Books and Videos

The best way to learn InDesign (or any program) is to play with it for days and weeks and months… But most people don’t have time to play—they need to get their work done today. Here’s a list of some of the best available resources to turn to when you need an answer quickly.

Real World InDesign CS3 and Real World InDesign CS4

By Olav Martin Kvern and David Blatner
2007 (CS3) and 2009 (CS4), Peachpit Press

You’ll find everything you need here to successfully master InDesign’s advanced page-layout tools; manage color; build XML templates; and run your own custom InDesign scripts. You’ll also find complete coverage of all of InDesign’s new features. This is The Book on InDesign.
If you are still using older versions of InDesign, here are links for Real World InDesign CS2 and Real World InDesign CS.

InDesign Visual QuickStart Guide

By Sandee Cohen
2007, Peachpit Press

Need a good book to get up to speed quickly in InDesign? Sandee Cohen’s InDesign Visual QuickStart Guide is the way to go. Think of it this way: You’re definitely going to want the Visual QuickStart Guide for the first two months you use InDesign; then you’ll want to graduate to InDesign Breakthroughs to get over the headaches you’ll encounter, and finally you’re going to need Real World InDesign sitting on your desk.

Or, if you’re still learning CS2, you can find that version of the VQS book here.

Mastering InDesign CS3 for Print Design and Production

By Pariah S. Burke
2007, Sybex

Written in an easy-to-read, straightforward style, Mastering InDesign is a full-color, heavily-illustrated book that covers the InDesign features you need to know about with a focus on workflow efficiency. Pariah’s humor and training skills definitely come through!

Adobe InDesign CS/CS2 Breakthroughs

By David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepción
2005, Blatner Books in association with Peachpit Press

Page-layout guru David Blatner and veteran trainer Anne-Marie “HerGeekness” Concepción have scoured the online forums, interviewed Adobe engineers, and gathered together answers to over 200 of the most-commonly asked questions. Written in a sassy, fun-to-read style, this book tackles every major InDesign problem with a lay-it-on-the-line solution. Adobe InDesign CS/CS2 Breakthroughs is for anyone who has been using InDesign long enough to realize that the solution to their problems isn’t always as obvious as one would expect!

InDesign Production Cookbook

By Alistair Dabbs, Anne-Marie Concepción, Keith McMahon, and Keith Martin
2005, O’Reilly Media

Whether you’re an experienced designer or a desktop publisher new to InDesign CS2, you’ll find InDesign Production Cookbook chock-full of useful information, with quick solutions to real-world layout challenges. From handling typography and applying color and transparency to building tables and multi-page documents, the unique combination of concise explanations, expert tips, and practical recipes makes this the ultimate, no-nonsense production guide for every InDesign user.

InDesign Magazine

InDesign Magazine is the first bimonthly PDF periodical devoted entirely to Adobe InDesign and to the growing community of InDesign professionals. With editorial direction by page-layout guru and author David Blatner and creativepro.com editor in chief Terri Stone, InDesign Magazine brings you the in-depth features, reviews, and tutorials you need to master Adobe InDesign.

InDesign CS3 Essential Training from Lynda.com

Designed for new and experienced InDesign users, as well as those who are migrating from other layout applications, InDesign CS3 Essential Training covers all the bases. From exploring each of its tools in depth to teaching layout principles and techniques, instructor David Blatner covers everything needed to use InDesign productively. He demystifies InDesign’s powerful features, including converting QuarkXPress files, formatting characters and paragraphs, setting up style sheets for better productivity, and much more. Exercise files accompany the tutorial. You can also buy this direct from lynda.com.