2023 Event details
December 21, 2023
Create Fonts for InDesign (and Other Apps)
Pacific Time
3:30-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
First in an occasional series on creating fonts.
This meeting is sponsored by the Adobe Community Experts Program.
Fontself is a plugin for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop that allows users to transform their own lettering into fully functional fonts. Dave will guide participants through the process of designing and developing typefaces, emphasizing the use of personal creativity and style. These custom fonts can then be used by InDesign and other Adobe apps, including tools such as Keynote.
The session will also feature the use of Astute Graphics plugins for Adobe Illustrator. These plugins can significantly streamline the font design process, offering features like vector manipulation, shape adjustment, and precision drawing tools. This integration can simplify complex design tasks and encourage experimental and innovative approaches to type design.
Throughout the session, Dave will focus on the fun and experimental aspects of typeface creation, encouraging participants to explore and push the boundaries of traditional font design. This approach not only makes the process more engaging but also helps in developing unique and personalized typefaces that stand out. The session is designed to be informative and interactive, offering practical skills that can be applied in various design projects, whether for personal use, professional branding, or artistic expression.
About the Presenter
Dave Clayton is a UK-based graphic designer with over 25 years of experience in design and marketing. Dave specializes in InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop and has either taught or spoken at events such as Adobe Max, CreativePro Week, Photoshop World, Creative South, Print Design Summit, Photoshop Virtual Summit, Lightbox Expo, Illustrator Summit, and the UK Photography Show.
He is also an authorized instructor of Astute Graphics plugins. He has been a full-time contributor to Photoshop User magazine for the past five years and has ten classes on KelbyOne.com. Dave is the author of How Do I Do That in InDesign published by Rocky Nook and co-host of the popular design and photography podcast He Shoots, He Draws.
Dave also has an extensive collection of over 500 design books which can be found on Instagram at @claytondesignlibrary. Elsewhere Dave can be found on all social platforms at @itsdaveclayton and at itsdaveclayton.com.
November 16, 2023
Libraries: InDesign, CC, and an MS Secret
Pacific Time
3:30-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
The presentation on Digital Scrapbooking originally scheduled for November has been postponed due to a family emergency.
Adobe Creative Cloud Libraries and InDesign Libraries both serve as essential tools in managing creative assets, yet they cater to different aspects of the design workflow. In this presentation, we will delve into how each library system functions and their unique advantages. We'll start by exploring CC Libraries, showcasing their capability to create, manage, and share assets like colors, graphics, and text styles across various Adobe applications, including InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Emphasizing on integration with Adobe Stock and mobile apps, we'll demonstrate how CC Libraries enhance workflow efficiency and collaboration in a cloud-based environment.
Shifting focus to InDesign Libraries, we'll examine their specialized role in desktop publishing. We'll discuss how InDesign Libraries are more focused on storing and reusing specific layout elements, such as text blocks, images, and complex layouts within InDesign projects. Unlike CC Libraries, which are cloud-based and cross-application, InDesign Libraries are typically local and specific to InDesign, providing a more specialized toolset for frequent layout tasks.
An important addition is the integration of CC Libraries with Microsoft Office products. This integration allows for a seamless workflow between Adobe and Office applications, significantly enhancing productivity and creative possibilities in environments where Adobe and Microsoft tools are used in tandem.
By comparing and contrasting these libraries, attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of when and how to effectively utilize each type within their design processes. Participants will leave equipped with insights and strategies for leveraging both CC and InDesign Libraries to achieve a more streamlined, productive, and creative workflow.
About the Presenter
Alan Gilbertson is a designer and creative director based in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, where he doesn’t miss the weather of his Scottish hometown one bit. An Adobe Community Expert, he specializes in book design, corporate identity programs, corporate image makeovers, article and book editing, writing, and marketing campaign coordination. He is a contributing writer for CreativePro.com and CreativePro Magazine. His "The Creative Lines" blog has articles of interest to businesses who want to look better, market better, and increase their reach.
October 19, 2023
InDesign for 2024: New Features, Extensibility, Express and AI
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
This meeting was sponsored by the Adobe Community Experts Program
In this session, Max Dunn shared the new features of InDesign 2024 and introduced Adobe Express. He explored the many ways in which Express and AI tools such as Adobe Firefly both interoperated with and augmented InDesign workflows.
