Longtime readers of this tips newsletter know we love a good cheatsheet. When I’m mastering a new graphics application, I’ll tack a concise list of keyboard shortcuts on the wall next to where I’m working. If you are anything like me, you’ll dig these free shortcut guides from Noble Desktop:

Noble Desktop Keyboard Shortcut Guides

This collection of free PDF cheatsheets include guides for InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and QuarkXPress (Mac or PC format). Download a few, print them out, and start saving time.

When you are drawing with the Adobe pen tool, keep an eye on those small modifiers that appear in the lower-right of the pen icon. They change as you use the pen tool depending on what you do or which part of a path you hover over.

If you are new to the pen tool (or want a quick refresher) print this handy cheat sheet and train yourself to pay attention to the subtle cursor changes. Once you get to know them, the different icons remind you of the action you are about to perform.

Starting this May (2009), Creativetechs is offering a free, 10-week, worldwide, InDesign course. To make this happen, we need at least 1,000 people signed up to participate, so help us spread the word!

Want to enroll? Sign-up here: InDesign CS4 Course Enrollment.

Jason Hoppe, our Adobe Certified Instructor, has designed a comprehensive course that covers InDesign CS4 in detail. If you’ve been meaning to improve your InDesign skills, now is the perfect opportunity:

Week 1, May 14 – Interface & New Document
Week 2, May 21 – Working with Type
Week 3, May 28 – Shapes, Smart Guides, Pathfinder
Week 4, June 4 – Color
Week 5, June 11 – Images and Links
Week 6, June 18 – Layers, Making PDFs, Printing
Week 7, June 25 – Style Sheets
Week 8, July 2 – Master Pages
Week 9, July 9 – Tables
Week 10, July 16 – Finishing Details.

And yes, you can pass this offer along to friends, or even post it on your blog. Help spread the word. As I mentioned, we need a minimum of 1,000 people enrolled to make this free class viable.

Read on for an extended Q&A, and to ask your own questions in the comments. Jason is currently working on the class materials. If you have a topic you’d like to see him cover, mention it in the comments below.

Every graphic designer eventually finds themselves facing this client request. You’ve designed a newsletter layout in Adobe InDesign. The client loves it, but they want a template in Microsoft Word they can edit themselves.

Creativetechs happens to be located in Seattle, just across the lake from the Redmond campus of Microsoft. Needless to say, we get this question a LOT from various graphic designers in our area. There isn’t a perfect solution, but here is a technique that does a surprisingly good job.