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This course is your guide to creating professional layouts that combine text, vectors, images, equations, and tables. By the end, you will be able to:

• Layout  different documents, including single-page designs like figures, posters, and CVs.
• Create templates using parent pages and styles, which are essential for building complex documents like a dissertation.
• Prepare documents for print, including understanding the differences between print (CMYK) and screen (RGB) colors.
• Export various file types like JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and PDF.
• Master the printing process to make the best choices for your projects.

You'll discover why InDesign is a more prominent and straightforward alternative to Adobe Illustrator for creating scientific publications, and learn to use it to bring all your elements together into a final, professional layout.

This course is broken down into two parts to help you master InDesign's tools for different projects:

• Sessions 1-2: You will master the essential InDesign tools and techniques required to design a professional PhD dissertation.
• Sessions 3-4: We'll switch gears to single-page designs like figures, posters, CVs, and brochures, and explore the additional tools that help with these types of designs.
• Bring your own project: You are strongly encouraged to bring your own work (like your thesis, a figure, or your CV) to apply the skills you learn directly to your personal projects.
• After the Course: You’ll be able to produce professional-quality publications, thesis books, CVs, and posters. As a bonus, you can reach out to Iliana for further feedback on your work after the course ends!
• You will receive a comprehensive manual and additional material. Homework will be assigned after each session with personalized feedback. 

Your instructor, Iliana, brings over 13 years of experience designing thesis books and will share her top tricks, including how to troubleshoot common issues when transitioning a project from Word to InDesign. You'll also receive a comprehensive printed manual and personalized feedback on homework assignments.

Installation of Adobe InDesign

• Software: You need a computer with Adobe InDesign installed in English. You must uninstall the program to adjust the language setting in Creative Cloud, and then reinstall it. For installation issues, please contact your faculty's ICT department.
• Equipment: A second screen and a mouse are highly recommended. A microphone and camera are mandatory for interactive sessions.
• Study Load: In addition to the scheduled sessions, anticipate an extra study load of approximately 16 hours, consisting primarily of homework assignments.
• Contact: If you plan to miss parts of the course, please contact Iliana directly to discuss options.

Study load

After each session, you receive assignments to practice the techniques you learned. During the next session, you have the opportunity to ask questions about the assignments.

In addition to the scheduled sessions, you should take into account an extra study load of approximately 16 hours in total. This study load generally consists of homework assignments in preparation for the next session.

Group size

10 - 12 participants

Number of credits

1.0 EC

Trainer

Iliana Boshoven-Gkini, is a visual communicator who merges her passion for design with her love of nature. Her unique background is a perfect blend of science and art: she holds a BSc in Plant Sciences and two MSc degrees in Landscape Architecture & Floriculture. She is also an accomplished artist and has been an Adobe Certified Instructor since 2021. Iliana founded AgileColor design studio () in 2012, specializing in scientific visual communication and publications such as thesis books. For nearly a decade, she's been teaching design courses at various universities and research institutes, empowering students to turn their complex research into clear, visually engaging content.

Course certificate

You will receive a course certificate after attending the training sessions and completing all the course requirements (i.e., assignments).

This course is free for GSLS PhD candidates. However: free of charge does not mean free of responsibility. Once you have signed up for a course, we expect you to attend. For every late cancellation or no-show we have had to disappoint others who would have liked to attend. This is our policy:

• You may cancel free of charge up to 4 weeks before the start of the course. After this date you can only cancel if you have a GSLS PhD candidate to replace you in the course. Send the name and contact information of your replacement to pcc@uu.nl, at least 2 working days before the start of the course;
• We expect that you actively attend the full course, but at least 80%. It is mandatory to attend the first session. If you are absent the first session you cannot follow the remaining of the course;
• Not meeting the above requirements means you will be charged a no-show fee (€ 101). We will send the invoice after the course has ended. We are unable to make any exceptions, unless you have a valid reason (i.e., illness or death in the family 1^st/2^nd degree or partner). Your supervisor has to send an e-mail to pcc@uu.nl indicating the reason.