David Blatner

David Blatner (born February 13, 1966) is an American author and speaker who writes about desktop publishing software, including Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and QuarkXPress. He has also written general-interest non-fiction on subjects such as the number pi, aviation, and the scale of the universe. He is the co-founder of the InDesignSecrets website and InDesign Magazine and the president of CreativePro Network, which produces the annual CreativePro Week conference.

Early life Blatner was born in Palo Alto, California, and attended Palo Alto High School. It appeared on Publishers Weeklys list of computer bestsellers in March 1991. The book won a 1991 Benjamin Franklin Award for technical writing; later editions were retitled Real World QuarkXPress.

Through the 1990s and 2000s Blatner co-wrote a series of books for Peachpit Press focused on desktop publishing, production, and color management. Several of these were co-written with color and imaging specialist Bruce Fraser, including multiple editions of Real World Photoshop. As Adobe InDesign supplanted QuarkXPress in professional publishing, Blatner shifted his focus to InDesign, co-writing Real World Adobe InDesign with Olav Martin Kvern (and, in later editions, with Bob Bringhurst) and Adobe InDesign CS/CS2 Breakthroughs with Anne-Marie Concepción.

InDesignSecrets, CreativePro, and conferences

In 2005 Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepción launched InDesignSecrets, a blog and podcast for InDesign users. In 2013 their company acquired InDesign Magazine, The InDesign Conference, and the long-running design portal CreativePro.com (founded 1999), consolidating them as the CreativePro Network, of which Blatner serves as president. The company launched PePcon, a print and e-publishing conference, in 2010, and in 2017 began CreativePro Week, an annual multi-track event for creative professionals. Blatner has also produced InDesign and Photoshop video courses for Lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning.

General-interest books Blatner has written popular non-fiction as well. The Joy of Pi (1997), a mixed-format treatment of the history and culture of pi, was reviewed by the Mathematical Association of America and led to Blatner being cited as an authority on the number in general-interest coverage. His later book Spectrums: Our Mind-Boggling Universe from Infinitesimal to Infinity (2012) was reviewed by Kirkus Reviews. He is also the author of The Flying Book (2003), Silicon Mirage: The Art and Science of Virtual Reality (with Steve Aukstakalnis, 1992), and Judaism for Dummies (with Ted Falcon, 2001).

Personal life Blatner lives near Seattle, Washington.