Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign represent the “big three” of the Adobe Creative Suite—but never assume that one is interchangeable with another. Use the wrong design program to create a certain element of your artwork, and you might end up with blurry text, sloppy layouts, or a logo that you can never resize without turning it into a pixelated nightmare. Using all three programs together, however, turns them into the ultimate dream team. You can maximize the strengths of each Adobe product while also minimizing their weaknesses; where one program fails, another can pick up the slack.

Which Adobe Program Should You Use for Designing Print Media? Since each program has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, the one you should choose depends on which part of the print design you’re actually making. Using this presentation folder design as an example, let’s break down which Adobe programs (Photoshop vs. Illustrator vs. InDesign) were used to create its various elements. Designing a Logo: Illustrator The perfect scalability of vector images makes Illustrator, hands-down, the best program for creating print logos. A logo you create in Illustrator can be imported into a number of different projects and will always print with crystal clarity.

Runner-Up: InDesign If you don’t have Illustrator, InDesign also has the vector tools you need to create a scalable logo. Photoshop can work as a last resort, but keep in mind that the vectors you create will be converted to raster images and you’ll likely see some slight pixelation if you try to reproduce the logo in different sizes. Drawing Shapes and Graphics: Illustrator Illustrator is the go-to choice for drawing any shaped visual elements, since vectors can be easily manipulated, altered and resized. Vector illustration can be tricky to learn, but the results are much more professional looking than other hand-drawn options. Runner-Up: Photoshop If you don’t mind working in a pixel-based environment, you can achieve similar results using Photoshop.

Jun 13, 2017. Adding fonts to your Mac is as easy as drag and drop, once you decide which of three folders you wish to install the fonts into.

Since not all of your illustrative elements will be reused in other designs, you won’t run into any pixelation issues as long as you don’t have to resize the image. Adding Filters and Special Effects: Photoshop Photoshop gives you access to an impressive library of filters and special effects. If you want to give your print media projects that extra level of flair, Photoshop should be your first choice.

Runner-Up: InDesign If you don’t have access to Photoshop, you can add a few limited filters to your photos directly from InDesign. It doesn’t have quite the same scope as Photoshop, but it can handle the basics. Manipulating Photos: Photoshop The name says it all—Photoshop has the most tools for manipulating photos, and since photos are created using pixels, you don’t have to worry about distortion.

Whenever your print design includes photographs, use Photoshop first to improve the image quality before importing into another program. Runner-Up: InDesign Again, if you don’t have access to Photoshop, InDesign can at least handle the basics, like cropping and resizing. It shouldn’t be your first choice, but it’s manageable in a pinch. Writing Copy: InDesign If you’re designing a brochure, pocket folder or other print project that has large passages of text, InDesign is very handy for its intuitive word wrap feature.

Word wrap helps you easily break up your copy into columns, letting you utilize every inch of canvas space. InDesign also creates crisp, clean text devoid of pixelation. Runner-Up: Illustrator Illustrator can also be used to create smooth, scalable text out of vector shapes, but without the word wrap tools, it can be difficult to create a good-looking layout for text.

Designing Layouts: InDesign InDesign has all of the best tools for creating complete layouts for print, especially multi-page layouts using its master page system. It can also handle multi-page templates, which makes it easier for you to quickly put together a sharp-looking layout. Runner-Up: Illustrator Illustrator can also handle multi-page layouts to a degree, but without the master page system, you’ll end up having to do a lot of extra work. Creating Your Print Ready Files: InDesign is a fairly simple affair. It keeps all of the design elements in their original state, so when it comes time to print, you’ll have the most accurate representation possible. InDesign is also better than most other Adobe programs at creating.EPS files, one of the more ideal formats for print-ready artwork.

Runner-Up: Illustrator Illustrator makes a decent second choice for its ability to export accurate print-ready.EPS files. What About Adobe Fireworks?

Although Adobe Fireworks is an excellent illustration and photo editing tool, when it comes to designing print media, there isn’t much that Fireworks has to offer over the other programs in the Adobe Creative Suite. It’s actually something of an amalgam of all three programs—it has layers and photo editing tools like Photoshop, vector illustrations like Illustrator, and the use of master pages like InDesign.

However,, so when it comes to creating print designs, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Conclusion We all have our own ways of doing things, and you should ultimately choose the program that best fits you as a designer. In the end, what matters is that your final product is clean, clear and catching to the eye.

