Detroit InDesign User Group

Meeting Notes Archive

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

The first meeting of the new Detroit InDesign® user group was held at Schoolcraft College’s VisTaTech Center, with 81 attendees. We began the evening with pizza, beverages, and socializing. Thanks to Adobe for sponsoring the food and drinks. Pens and pads of paper donated by Whitlock were available for note-taking.

We began the meeting with yours truly sharing the purpose of the group. Members can contribute to the meetings by filling out the meeting surveys, suggesting topics, recommending speakers, and helping to procure venues and sponsors. It was requested that guests register as members of the group through the website to receive emails about upcoming meetings.

The main topic of the evening was Hour Detroit magazine’s migration from QuarkXPress to InDesign. Mark Daniel and Michael Haener, IT Administrator and Production Director, respectively, shared some insights and then took questions. Needless to say, they are extremely pleased to be using InDesign for all their publications.

Noha Edell, of Adobe Systems, gave an overview of some of the resources and benefits available on the InDesign user groups website including a link to Terry White’s free podcasts. The episodes come out at midnight on Mondays and Thursdays.

Creative Suite Podcasts
www.creativesuitepodcast.com

Noha then proceeded to demonstrate some InDesign CS2 features and introduced Terry White, also from Adobe, who added some tips and tricks.

A design challenge to create a calendar was announced, sponsored by University Lithoprinters. Some previous designs were on display in the lobby. Their logo and the challenge requirements will be found on the Detroit user group web page. The deadline will be one week before the next meeting, TBD. The winner will receive InDesign CS2 courtesy of Adobe and have their calendar printed and distributed.

A surprise visitor from Germany was added to the agenda at the last minute. Klaus Messlinger from Peter Schmidt Group spoke briefly about iBrams, the integrated brand management system based on Adobe InDesign Server and applying brand guidelines consistently in international use.

Peter Schmidt Group
www.peter-schmidt-group.de

Lastly, we held a raffle, where prizes included books, T-shirts, an InDesign Total Training DVD, and a much-coveted copy of Adobe InDesign CS2. Our thanks to the following sponsors for providing the raffle prizes and for their special discounts for our members:

Total Training
www.totaltraining.com

Adobe Press
www.adobe.com/adobebooks

Peachpit Press
www.peachpit.com

Adobe Systems
www.adobe.com

Thanks to the initial organizational committee members for helping launch the Detroit group and to those who assisted at the meeting. This help is very important in making the meeting easier to run and organize. Anyone interested in helping out with meetings can send us an email. And many thanks to all those who support our group, particularly our members.

Hope to see you at the next meeting!

Donna Gniewek
Detroit IDUG Chapter Rep

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