Desktop publishing course curriculum

The Starting Your Program course is designed to help you make a smooth transition to Penn Foster, including learning how to use all the tools and resources that are available to you. The goal is to help you become a confident, independent learner.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Further express your goals and expectations
• Navigate the Penn Foster learning environment, including your Student Portal
• Describe what it takes to be a successful online learner
• Identify your preferred study aids and learning styles
• Determine personal financial goals
• Practice some important study and time management skills
• Access and use helpful resources, such as the Penn Foster Virtual Library, and various help features

This lesson includes a glimpse back at the history of publishing and a look at the ever-expanding horizon of the desktop publishing industry.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Define the term desktop publishing
• Detail the history of the desktop publishing revolution
• Discuss career opportunities in the desktop publishing field
• List the different types of documents commonly developed on desktop publishing systems
• Explain the skills necessary to become a desktop publishing professional
• Describe the advantages of desktop publishing over traditional methods of document production

This course will take you through the step-by-step process of creating a document. You’ll learn about creating your materials, importing them into your document, proofreading, and much more. This course will give you an overview of several topics, which will serve as a foundation on which to learn. The issue of compatibility as it relates to hardware, software, and users will also be covered in this course. You’ll learn why compatibility is so important to desktop publishers (and other computer professionals).

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Describe the components of a desktop publishing system and their functions
• Discuss desktop publishing software and its general capabilities
• Identify the ways a desktop publishing system interacts with other software programs
• Explain the differences between word processing, graphics, and desktop publishing software programs—and why these differences are important
• Identify basic desktop publishing terms
• Follow the steps involved in the development of a document
• Discuss the capabilities and limitations of specific desktop publishing software packages
• Identify the similarities and differences between desktop publishing on PCs and Macintosh computers
• Select software to meet your desktop publishing needs
• Understand what it means to publish on the World Wide Web
• Discuss the importance of compatibility between hardware and software, software and software, and users and software

This course takes you into the world of document and online design. You’ll discover the preliminary steps graphic designers take to prepare documents for publication before they ever turn a computer on. It’s essential that you learn the basic design terms presented in this course because publication design has its own jargon and tools. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you’ll be prepared for the more detailed treatment each element will receive in your future studies. You’ll also learn how to transfer your page-design skills to online publishing, such as creating web pages.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Describe the factors that must be considered before a document can be laid out in a page layout program
• Identify a variety of typefaces and describe how to select the most suitable typeface for your document
• Identify the components of a typical page
• Explain how the spacing between letters, lines, and words can be used
• Identify the components of a document
• Describe how to use style manuals, style sheets, and specifications
• List key elements of a well-designed web page

This course provides a detailed overview of computer graphics and illustrations. In an earlier course, you learned that text and illustrations work together to communicate a unified message in documents. Here you’ll be introduced to the different kinds of illustrations used by graphic artists. You’ll learn the criteria used to select, size, and place art in documents. You’ll also learn how graphic artists arrange and manipulate illustrations to create different visual effects. Along the way, you’ll be introduced to some popular computer graphics formats and software packages—and learn about their main features and applications. The information discussed in this course is vital to your success as a well-rounded graphic artist. The concepts you’ll learn here should serve you well throughout your graphic design career. By applying these principles to your own illustrated work, you can create publications that truly command attention.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Define the term illustration and its applications in the world of graphic design
• Understand the role of graphic images in a publication in terms of evoking the reader’s response
• Describe the different types of illustrations commonly used in graphic design
• Identify the popular computer graphic formats used by most page layout software
• Explain how to select illustrations based on their appropriateness, quality, consistency, and production cost
• Discuss today’s most popular graphics software packages and their various applications
• Explain what it means to import and export art electronically
• Discuss the legal aspects of using illustrations in documents
• Describe how to place illustrations into a document in a logical and attractive manner
• Explain how to crop and scale an illustration
• Discuss how color is used in publication design

In this course, you’ll plan and design several short documents using the basic principles of page design, typography, and illustration. As you complete this course, you’ll see just how important short documents can be to the day-to-day operation of a company. You’ll also learn how many companies rely on short documents to expand and perpetuate their business. These vital documents include business cards, letterheads, envelopes, promotional letters, labels, résumés, advertisements, brochures, flyers, and newsletters. In this course, you’ll learn many of the techniques professional publishers use to make these documents informative, appealing, and profitable. You’ll also get some tips and guidelines on how to make each of your designs both attractive and professional-looking.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Discuss the common types of short documents produced by desktop publishers
• Describe the steps involved in planning and designing short documents
• Identify the elements contained in a grid
• Choose appropriate typefaces (and type sizes) for the text in your layouts
• Discuss how to enhance your documents with illustrations, lines, and rules
• Describe how to use color advantageously in short documents