Do you have any questions about using Illustrator vs. Photoshop vs.

InDesign for creating print media designs? What have been your personal experiences with using the Adobe Creative Suite for print media? Is there another alternative program that you prefer over these three? We really want to hear from you, so please leave your comments below! Thank you for this great summary!

Regarding Illustrator and Photoshop, I have a question. I am designing UI elements (custom checkboxes, sliders, buttons etc) and am using Illustrator as some of these need to scale. I require a final bitmapped image, however, in PNG format. I have found that illustrator’s export to web png tool seems to do odd things to my circular UI elements, but when I place the illustrator file into photoshop and export to PNG from there it looks great. Would this be a proper workflow or should it be possible to produce great bitmapped images from vector source at even the smallest scale (20px X 20px at 72ppi)?

My question is similar to that above. But perhaps I am not understanding the difference between raster artwork and vectors. I am creating a postcard with text over a chevron print pattern. I have a.jpeg of the chevron print that is 329KB. Which is better for this?

Similarly; Subway Art. Which is best? I want to create a personalized 8 x 10 print of encouraging words for my friends in my cancer support group in some fun fonts. (I collect them. Fonts; not friends.) Finally, really; just to make a simple black/white “Bake Sale Fundraiser Today” flyer! Which easy button do you press?! Thank you for your assistance!

I have Creative Cloud; but seriously, not feeling very creative at all. I have a wedding invitation business. I have been using photoshop when creating my designs and it has worked perfectly for me. I use.png graphics and change colors when needed and add the text for the invitations. I am wondering if this is still the way to go or if I should be using illustrator or indesign? Also when I do create a text heavy invitation on a white background in photoshop the print quality of the text is low and show the pixels.

For those type of invitations which program would be the better option (illustrator or indesign). Thank you for any assistance you can give me. I would like to create printable documents, perhaps as much as 1000 pages long, with numerous illustrations from Photoshop Elements 10 and MS Visio. In addition to the illustrations I also use many footnotes, citations, a bibliography, index, page numbering, and a table of contents. Other things too, but you get the idea.

Currently I use Word 2010. After about 50 pages (or even 20 pages that contain numerous illustrations) the Word applications becomes very slow to save, open, and manipulate. What do you suggest? What would give me the resources listed above and provide fast saving, editing, and opening?

I am at first a motion designer, working with After Effects or Premiere Pro. Since two years I am also working on different print projects which complete my portfolio. The projects are always one page layouts, such as medical product packages for pills or eye sprays, posters of the packages for use as banners at medical fairs or print ads in medical related magazins. The designs include pixel-pictures from istock footage – for example eyes or faces with eyes, or drops and bubbles. But also vector or EPS logos of the companies. And last but not least standard text for incredients, headlines etc.

Output format is always illustrator or PDF format. Is it ok to work with Illustrator or do I have to upgrade to InDesign?? Thanks for your help, Andy.

So hi, I have to create flyers for my customers that they can manipulate on the front end of the site. They should also be able to insert their logo or their unit name into this flyer. We will be creating the initial flyers for them to work from. What do you suggestAdobe / photoshop or indesign. My daughter who is a designer in NY says indesignmy sister says photoshop.I don’t know what to use. My guy in India who handles the hosting and management of the site will have to put this into the site for me. Hi Vladimir I currently own Photoshop Elements 10 & 12 and Lightroom 5.

Thank you for your article! I hope you can help me shed some light.

Everything I design is photo based. I currently design folded greeting cards and calendars. However, I have been forced to use online websites owned by the companies where I print since I am still a novice. What is provided as templates in Photoshop on cards and calendars is too limited for me. However, I now would like to have my independence to be able to design the following (all using photos and add “clip art” type illustrations if required e.g. Balloons for birthday card): folded greeting cards, calendars and children’s board books for the young ones and children’s books up to 8 yrs of age. I am trying to decide what is the best program or combination of programs to use for the design of all these mentioned items using photos as my main “illustration” on each page.

Hope you can help me; your input will be greatly appreciated. Hello Vladimir, First, I wish to thank you for the individual descriptions of Photoshop, Illustrator and In-Design within Adobe Suite. I work for a small non-profit office that promotes businesses and tourism in my community. In order to promote events, I must create professional posters/ad campaigns, create vector logos, and have the ability to change jpeg, bitmap, png and pdf logos into vector.

