The CreativePro Podcast

If you know Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign, you can use Premiere too. You don't have to be a video editor to make it useful. In this episode, Mike Rankin and designer and educator Myra Ferguson explore how Premiere can fit into an existing design workflow. Mike and Myra cover everything from animating Photoshop layers and creating interactive content to pulling still images from video and wor...

Designers know accessibility matters, but knowing that and knowing what to actually do about it are two very different things. In this episode, accessibility experts Colleen Gratzer and Chad Chelius share how they found their way into accessibility and discuss how it has changed the way they approach design. They explain why accessibility doesn't have to limit creativity or be a separate step at t...

After more than a decade, Nigel French's  How to Be a Better Designer series has reached its final installment. In this episode, Mike Rankin and Nigel French celebrate the conclusion of the 12-part series, which began as a pair of articles in InDesign Magazine back in 2013 and was later revisited and expanded for CreativePro Magazine . They look back at the long journey of the series and the ideas...

Print is alive and well, and it is more flexible, creative, and powerful than ever. In this conversation, Sabine Lenz and Chris Carls share their passion for print and explain why designers and marketing professionals should take a closer look at what it can do today. They explore how new technologies, digital embellishments, shorter print runs, and smarter production options have expanded what is...

Recorded live at CreativePro Week 2026, this episode features Theresa Jackson talking with document accessibility experts Dax Castro and Chad Chelius about practical ways designers can start creating more accessible documents. Dax and Chad begin by sharing their own journeys into accessibility and how they came to focus on helping others create more inclusive documents. From there, they explain ho...

No matter how long you've used your favorite creative tools, there's always one more shortcut, hidden feature, or unexpected workaround waiting to surprise you. In this episode, Theresa Jackson and Mike Rankin share a collection of practical tips and "wait, you can do that?" discoveries submitted by CreativePro Week speakers. You'll hear tips for favorite tools from Acrobat to PowerPoint, includin...

Some of the most useful new Illustrator features are easy to miss if you aren't actively exploring the latest updates and beta tools. In this episode, Theresa Jackson talks with illustrator and toy designer Thaddeus Coates and digital artist Luke Choice about the new Illustrator features they're genuinely excited to use. Thaddeus shares how Illustrator fits into his character design and toy-making...

Canva's mission is to empower the world to design, and by most measures, it's working. Millions of people create content in Canva every day, which means design is no longer something that belongs exclusively to designers. Now, with the acquisition of Affinity, Canva is making a move into professional territory. So what does that actually mean for those of us who make a living in this space? In thi...

Great design lessons outlive the tools, trends, and even the formats they were created in. In this episode, David Blatner and Mike Rankin revisit the work of John McWade and Before & After Magazine . It's a look at why foundational design thinking still matters and how McWade's work continues to shape how creatives see and communicate. You'll hear how Before & After began in 1990 and why it resona...

Lisa Carney and Jesús Ramirez join the CreativePro Podcast to explore the intersection of Photoshop craft and community in the age of AI. Drawing on years of Hollywood production experience (where every pixel counts) they compare notes on high-end retouching and compositing. The conversation bridges traditional techniques with the latest AI-powered tools. Lisa and Jesús share behind-the-scenes sto...

In this episode of the CreativePro Podcast, David Blatner and Theresa Jackson pull back the curtain on how the CreativePro Week 2026 agenda came together for this summer's event in Nashville. Recorded in conjunction with the agenda launch, the conversation offers a timely look at the decisions shaping the program. If you've ever attended CreativePro Week and felt like the content spoke directly to...

Theresa Jackson and Mike Rankin kick off the new year by reflecting on 2025 before looking ahead to 2026. They share their thoughts on design trends for 2026, framed less as visual styles and more as shifts in behavior and mindset. They also react to the Pantone Color of the Year, Cloud Dancer, and what it suggests about the current cultural mood. AI enters the discussion, as it has become part of...

Theresa Jackson kicks off this episode of the CreativePro Podcast by digging into one of the most common frustrations for creative teams: review and approval chaos. She's joined by Mike McHugh from PageProof. Listeners are invited to learn alongside Theresa as she asks the questions many teams wrestle with every day. Together, they unpack why creative reviews break down, why email and ad-hoc tools...

