About InDesign Secrets

Adobe InDesign is taking the publishing world by storm. But if you try to find reliable information about InDesign on the Web you’ll find yourself scouring Adobe’s site or muddling through dozens of other sites for a tip or two. Now that you’ve found InDesign Secrets, it’s time to stop all that muddling. Developed by page-layout guru David Blatner and “DesignGeek” Anne-Marie Concepcion, InDesign Secrets is your one-stop shop for all things InDesign.

For more information about our contributors, see below.

About Your Hosts

David Blatner

David Blatner is the author or co-author of 15 books, including Real World InDesign and InDesign for QuarkXPress Users, and presents many InDesign titles at Lynda.com. He is the editorial director of InDesign Magazine. Over a half a million copies of his books are in print in 13 languages, and his free InDesignSecrets plug-in offers a “tip of the day” to thousands of users worldwide. He has spoken at conferences and workshops around North America, Europe, Australia, Japan, and South Africa. You can find more about David at 63p.com.

Anne-Marie Concepcion

Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion owns a busy cross-media design studio in Chicago and is one of the industry\'s best-known Adobe trainers and consultants. She also presents many video tutorials at Lynda.com. In addition to her work here, Anne-Marie hosts our sister site, InCopySecrets.com, for editors and designers working in an InDesign/InCopy worfklow, and writes the free monthly e-zine InCopyFlow. The tips and insights she shares in her free DesignGeek e-zine are enjoyed by thousands of designers, publishers, and prepress professionals around the world. Learn more about Anne-Marie at her company's web site, Seneca Design & Training.

About Our Contributors

We're grateful that these InDesign experts take time from their busy schedules to contribute articles to InDesignSecrets.com. They are among the top InDesign experts in the world, and we encourage you to buy their books or contact them directly for consulting, design, and training support.

James Fritz

James graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee in 2003. After a short stint designing catalogs he started working as a freelance designer for C2 Graphics Productivity Solutions. Soon he was promoted to a full time instructor/designer and subsequently become an Adobe Certified Instructor Design Master. Currently James is a Content Manager of the design segment at lynda.com where he is also an author.

Cari Jansen

Cari Jansen is based in Perth, Western Australia and is a bit of a jill-of-all-things-print/publishing. She's an Adobe Certified Instructor (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, an Adobe Ambassador (AU/NZ), Technical Writer, Print & Electronic publishing consultant, Public Speaker and the Founder & Chapter Representative of the Perth InDesign User Group. Cari's passion is to bring knowledge, experience and excitement about creative and publishing technologies to any organisation. Be it in the role of instructor by assisting businesses in getting the best out of their Adobe applications by teaching the most effective and efficient ways to use the tools at hand, as a speaker at events or as an independent publishing consultant or technical writer helping organisations manage and map their path in the (electronic) publishing future. www.carijansen.com.

Bob Levine

Bob Levine is a graphic designer and a consultant focused on providing InDesign training and guidance in developing efficient, collaborative workflows to those moving from QuarkXPress or PageMaker. An Adobe Certified Expert in both InDesign and InCopy, Bob has written articles for InDesign Magazine and is an Adobe User to User forums host. He has more than 15 years of industry experience and has been using InDesign since version 1.0. For more background, visit his website, www.theindesignguy.com.

Keith Gilbert

Keith Gilbert has worked as an independent consultant and educator in the design industry for 25 years for clients such as Apple, Adobe, Best Buy, Cargill, General Mills, Lands’ End, Medtronic, Target and the United Nations. His work has taken him throughout the US and Canada, as well as to Barbados, Kenya and Monaco. He is an Adobe Certified Instructor in InDesign, InCopy, Illustrator, Photoshop and Acrobat, and the Chapter Representative for the Minneapolis InDesign User Group. You can read his Tips & Techniques Blog at blog.gilbertconsulting.com.

Mike Rankin

I guess it all started in 1987, when I traded in my Sears word processor for a Mac 512k. Twenty-one years and many thousands of pages later, MacWrite and MacPaint on the 512k have evolved into the Creative Suite 3 on a MacBookPro, but it's never stopped being fun. I’ve worked in publishing since 1995, mostly making grade 6-12 educational products for history, science, mathematics, and world languages disciplines. I've also worked as an illustrator, drawing for anatomy books, spent a few years as Prepress Specialist using Kodak Prinergy, and as a Software Trainer, training folks in InDesign, InCopy, Illustrator, and Photoshop. I also underwent Six Sigma Black Belt training in business process improvement. Currently I work for a large educational publisher, doing application development (translation: more XML than you can shake a stick at). I am DTP pack rat, treasuring a lot of stuff that most sane people would consider trash. I proudly display a complete Illustrator 88 package on my desk, along with my set of Photoshop 2.5 floppies, and my InDesign 1.0 CD. I've written about InDesign for InDesign Magazine and extensively (some would say obsessively) on my blog, Publicious.net

Steve Werner

Steve Werner is a trainer, consultant, and co-author (with David Blatner and Christopher Smith) of InDesign for QuarkXPress Users and Moving to InDesign. He has worked in the graphic arts industry for more than 20 years and was the training manager for ten years at Rapid Lasergraphics. He has taught computer graphics classes since 1988.