We Teach The Software — and the Skills — that Designers Need to Know
These days, being a creative genius just isn't enough. Design and publishing professionals to know typesetting, image retouching, creating user interfaces, preparing color separations, PDF workflows, CSS, illustration, and more; and of course all the professional design software employed in those pursuits.
We teach you that software, and we teach it by showing you how to actually use it with real-world projects — your working files or ones we bring in — hands-on.
Currently, Anne-Marie and her associate designer/trainers teach Macintosh and Windows versions at any level (beginning to advanced) of Adobe InDesign, Adobe InCopy, QuarkXPress, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Flash, Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Office, and Macintosh OS X.
As explained in our Locations & Fees page, we provide this training at your site, in a classroom, in our design studio or live over the web, whichever works best for you; and all students receive three years of 24/7 follow-up support free of charge.
Details about each of these software programs follows. For fees and scheduling information, please see the Locations & Fees page. For course outlines, training references, and other information, please contact us or use the training Request a Quote form.
Adobe InDesign Training
Knock-em-dead typesetting and text handling out of the box; bullet-proof PDFs; editable raster effects like drop shadows; and superior integration with Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat are all compelling features in this professional page layout program. With the release of the CS3 (Creative Suite 3), moving to InDesign is even more rewarding: Table Styles are worth the cost of the upgrade itself!
When you're ready to move to InDesign, count on Anne-Marie to be your guide. She and her hand-picked team of InDesign training associates helped clients like BBDO/Chicago, Playboy Enterprises, Loyola Press, McDonalds Corporation and McDougal Littell make a smooth transition to InDesign, providing the all-important continuous follow-up support for each designer as they integrate the new software into their actual projects. Anne-Marie and her staff also help clients by creating InDesign templates, presets and custom scripts for their most demanding projects.
Contact us if you'd like to take part in one of our enjoyable and illuminating Adobe InDesign training sessions. To do so, use the Request a Quote form or call us directly at 312-946-1100.
While you're waiting for your training to begin, you might want to visit the InDesign Resources page in DesignGeek Central, created and maintained by Anne-Marie primarily for the benefit of our InDesign training clients.
Adobe InCopy Training
As the editorial "mate" to InDesign, Adobe InCopy allows editors and writers to edit and copyfit articles within the actual, live layout, without having to purchase InDesign themselves or guesstimate corrections on layout printouts.
Seeing how InCopy and InDesign work as a team will make your jaw drop. During Anne-Marie's Adobe InCopy training sessions, designers and editors all work off a live project on a server, learning how to track changes, adjust images, check articles in and out and copyfit exactly. You'll be amazed at how much faster and easier the workflow can be with this dynamic duo.
Seneca's InCopy training clients include PC World magazine, Great Books Foundation, Group Publishing, Think Design Group, Loyola Press, Advanstar Publishing, and dozens of other publishing and design firms. Anne-Marie is the author of the 8-hour video tutorial series, InDesign CS3 + InCopy CS3 Integration from lynda.com. Our clients appreciate the pre- and post- transition consulting and follow-up support as much as they do our hands-on training style.
Contact us if you'd like to take part in one of our fascinating Adobe InCopy training sessions. To do so, use the Request a Quote form or call her directly at 312-946-1100.
While you're waiting for your training to begin, you might want to visit the InCopy Resources page in DesignGeek Central, created and maintained by Anne-Marie primarily for the benefit of her InCopy training clients.
Adobe PhotoshopTraining
Q: How long does it take to learn Photoshop?
A: About four or five years.
Seriously . . . Adobe Photoshop is the sort of program that is so wide and deep you could practically major in it in college.
One way we help you tame the Photoshop monster without breaking your training budget is by customizing content; limiting the scope of what's covered to the kind of work you do. Everyone thoroughly learns the basics, of course — things like how to choose colors, how to make selections, and how/why to use layers — but beyond that, the focus is on what you need to know to meet your specific goals.
