What program do you use to make flyers, brochures etc?

**dche5390** · 25th February 2009, 08:11 PM

Hi all,

Its been a long time since I dabbled in some "graphics" work, and I'm probably insulting those of you who earn a living from graphics design since I use the term rather loosely.

I've been tasked to design a flyer and program brochure for a convention/event. I have absolutely no design background, nor is it really within my job description. But whatever the reason, I've been tasked with it (and its something I enjoy anyway).

I used to "design" simple flyers for dinner party's whilst I was bumming around at USYD doing some bullshit health science degree. And to complicate things, of all programs, I used Macromedia Flash (back in the days of Windows and Flash 5- MX). For some reason, that is the only platform I've felt entirely comfortable with. I could plonk pictures, text, whatever, where ever I wished, with the added use of layers. In addition to that, I could drag all objects within my work area. I found Fash 5,6 and subsequently MX really easy to use. Plus, I did do some basic flash whilst in HS. I would then export the project as a jpeg etc.

Anyhoos, many years later, out of uni, real job, reality.

I never really got the hang of using PS to create images/designs from scratch. What I want to know is, what program do the pro's use?

It seems Flash is Adobe now? I recall it being Macromedia - thats how long I've been out of the game. And it comes with CS4? *lost*

My aim is to come up with an A4 sized design. I am a quick learner and web tutorials sit well with me.

Thanks for your suggestions,
Dan

**macaholic** · 25th February 2009, 08:13 PM

Pages is great for the simpler stuff.
InDesign for everything else.

Oh, and QuarkXpress is now a dead duck.

**Pink** · 25th February 2009, 08:20 PM

Indesign

**lenman74** · 25th February 2009, 08:32 PM

pages

**avolve** · 25th February 2009, 09:55 PM

You can get away with Pages for simpler stuff, though InDesign is what i use for creating flyers for clients - often in conjunction with Illustrator.

http://www.scribus.net/ is an open source and free application

**fionaw** · 25th February 2009, 10:42 PM

Indesign

**moth** · 25th February 2009, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by macaholic

Pages is great for the simpler stuff.
InDesign for everything else.

Oh, and QuarkXpress is now a dead duck.

Spot on - haven't used Quark since the OS9 days. InDesign all the way.

**lenman74** · 25th February 2009, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by moth

Spot on - haven't used Quark since the OS9 days. InDesign all the way.

do they still charge $16K or so for Quark? Im not surprised its been dropped by a lot of designers.

**Phormic** · 25th February 2009, 10:56 PM

Using InDesign to do a flyer is like using a howitzer to swat a fly. Pages is just fine for that.

Quark have rolled back some of worst excesses of their previous customer abuse but now it's too late. Adobe have won. They only have themselves to blame too.

**hillsdweller** · 25th February 2009, 11:06 PM

If it's a one-off job, it may be more cost effective for you to put together a mockup any way you can (Word, on paper, Google Docs etc.) and take it to a print shop for the layout work. If you've got something for a designer to work from other than a blank piece of paper you might be surprised at the total cost (and the design is likely to be better...maybe you are a design guru though). This assumes you are outsourcing the printing as well.

If none of the above applies, then InDesign all the way

.

**jubilantjeremy** · 25th February 2009, 11:42 PM

Really you can use anything that gets the job done - as long as you can save it to a PDF (or TIFF, PSD, BMP) with the required size, ratio and resolution (if you're saving as a PDF and the flier is all text, then it's also fine, irregardless of resolution).

I don't actually know whether flash will allow you to do that, though.

Printers get shitty with you when you supply them JPGs, so don't do it! PDF is most preferable, then PSD/TIFF. Save it at 300dpi, if you can, to give you breathing room if you decide to print a3.

**ZacDavies** · 25th February 2009, 11:48 PM

Holy Adobe products, sacred be thy name:

Indesign - Layouts
Photoshop - Image manipulation
Illustrator - Drawing & Typography
Dreamweaver - Websites

Alternatively, I live in Sydney & I'm a graphic design student seeking stuff to do to buff out my portfolio - wanna hit me up?

Some recent work (need to build a proper site / upload some even more recent shite):

Work - a set on Flickr

**macrich** · 25th February 2009, 11:50 PM

You've got one wrong there. InDesign - Layouts & Typography
Illustrator - Drawing & Vectorization.

**ZacDavies** · 25th February 2009, 11:59 PM

Depends on the user, was my personal generalization based on own uses

**Back2Bedlam** · 26th February 2009, 12:18 AM

Or you can do what some have done here, write a design brief, offer a small incentive, critique the designs that come, and reap the reward

**ZacDavies** · 26th February 2009, 12:34 AM

Yeah that's starting to bug me a lil

**Pink** · 26th February 2009, 12:46 AM

Originally Posted by dche5390

Hi all,

Its been a long time since I dabbled in some "graphics" work, and I'm probably insulting those of you who earn a living from graphics design since I use the term rather loosely.

I've been tasked to design a flyer and program brochure for a convention/event. I have absolutely no design background, nor is it really within my job description. But whatever the reason, I've been tasked with it (and its something I enjoy anyway).

I used to "design" simple flyers for dinner party's whilst I was bumming around at USYD doing some bullshit health science degree. And to complicate things, of all programs, I used Macromedia Flash (back in the days of Windows and Flash 5- MX). For some reason, that is the only platform I've felt entirely comfortable with. I could plonk pictures, text, whatever, where ever I wished, with the added use of layers. In addition to that, I could drag all objects within my work area. I found Fash 5,6 and subsequently MX really easy to use. Plus, I did do some basic flash whilst in HS. I would then export the project as a jpeg etc.

Anyhoos, many years later, out of uni, real job, reality.

I never really got the hang of using PS to create images/designs from scratch. What I want to know is, what program do the pro's use?

It seems Flash is Adobe now? I recall it being Macromedia - thats how long I've been out of the game. And it comes with CS4? *lost*

My aim is to come up with an A4 sized design. I am a quick learner and web tutorials sit well with me.

Thanks for your suggestions,
Dan

inDesign !!! ......

**jubilantjeremy** · 26th February 2009, 01:28 AM

Originally Posted by Back2Bedlam

Or you can do what some have done here, write a design brief, offer a small incentive, critique the designs that come, and reap the reward

Originally Posted by Donnie Darko

Yeah that's starting to bug me a lil

Yeah, I agree. I thought it would be bad form to post in the previous 'logo design competition' thread, but here's the link I almost mentioned :

NO!SPEC

And : NO!SPEC Design Contests

**tazgtz** · 26th February 2009, 01:47 AM

Originally Posted by Back2Bedlam

Or you can do what some have done here, write a design brief, offer a small incentive, critique the designs that come, and reap the reward

jobs please!
Spec work hurts everyone...

Read this...

[edit] oops, some beat me to it... [/edit]

Pages will be great for a one off job.

You can even save you "artwork" as a PDF (File --> Print --> Save as a PDF) and send it to your printer.

There even some cool template!

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