The InDesigner

…and zero podcasts, unfortunately.

The title of this post represents my work in the last issue of my magazine, which was 256 pages, plus covers. This doesn’t leave a ton of time for writing and producing podcasts, unfortunately. And it requires a little time to rest and recover. So, if you haven’t already missed me, now you know why you should.

I’m hard at work getting a new episode in just under the wire for July, and then back on schedule for August — which will have many new and interesting things in store for you, my loyal audience.

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The InDesigner has just squeezed into a first-page position among the featured Technology podcasts on the iTunes Music Store. I have no idea how iTMS ranks or tracks podcasts, but The InDesigner has been moving steadily up from its original positon on page 5 (of 7). It held fast at the first spot on page 2 until a few days ago, and just made its way up to the very last spot on the first page.

Not that I’ve been repeatedly going back to check or anything.

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On April 21st, I wrote a post about the podcast reaching the 1000-download mark. Two months later, I’m thrilled to say that, for every episode I’ve done since that date, that download number has doubled. In a mere two months, the average has climbed to nearly 2200 downloads. I can only hope that means there are 2000 designers around the world who are working faster and smarter, finding the time to be better designers, and enjoying what they do more than ever.

Again, I thank everyone out there for their support and interest.

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Last night I discovered the whopping difference between sitting in a quiet room cobbling together video tutorials and presenting before a live audience: I did my first official public speaking gig at the New York InDesign User Group meeting (see the extremely unflattering photo of me in action here).

Scary as it was, I really enjoyed it. Luckily for me, it was on my absolute favorite InDesign topic: Styles. So there was plenty of … (read more)

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I recently exchanged some e-mails with the editor of InDesign Magazine, Terri Stone, and she asked if I was interested in passing on a special offer to my audience. I’ve subscribed to this magazine since its very first issue, and I’ve said in previous episodes that its one of the best investments you could make to stay ahead of the curve with InDesign.

So here’s the deal: You can go to www.indesignmag.com/idm/purchase.html, select a two-year subscription for $69. Then, in the Promo Code field, type “theindesigner”. What this will give you is two years of new issues, plus all 11 back issues, which would cost an additional $98, if you bought them without this deal.

Just so you know…I have no investment in this, and get nothing from it, but I have no problem endorsing something I think has real value to my audience. InDesign Magazine definitely falls into that category.

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Last week, I spent six consecutive days immersed in InDesign and other Creative Suite applications (mostly Photoshop and Acrobat) in the beautiful city of Chicago at the back-to-back InDesign and Creative Suite Conferences. I’ve mentioned this event a lot in the podcast episodes leading up to it, so I figured a quick run-down of the event — now that I’ve attended it — would be useful.

I had several goals while attending this conference. … (read more)

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The InDesigner — namely me — is now backed up by Adobe Certified Expert credentials in InDesign CS2.

If any of you out there are considering taking this same step, my advice is: study, study, study! If you think being good with InDesign at work is enough…think again. This is a very difficult test, taken completely out of the context of working in the application (i.e., it’s all multiple choice questions and you don’t have the application or any materials to refer to). If there are some features of InDesign you don’t use in your job — i.e., XML, Books, Interactive PDFs — learn them before plunking down your (or your company’s) $150 for the exam.

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The InDesigner has passed the 1000 subscribers level. That’s the average number of downloads for each episode…some episodes are significantly higher. I’m thrilled that so many people around the world are finding and using the podcast. I’m watching the stats and hope it continues to grow. Thanks to all of you for your continued support.

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After some listener requests, I’m going to experiment with alternative media. That is, I’m posting for download from the site a version of the latest episode in iPod video format as well as an audio-only MP3 version.
As I’ve said before, the “true” version of the podcast is, for me, what I make available in the full 672 x 450 video version that’s part of the RSS feed and available through iTunes. My goal is to make the podcasts clear and understandable, and I don’t think either of these formats meet that criteria.
But to try to give my audience what’s it’s asking for, I’m creating these alternative versions. So, if you want these “lesser” versions, you can come to the site and download them manually.

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After many hours of trial-and-error, and a handful of video episodes that have had more than their fair share of inconsistent audio levels, choppy editing and distracting keyboard noise, I think I’ve finally conquered the podcast’s technical demons. The problems that delayed Episode 14 challenged me to scrap my previous method of producing the video podcast and come up with what I think is a better process and a much better result for everyone. I have to give it up to Apple’s iLife 06 — in particular the new podcasting features of GarageBand 3, which saved the day for me.
I’d be curious to know if anyone other than me notices the difference, so feel free to drop me a line or post a comment about the quality of the video and audio in Episode 14.

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