I have found Adobe InDesign User Groups (IDUG) to be an excellent source of quality information about InDesign and other Adobe Creative Suite programs. Our local group meets several times a year and provides many helpful tips for design professionals, not just on InDesign, but on other products in Creative Suite as well.
At this past Tuesday’s event, we welcomed a special guest – Noha Edell, a Business Development Manager at Adobe Systems. I’ve seen Noha’s presentations at other events; she is straightforward and knowledgeable. Noha gave us a brief overview of Adobe’s Creative Cloud and also narrowed in on some of the new features in InDesign 6. I was particularly impressed by two of those features, Liquid Layouts and InDesign forms, which can definitely help improve production speed.
The big news is about Adobe Creative Cloud. Right now, Adobe has an introductory rate for current Creative Suite users of CS3 or higher. For $29.95 per month, you have access to all the familiar programs in Creative Suite, plus some new ones for the iPad. It sounds like a great deal and Creative Cloud keeps you updated with the current version – automatically. Find out more at http://www.adobe.com/products/discount-software-coupons.html?PID=3269232 (Offer ends August 31, 2012.) .
You can search for a local user group at the Worldwide IDUG website, There are more Adobe User Groups, covering different Adobe programs, at http://groups.adobe.com/. And if you do some web searching, you’ll also find independent local user groups on Meetup and other community group sites which may work for you. (Check with the organizer to see if they have any fees added.)
Authorized Adobe User Groups are free join, although some groups ask for voluntary donations help pay for dinner. In our group, a small contribution gets you raffle tickets for some pretty incredible door prizes. At this past Tuesday’s event, someone won a full copy of the new Adobe Creative Suite 6.0!
I Love Layout 