Study program/study programs: Computer Multimedia

Study type and level: Bachelor applied studies

Course title: Publication Design

Course status: elective

ECTS: 8

Course objectives

The main objective of the Publication Design course is to help students master the basics of designing various publications, printing process and materials, as well as to help them master the practical aspects of publication design in adequate software for graphic design and pre-press.  

Course outcomes

Students will familiarize themselves with the environment of Adobe InDesign CC (Creative Cloud), learn the procedures of graphic production, history of printing and graphics, printing techniques (letterpress, intaglio, screen printing, offset, digital printing), grid system elements, hierarchical and modified grids, aspects of spot colors, ways to use spot colors in printing and design, ways to price a publication when using spot colors. They will also learn how to create new documents, to work with pages, enter and edit text, create tables, manipulate vector objects, enter vector and raster files, to work with long documents and interactive elements, to use different color models in Adobe InDesign with special emphasis on Pantone color reference system, ways to create spot colors, and potential problems in printing and the use of colors. Through an individual practical project, students will create their own magazine design, as well as the design of a three-panel brochure in Adobe InDesign.

Course content

Theoretical classes

  • Course is designed to enable students to employ their existing knowledge of computer design and modeling;
  • The subject of publication design is examined through lectures on the history of publication design (magazines, books, newspapers, advertising material brochures, etc.), followed by the stages of preparation of a publication – from an idea, sketch, all through the final design solution in Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Acrobat and Adobe InDesign (basics of prepress: defining the form and function);
  • Creating sketches: color selection, font selection, image selection and graphics; defining layout – selecting templates; page layout and margins setup; grid and guides setup;
  • Master page setup; color palette adjustment; paragraph style adjustment;
  • Text input – text editing; graphics input and processing;
  • CMYK and RGB colors; avoiding color smudging;
  • Adding fonts; trapping; imposition – page layout;
  • Creating PDFs from Adobe InDesign, etc.