Remember when Adobe InDesign was poised to be the next “Quark Killer“? Well, InDesign has surpassed that status and lived 10 years to tell the tale. “Page by Page: 10 Years of Designing with Adobe InDesign” is a beautiful limited edition, hard-bound book commemorating InDesign’s 10 years in the Adobe family.
I was recently sent a copy for review and have included a few sections of spreads from the book.
Author Pamela Pfiffner has culled some of the best design moments in the software’s history, along with a look at how InDesign has made its mark on the desktop publishing industry. In addition, the book covers what its founders sought in designing the product, what challenges needed to be met, and the inspiration behind the “in” words to describe the new product that was to become the de-facto standard for designers around the globe.
Apple’s Steve Jobs even visited Adobe’s Seattle office back in 1998 to view a demonstration. Though impressed, he later advised the staff to bundle it with Photoshop rather than sell it on its own.
The initial code name for InDesign was Shuksan, named for a mountain in Western Washington State and derived from the Native American Skagit word meaning “rocky and precipitous”—a clue to the challenge that lay ahead, and the first of many InDesign code names that referred to mountain climbing. The Shuksan product team met regularly at a Chinese restaurant in Pioneer Square—near the former Aldus’s Seattle office—to debate application features and software object models.
InDesign did succeed as a standalone application after that early visit from Jobs, later becoming part of the Creative Suite bundle of software applications in 2003.
The commemorative hard bound version of the book is available at Blurb.com. It’s a great read if you’re interested in InDesign’s advances through the years. It contains a good selection of design work from ad agencies and design studios who use the software in their daily workflow. As well, a free PDF version is available for download. Happy 10th anniversary, InDesign!