He also discussed the Unified eXtensibility Platform or UXP. This significant technology, which required the efforts of many brilliant individuals and took a long time to implement, has brought InDesign’s extensibility into the modern age. He showcased the use of the latest JavaScript along with REACT support and debugging tools.
Furthermore, Adobe Express—Adobe’s response to Canva—has been enriched with sophisticated new extensibility tools (as well as AI features based on Adobe Firefly). Max highlighted the two Express SDKs available: The Add-in SDK, which allows for the addition of features to Express, and the Embed SDK, which facilitates the inclusion of Express in other applications.
During the session, it was revealed that developers now have the capacity to elevate Adobe’s creative tools. For example, Max’s company, Silicon Publishing, has seamlessly integrated Express with its InDesign-based document editor. This integration means that users can now edit documents in a web browser, utilize Express to create or process content, and subsequently reintegrate it into the document, all the while maintaining compatibility with InDesign.
Max delved deep into the innovative capabilities unlocked by Adobe Express and Adobe Firefly. He touched upon the role of AI and elucidated how Adobe’s suite of tools synergizes to redefine modern publishing workflows. Attendees gained insights into making informed decisions between InDesign and Express and received guidance on optimally utilizing both applications. The session also spotlighted the integration of generative AI from Adobe and other sources, showcasing their benefits in InDesign-centric publishing processes.
About the Presenter
Max Dunn is co-founder of Silicon Publishing, a global leader of Adobe InDesign automation solutions for over two decades. Silicon Publishing pioneered the use of InDesign Server since its inception in 2005. Max has a deep background in document automation, and leads a team of world experts at publishing software, several of whom were on the original InDesign development team.
September 21, 2023
the Art of Org Charts
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
In this immersive presentation Julie Shaffer guided attendees through the essentials of crafting compelling org charts, enabling all to communicate complex hierarchies with clarity and efficiency.
We will dive deep into the intriguing history of organizational charts, discover the design principles that resonate with audiences, explore an array of chart variations, and harness the automation capabilities of InDesign styles and data merge. Say goodbye to manual chart creation and embrace a seamless process that allows you to produce dynamic, data-driven charts in a fraction of the time.
This isn't just another presentation; it's an opportunity to transform your design approach and become a master of visual storytelling. Don't miss this chance to unleash your creative potential and revolutionize how you convey information through the art of org charts.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understanding the Historical Evolution: Delve into the fascinating history of organizational charts, tracing their evolution from the Industrial Revolution to modern-day applications.
2. Design Principles for Effective Organizational Charts: Explore the key design principles that underpin successful organizational charts. Learn about hierarchy, layout, color choices, typography, and other essential elements that contribute to creating clear, professional, and visually engaging charts.
3. Exploring Chart Variations and Styles: Discover the versatility of organizational charts as we explore various types and styles. From traditional hierarchical structures to matrix and flat designs, learn how to adapt charts to suit different organizational needs and communication contexts.
4. Automating Chart Creation with InDesign Styles and Data Merge: Streamline your chart creation process using Adobe InDesign's powerful style functionalities. Discover how to create and apply styles consistently, ensuring a cohesive and professional look throughout your charts.
This session is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills necessary to create impressive organizational charts efficiently and effectively. Don't miss this opportunity to master the art of org charts!
About the Presenter
Julie Shaffer, FSMPS, CPSM, is passionate about helping users maximize Adobe design tools to expedite content layout without sacrificing good design. Julie is an Adobe Certified Instructor for Creative Cloud Design & Layout Solutions, a Fellow and Certified Professional Services Marketer through the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), an award-winning designer, and a regular contributor to CreativePro Magazine (formerly InDesign Magazine). She has spent more than two decades actively honing her skills, primarily through marketing for professional services firms.
In 2012, Julie founded Shaffer Creative to offer marketing consulting, training, and creative design services to help firms win work. When she’s not creating projects or collaborating with her team of marketers, you can find Julie hanging out with her family, friends, and two rescue dogs. Or, you might spot her getting creatively inspired—camera in tow—in some far-reaching locale, preferably one with a beach, mountains, interesting architecture, or… well, basically anywhere.
August 17, 2023
Glyphs and the Glyphs Panel: Unlocking Creative Possibilities in InDesign
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
In this presentation, Chris Cicchino provided attendees with a thorough understanding of Glyphs and the Glyphs panel. This enabled many to enhance their workflow and leverage the full potential that Glyphs offer.
