software for magazine publishing

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:20pm

There are several professional options out there. For layout Adobe Page Maker is great. For graphics, you may use Adobe Photo Shop or Quark Express.
If you need professional design assistance, then we can help you with that. You may contact us through http://www.MelanzOnline.com . Good luck with your publication.

by aisgus on Fri May 20, 2005 12:21 pm (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:21pm

Just what does a professional designer do for a magazine?
Dottie

by Dorabil on Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:05 pm (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:22pm

Page by page, they make the difference between a keen amateur -- who will probably use too many fonts, far too many of the design features in Quark, too many dreadful photographs, an appalling grid layout, clashing colours -- and a truly excellent, professional job that looks as though it was done by someone from National Geographic or Life.

by numbers guy on Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:34 pm (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:23pm

Yeah, even little things like the letting between the letters. Also, the biggest thing our designer harps on us about is consistency. Making sure the borders are always the same, style the same etc... Our designer made a huge difference with our mag.

by borkya on Mon Jun 13, 2005 5:51 am (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:23pm

Unless this is an American English vs English English thing, I think you'll find the word is "leading" - with "lead" sounding like the soft metal. It comes from the amount of lead put between the rows of text back in the old days when they used to set printing presses that way. Similarily, "upper case" letters came from the case of letters that was at the top and which had all the capitals!
The horizontal space between individual letters (in the UK) is called kerning. Go on. Surprise your art ed. Ask him to kern the space between the upper case A and V a little tighter (assuming you have a word like AVIATION in caps). He'll go Wow.

Postby numbers guy on Tue Jun 14, 2005 2:35 pm (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:24pm

Actually, I've only ever hear the word spoken, never written down, so I've just assumed it was letting. Another reason to have a great designer!

by borkya on Tue Jun 14, 2005 7:32 pm (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:25pm

Quark Xpress and Photoshop are the way to go.

Lots of people are using Indesign lately, but I learned on Quark and have used it far too long to change now.

by him8nc on Mon Sep 19, 2005 8:32 pm (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:25pm

Does anyone have more detail on what differences I need to consider in terms of my software investment for Indesign or Quark Xpress.

Id love it if someone like him8nc (learned quite a bit from your posts - thanks) who has used either or both could give a recap. Also I'd hate to go one direction and then have trouble finding people with the experience to use it. Would most art / design staff know both products?

-Dave

by software-quest on Wed Sep 21, 2005 7:23 am (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:26pm

I haven't used Indesign, so I can't compare them for you.

Maybe someone out there knows more.

I do know that Quark Xpress is fairly easy to learn. I learned how to use it in undergrad, in several classes that required us to use it and then also on the staff of the university paper.

Purchased it with a student discount, which made it $400 instead of $900-something. I use the PC version at home because I'm not a Mac person. I use it for designing newsletters for my writers' group and for the small business that I run from home in addition to my writing. And I use it for designing the ebooks that I write.

I've also used the Mac version of Quark on the job at the business journal.

Here's a comment I found from someone who likes Indesign:
http://forums.macnn.com/archive/index.php/t-89221.html

More opinions and reviews:

http://www.macworld.com/2002/05/features/dtp/

http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/20604.html

http://photoshop.weblogsinc.com/entry/1234000733025191/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1781961,00.asp

http://www.ospreydesign.com/foreword/ar ... 00907.html


I would imagine it's one of those deals where you make a decision and learn one program, then that's the one you prefer.

Although, a lot of us used to swear by Word Perfect and now you rarely hear about it. Microsoft Word took over.

I believe a new version of Quark Xpress just came out.

If you have a community college or university nearby, see if they offer classes on either program. Might be a good way to jump right in and learn. Or those fat books at the bookstore would be helpful. I've got one of them to help me through rough spots because it seems like there's always something that pops up and throws me for a loop, even after using Quark Xpress for a while.

Good luck!

by him8nc on Wed Sep 21, 2005 8:33 am (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:27pm

I've used Indesign for several years but I come from a PC background so it was intuitive for me. I've never used Quark so I can't compare the two of them. But having used Pagemaker for years, I love the new features of Indesign. I recently upgraded to Indesign CS2 and the integration with Photoshop and Illustrator is amazing. Able to place actual photoshop files in Indesign and clipping paths are easily done in Indesign. So bascially we're using Indesign for our magazine, but like I said, having never used Quark, I can't compare.

Lisa

by lisa on Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:33 am (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:28pm

InDesign is a more comprehensive program. It is like Photoshop and Quark mixed together. Almost all the designers I have talked to (from lots of different companies) say InDesign is better than Quark. Also, since InDesign is Adobe, like photoshop, illustrator etc.. they have a great package deal.

But the new Quark has a lot of nice features as well (like multiple undo's! Yay!) I think it comes down to whatever your designer is most comfortable with.

by borkya on Sun Sep 25, 2005 10:50 am (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

Permalink Reply by MagazineLaunch on May 1, 2009 at 2:28pm

I use InDesign, Photoshop and illustrator. These work great for almost any kind of printed project.

by truebeliever on Thu Nov 03, 2005 10:07 am (Pulled over from original http://www.magazinelaunch.com Forum)

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