Desiging a Brochure in PS?

[Hertz van Rental]

I used QuarkXPress in college...*cough* It was ok. Did the job. Reminded me of using word perfect for Window 3.1..:/ or microsoft word for that matter.

*gasp* i hope you were using a REALLY old version... because those programs just don't compare. theres a reason QuarkXpress (and Adobe InDesign) are industry standards for print work!

It must be an old version! I've got Quark and it's the only thing to use for DTP 8)

 

[Corry]

Well, my boyfriend is gonna hook my up with some page layout software...here are some other questions...I guess maybe this is off the photography topic, so if the mods wanna move it to OT, that's fine. Anyway...Is there a certain kind of paper that would be good for printing this on? I mean..it's gonna have photos and text, so I can't just get photo paper, can I? Thanks in advance!

 

[Hertz van Rental]

How many you gonna print?
If it's a big run you burn a CD and take it too a printers. It could work out cheaper.

 

[Corry]

Well, it's a multi-page thing that he wants to put together in a binder. I think he only wants a few, but since it's gonna be about 10 pages each..that might be a good idea.

 

[Alison]

I would price out a printer and what you would pay for brochure paper at a place like Staples.

 

[craig]

AllisonS. has a great idea. I will bet that they have laser printers and hard proof printers. Paper is only limited to your budget. It is weighed by pounds per 5,000 sheets. 20lb is near office paper and I think the scale goes to or above 100lb. Of course office paper is at the bottom of the list, but you can get good results by tweaking some photoshop settings. A heavier paper is what you are probably in the market for. If the product is going to continually be browsed you will need a heavy weight (near 60lb). If the material is going to be updated a couple of times a year then a thinner weight could be used. The battle between Matte and Gloss is a tough one. I am guessing that Kinko's or whatever will let you do some test sheets. Matte will absorb the the ink. Gloss is basically a plastic coating, so consider smudging and it's archival qualities. Then if you really wanted to confuse yourself; check out high end watermarked paper. Also consider larger sheets and folding them.

As you know Type Design and the Graphic Arts is a whole other world. Allow a lot of time for learning and do a lot of tests. If you do go to staples or press make sure they will be able to read your images files and fonts. I do not have to say "ask a lot of questions!" we are here to help

 

[GerryDavid]

NEVER do text on PS as it looks awful when printed!

According to my PS teacher, PS has fixed its text tool in later versions, I think starting in v6, but maybe v7 where it prints really nicely, as long as its not rasterized.

*goes to read the 2nd page of this thread*.

 

[Karalee]

I did some boat specs for my fiances dealership, just a few pictures and a lot of text. I actually knocked it up in a microsoft photo program, had them printed at kinkos on some glossy paper and they looked really good, they ended up using them at their boat show as info for each boat.

 

[Digital Matt]

I put text on prints everyday in Photoshop. It looks fine. They changed the text interface to a page layout style. If you have to use photoshop to do a layout, then do it. I'm sorry, but it's better than Microsoft word. You can set up a grid, and guide lines, and you know your dpi and resolution. You can make text boxes, combine text and graphics, set kerning, work in the correct color space as well as convert to the correct color mode, and export to eps or pdf. If you are going to make each page the same, make yourself a template and just drop your text and graphics in and each page will be simple to make.

If you can get your hands on Indesign though, by all means do it

 

[Corry]

Thanks for all your help everyone. I will probably be asking more questions when I actually start in on it.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

You can actually get Quark as an educational deal now - if you are a bona fide student or teacher you can get a copy for under £150. It's worth every penny.