We take the time to learn what it is you and your company does, and want to learn how to do, before any sessions are scheduled. Thus you'll feel confident in your Photoshopping after the training ends, even if you only had as little as a half-day of hands-on training.
Anne-Marie has been using Photoshop for client work, print and web, for over ten years; and has been a Photoshop ACE (Adobe Certified Expert) since 1998. Seneca's associate Photoshop trainers are accomplished digital photographers, color retouchers and web designers. Whether you're a novice user who barely knows what a pixel is or an old pro who needs some boning up on Levels and Curves, we can can help you out.
To take part in one of our enjoyable and illuminating Photoshop training sessions, use the Request a Quote form or call us directly at 312-946-1100.
While you're waiting for your training to begin, you might want to visit the Photoshop Resources page in DesignGeek Central, created and maintained by Anne-Marie primarily for the benefit of her InDesign training clients.
QuarkXPress Training
While Adobe InDesign is hot on their tail, QuarkXPress is still the page layout program of choice for many professionals in our field; from freelance designers to megaconglomerate publishers.
We've been using QuarkXPress for client work since about that same time. Anne-Marie became a member of the Quark Authorized Training Consultant program, the first official training organization she ever joined, in 1994.
She's also written feature articles about XPress, given numerous seminars on XPress, and has been one of Quark's beta testers, including the long-awaited OS X-compliant version 6 released in 2003. Ditto for QuarkXTensions (the 1,000+ add-ons available for the program) on all three counts. She even writes software manuals for XTension developers.
Hey, she knows the program, okay?
And she knows how to teach it. If you've never ventured beyond cut-and-paste or worse, Microsoft Publisher, you'll be amazed at how easy it is to create any print publication using QuarkXPress. Even experienced, self-taught Quark users are shocked when they realize how much they didn't know (and could have really used for that project that time) when they treat themselves to some hands-on training from Her Quarkness.
To take part in one of our enjoyable and illuminating QuarkXPress training sessions, use the Request a Quote form or call us directly at 312-946-1100.
While you're waiting for your training to begin, you might want to visit the QuarkXPress Resources page in DesignGeek Central, created and maintained by Anne-Marie primarily for the benefit of her Quark XPress training clients.
Adobe Dreamweaver Training
Anne-Marie has been designing and programming web sites since 1995, hand-coding them in BBEdit at first, but always trying out the latest web authoring software as they came down the pike. PageMill, FrontPage, NetObjects, she's seen them all. Only GoLive and Dreamweaver survived the cut. Since Adobe acquired Macromedia (and thus, Dreamweaver), almost all of Seneca's web design training has been in Dreamweaver.
We will teach you how to use Dreamweaver to create the sites you've been dreaming about — or take over the messes you've been handed. You'll learn what makes HTML tick. You'll learn how to juggle the hundreds of individual files that make up a typical site using powerful site management features. How to incorporate CSS (style sheets), JavaScript, templates and reusable components. And, of course, how to upload your work of art to a web server for all the world to enjoy, and keep it up to date.
What better way for your design staff to learn how to create a web site than from another designer who's an expert at it? Anne-Marie even wrote Professional Web Site Design from Start to Finish (2001, HOWDesign Books). You can be assured that not only will you learn how to create a web site, but how to ensure a smooth development process and a successful web presence.
To take part in one of our enjoyable and illuminating Dreamweaver/Web Design training sessions, use the Request a Quote form or call us directly at 312-946-1100.
While you're waiting for your training to begin, you might want to visit the Adobe GoLive Resources page in DesignGeek Central, created and maintained by Anne-Marie primarily for the benefit of her GoLive training clients. Our Dreamweaver Resources page is in the works!
Adobe Flash and ActionScript Training
Is Flash the coolest thing on the planet or what? Whether you want to create innovative web banner ads to full-blown web sites or DVD presentations, our Flash guru trainers will get you up and running in no time.
