You might have taken Bonnie Christine's Immersion to learn Illustrator, or Sarah Watts' From Paint to Pattern to master Photoshop... well, there's one more in this trio of useful design tools: Adobe InDesign!
InDesign is a design, typography and layout program that helps you bring all of your ideas together. (It's the program I use to design UPPERCASE magazine!)
Designer and illustrator Genna Blackburn has created a course called "InDesign Your Portfolio," which teaches the basics of using InDesign to create well-designed surface design portfolios. It is closing for enrollment at the end of the day!
Having a digital (and printable) portfolio is essential for communicating with art directors and getting your work licensed.
It demonstrates your professionalism, organizes your portfolio to highlight its strengths and can be customized to speak directly to your dream client. It's also a great way to tell your story and to show off your personality!
And, once you're familiar with InDesign (and its excellent typographic tools), you can use it to create all sorts of promotional items for your creative business: PDF flipbooks, printed books, zines, posters, social media graphics and more.
About Genna's course:
Learn at your own pace with these modules (the lessons don't expire):
Module 1: Anatomy of a Portfolio Learn what to include in a portfolio and how to present it.
Module 2: Tour of InDesign Tools Learn the essential tools of Adobe InDesign.
Module 3: Portfolio Creation Blueprint Go step-by-step with Genna to put together an InDesign document that is ready for your personal customization.
Module 4: Publishing Online & In Print Learn how to get your document ready to be printed AND how to publish it online and embed it into your website.
Plus, you'll get these very useful bonuses!
Bonus Lesson: How to Pitch Your Portfolio See how to find clients, how to keep track of them and what to put in pitch emails, so once you have your beautiful portfolio put together you know exactly what to do with it!
Bonus Module: Typography: Font Tips & Tricks Learn about the types of fonts, how to pair them, and common mistakes to avoid. Bonus Module: Six Samples to Spark Creativity Six talented, successful artists allow a look into their InDesign portfolios for inspiration.
Bonus Module: Mockups! Learn about how to put your artwork into premade Photoshop mockups (and where to get them!) as Tracy Beagen walks you through two different examples.
This course is an investment in your creative career. Enrollment closes at 11:59 pm PDT today, September 24th.
UPPERCASE is an affiliate partner for Genna's course and will receive a commission on any sales resulting from my sharing of her links. Affiliate commissions go towards the UPPERCASE Circle technology costs. Thank you!
Submit your surface pattern design work to be featured in an upcoming newsletter or in UPPERCASE magazine.