The Shortlist

Welcome to The Shortlist! We are exploring all things AEC marketing and answering listener questions to provide best practices and fresh ideas for marketing strategies to help your firm win the shortlist. New episodes drop each Wednesday. Listen as the team from Middle of Six shares their thoughts on proposals, interviews, websites, social media, marketing planning, business development, and countless other tactics that architecture, engineering, and construction firms rely on to grow their businesses and build strong brands.

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The Shortlist

InDesign Rumble

March 26, 2025 • Middle of Six • Season 4 • Episode 66

Adobe InDesign is a must-have tool for AEC marketers, but let’s be honest—many of us honed our proposal design skills on the job, often under a deadline. Even experienced users sometimes wonder: Am I using the best approach?

In this episode of The Shortlist, host Wendy Simmons sits down with some of Middle of Six's InDesign "power users" Allison Tivnon, Becky Ellison, and Lauren Jane Peterson to explore the many ways designers approach InDesign for proposals and marketing collateral.

From file setup and text layout to graphics and formatting, every designer has their own techniques—but is there really a "right" way? The discussion covers key differences in workflow, including parent pages, grids, pagination, text styling, and shortcuts. They also rumble over linking vs. embedding graphics, managing color palettes, table styles, and columns vs. threaded text.

With so many ways to get the job done, sharing insights can lead to game-changing discoveries. Whether you're a meticulous organizer or a creative risk-taker, this episode will challenge the way you think about design workflows.

CPSM CEU Credits: 0.5 | Domain: 4