Walk-in job set
Deliverable: A visiting card, a wedding invitation and a shop banner produced from written briefs, each set up with correct bleed and colour for its own print process.
Course
DTP (Desktop Publishing)
The job a print shop hires for, taught as the job — typing, layout, design and the preflight checks that decide whether a file prints correctly or comes back.
- Duration: 4 months
- Classroom · Online live
- Level: beginner
What you will be able to do
- Type and format documents accurately at a working speed
- Design cards, flyers, letterheads and banners in CorelDraw
- Edit and prepare photographs for print in Photoshop
- Lay out multi-page booklets with consistent typography
- Run the four preflight checks that prevent a reprint
- Handle a walk-in job from brief to print-ready file
Who this course is for
- Class 10 pass or above
- Anyone applying to a print shop, DTP centre or press
- Small business owners producing their own printed material
- No prior computer or design experience is assumed
Syllabus
6 modules · 4 months
Module 1. Computer and typing foundations
- Windows, files and organising jobs you can find again
- Hindi and English typing, accuracy before speed
- Fonts, installing them and the problems they cause
- Printers, scanners and everyday hardware
Module 2. Document production
- Formatting letters, applications and forms
- Tables, alignment and page setup
- Mail merge for bulk letters and labels
- Printing and exporting to PDF
Module 3. Design with CorelDraw
- Vector versus raster, settled with a real logo
- Shapes, curves and node editing
- Typography, kerning and text on a path
- Visiting cards, letterheads, flyers and banners
Module 4. Images with Photoshop
- Resolution and what print actually needs
- Selection, layers and masks
- Retouching, colour correction and cleanup
- Preparing a photograph for a print job
Module 5. Page layout with PageMaker
- Master pages and multi-page setup
- Flowing text and placing images
- Consistent typography across a booklet
- Books, invitations and multi-page jobs
Module 6. Print production
- CMYK, spot colour and what the press expects
- Bleed, trim and safe area
- Outlining text and packaging fonts
- Handling a job from brief to final file
Tools and technologies you will use
- CorelDraw
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe PageMaker
- MS Word
- PDF export and preflight
- Hindi and English typing software
Projects you will build
Multi-page booklet
Deliverable: A sixteen-page booklet laid out with master pages and consistent typography, images placed at print resolution, exported as a print-ready PDF with crop marks.
Typing benchmark
Deliverable: Recorded Hindi and English typing speed and accuracy, measured under timed conditions at the start and end of the course, showing improvement as a number.
Where this course can take you
- DTP Operator
- Print Shop Assistant
- Graphic Design Assistant
- Data Entry Operator
- Production Assistant
Duration, modes and fees
- Duration
- 4 months
- Delivery modes
- Classroom · Online live
- Fees
- Share your details for the current fee
- Fees vary by batch and delivery mode. Ask about the combined fee if you continue into Graphic Design afterwards.
Placement assistance
Every student gets placement assistance — that is what 100% placement assistance means. It is support for all, not a job for all. We do not promise a specific salary, a specific number of interviews, or placement at any named company, and you should be wary of anyone who does.
What is included
- A place in the monthly placement drive, held every third Saturday
- The readiness programme every second Saturday — mock interviews and preparation
- CV review against the specific roles you are targeting
- Portfolio review, so your project work is presented the way a reviewer will read it
- Access to the vacancy pool employers send directly to the Samyak network
- Guidance on which roles realistically fit your background and which do not
- A place in the next drive, with coaching, if you are not selected in this one
What is not included
- Any guarantee of a job, an interview, or a particular salary
- Placement at a named or partner company
- Applying to jobs on your behalf
- Support before you have completed the course and its project work
- Visa, relocation or overseas placement assistance
Taught as the job, not as three software courses
A DTP operator is not a designer who also types. It is a single role where a customer walks in with a wedding card in mind, and forty minutes later there is a file the press can run.
So this course is built around that transaction. Typing, design, image work and print setup are not separate subjects here — they are four things one person does on the same job, often within the same hour.
The four checks
Almost every rejected print file fails on one of four things.
Wrong colour mode. Image at screen resolution. No bleed on an edge-to-edge design. Live text in a font the press does not have. Each is a wasted run and an argument about who pays for it.
The last module drills all four until checking them is automatic, because the operator who never sends a bad file becomes the one the shop keeps.
Hindi typing is not a formality
A large share of walk-in work is applications, forms and letters in Hindi.
It is benchmarked here in the first week and again in the last, under timed conditions, so you finish with a recorded speed and accuracy figure. Shops test for this. Candidates who have never been timed usually find out the hard way.
Where it can lead
DTP operator directly, and it is a well-worn route into design work.
Plenty of designers started at a counter making visiting cards, and the reason it works as a start is volume — you see more real print jobs in six months there than in two years of studying. If you already know you want to design rather than produce, our Graphic Design course goes there directly instead.
Questions
DTP (Desktop Publishing) — frequently asked questions
What does a DTP operator actually do all day?
Takes walk-in jobs — cards, invitations, banners, forms, booklets — and turns each into a file the press can run. It is part typing, part design, part knowing exactly what will and will not print. The course is organised around that job, which is why typing and preflight sit next to design rather than being treated as separate subjects.
How is DTP different from a graphic design course?
Graphic Design is about design thinking, branding and visual craft. DTP is about production — getting a real job out of the door correctly and quickly. There is overlap, and plenty of people start in DTP and move into design. If you want the job in a print shop now, this is the shorter and more direct route.
Is PageMaker still worth learning?
In many Indian print shops it is still running, and the course reflects what is actually installed rather than what is newest. The layout concepts — master pages, text flow, typography — carry directly into InDesign, so nothing here is wasted if you move to a studio that has upgraded.
Why is typing part of a design course?
Because print shops hire one person to do everything, and a large share of walk-in work is typing — applications, forms, letters, often in Hindi. Speed on that work is what makes the day profitable. It is benchmarked at the start and the end here so you leave with a number rather than an impression.
Enquire about DTP (Desktop Publishing)
Three details is all we need. A course advisor will call you back.
Related courses
- DOAP (Diploma in Office Automation and Publishing)
Office software and desktop publishing taught together, so you leave able to run the documents an office needs and the print work a small business needs, not one or the other.
- CorelDraw
The vector tool most Indian print shops actually run, taught around the files they need — logos, cards, flyers and banners that reach the printer correct the first time.
- Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop taught around non-destructive editing, so every file you build can be revised later — the habit that separates someone who can use the tool from someone who can work with it.
- Graphic Design
Design principles first and software second, because employers hire for typography and layout judgement — the tools are learnable in weeks and the judgement is not.
Next step
Talk to a course advisor
Tell us what you want to learn and we will help you pick the right course, batch and mode.