Y'all know I have squat knowledge about all things Adobe. We have an employee who insists on doing flyers and ads in effing PowerPoint and then converting them to PDF for print.

I suggested that she use Publisher and I worked up the same flyer she did in PowerPoint to show it's possible. But in doing so I've found that Publisher sucks at things like font coloring and effects like doing a simple drop shadow behind some text. The biggest upside was that the PowerPoint file is 16MB and the Pub file is 633KB.

Soooooo we are now looking at some new software for her to use (or moi). Something similar in complexity to Publisher/PowerPoint as far as layout but more capable in terms of effects. We'd like to have an Adobe-compatible product so that I can clean up any graphics as needed.

Is InDesign too much software for simple single-page layouts? Is there another software package that we should know about? Keep in mind that this woman is a simpler simpleton than I am and that the budget for the software is not very big.

cant beat illustrator, even an older version

We're converting from QuarkXPress to InDesign.

yay...new shortcuts to learn.

InDesign is lovely.

You could try OpenOffice...quite similar to MS Office...and free.

http://www.openoffice.org/

I agree!

we use Illustrator along with photoshop at our print shop almost exclusively. you can save in major formats and provides quality printable pdf's. we really use it cause it works well with our plate makin' machines.

Eve... I feel your pain...
I print some stuff for one client who uses InDesign... I dislike that program a lot it tries and fails to be Quark. Quark is better IMO and I still end up converting both to illustrator for trapping.

They (Quark and ID) both have their ups and downs. In the hands of someone who only knows a bit about either, you're going to be sitting at your computer trying to get correct seperations or doing physical pasteup at the lighttable or both.

http://www.creativepro.com/node/62647

I'm no wizard at software, but I DO know what I need for plates. The best luck we've had is with Illustrator. My opinion, Quark or ID both suck unless you've properly trained with them. Just like anything else. Just sayin'....

Indesign is much better then Quark. Indesign is also Adobe like photoshop and illustrator. I was a Quark user for many years, but Indesign is much easier to use, if you're used to photoshop, even the shortcuts are similar.

Quarke is a PITA! to learn and then it's even more PITA to marry up with anything done in Adobe.
I bought my Quarke stuff back in '99 and hardly used it for any ad page/ brochure set-ups. Did it all faster and easier with Illustrator and Photoshop, and that was way back when they were both in the series 5/6's.

I'd go for InDesign, all the commands and tools are familiar if you're used to P/S.

Wiz

Hmmmm....

Illustrator is definitely out. This woman is not drawing anything. She's merely taking photos of log homes and overlaying text and call-outs on them. Basically similar to magazine covers but on a smaller scale.

I'll have to look at InDesign as I've never used it. I've got it. Just never launched it.

I'd post a PDF that she's done but it's hideous. All the designers in the audience would cry.

[quote="TofuTheGreat"]Hmmmm....
She's merely taking photos of log homes and overlaying text and call-outs on them.

[/quote]

You work with Palin?

why? She CAN do all she needs to do (quite easily I may add) placing photos from photoshop, with one click... and then add text over the top, in several different ways. and save as quality printable pdf's. (which she seems to prefer) just like ANY of the other good design programs that have been mentioned... We design 99% of our labels this way. Plus like I said, it is easy to save to .eps formats or .pdf's to send to other print shops.

then later... YOU can use the program for other things like drawing logos or what have you... if need be.

but its your money... or rather your works money

I just think Illustrator is the total package. It gives you every tool you need, plus gives you the freedom to design logos or other elements that can be brought into InDesign, Quark or Photoshop if that need ever arises.

a classic example of the labels we create... using photoshop (photo) and illustrator (text). Everything there is in Illustrator. With the photoshop picture linked inside the document.
when I go to make negatives, I just take off what isn't going to print, and use the crop marks and presets to send to the machine... Hard to explain quickly. but I have way more printing options in Illustrator than I ever did using Quark or InDesign.
but that could be because of the RipIt program we use as well.

Well the biggest issues we've got are:

1. She's a former realtor working now in dealer development. At no point has she ever had graphic design experience.

2. The projects she's doing are the one-to-four per year. We don't crank out a lot of these flyers and any ads are done by the publishers we hire.

3. I honestly don't know if she'll grasp Photoshop. She could surprise me there though. After all she's been doing everything in frigging PowerPoint this whole time (and not the most efficiently I might add).

4. I don't think she grasps the concepts of resolution (on screen and print).

5. There literally is no drawing in these things. None. The only photos are the log homes and I touch up those photos. Hell I'd be willing to do the job she's doing. If anything I'd love for her to come up with the rough ideas and then I'd polish them before release.

noted. the only thing 'drawn' in the sample label above was the banner, and the die line I created... the rest is a photo, and text.

though... if you're only using it quarterly...

I guess the next question here would be price differences between the programs.

I still think splodge is correct here. You can pick up an older version of Illustrator 10 pretty cheap. And will do everything you'd like. but whatever.

good luck tofudisan.
let us know the outcome.

Hmmm... I'll give Illustrator more consideration. Another aspect is I'll undoubtedly have to teach her how to use the software anyway.