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Illustrator & InDesign

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
October 10, 2018
7 replies
1662 views

Hi, I would like to make a photo postcard to email & also have one to print out, which do I need to do this Illustrator or In design or both & why?

Thanks for any help!

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Correct answer JETalmage

Illustrator is a vector-based illustration and design program (a "drawing program").

InDesign is a page-layout program (a document assembly program).

(Those two general types of graphics programs, along with a third--raster imaging programs--constitute the conventional "full set" of functionality needed for a well-rounded print-centric desktop publishing solution.)

Either of those two general types of programs is equally appropriate for the kind of project you describe. Both types are used every day by professional graphic designers to assemble the base elements of graphic objects (raster images, vector paths, text) into print-ready whole documents, start-to-finish.

The main difference is that the interface and features of page-layout programs are geared to facilitate longer multi-page "bookish" documents:

Many same-size pages
Repetitively-designed pages (based on "master pages")
Long sections of continuously-threaded text
Tables of contents, indexes, footnotes
Many externally-stored linked assets (raster images, vector graphics, external text)
Combination of separate native files into "books"

...and so on.

The whole-document design capabilities of drawing programs generally assume shorter-page count projects::

Business documents (business cards, letterhead, etc.)
Product collateral (brochures, fliers, mailers)
Product packaging and labeling
Placement ads
Book covers
Multiple pages, sheets, or layouts often of differing size and orientation

Such documents typically:

Do not have repetitive page-to-page layouts
Do not involve long threaded text
Do not involve tables of contents, indexes, etc.
Are more graphics intensive than text intensive

The fact is, for most graphic designers, the latter kinds of projects are by far more common and for a multitude of detail reasons, it is arguably more appropriate to use a so-called drawing program than a so-called page-layout program to produce them.

Beyond that, if you have any interest toward delving into actual drawing (illustration), that would be another reason to use a drawing program for projects like the one you mention.

JET

P

pamelas96329259Author

Participant

Thank you all for your answers, was a good help in deciding on which to use for my project.

jane-e

Community Expert

pamelas96329259 wrote
Thank you all for your answers, was a good help in deciding on which to use for my project.

Hi Pamela,

What did you decide, and why? We'd love to know!

JETalmageCorrect answer

Inspiring

Illustrator is a vector-based illustration and design program (a "drawing program").

InDesign is a page-layout program (a document assembly program).

(Those two general types of graphics programs, along with a third--raster imaging programs--constitute the conventional "full set" of functionality needed for a well-rounded print-centric desktop publishing solution.)

Either of those two general types of programs is equally appropriate for the kind of project you describe. Both types are used every day by professional graphic designers to assemble the base elements of graphic objects (raster images, vector paths, text) into print-ready whole documents, start-to-finish.

The main difference is that the interface and features of page-layout programs are geared to facilitate longer multi-page "bookish" documents:

Many same-size pages
Repetitively-designed pages (based on "master pages")
Long sections of continuously-threaded text
Tables of contents, indexes, footnotes
Many externally-stored linked assets (raster images, vector graphics, external text)
Combination of separate native files into "books"

...and so on.

The whole-document design capabilities of drawing programs generally assume shorter-page count projects::

Business documents (business cards, letterhead, etc.)
Product collateral (brochures, fliers, mailers)
Product packaging and labeling
Placement ads
Book covers
Multiple pages, sheets, or layouts often of differing size and orientation

Such documents typically:

Do not have repetitive page-to-page layouts
Do not involve long threaded text
Do not involve tables of contents, indexes, etc.
Are more graphics intensive than text intensive

The fact is, for most graphic designers, the latter kinds of projects are by far more common and for a multitude of detail reasons, it is arguably more appropriate to use a so-called drawing program than a so-called page-layout program to produce them.

Beyond that, if you have any interest toward delving into actual drawing (illustration), that would be another reason to use a drawing program for projects like the one you mention.

JET

hammer0909

Community Expert

These are all great responses with very valid points. I don't disagree with any of them however the fact that one of your objectives is to send the card via email makes me lean more towards Illustrator. If you are in fact creating an HTML email to send to end users, Illustrator gives you more control over generating web graphics than InDesign does. If on the other hand, you're just planning on attaching an image to an email to send out to people, then you can go with either program.

jane-e

Community Expert

Do you know both programs equally? If you know one of the two better, use that for the postcard.

Q

q3player

Inspiring

If the question is which program to use (which implies not really knowing both of them) I would suggest using Illustrator. Because you already found the right part of the forum for this program.

barbara_a7746676

Community Expert

For a postcard, as all have said, either application would do. I would use Illustrator if you want to incorporate fancy borders or special brush strokes.

happie_97

Community Expert

I agree, you can use either program.

My normal workflow for a quick, small single page item is Illustrator. However, you can't go wrong with either one. I would just go with the program that I am most comfortable working in.

cinziamarotta

Participating Frequently

Hi,

As Monika Gause suggested you can use both of them. However InDesign layout management is more complete (for example you can set page margins while in Illustrator you have to use the rulers as guides...).