StretchLearn Course

Design Multi-Page Documents That Read as One Coherent Whole

The working editorial pipeline - grid to master pages to styles to flow - taught through one complete magazine feature.

Beginner10 hr 10 minSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

Editorial design is the discipline of making many pages read as one coherent object - a magazine, a book, an annual report - where consistency, rhythm, and flow matter more than any single beautiful page. This course teaches the working multi-page pipeline used by real publication designers: setting up a document with correct margins, columns, gutters, and a baseline grid; building master pages, running heads, and automatic page numbers so structure repeats without manual labor; defining paragraph and character styles so a 64-page document restyles in seconds; setting body type at a comfortable measure and leading; and designing the pacing of a feature so the reader is pulled through. By the end you will have one complete multi-page layout - a short magazine feature or report section - built on a proper grid with master pages and style sheets, exported as a print-ready, correctly imposed PDF.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Set up a multi-page document with correct margins, columns, gutters, bleed, and a working baseline grid

Build master pages with running heads, automatic page numbers, and repeating structure that scales across a publication

Define and apply paragraph and character styles so an entire document can be restyled consistently in seconds

Set body text at a readable measure and leading and build a clear typographic hierarchy across headings, decks, and captions

Compose the visual flow and pacing of a feature so a reader is carried from the opener through to the close

Export a print-ready, correctly imposed PDF with bleed, marks, and packaged assets a printer can run

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: The Editorial Foundation: Documents and Grids

Start where every publication starts - the page geometry and the grid. Learn how margins, columns, and a baseline grid turn loose pages into a system.

3 lessons

What Editorial Design Actually IsContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

Page Geometry: Format, Margins, and BleedContent · 50 min

LMS Access

The Grid: Columns, Gutters, and the BaselineContent · 55 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Master Pages and the Self-Building Document

Make the document build itself. Learn master pages, running heads, automatic page numbers, and linked text flow so structure repeats without manual labor.

3 lessons

Master Pages: Design Once, Repeat EverywhereContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Automatic Page Numbers and Running HeadsContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Threaded Text: Flowing Copy Across PagesContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Typography and Hierarchy for Reading

Make the publication readable and navigable. Set body type at reading sizes, build a hierarchy of headings and captions, and lock it all into reusable styles.

3 lessons

Setting Body Text for Comfortable ReadingContent · 55 min

LMS Access

Building Visual HierarchyContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Paragraph and Character Styles: The Style SheetContent · 55 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Visual Flow, Imagery, and Print-Ready Handoff

Bring it together - pace the reader through images and white space, compose strong spreads, and export a print-ready, correctly imposed PDF.

3 lessons

Composing the Spread: Images, White Space, and FlowContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Preflight: Color, Images, and Catching ErrorsContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Export, Imposition, and HandoffContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

editorial designlayout designbaseline gridmaster pagesparagraph stylestypographic hierarchymagazine designprint production