Boston InDesign User GroupMeeting Summary
“This was my first IDUG meeting—it was interesting and informative!” Attendee
Tue, Nov 17th, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Mass College of Art - Auditorium
Event Details PEOPLE REGISTERED: 80
PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE: 54
Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting of the Boston chapter of IDUG on November 17, 2009. It was a fantastic meeting and a great way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of InDesign.
The meeting consisted of 3 major agenda items:
• Chapter News Review
• Panel Presentation on Pre-Press
• Chapter Raffle and Celebration of 10th Anniversary
CHAPTER NEWS REVIEW
Co-chairperson Andrew Fintzel offered a quick summary of notable chapter developments and announcements, including:
• The introduction of the new chapter newsletter, which will offer a synopsis of chapter developments, contacts, calendar items and other useful information (download a copy at the bottom of this page).
• A reminder for members to check their membership data, including current email address and contact settings.
• A reminder to look to the website for membership benefits, including specials from Adobe, InDesign Magazine, and more.
• The official announcement of IDUG Boston’s new group site on Facebook. Please visit the site and join the group. Do a search for “IDUG Boston” at Facebook.com and join—all are welcome!
PANEL PRESENTATION ON PRE-PRESS
The main component of the meeting was the panel presentation on pre-press, a discussion about getting design files to output. Three experienced print professionals shared their insights on getting your files to print.
Christopher Pompei, the Senior Technical Advisor at Bowne & Co., started the presentation off with a in-depth review of offset printing processes and what a designer needs to consider when sending files to the printer. He shared several ideas about how to cut printing costs and mistakes to avoid while getting maximum results from the printing process. He keyed in on the need to communicate with your pre-press professional to guide you toward maximal results.
Dan Biron, Branch Manager and Head of Color Digital Services for AIR Graphics, expounded on Christopher’s concepts by considering pre-press from the digital printing angle. He introduced the uses and advantages of digital printing, proposing ideas on when it is a good idea to turn to digital output. Then he covered some of the unique considerations for digital output, and discussed, at length, some of the challenges of achieving desired color quality.
Finally, James Wamser, an Adobe Certified Instructor at Sells Printing Company, showed us how to prevent common mistakes using InDesign CS4 Live Preflight. He also used GREP in the Find/Change dialog box to move US Prices to a conditional text layer. This allows for black plate changes, which saves time and money when printing multiple versions. He also showed us some QuickTips on how to prepare PDFs for commercial printing.
You can download a PDF of the presentation notes at the bottom of this page.
RAFFLE & CELEBRATION OF 10TH ANNIVERSARY
The meeting was rounded out with our chapter raffle—IDUG Boston holds a raffle at each regular meeting, and proceeds benefit the chapter operations. Thank you to all who participated! Winners of the main prizes were:
• Maureen Moran — Free year subscription to InDesign Magazine
• Roseanne Zaino — Free year subscription to InDesign Magazine
• Stephen Price — InDesign CS4
Additional prizes included shirts, hats, and other memorabilia. Congratulations to all winners.
Upon adjournment of the meeting, attendees and panelists mingled and partook in a cake to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Adobe’s introduction of InDesign as a integral component of its Creative Suite, and a valuable tool for designers everywhere. Cake was provided by Adobe. Some attendees also went across the street to the Squealing Pig for further discussion and celebratory libations. Thank YouThe following is a list of individuals and groups who deserve extra thanks for supporting IDUG Boston and helping us in our continued efforts:
•Meg Young, Joe Blair and the entire staff of MassArt for providing a fantastic facility for our meetings and coordinating all the logistics that go with that.
•Craig Bradley for continued support, and printing new signage for our meetings.
•Dan Biron and AIR Graphics for printing our prototype newsletter.
•InDesign Magazine for great raffle prizes and the membership discount program.
•Jennifer Ruble, Wendy Katz, and the staff of Adobe for making a great product and supporting our group with all our necessities!
•Noha Edell for her years of dedication to the InDesign User Group program at Adobe. We wouldn’t be here without you!
A special thanks goes to the Steering Committee, panelists, and members who participated in the coordination of this event. All involved are volunteers and are not paid for their services, so their work is acknowledged and commended. We encourage members to become involved in IDUG Boston, either by joining the Steering Committee or participating in some of the operations of the chapter. If you are interested in participating, please contact either of the organization’s co-chairpeople (Andrew Fintzel or Charles Linskey) at the chapter email: boston@indesignusergroup.com Comments from the evaluation sheets“Very informative! Answered specific concerns!”
“This was my first IDUG meeting—it was interesting and informative!”
“Really loved the interaction with the audience. Good Q&A!”
“So cool to hear each presenter give differing replies to same issues, like pros and cons of a debate.”
“Chris Pompei—good way to start!”
“Dan Biron offered lots of info…”
“James Wamser—very organized, very clear in explanation, very knowledgeable.“ Next MeetingCOMING IN FEBRUARY:
Chapter Event - keep checking for updates!
IN MARCH:
IDUG Boston Networking event! InDesign designers will have the opportunity to meet and socialize with fellow designers and network professionally.
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