Your article is the most informative and helpful thus far. So, my questions are as follow: 1) My thought is that my work requires Adobe Suite (Photoshop – for pictures, layering, etc.; Illustrator – for creating logos into vector; and In-Design – for text). Would this be your recommendation? 2) Where can Adobe Suite be purchased? Creative Cloud is pricey and my supervisor prefers the software to be purchased outright.

3) Is there a thorough online class (for beginners) available for Adobe Suite? If so, please direct me to the source.

Your assistance is appreciated. While the Adobe Suite does has a lot more to offer in terms of tools, sometimes people just want a simple program that does it all. I have used CorelDraw Graphics Suite for years and consider myself what one might refer to as a “Jedi Master” at CorelDraw.

This program is very underrated, but you can do multi-page documents, vector logo design, link/flow text columns together, adjust photos, remove background color from image files, crop images-vector-text(if converted to outlines), output CMYK/RGB/Grayscale PDF’s, EPS’s, etc. Everything is done within one program without needing to hop from program to program and re-orientate yourself to get a desired effect out of a certain program.

I like that fact that you can put together say a 3 panel brochure for example and never leave CorelDraw for anything. Pics, Vectors, and Text are so easy to manage out of this one program. There are a lot of strengths and features CorelDraw actually has that you cannot find in the Adobe Suite. But like this article says, each person has different way of doing things and as long as your finished product looks clean, professional, well designed, and meet a print shops specifications I don’t see an issue in using any program you desire. Hey Vlad, So I’ve been working without Adobe Suite, creating flyers, logos, presentations, you name itall by using either web applications and/or logo software I purchased. I would really like to become a professional graphics designer, and I feel like there are so many apps being developed online that trying to learn Adobe now would kind of be going backwards.

Although I wish I was a master at Adobe anything, lol. Could you tell me, then, what are the most crucial and beneficial factors Adobe products have that I wouldn’t be able to find online or through other software? Also, are SVG files similar to EPS files? As mentioned above, “Fireworks, is primarily for web and digital design, so when it comes to creating print designs, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.” This is because Fireworks was created specifically for web designers. It is, for example, excellent for compressing varying transparent PNG-8 graphics into smaller files while maintaining photo clarity against backgrounds of varying colors. Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign cannot compare to Fireworks in controlling the number of transparent pixels in varying transparent PNG-8 compression.

A good tutorial on this subject was released in April, 2014 by Lynda.com and is authored by Chris Converse. In his first chapter, “Design the Web: Working with PNG-8” Chris has a section called “Creating Varying Transparent PNG-8 Files.” This section outlines the advantages Fireworks CC has over Photoshop CC in the compression of varying transparent graphics. So yes, I agree, for print design, Fireworks cannot compete with PS, AI, and ID; but Fireworks, maintains a significant advantage over other Adobe software in varying transparent PNG-8 compression. Hello, i work in a company which produces dairy products, im a newbie and i want to create single poster ads for facebook and our website. (Knowledge in photoshop, illustrator, coreldraw, soon to learn InDesign) Poster includes a photo and text, i use photoshop for the image, should i write the text there too? Then save as png. Text gets fuzzy on website though Also, i need to make a single poster for an ad in magazine, poster is with image and text too.

I edit image in photoshop, then should i add it to coreldraw, write the text there and export it for web? In wich program should i compine, image, logo and text for single add?? A) for web b) for printing Thanks in advance. Great question.

When you’re designing a poster for the web, it’s perfectly okay to add text to the image in Photoshop and to save as a.PNG. Your text problems may be arising from working with the wrong size, settings, or font.

Work at the final ad size, and you’ll be able to see what it will look like when it’s done. You can also play around with the text settings in the Character panel.

You can choose from None, Crisp, Sharp, Strong, Smooth, etc. Try different text settings to see which one achieves the results you’re looking for. (Crisp is a great choice.) You may also want to choose simpler typefaces, which will render better at smaller resolutions, or choose a font like Verdana that’s especially designed for the web. Software Scanpal 2 Metrologic. As for print advertising, you’ll want to speak with your publisher to find out about any requirements they have.