Participants learned how to utilize the Glyphs panel to:
Access an extensive library of Glyphs: Attendees were guided on how to navigate the Glyphs panel, effortlessly browsing through a vast range of typographic symbols. From standard characters to specialized symbols and decorative elements, a plethora of options to enhance designs was showcased.
Insert Glyphs into design projects: Chris demonstrated precise techniques for seamlessly adding Glyphs to InDesign documents. Whether it was about incorporating accents, diacritical marks, or foreign language characters, the Glyphs panel was highlighted as a streamlined tool for enhancing visual interest and communicating with precision.
Explore OpenType features: The integration of OpenType features within the Glyphs panel was discussed. Attendees discovered how to access advanced typographic options, such as ligatures, stylistic alternates, swashes, and more.
Customize Glyphs panel settings: Tips on personalizing the Glyphs panel were provided, emphasizing options for organizing Glyphs, creating font sets, and filtering Glyph libraries. This part focused on efficient access to frequently used symbols and simplifying the design workflow.
Handle multilingual and international symbols: Chris offered practical insights into utilizing the Glyphs panel for incorporating characters from various writing systems and languages. Whether it was Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, or other scripts, the Glyphs panel was presented as the ideal tool for accurate representation across diverse linguistic contexts.
Throughout the presentation, Chris provided step-by-step demonstrations and shared invaluable tips to optimize workflow when working with the Glyphs panel. Attendees walked away with a comprehensive understanding of its functions, fully equipped to harness its full potential and improve their design efficiency.
Key takeaways:
Glyphs Panel
Characters vs Glyphs
Unicode
Font File Types
Using Glyphs
Glyph Groupings
OpenType Features
Glyph Panel Settings
Different Languages
International Symbols
About the Presenter
Chris Cicchino is a graphic designer with over 20 years of industry experience. He prides himself on the connections and the relationships he makes with his suppliers, vendors and other industry professionals to bring life to design projects ranging from pamphlets, brochures, billboards, digital ads, corporate websites, and motion graphics in the hospitality industry.
He dedicates his time to researching new technology in the design industry and strives to simplify all aspects of design—because of these qualities Chris decided to take on teaching at Niagara College in Welland, Ontario. He teaches students how to use professional Design Software such as Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and After Effects to students enrolled in the Graphic Design program.
Chris has been teaching part-time for eight years and recently became full-time professor at the College. Chris also has a roster of freelance clients that he works with to get up-and-coming businesses in the Niagara Region websites, logos, stationery and signage to help establish themselves as professionals in their industry.s.
July 20, 2023
Efficient and Accessible InDesign Practices Most Designers Don't Use
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
Most InDesign users—even designers who've been using it for 20 years—don't use the software to its potential. That means they unknowingly waste a lot of time doing things inefficiently. Understanding the features of InDesign and knowing how to do things properly will not only save you time but actually go a long way toward accessibility.
Find out many efficient and accessible InDesign practices that will save you time and help you make your documents more accessible.
Learn what accessibility means when it comes to documents, why accessibility is important for designers, and how accessibility can actually help you as a designer. In addition, hear common myths and misconceptions related to accessible documents.
About the Presenter
Colleen Gratzer is an award-winning designer with more than 26 years of experience in graphic design and web design and development. Since 2016, she has specialized in accessibility. She has provided accessibility training to the U.S. Department of the Interior, at CreativePro events and appeared on many podcasts. Through Creative Boost, she teaches plain-English accessibility to designers and developers and hosts the Design Domination podcast. Through Gratzer Graphics, she provides design and accessibility services. She is a member of the IAAP.
June 15, 2023
INDESIGN Goes to Prison
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
Of all the things people in prison might be doing, chances are learning InDesign doesn't immediately come to mind. But it did for Michael Santos and, through Prison Professors the organization he founded, incarcerated individuals now have an additional, if unlikely, pathway to success.
Santos is passionate about creating a supportive and rehabilitative environment within correctional facilities. By focusing on the acquisition of practical skills, he and his organization provide a sense of purpose and direction for incarcerated individuals. Engaging in creative pursuits like graphic design serve as a positive outlet for self-expression, fostering a sense of accomplishment and boosting self-esteem.
Equipping incarcerated individuals with InDesign skills enhances their prospects for successful reintegration into society. By developing a portfolio of their work, they can showcase their talent and skills to potential employers. But since former prisoners might not immediately find willing employers, InDesign also opens an income opportunity while working from home.
