, adjust and save images correctly for print and the web. Day two moves to Adobe InDesign to lay out a document: text and image frames, paragraph and character styles, colour swatches, parent pages and tables, followed by production essentials – resolution, bleed, paper and printing, preflight and print-ready PDF.
Every session ends with a practical task, and the course finishes with a one-page flyer taken from brief to print-ready PDF and reviewed against the design principles. Send us your brand guide or logo and we use it in the exercises.
Why this course
For your organisation
- Routine design work handled in-house, with less agency spend
- Faster turnaround on flyers, presentations and internal communication
- More consistent brand presentation across teams
- Print-ready files that avoid costly reprints
For your delegates
- A simple design process to follow on any job
- Practical skills in Photoshop and InDesign, the industry-standard tools
- Confidence choosing colours, fonts and layouts
- A finished flyer and course manual to keep
What delegates will be able to do
- Apply the core principles of layout, hierarchy, contrast and alignment
- Interpret a design brief and plan a piece from brief to finished artwork
- Choose colours and fonts that suit the brand and the audience
- Select, retouch and adjust images in Photoshop
- Save images at the right size, resolution and format for print and the web
- Lay out a document in InDesign with text frames, images and styles
- Prepare and export a print-ready PDF with bleed and crop marks
Who should attend
Marketing and internal communications staff, administrators and executive assistants who produce documents and presentations, sales teams preparing client material, small business owners handling their own branding, and anyone moving into a junior design or content role. No design background is needed; delegates should be comfortable using a computer.
Course outline
Day 1 – Design principles and images in Photoshop
Graphic design basics
- What graphic (communication) design is and where it shows up at work
- Design elements: line, shape, colour, texture, space and type
- Layout principles: hierarchy, contrast, alignment, repetition and balance
- Reading a brief: audience, message, format and deadline
- The design process from brief to finished artwork
Colour and typography
- RGB for screens and CMYK for print
- Building a simple palette from your brand colours
- Choosing and pairing fonts
- Readable text: size, line length and spacing
Getting started in Photoshop
- The Photoshop workspace and panels
- Finding and organising images with Adobe Bridge
- Image size, resolution and file formats
- Working with images from cameras and phones
Selections and layers
- Selection tools for cut-outs
- Working non-destructively with layers
- Adjustment layers for brightness, contrast and colour
Fixing and refining images
- Cropping and straightening
- Removing blemishes and distractions
- Camera Raw basics
- Keeping colour consistent across a set of images
Saving images for their purpose
- Exporting for websites and social media
- Saving images for print
- Formats for use in InDesign, Word and PowerPoint
Day 2 – Layout in InDesign and production
Getting started in InDesign
- The InDesign workspace and navigation
- Setting up a document: page size, margins, columns and bleed
- When to use InDesign rather than Word or Photoshop
Text and images on the page
- Placing text and threading text frames
- Character and paragraph formatting
- Placing and fitting images
- Text wrap around images and shapes
Consistency with styles and colour
- Paragraph and character styles
- Colour swatches and gradients
- Parent pages (formerly master pages) for repeating elements
Arranging page elements
- Aligning and distributing objects
- Using layers in a layout
- Rotating, scaling and transforming objects
- Tables for price lists and schedules
Print and production essentials
- Resolution, bleed and crop marks
- Paper stocks, finishes and what they cost
- Working with a printer: proofs and file checks
- Preflight: finding and fixing errors
- Exporting print-ready and digital PDFs
Practice project
- A one-page flyer from brief to print-ready PDF
- Review against the design principles
How it is delivered
Two days, 08:30-16:00. In person at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. One delegate or a group of up to about 20, each working on a computer with Adobe Photoshop and InDesign installed; laptops with the software can be supplied on request. Course manual and practice files included. We deliver it at your offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town and anywhere else in South Africa, at a BOTI venue in Johannesburg, or live online for teams in different places.
What our clients say
“The facilitator effectively encouraged participation and used practical examples, discussions and interactive activities to ensure that the concepts were understood and could be applied in the workplace.”
“Business Optimization Training Institute facilitated Microsoft Excel Training for our company. The course was efficiently scheduled and planned around our timetable. We were impressed by the quality of training.”
“The training was very informative and practical, leaving our employees feeling confident in their ability to leverage Excel more effectively.”
Frequently asked questions
Can you run the course at our offices?
Yes. We train at your offices anywhere in South Africa, at a BOTI venue, or live online. Laptops with Photoshop and InDesign can be supplied on request.
How many people can attend?
From one delegate to a group of about 20. The price per delegate drops as the group grows – see the price table, or ask us for a quote.
Is it accredited?
No – it is a non-accredited short course and delegates receive a BOTI certificate of attendance.
How is this different from the Photoshop course?
This course teaches design principles and spends one day each in Photoshop and InDesign. Adobe Photoshop CC Essentials (2 days) spends both days in Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator for Beginners Course covers vector work such as logos and icons.
Do delegates need design experience?
No. It is a foundation course for people with little or no design background, and also suits self-taught users who want a sound method.
Can the exercises use our own brand?
Yes. Send us your brand guide, logo and a typical document beforehand and the facilitator builds them into the practice.
Related courses
Get your price – the more delegates, the less each pays
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Monday to Friday, 08:00–17:00. After hours, we reply on the next working day – or call 011 882 8853.