As a professional desktop publisher, you must be prepared to deal with long, or multipage, documents. This course will show you how to do just that—you’ll learn to apply design skills you already have to multipage documents. In addition, you’ll gain new skills unique to multipage publishing.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• List the most common types of multipage documents
• Discuss guidelines to follow in the design and layout of multipage documents
• Identify the three major sections of multipage documents—preliminary material, main text, and back matter
• Specify the elements considered preliminary material, main text, and back matter in multipage documents
• List common guidelines for laying out preliminary material, main text, and back matter in multipage documents
• Describe the features unique to books, magazines, and annual reports
• Discuss the desktop publishing software features used in the design and layout of multipage documents
• Explain how to use templates and design sketches to simplify the plan and layout of multipage documents

It’s time to take a look at two other skills that will serve you well as a master publisher: proofreading and editing. Both of these skills are essential if you want people to take your documents seriously. Read on to find out why. Have you ever read a document that contained spelling errors, factual mistakes, or layout inconsistencies? You didn’t pay much attention to that document’s message, did you? Instead, you were probably mentally correcting the mistakes while thinking, “Didn’t anyone take the time to read this advertisement/flyer/brochure/book (etc.) when it was in production?” Once you get into publishing, you’ll find that whether you work by yourself or as part of a team, you’ll be expected to do more than just apply your design skills. Depending on your job situation, your coworkers and clients may expect you to be on the lookout for spelling or factual errors, faulty grammar, typographical inconsistencies, and (of course) layout mistakes. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll be expected to have the skills of a professional proofreader or editor (unless, of course, you choose to develop such skills on your own). Instead, you’ll need to know only the very basics. This course will give you just that: basic information that will show you how to find and correct errors. We’ll give you many sure-fire tips and exercises to develop and sharpen your proofreading and editing skills. We’ll even show you how you can continue developing your skills if you’re so inclined. This course holds an additional bonus: we’ll begin familiarizing you with the layout and operation of a computer keyboard. You’ll find some great hints for improving your keyboarding skills while avoiding some common pitfalls.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Describe the components of a well-written document
• Define the terms proofreading and editing
• List basic editorial guidelines and procedures
• Explain both the purpose of the editorial style sheet and how it can be developed for a document
• Identify and use editor/proofreaders’ marks
• List the most common types of reference texts used by editors and proofreaders
• Describe how you can use computer software to check a document’s spelling and grammar
• Identify and describe the functions of each key on a computer keyboard

In this course, you’ll get the chance to familiarize yourself with the parts of the personal computer. You’ll learn how these parts function together to perform tasks. You’ll be given a glimpse into the inner workings of the computer, and this is knowledge that will serve you well should you ever experience computer problems. The information contained within these pages is vital to your success. After all, you’ll form a career-long partnership with your computer. For this partnership to be successful, you must have confidence in your ability to use your machine properly.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Define computer literacy
• Describe the different types of input and output devices and how they work
• Compare and contrast the different types of storage devices
• Locate the major internal components of a system unit and define their functions
• Describe the basic process of computing
• Discuss the factors to consider before purchasing additional PC hardware

In this course, you’ll learn how to create digital and printed materials using Adobe InDesign, a versatile page-layout program used for electronic and print publishing. Using this program, you can create printed publications that can be repurposed into interactive digital documents for delivery on the web and on mobile and tablet devices. InDesign is tightly integrated with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, which are all part of Adobe’s Creative Suite. Learning the concepts and tools of any one of these programs will allow you to translate what you’ve learned across all three easily. Your textbook will lead you step-by-step in using InDesign’s powerful tools. This study guide will direct you through the textbook and your projects and offer a broader picture of how InDesign fits into the design process— from planning to design to final output.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Create a multipage document with master pages
• Apply objects, text, typography, and styles to an InDesign document
• Demonstrate how to apply colors, import graphics, and create tables
• Explain how to work with transparency, print, and export InDesign files
• Create interactive PDFs and EPUB documents

In this course you’ll learn what’s involved in bringing a print publishing project to a successful conclusion. You’ll learn about hardware and software options, as well as how to prepare your documents for delivery to commercial printers.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to do the following:

• Identify different types of printers you can use with desktop publishing systems
• Explain the various types of printer languages
• Discuss how to choose a printer for a computer system
• Describe how to determine the best printing method for a particular document
• List the steps you must take to prepare a document before sending it to a high-volume printer
• Discuss add-ons that can enhance the appearance of a printed document