However, I would recommend against placing an image from Photoshop into Corel unless you’re planning to outline your type, because Corel won’t do anything you can’t do in Photoshop. I created a book cover using Photoshop with placed vector images (300 pi) created with Illustrator. The color palette is RGB. Text is Times Roman, Calibri and Hobo Std. I flatten the layers and save as a pdf (acrobat 5/PDF 1.4) using Photoshop.

Everything looks good on the screen, but when I got my proof back from the printer (createspace) the images and text look fuzzy. It looks like the images and text are underneath the background color. What could be causing this? Thank you for any help you can provide.

Hi Vladimir, What is the typical or best workflow for an entire paperback book project using Adobe products? My Google queries have turned up bits and pieces of info, nothing solid. I’ve been using CorelDraw for freelancing work for 4 years but am trying to move to the industry standard so that I will be more marketable in the workforce. My current high level workflow is to start with the book cover, lay it out in CorelDraw, create any vector stuff there, import any images and do simple editing to them there, or for extensive editing to images, from within CorelDraw I click on Edit Bitmap which opens Corel PhotoPaint and I do Photoshop-type stuff there, click Finish which saves it to the CorelDraw file. Then for typesetting, use an ISV product but will be using InDesign for that going forward. Only because of that workflow did I just assume one would begin a book project in AI, lay out the cover there and go in and out of PS as required, etc., but really, how is it all best done in the world of Adobe? Many thanks, Page.

Great question, Page! You can learn about Adobe Creative Cloud. Now, let’s jump into the workflow.

Layout and content: Use InDesign to build a grid, then set up the cover, table of contents, chapters, pages, and placeholders for text and visual content. When you’re ready to add content, you can use InDesign as a word processor. Or, if you already have text in an application like Microsoft Word, flow it into InDesign Layout and style it using Paragraph and Character styles. Avid Pro Tools 9 Windows.

Vector images: Illustrator is your best bet for working with vector art, but you can use InDesign for text-based art since it has powerful text styling features. Raster images: Use Photoshop for raster images, then place them in the Illustrator file to combine them with any vector art. Make the raster images a link (not an embed)—this lets you make and save changes in Photoshop, then easily return to Illustrator.

(Just a note: Photoshop can also create vector art, so you can use the program you’re most comfortable with.) Printing: Talk to your printer when you’re done with the setup. Many will accept a.PDF, which you can export from InDesign. Others will require you to embed linked images and convert text to outlines in Illustrator files to avoid font or linked asset issues. Also ask whether the printer will handle imposition. If you need to do this yourself, you can do so within InDesign or through a variety of imposition tools for.PDF files. Learning Adobe CC will take some time.

Just remember comedian and actor Steve Martin’s words: “I think I did pretty well, considering I started out with nothing but a bunch of blank paper.” Good luck! Hi Vladimir, I am interested in creating a soft cover, colorful, small-business directory to distribute in my community. The directory will be the first in my community and will include either a 1/4 page, 1/2 page or full color page ad from each small business. These ads will include color images. However, this will be my first time creating the ads for the directory, and I have no idea which program would be best for me to use to produce the ads. What program would you recommend?

I have never before created an ad in my life! So the program must be user friendly for people, like me, who have no experience. Hi Peggy, I would actually recommend that you invest in both Photoshop Lightroom ($10/mo) and InDesign ($15/mo).

Both programs do have fairly steep learning curves, but the good news is that they’re excellent software with plenty of tutorials and instructional videos to help you through the learning process. It sounds like you’re going to be doing quite a bit of design work with this directory, so it would definitely benefit you to invest the time to learn how to use both programs now. Just remember to be patient with yourself; learning how to create great ads takes a little bit of practice! I am producing a wall display.

The size is roughly 9′ high by 30′ long. There is vector graphics as background art. The wall will consist of many photos as well as logo art with body text (42 pt-48 pt) around them. Header text will be 84 pt, 336 pt and 780 pt.

The later two probably raised lettering. What software Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign would work best for this project? The number of photos (roughly 60) seems like Photoshop would be best but I like the ease of making changes and relinking photos in Illustrator and InDesign. The amount of text with different text wraps says InDesign. Don’t knows: – which takes up less room on my laptop at 100% or 50% 100 dpi to 150 dpi resolution? – which scales best? What software would you use to lay this out?

Thanks – Gary.