Hacking InDesign Templates

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Sandee Cohen

Hacking InDesign Templates

Tuesday, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Did you know that InDesignSecrets premium members get free InDesign template every month to create sophisticated layouts? Did you know that there are free templates you can access from Adobe Stock right from InDesign? But you may not know how to unlock the secrets of working with these templates. In this session Sandee Cohen will use her many years of production work to show you

  • What makes a professional template?
  • How to explore and understand the way templates are put together
  • Easy ways to customize a template for your own particular brand
  • And how to make sure nobody knows you started with a template

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Engaging Interactive Documents

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Diane Burns

Engaging Interactive Documents

Tuesday, 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Take InDesign to the next level by creating rich, interactive documents. InDesign allows you to add buttons, multi-state objects, media, and animations that can really make your projects pop. This fast-paced session will include tips and strategies for using InDesign’s interactive features effectively.

Starting with typical static files like newsletters, presentations, and instruction manuals, you’ll learn how to engage your online audience by incorporating attractive and useful animations, along with the buttons that can start and stop them — all from within InDesign, no coding required!

Topics include:

  • Creating buttons to trigger actions on a page
  • The power of Show/Hide
  • Animation tricks and techniques
  • How to create multi-state objects and use them in a variety of ways
  • How to create document navigation menus

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Using InDesign the “Right” Way

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Nigel French

Using InDesign the “Right” Way

Tuesday, 2:15 pm – 3:00 pm

We always get there in the end, but do we always get there in the best way? If we looked under the hood, would your InDesign documents stand up to scrutiny? Are your styles in order, your threads unbroken, your layers logical?

This session is for novices as well as seasoned users who secretly suspect there’s a better way to do things. How can we really make Paragraph, Character, and Object Styles work for us? How do we use features like grids, Master Pages, Find/Change, and Layers to do the heavy lifting? And how do we avoid repetitive drudgery and efficiently build documents that, as well as being great looking, are robust and easy to edit?

Using InDesign for Presentations

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Mark Heaps

Using InDesign for Presentations

Tuesday, 2:15 pm – 3:00 pm

Presentation design has, for decades, been owned by PowerPoint and, more recently, Keynote. These days there are many options for presentation design, and one of the most excellent tools is right in front of us: InDesign has grown into far more than just a print layout application. With the addition of animation tools, online publishing, fixed-layout EPUB, HTML5 export and more, InDesign can now be a powerful tool for presentation design.

In fact, InDesign offers some advantages that make it a unique solution for presentation design projects. In this session Mark will show you some ways you use presentation design solutions inside of InDesign.

For example, Nancy Duarte coined the term “slideument” in one of her books. It’s something that looks like a presentation but is treated like a document. InDesign may be the perfect tool for building these communication pieces that can be shared on many platforms.

Topics include:

  • Defining presentation design, and the role we play as professional creatives
  • Going beyond the page, and looking at layouts in a new way
  • Using styles in InDesign for rapid design changes
  • Best options for export formats
  • Converting InDesign to PPT or Keynote, when your client requires it
  • Presentation design thinking that overcomes the “death by powerpoint” mindset

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A Modest Proposal: Choosing RGB Over CMYK

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David Blatner

A Modest Proposal: Choosing RGB Over CMYK

Tuesday, 2:15 pm – 3:00 pm

It’s the 21st century… are you really still converting images to CMYK in Photoshop? Are you picking the right CMYK at the right time? What the heck is InDesign’s “transparency blend mode” and should you choose RGB or CMYK? This is the session that every InDesign user needs to watch—at least the ones who care about quality and productivity! Includes:

  • How to create a PDF that works for both onscreen viewing and printing on a desktop printer
  • Why converting images should be called “targeting” them
  • Why using the default settings will just get you boring color

The Magic of Anchored Objects

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Laurie Ruhlin

The Magic of Anchored Objects

Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

The struggle is real. You’ve been asked to create a pictorial directory, with a photo of each entry next to the name. You create paragraph styles and format the text, then place the photo and manually position it next to the name. You repeat for 100+ names. Then someone with the last name Blatner or Concepcion (at the beginning of the alphabet of course!) is added to the list. Now you have to manually move each photo down and possibly to the next page, then match up the photos with the names.
The answer? Anchor that photo into the text to which it belongs. Now, any names added or deleted will not only move the names, but the photos as well. This session is a must for anyone creating catalogs or manuals using threaded text with graphics which must remain fixed to a specific paragraph.
Laurie will share real world struggles and solutions using Anchored Objects, such as:
  • Hang a photo or icon next to a topic in a training manual.
  • Anchor an icon or graphic inside of a table cell.
  • Anchor a photo in a story and control the Text Wrap.
  • Anchor a quote or comment box into a story.
  • Create an Object Style to anchor a graphic to the exact location desired in one click.

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Building Albums and Photo Books

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Khara Plicanic

Building Albums and Photo Books

Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Wedding albums and photo books aren’t what they used to be. Learn how to build quick layouts, efficiently retouch and edit images, and output to a variety of formats. From managing cover options to handy tips for working with images (and clients), there’s something for new and experienced users alike. With tried-and-true best practices and vendor recommendations, you’ll be ready to make your first book right away.

  • Learn to build quick layouts
  • Efficiently retouch/edit images
  • Best practices for working with photo clients

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Super Styling: Automatic formatting with Nested, Line, and GREP Styles

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Chad Chelius

Super Styling:
Automatic formatting with Nested, Line, and GREP Styles

Tuesday, 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Styles are the foundation of effective and powerful text formatting in Adobe InDesign. Not only do they save time and allow us to work faster and more efficiently, but they’re also the foundation for many other features in Adobe InDesign. In this session, learn how to make InDesign to the heavy lifting by automating text formatting in the documents that you create. Learn how to…

  • Automate text formatting using Nested Styles
  • Isolate and format text using GREP Styles
  • Ensure that text is formatting consistently any time it appears in your document
  • Understand the order of operation when using automated and manually applied styles

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Feeding InDesign with Photoshop and Illustrator

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Mark Heaps

Feeding InDesign with Photoshop and Illustrator

Tuesday, 11:00 am – 11:45 am

We think of them as “the big three”: Photoshop + InDesign + Illustrator. For many of us, this triad of tools serves most of our design and production needs. In this session we’ll explore ways to improve workflow with Photoshop and Illustrator so you’re working happy not harder.

Most importantly, we’ll break down the ingredients from some of our most recent real world projects to learn how and why Photoshop and Illustrator are the perfect partners for feeding great assets to InDesign.

  • Use the CC Libraries to better connect “the big three”
  • Find uncommon editors to speed up your workflow in Photoshop
  • Learn new file generator techniques in Illustrator
  • Turbo charged tricks for working with Stock assets in PS, AI, and ID
  • Shave time and friction with Adobe Bridge, Scripts, and Actions

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20 Essential Image Techniques

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Mike Rankin

20 Essential Image Techniques

Tuesday, 10:15 am – 10:45 am

How you handle images can make or break your design (and your workflow). Fortunately, there are tons and tons of useful tips and tricks for working with images in InDesign! And in this fun and fast-paced session, Mike Rankin will share as many cool image-related tips as humanly possible in the span of 45 minutes. You’ll see:

  • tips for placing and sizing
  • tips for relinking and exporting
  • tips for working with color and resolution
  • tips for enhancing images with custom frames and special transparency effects
  • tips for leveraging the awesome power of object styles
  • and much, much more!

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