Designing magazines - software

[james13]

Hi Everyone,

I am in the process of researching/developing a local magazine.

I have a MacBook with the entire Adobe suite installed. I have been told using Adobe InDesign to design the magazine would be my best option. Is this true?

Also, printers always ask what 'format' I will be providing it in. What format will I be providing it in?? PSD??

Any healp cherished!

James

[KarenC]

Adobe Indesign is a fantastic program. I currently use the latest version CS4. You should provide the printer with print ready PDFs with bleed and trims. I have been in design and print now for more than 34 years and I know it inside out.

A PSD is a photoshop pixel file and is NOT recommended for magazines. Neither is JPG or similar. However, you can 'place' native PSD (Photoshop) files and AI (Illustrator) files directly in place in Indesign as images or adverts. All images placed in Indesign must be 300ppi.

A PDF is a portable document file. Each printer has different specifications for final PDFs. For magazine work it should all be in CMYK not RGB. Bleed varies from 3mm to 5mm plus trim marks. Always ask the printer what version specs of PDF they expect. They will paginate (put all the single pages into the layout they require) at their end.

Apart from that, everything else can be done in Indesign and exported to print PDF embedding all fonts and images. It's wonderful for magazines, books and ebooks.

Adobe Indesign is not something you can learn in 5 mins - you can get great training by subscribing to www.lynda.com plus more at www.adobe.com.au

ALSO NOTE: printers expect commercial PDFs when images and text are all embedded correctly to be quite large in file size. Low res web PDFs are NOT for commercial printing.

Like any great tools - it's not the tool, it's the knowledge you have of the tool. The more knowledge you have the more you get out of it.

And check all details such as spelling, grammar, phone numbers and web addresses carefully. It's amazing how many can go to print with incorrect details.

[james13]

Thanks heaps for that info Karen - you're a legend.

I've been reading/hearing alot about 'bleed' lately. Excacty what is bleed?

By paginate, you mean that at our end we create each page as a single page and the printer will order them to appear accordingly?

[KarenC]

Originally Posted by james13

Thanks heaps for that info Karen - you're a legend.

I've been reading/hearing alot about 'bleed' lately. Excacty what is bleed?

By paginate, you mean that at our end we create each page as a single page and the printer will order them to appear accordingly?

(a) Think of BLEED as the area outside the page - the area the colour goes off the page. The printer needs the bleed to print over the edges, then the guillotine trims the page to size.

(b) At your end you can create any number of pages in a document as (example only) 24 single pages in one PDF with bleed and trims, converted to CMYK colour and fonts embedded etc. The printer will then place the pdfs in their pagination system in the correct print layout. As each printer and each set of pages has different requirements, this is better for the printer.

[LeelaCosgrove]

If you're not familiar with design, InDesign is an incredibly difficult program to use! If you haven't used it (or the earlier iteration, Pagemaker) before, I would highly recommend going and doing a course ... or it'll all seem like Greek.

Either that or look at getting an older version of something like Pagemaker - it was a lot more non-professional-designer user friendly ... and perfectly good for laying out basic publications.

[Astrid]

Hi James.

Weren't you the one with the Surfer's magazine? Didn't you say that you had a designer to help you?

It's not just learning to deal with Indesign or Pagemaker but there is also a lot of "behind the printer's scenes" that you are not familiar with.
Apart from that you spend a lot of your time/money on trying how to work with the software, it can also be a lot of wasted money if the printer refuses to work with the files because of any technical issues or if you have to do it all over again.

Plus - you have to get advertising in to finance the project - and these clients will either send you prepared print ready PDFs or instructions for you to create an ad for them. And I can assure you - you're in for a lot of fun. I am designing an Australia-wide magazine, 130 pages, 3x/year and roughly 40-50% of the ads need optimising because they come in a wrong format or have some other problems.
And for that you'll need to have a bit of printing knowledge.

Of course you can start and do all by yourself, with all the pitfalls included, if you're smart, you might get there, but it will cost you time and money.
And you might spoil the first impression if the publication looks too daggy or too "homemade".

[Renee Barber]

Karen and Astrid, I agree that you're awesome. Free design advice is worth gold or at least a fair few 'green' pieces of paper. :-)

James, if you are the one who is marketing the surfers' mag, my advice is to leave it to the experts as your time could probably be better spent marketing the mag and getting advertisers to give you money.

On the other hand, if you have a lot of time to burn, not to mention money just buying the software although you can get CS4 for about $1,000, it's a good skill to have.

Whatever you decide, good luck and please keep us posted, particularly on how you find InDesign if you decide to purchase it. I love it. :-)

[Astrid]

Hi Renee

could you tell me where I can get CS4 for $1000? Do yo have an address there? The update alone will cost me between $1100 and $1400. Or do you mean Indesign only?

[Renee Barber]

Originally Posted by Astrid

Hi Renee

could you tell me where I can get CS4 for $1000? Do yo have an address there? The update alone will cost me between $1100 and $1400. Or do you mean Indesign only?

Sorry to get you excited, Astrid; I did mean the upgrade price. At the moment, though, they do have a 15 per cent off special. I think it's valid until the end of the month. By 'they', I mean Adobe.

[Astrid]

;-)

It would have been to good ;-)

Yes, I know about the 15%, thanks.

Enjoy your weekend!