David Blatner

And while you're at it, get your InDesign know-how by lifting it from Anne-Marie Concepcion and David Blatner.

As I've probably mentioned ten thousand times already, I have a project I'm working on that requires InDesign, and I'm heading to PEPCON (the Print and eProduction Conference) this weekend and don't want to seem dull-minded as I mix with the InDesignerati. (In my experience, the crowd, speakers, and attendees alike, are wicked sharp at PEPCON.)

So, one of the ways I'm feeding my craving for more InDesign know-how is to watch a lot of David and Anne-Marie's lynda.com course, InDesign Secrets. In fact, that's where I stole this movie on how to get gradient swatches out of Illustrator and into InDesign.

If you're an InDesign user with a design-centric version of the Creative Suite or a subscription to the Creative Cloud, then you already have access to Illustrator, so go grab those swatches. They're already yours. I'm just using the thievery motif for dramatic effect. Much like one might use these gradients:

Like Deke's Techniques, the InDesign Secrets collection at lynda.com is a continually updated series of short episodes. And if this level of InDesignery is over your head, there's an Up & Running with InDesign course taught by some guy named Deke there, too. And if you're not a member, you can get a free week's trial at lynda.com/deke.  

For those of you who like to read, here are my insightful observations on Anne-Marie's trick:   Read more » 

Believe it or not, CS5 contains more than just an upgrade to Photoshop. Yes, folks, my beloved InDesign also has a new and improved version. You might have been questioning whether we were even aware of that, given that Deke is admittedly heads-down the new Illustrator book at the moment and I was in the middle of installing InDesign CS5 as we recorded this very episode. In fact, I was 40% installed on ID CS5 when three of my favorite InDesigners turned up in the 'lounge for an InDesign Phone-In Roundabout Free-For-All. (It's like getting ready for a party. Stock the bar, make the hors d'ourves, install the software.)

Good thing our guests, David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepcion of InDesign Secrets and David Futato, Deke's very own Design Mastermind, had been poking and prodding the thing for months and had fun stuff to share. Read more » 

We've returned to our groovy tech-talk chill this week after the ruckus that was caused by inviting Russell Brown last week. And as promised, a winner from our martini hour visualization exercise will find his or her work featured as the lead graphic for this week's show. We'll start with Steve Newton because he paid the "I live across the Atlantic" tax and didn't get all the kitchy tradeshow castoffs that I sent to Gale solely because she lives in Canada.

Is anyone but me wondering if this picture is listing slightly? Meanwhile, here's the skinny on this week's installment of the world-famous Martini Hour. Read more » 

The intrepid newcomer and ominously named dekeWorld dweller, bware, was reading a post I did way back when this site was still spitting up pixel-based formula about how to customize placeholder text in InDesign. This morning, Bware wrote:

So I checked it out myself and had the same experience. All the carriage returns in my placeholder document were gone. So after trying a few useless ideas, I sent out the call for help to those keepers of the InDesign mysteries, David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepcion. A little while later, David emailed that he had a suggestion and because he was getting some similar queries he had put it here on their site, which should really be called:

David's suggested solution to the problem that bware and I were experiencing was to... Read more » 

What could make one of my favorite podcasts even better? Well, the collision of goodness that happens when Deke is their special guest, that's what. Earlier this year, David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepcion of the awesome InDesign Secrets (site and podcast) welcomed Deke (and honored him with their trademark echo effect) to chat about things InDesign-ine-ine-ine, including their general love for styles. (And the not-so-much-love for styles of the Table variety.)  Read more »