Something simpler than Quark or InDesign to create nice brochures?

[jdc]

you can export pages to PDF just fine, which all printers will take

[Doc]

jdc wrote:
you can export pages to PDF just fine, which all printers will take

That PDF would not be suitable for printing from.

[SteveO]

Lots of times, printers just go from PDF files, so I'd think Pages would be fine as long as it puts out decent PDFs. Or save to PS first then PDF? I'm not on the graphics side.

That said, Pages is probably fine for the task at hand. There's a free one called RagTime, I want to say it's Mac and PC. I used it for some stuff (on Mac) when I didn't have Quark for a while. It has a tutorial that is pretty good.

[what4]

Simpler I'm not sure, but Scribus is free.

[Doc]

SteveO wrote:
Lots of times, printers just go from PDF files, so I'd think Pages would be fine as long as it puts out decent PDFs. Or save to PS first then PDF? I'm not on the graphics side.

What exactly is a "decent" PDF to you? Do you think you can save a document from the Print dialog and have the perfect PDF file for professional printing?

Spot or process? How's your halftone angles? 'Got those printer's marks down? 'What's your bleed for that press, paper and paper-size? You don't have bitmaps embedded in there, do you? Those fonts are all embedded or saved as outlines?

It could take hours for a printer to fix your "decent" PDF.

[Blankity Blank]

A-Polly wrote: Pages is probably his best bet (unless he can be convinced to hire a professional--ideally, one of us! mile.

I imagine he's going to want small quantities (less than thousands at a time) of full color stuff, so Pages plus a local digital printer should suit him just fine.

The first thing he has to decide is if he wants to look professional or not. Unless he's some kind of savant, or willing to put in a lot more work learning than most people are willing to, if he does it himself it's going to look like a PTA project compared to something put together by a decent professional (And a copy of InDesign and a business card doth not a true professional make. Get a reference if you can and look at samples).

If he's willing to get by with something less than professional, a program like Pages or Swift Professional will get him there. He still should do the tutorials, start with using the templates and invest at least a little time with at least one good book on basic design. It doesn't have to be painful. Something by Robin Williams wouldn't be a bad place for him to get his footing. A weekend spent in front of the computer won't make him a designer, but it will pay back big dividends for a relatively small investment.

Find a quick print shop with decent digital color output and he's got a good start. We have done runs well into the hundreds and for national companies you wouldn't think would settle for anything less than top of the line four color printing. The technology has come a long, long way. It's not four color printing, but you can get not bad results.

Two things:
1. No matter how hard he thinks it is, good design is much harder than he's ever imagined.

2. Stay. Away. From. Word.

He'll be representing the business to potential and current clients. Is "good enough" good enough? For some the answer is "yes", for others, "no."