I need to make a tri-fold brochure for a project I’m working on. It’s just a typical brochure with images and text flowing around them.
I put it together in Word, and it’s just a big mess, trying to get images stay in the right place and not overlap text and such. I love Word but it just sucks for stuff like this. I used PageMaker about 5 years ago, and though I wasn’t crazy about it, it doesn’t suffer from the problems I’m having currently. FrameMaker seems like it’s overblown for my application, but I dunno. This is on a PC running Windows.
I haven’t used these but they may be of use. I was looking at creating some brochures myself and came across this software. (it may not be any better than what you already have as it uses Word as well)
Get ahold of someone who knows how to use Quark X-press. Give them the text in a Word file and copies of the pictures you want to use. Leave them alone for a few hours. Pay them for the hours they’ve worked. You’re done.
Using Word for brochure layout is like trying to fix a Ferrari with blacksmithing tools…
Probably the best thing to do is hire someone on the outside to do it for you. Somebody that loves freelance work, doesn’t charge much, and has their evenings free to do work like that. Someone who owns copies of Quark, Freehand, Photoshop, and Illustrator. Most of all, someone who truly enjoys doing the kind of work you’re talking about. Namely ME. Ha Ha. Seriously, if you want it done quickly, easily and inexpensively, zip me off an e-mail. I love doing stuff like that.
Seriously, if you’re going to get this brochure printed by a print plant, then have it designed professionally…I work in the production department of a print plant and there is nothing worse than getting a ‘brochure’ designed by someone who knows not the first thing about design and then uses Word or Publisher to do it. These are not professional page layout programs and your end product will reflect that.
If you value your business, contact sigmundex…he seems to know what he’s doing.
Thanks all for the suggestions so far. Sounds like Quark and FreeHand are the big ones at this point. I’ve seen FreeHand, and I was under the impression it was more of a graphic program, true?
Also, thanks for the suggestion to get professional help. I appreciate the point, but I want to take a stab at this; it’s not for work, more of a fun personal thing. For those that care, I paint silly pictures on the computer occasionally, and out of the blue, somebody wants to buy some. So, I’m throwing together a quick gallery-like web site and a brochure, in case any other suckers wanna sign up. But it’s completely for fun; I don’t really expect this to go anywhere.
At work, we have marketing folks and use an outside firm to do design stuff. I know we have some things in Quark, so there’s another vote in that direction.
If you know what you are doing AND you want to send the file to a printer, I’d recommend PageMaker, Quark or InDesign. All basically the same thing with different bells and whistles. All run on either Mac or PC. I would also echo the suggestion to simply hire someone to do it. (My e-mail is in my profile!)
If you do not know what you are doing, and you only want to print copies off your laser or ink jet printer, Publisher will do an okay job. I would never use it for something in which I wanted high quality… strike that. I would never use it. Then again, I use the above-named programs every single day of my life and am allergic to Microsoft products. But for your purposes, it might suit you just fine. You might also consider asking those Marketing folks at work if they feel like helping you with a fun little project at home. Some might share some design tips or something…