In another life, I might’ve been a carpenter. As a boy, I was taught basic handyman skills by my grandpa. He instilled in me a love of making things with wood. In middle school, I became a “shop rat.” Along with a couple of other kids, I gave up my recess period to assist my industrial arts teacher. We helped clean and organize the shop, and in return we were allowed to work on special projects—and we were taught to use the serious power tools the other kids were not allowed to touch.

Miraculously, blood was never spilled, and I still have ten fingers. Chalk it up to having a great teacher who taught us to respect our tools and use them the right way.

I eventually became a shop assistant, helping other kids use the serious machines to speed up their projects. Fittingly, my final project was a toolbox, which I still have and treasure.

The most important thing I learned from that experience (besides how to cut through a knot with the bandsaw without severing an artery) is that two things define a job: the material you’re working with and the tools you use.

After reading this month’s feature article by Colin Flashman, you’ll always use the right tool for variable data projects. And I promise you won’t need to wear goggles or be asked to sweep up sawdust. Colin compares the strengths and weaknesses of variable data tools in InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Affinity, and CorelDRAW so you can skip the trial and error and get right to work.

We also have an article by Zach Field, one of our friends at Walsworth Printing, on his experience of using scripts to work around some of the limitations of the Data Merge features in InDesign.

Myra Ferguson continues her series on Premiere with an article on finding and adding assets to your video projects.

The latest CreativePro Podcast features a discussion between Theresa Jackson and Jesús Ramirez on the release of ArtCraft, the free vibe-coded suite of applications that mimic programs from Adobe and Microsoft. The discussion covers how AI might change the way our creative tools are built, who gets to shape them, and what happens when the skills and software we depend on become obsolete.

Quick Wins has a roundup of resources for learning how to use AI.

Our latest batch of YouTube videos includes InDesign tutorials on spanning columns, setting fractions, and numbering lists, plus great tips for Affinity, Premiere, and CC Libraries.

Enjoy!