Through graphic design, incarcerated individuals can not only learn how to use visuals to communicate ideas but also to write more effectively. With these marketable skills, individuals who have paid their debt to society are better positioned to secure employment, reduce recidivism rates, and become contributing members of their communities.
You will learn:
What InDesign skills are taught to people in prison.
Steps we can take with InDesign to lower intergenerational cycles of recidivism.
Real-life examples of formerly incarcerated people who have made good through InDesign.
How the graphic design community can make a bigger impact on the lives of people in prison.
Why mass incarceration represents one of the greatest social injustices of our time.
Pathways to bringing courses into jails and prisons across America.
About the Presenter
Michael Santos, founder of Prison Professors, is a leading advocate for criminal justice reform. With firsthand experience serving 26 years in federal prison for a white-collar crime, he emerged with a mission to positively impact the lives of others facing similar challenges. A sought-after speaker, Michael focuses on education and empowerment, offering practical resources to navigate the complexities of the criminal justice system. As an expert in prison reform, he has developed innovative programs, including teaching InDesign to incarcerated individuals, equipping them with valuable skills for personal growth and employment opportunities. With his powerful storytelling and dedication to rehabilitation, Michael inspires audiences nationwide, shedding light on the need for a more equitable and compassionate approach to justice.
May 18, 2023
INDESIGN IN ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE DESIGN
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
How about InDesign for things that grow? Or InDesign for places to work or to live in?
In this presentation, Sam Luo, a landscape designer, will discuss the various ways that InDesign is utilized in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. The focus will be on client presentations, presentations to the city, scaled drawings, and the process of preparing these drawings from AutoCAD to PDF presentations.
Sam will begin with an overview of InDesign's capabilities and how it can be used in combination with other software such as Photoshop, CAD, and 3D programs like Rhino. He will also discuss how InDesign can be used to create presentations for city officials, zoning boards, and other stakeholders. The presentation will then shift to the use of InDesign for creating scaled drawings, what they are, and why it's imperative to have scaled drawings in a presentation format through InDesign. Throughout the presentation, Sam will share real-world examples of how they have used InDesign in their own work as a landscape designer in a multidisciplinary firm.
Attendees will come away with a better understanding of the ways that InDesign can be used to streamline the design process not only for work related to architecture, but for any field that requires polished and professional presentations.
About the Presenter
Yu hang (Sam) Luo is a landscape designer based in San Francisco working with architects and engineers to create public and private spaces around the world. After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of British Columbia in Canada, Sam moved south to complete his Master of Landscape Architecture degree at the University of California, Berkeley. He has had a chance to work in multidisciplinary design firms in China, Canada, and the U.S. and has acquired almost a decade's worth of experience working with and through the suite of Adobe products. In his free time, Sam runs his own YouTube channel teaching various skills relevant to the education of students in built environment disciplines, including InDesign. His channel currently has over 16,000 subscribers and 1.5 million total video views.
April 20, 2023
InDesign in an AI World
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
Artificial Intelligence is fast becoming an essential dimension of InDesign publishing workflows. Rather than replacing designers, AI will actually empower them to conquer design and content challenges.
Join Olav Martin Kvern, author of Real World InDesign, and Max Dunn, CEO of Silicon Publishing, as they present real-world examples of this exciting new trend. From the AI features built into InDesign already, to current ways InDesign can be extended with AI, to a preview of what the future may hold, this presentation will offer valuable insights into present and emerging design technologies.
About Olav Martin Kvern
Olav Martin Kvern (right) has been a major player in the creation of several software products, ranging from Aldus PageMaker and Visio to Adobe InDesign and Silicon Designer. He has authored many books on layout software, including Real World InDesign. At Adobe he evangelized InDesign automation, creating the example scripts that come with the product. With a deep understanding of computing and typography, Ole has seen AI grow from its infancy and has applied AI techniques to design challenges throughout his career.
About Max Dunn
Max Dunn (left) is co-founder of Silicon Publishing, a global leader of Adobe InDesign automation solutions for over two decades. Silicon Publishing pioneered the use of InDesign Server since its inception in 2005. Max has a deep background in document automation, and leads a team of world experts at publishing software, several of whom were on the original InDesign development team.
March 16, 2023
A FRESH TAKE ON INTERACTIVITY IN INDESIGN
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
InDesign has a rich toolset for adding a wide variety of interactivity to your documents. But to use these interactive features well, sometimes you need to think a little differently. In this session, we will dig into the "how-to” to produce a series of interactive effects; hyperlinks, pop-ups, rollovers, multi-state objects, slideshows, buttons and more. We’ll also explore the different formats available to export your document out of InDesign, and the pros and cons of each. If you’ve tried InDesign’s interactive features and found them frustrating, or have heard clients ask, “can we make that interactive” but don’t know where to start, join Laurie in this fast-paced session and take a fresh look.