To take part in one of our enjoyable and illuminating Flash training sessions, use the Request a Quote form or call us directly at 312-946-1100.
Our Flash Resources page is in the works!
Adobe Illustrator Training
If you're in the design field, even if you don't know how to draw a straight line, you need to know how to create and edit vector (PostScript) graphics. Adobe Illustrator is the PostScript drawing program of choice.
"Illy" (as its friends like to call it) is the proper program to create logos, package designs, photo-realistic drawings, architectural renderings, and all sorts of illustrations in general. We will show you not just how to use Illy's tools — especially that devilish pen tool — but will show you how those tools are actually a human-interface veneer overlying pure PostScript code and drawing commands.
And once armed with a basic understanding of PostScript, you'll gain a whole new perspective on what's really happening with every job you work on, making you far more adept at production and troubleshooting your files.
Illustrator is much more than a vector drawing program; of course, and during training we'll show you all its features and uses, including Symbols, Effects and Filters, Custom Brushes, and integrating Photoshop and Illustrator.
Ready to tackle Illy? Call us at 312-946-1100 or use the Request a Quote form to tell us what you're looking for.
While you're waiting for your training to begin, you might want to visit the Adobe Illustrator Resources page in DesignGeek Central, created and maintained by Anne-Marie primarily for the benefit of her Illustrator training clients.
Adobe Acrobat Training
Most software these days, whether or not it's design-related, can save the file you're working on as a "PDF" (Portable Document Format). So . . . what else can you do with a PDF file, other than look at it in Reader?
For design and publishing professionals, that's like asking, "What else can you do with a computer, other than turn it on?"
The main significance of PDF files to designers is that Adobe Acrobat, the program that actually creates the PDF files, and the PDF file format itself is fast becoming the nexus of the design and publishing process. ("But I thought PostScript was the nexus," you say ... read on, grasshopper.)
PDF files are PostScript files that are compressed, editable in preview, self-contained, and customized for a specific output device/purpose such as a monitor or a commercial press. "PDF Workflow" is one of the hottest buzzwords in commercial printing as well as production staff in any publications department.
Our traines have been using Acrobat, as well as teaching it and writing "how to" articles about it since Adobe first released the program in the mid-90s. We can show you how to properly convert a digital file to PDF for commercial printing; how to catalog, index, and hyperlink a collection of PDFs for distribution; how to markup and review comments in a PDF; how to create an interactive presentation with Acrobat; and how to edit an existing PDF with some magical tools in Acrobat.
Limber up and start Acrobatting, call us at 312-946-1100 or use the Request a Quote form to tell us you're ready to master PDFs.
While you're waiting for your training to begin, you might want to visit the Adobe Acrobat Resources page in DesignGeek Central, created and maintained by Anne-Marie primarily for the benefit of her Acrobat training clients.
Macintosh OS X Training
Tiger, Panther, Leopard, who can keep them straight? We can! Each successive version of OS X gives more power to the professional designer, though few designers, in our experience, have any inkling of the features that it offers. Give us a call at 312-946-1100 for some expert OS X training. Or use the Request a Quote form to tell us about your OS training needs in detail.
While you're waiting for your training to begin, you might want to visit both the OS X for Designers Resources and the OS X Font Management Resource pages in DesignGeek Central, created and maintained by Anne-Marie primarily for the benefit of her OS X training clients.
Microsoft Office Training
Okay, the Microsoft Office suite of programs are not design programs per se, but if you're working on a computer for a living, you're probably using at least Word as well.
In Word, we will show you how to use and customize all those toolbars, how to master those devils known as headers, footers and section starts, how to create and edit style sheets and tables, how to create custom templates for your company and clients.
Need to learn Excel, Powerpoint, and/or Access as well? We do that too!
Call us for Office application training on Mac or PC platforms at 312-946-1100, or use the Request A Quote form to get a no-obligation estimate of the training fee for your staff.
