The Accidental Designer: How to Design Images Like a Pro, 3-Part Course

Three Thursdays,  December 5 – 19, 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern
(10am-11:30am Pacific Time)

Price $108 member / $135 non-member
ANN members log in to your member account and navigate to the member discounts page for the code to pay the $108 member price. 

We all know this intuitively—websites or flyers that are balanced, colorful, and visually interesting get more attention. But if you work at a small nonprofit, chances are you don’t have much money to spend on a graphic designer.

Fortunately, anyone can learn graphic design. Whether you’re already creating visuals for your nonprofit’s communications or are interested in taking this on and know nothing about it, we can help you gain the knowledge and skills you need to wow your followers with interesting and attractive designs.

Join us for a three-week course that will walk you through the fundamentals of design and show you how to get started with the right tools.

During this course you’ll:

• Learn about theories of line, shape, form, and space.
• Explore the theories behind why colors affect the way we think and feel.
• Discover the sneaky importance of typography.
• Review layout dos and don’ts.
• Learn a few basic tricks for using Adobe InDesign.
• Find out about low-cost alternatives to InDesign.

Course Schedule

December 5, Session 1: The Elements of Design

We’ll begin by delving into the ideas behind good design. We’ll explore how designers use lines, shapes, form, and space as the basic tools for showing depth, movement, or other visual ideas. We’ll also spend time talking about the importance of color and how to use it to achieve the right effect. And we’ll lay out how typography can affect both what the viewer sees and feels within a design.

December 12, Session 2: Layout in Action

We’ll start out by talking through some basic principles of graphic layout. Then we’ll take it a step further and show you in real time a design being created—explaining the thinking and decisions being made during the process.

December 19, Session 3: Technology Tools

Adobe InDesign is the industry standard and is recommended for anyone creating designs that need to live on beyond the immediate moment. That’s why it’s important that we show you a few useful tricks for doing basic design work in InDesign. However, there are a number of alternatives that offer similar functionality and many simpler tools that are free and easy to use. We’ll spend some time reviewing those tools and discussing their strengths and weaknesses.

Important Info

• Register with the email address where you would like to receive the access code and dial-in information for the online seminar.
• Add training@idealware.org to your contacts to ensure meeting details do not get caught in your spam folder.
• Write to training@idealware.org if you do not receive a confirmation email within a day of registration
  
• Manually update your calendar to account for the correct time of the session (1 PM Eastern).
• All registered participants are granted access to the recordings,  presentation deck and resources discussed during each session.

About our Expert, Cary Walksi

Cary Walski is an entrepreneur using her background in psycholoy and the arts to create positive online experiences for mission-driven organizations. Passionate about nonprofits making informed decisions, Cary has delivered presentations locally and nationally for organizations including NTEN, Idealware, The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Minnesota Council on Foundations and Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. As owner and nerd-in-chief at Copilot, she works with small to medium-sized nonprofits to produce websites, email campaigns and social media communities that connect with and inspire individuals to action.

About Idealware

Idealware is a program of the nonprofit Tech Impact. We are the authoritative source for independent, thoroughly-researched technology resources for the social sector. Our publications, assessments, and training can save you time and money by providing impartial guidance that gives you the knowledge and confidence you need to decide what’s best for your organization. Browse our archives, sign up for our mailing list, or learn more at www.idealware.org