About the Presenter
Laurie Ruhlin is an Adobe Certified Instructor in both InDesign and Illustrator and a freelance graphic designer, creating brochures, catalogs, menus, logos, infographics and digital documents for a variety of clients. From her diverse graphic design freelance work, Laurie brings a wealth of real-world knowledge into her training. She’s taught InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop at a number of training centers in Chicago for over 20 years, trains and consults for many corporations, SMPS Chicago and has presented at Adobe User Groups around the country. She has been a speaker at CreativePro Week for the past six years.
February 16, 2023
Historical Black Publications Inspire Contemporary InDesign Projects
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
Silas Munro and his company, Polymode, use InDesign and other modern tools of graphic design to create award-winning projects from book design to museum displays. But what animates him? What are his light bulb moments? How does he do it?
No easy answer, of course. But among his influences are the rich lineages of publications representing many facets of Black life, from the 1900–1919 Colored American Magazine to the iconic oeuvre of the Johnson Publishing Company’s Ebony and Jet. In this presentation, Munro will explore a selection of significant Black publications from the 20th century through the design of their layouts into their cultural relevance. He will talk about how these histories inspire Polymode’s poetic research process when applied to book design and his work as a design historian.
About the Presenter
Silas Munro is an artist, designer, writer, curator, and partner of Polymode, a studio that leads the edge of contemporary graphic design for clients in the cultural sphere. Collaborations include the City of Los Angeles, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, David Kordansky Gallery, MoMA, and MOCA. He is a curator and author of Strikethrough: Typographic Messages of Protest that opened at Letterform Archive in 2022. Munro’s writing appears in the book, W. E. B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America. Munro expanded this research as a co-author of the first BIPOC centered Design History course: Black Design in America: African Americans and the African Diaspora in Graphic Design, which will be published in book form. Munro holds an MFA from CalArts and a BFA from RISD. Munro is Founding Faculty and Co-Chair for the MFA in Graphic Design at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
January 19, 2023
BEFORE INDESIGN—PAGEMAKER & POSTSCRIPT & MACINTOSH LED A REVOLUTION
Pacific Time
3:45-4:00 p.m. — Networking
4:00-5:45 p.m. — Presentation
“It will stop your breathing,” says John McWade, “to find yourself standing in a line of four million and see no one standing in front of you.”
Summer 1985 at MacWorld in Boston, Apple, Adobe, and Aldus together introduced “The Macintosh Office,” a hardware-software suite comprised of the Apple Macintosh computer and LaserWriter printer, Aldus PageMaker page layout software, and Adobe Postscript page-description language that ran under the hood and made it all work. All four technologies were revolutionary. Together they mimicked our physical tools—drawing boards, T-squares, ruling pens—in the digital realm of pixels and glass, and changed the world’s largest industry permanently and completely.
Earlier that year, McWade had been working as the primary beta test person on the final versions of PageMaker, the forerunner of InDesign. After the Boston launch and for the next decade he found himself in demand at the heart of the “desktop publishing” revolution, the whirlwind that produced Illustrator and Photoshop, plus countless other hardware and software that evolved and merged into the tool suite we use today.
The technology, then as now, was promoted as empowering anyone to create books, magazines, brochures and so on. Its earliest adopters, however, were not designers but writers, marketers, and others who quickly found they lacked the skills to design beautiful or compelling documents. To address this need, McWade with his wife Gaye Anne in 1990 launched the magazine Before & After, How to Design Cool Stuff that for the next 24 years taught a generation how to design.
John will be with us to tell some of that story and to step us through some key design techniques. He’ll close with a few minutes about our careers—about the love that drew all of us into this field and holds us here.
About the Presenter
John McWade is a graphic designer, writer, and instructor. Most recently a senior staff author at LinkedIn Learning, McWade in 1985 created PageLab, the world's first desktop publishing studio, and in 1990 he founded Before & After magazine to teach graphic design to desktop publishers. McWade's formative background is in printing and publication design, with a specialty in typography. He has authored three books — Before & After Page Design; Before & After Graphics for Business; and Before & After, How to Design Cool Stuff. He retired in 2019.