Mike Parkinson and Jody Wissing join the CreativePro Podcast for a candid conversation about their unexpected paths into presentation design. They explain that presentation design isn't what most people think it is. It's not about making pretty slides. It's about understanding and caring about the content well enough to turn it into a story. They walk through their favorite features for building s...

David Blatner and Theresa Jackson return from Adobe MAX 2025 with stories, insights, and a few surprises. They recap the biggest announcements, their favorite new features, and the feeling of creative inspiration that had nothing to do with Adobe. From AI showing up in nearly every app to Firefly credits, new collaboration tools, and what it all means for creative professionals, they break down th...

During Adobe MAX, Canva dropped a bombshell announcement: the entire Affinity suite—Affinity Photo, Designer, and Publisher—would be free forever . In this episode, David Blatner, Theresa Jackson, and Mike Rankin share their reactions to the news and unpack what it means for creative professionals. They discuss how Canva's move shakes up the design software landscape and whether Affinity can ever...

InDesign 2026 is here—and so are David and Anne-Marie! In this episode of  The CreativePro Podcast , David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepción bring back InDesign Secrets and dig into the newest release of Adobe InDesign (v21). They explore what's fresh, and what's just plain weird. From the new Flex Layout feature to live text editing in the browser, they unpack the good, the bad, and the future po...

In this episode, Amy Balliett and Mark Heaps sit down for an honest conversation about artificial intelligence and what it means for creative professionals. They share how AI is showing up in their work today, the opportunities it creates, and the worries it raises about originality, ethics, and the future of design. Along the way, you'll hear candid reflections on how creatives can keep their uni...

In this episode, Theresa Jackson and Mike Rankin go behind the scenes at CreativePro. They share how their similar career beginnings in prepress connected them at their first meeting many years ago, and how they now share overlapping roles at CreativePro. You'll hear from Mike about the CreativePro Magazine evolution from InDesign-only coverage to a broader creative focus, and other changes that m...

InDesignSecrets is now the CreativePro podcast! Join David Blatner and Theresa Jackson and review the past 20 years of podcasting, as well as w hat to expect next! Links and Info: Our podcast started in late 2005 ! Trivia: Did you know our podcast intro music was created by Anne-Marie Concepcion's daughter, Nicole?! Have an idea for a future podcast? Leave us a note below!

Topics: Big news about podcast name Our favorite obscure features Fun obscure feature "spelling bee" game Obscure Feature: Positional Form   Friendly Alien: Episode 300 Tip of the Week   Barbell: 20 Obscure Features Episode 35   List of All Our Obscure Features (so far)   Positional Form: Exploring OpenType Pro Fonts, Part 2

Just for fun: Bad Advice (and Good Lessons) Interview with Marcus Radich from PageProof Obscure feature: Show Transparency Grid Links: Bad Advice The "Bad Advice" thread on Facebook Sara Rosinsky's Em Dash shirt Interview with PageProof: New Proofing Add-in for Microsoft Office Centralizing the Proofing Process with PageProof News: Adobe engineers did an Ask Us Anything 24-hour marathon on the InD...

Topics: Great lessons from the archives (that you may have missed) First look at InDesign 20.3 Obscure Feature: Delete All Guides on Spread Sponsor: PageProof is a simple-to-use but powerful online proofing platform that makes giving feedback on creative work effortless See David's latest conversation with PageProof founder, Marcus Radich Links: Old InDesign Magazine articles that are definitely e...

* DOIE: Dept. of InDesign Efficiency * Obscure Feature: Clear Rotation * News Links: Dept. of InDesign Efficiency 10 Essential Tips for Using Quick Apply in InDesign Activate Last Used Field Shortcut Apply Leading to Entire Paragraphs: What Causes Inconsistent Leading and How to Fix It How to Start Using InDesign Scripts How-to Create a Custom Workspace The weird "Place Gun Frame" trick: Applying...

Topics: The INDDC format: good and bad Interview with Venngage CEO Eugene Woo Obscure Feature: Reset Preferences on Quit Links: Cloud Docs: Collaborating Using Adobe Cloud Documents Creative Cloud Storage: Where Does It Go? Working with Adobe Cloud Documents Anne-Marie's Cloud Docs video "for Design Geeks" on LinkedIn Learning The endgame… collaborative editing, like the current Photoshop beta Ven...