# Designing Brochures!! ?? what program



## stjohn (Sep 11, 2006)

Hi all..

ive been forever looking for a good design forum, and i reckon this is it ray:
ive just started the laborious task of a 200 page brochure for a travel co. and i was wondering if anyone had any tips regarding what software to use. 

im fairly efficient with Photoshop, Illustrator etc etc, and ive done all the mockups in photoshop, and im sure i could continue to use that. my only problem is that im not mad on the handling of text in photoshop at all!

im aware of Quark, but have never really tried except for 1 brief encounter, is this more suitable for such jobs, or should i stick with what i know??

thanks in advance

rory


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## Chevy (Jul 25, 2003)

Microsoft Publisher may be a good start ....

One Open source option is Scribus.


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## Inactive (Apr 11, 2005)

what problem or dislikes do you have with photoshop's ability to handle text? i'm not brilliant with photoshop, but i don't have any problems creating text with it.


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## stjohn (Sep 11, 2006)

well its not really desgined for publishing really IMO. any logos/ or headers or big text ive ever done, ive gone to Illustrator first and imported, it always seemed to look much better. With large text epsecialy, you begin to see the pixelation. 

the handling of text is a bit weird too.. spacing, fitting into certain deisgnated blocks etc... for something lke a newsaper for example, im sure Photoshop would be a nightmare...

i still love the program, and its where i get my best results, but i have a feeling quark or somethign similar might have dedicated vector engines for text and organising blocks of images and text

..or else i could be making all this up :grin:


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## Inactive (Apr 11, 2005)

you're probably right. photoshop is not the best for what you want. just one note on text, when you are placing text onto an image, left click and drag a box to position text inside. it gives you better control to align/justify text. for a long time i used to just click to place the cursor and then start typing.

chevy suggested microsoft publisher and scribus. have you ever tried either of those? there might be other suggestions following from other members later.


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## stjohn (Sep 11, 2006)

great tip man... that will definately help.. 
thanks for the headsup on the other progams too.. i migth have a look although ill prbly end up using PS

are u in birr Ireland?


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## Inactive (Apr 11, 2005)

yeah.


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## stjohn (Sep 11, 2006)

dublin here

how goes it


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

Which versions of the Adobe software have you got? CS3 has much better text-handling capabilities than previous versions. If you already have CS3 and it's still not good enough, create and edit the text in Illustrator and then import it into Photoshop as a Vector Smart Object in a new layer.


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## Inactive (Apr 11, 2005)

i didn't think dubliner's knew anywhere outside of the pale.


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## Zazula (Apr 27, 2006)

Our company designs and produces numerous brochures; the programs being used are Corel Draw (pc), and InDesign & XPress (mac).


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## stjohn (Sep 11, 2006)

cheers people. im going to look into Xpress and see if i can go about getting CS3...im on cs2 at the mo

@freddyhard.. sure how could i not know Birr? the coldest place on the island
















sorry il get my coat


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## Inactive (Apr 11, 2005)

tell me about it. i've rode a motorcycle for 13 years in it! just got a car recently. i might see 40 afterall


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## ebackhus (Apr 21, 2005)

Time for the American to start yammering!

Here at the library I work at we use Word 2002, Publisher 2003, and now and then I will use Flash MX 2004 at home. Publisher is nice because you can work with "real-world" dimensions when composing so there is no real having to guess how things are laid out between design and print stages.


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## alihamilton (Sep 4, 2005)

I have used Quark and Publisher and really prefer Publisher...user friendly and good results. I would use Photoshop to create images and then import them into Publisher to design the brochure. Adobe Pagemaker is another option.


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## v-six (Sep 12, 2004)

A good piece of page layout software like InDesign or Quark is the ideal choice here. You may need to use another piece of software if you'll be creating some complicated graphics, but for text and layout, these two are at the upper echelon.

Quark used to be the go-to guy in publishing/layout, but InDesign has surpassed it in leaps and bounds. If I were to recommend anything, InDesign would be it. Plus, if you're already used to Adobe software, the learning curve will be in your favor.

Here's two spreads from a booklet I put together in InDesign CS2. CS3 would be the one to get now.

http://www.vervesix.com/pdfs/bluestone14-17.pdf


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