Menu artwork

[rickyg969515]

Please tell me someone has the answer to this.

We really need a faster & more efficient way of working.

I currently work in a design / print factory and we receive a lot of menu's which are very time consuming especially when they have amendments. We will receive artwork files as a PDF to the correct size but then the menu items and prices will change. These menu's are put up at venues so they are labelled as kiosks 1 ... 2 .... 3.... 3.1 and so on (is there a better way of doing this)?

We use Illustrator as a lot of these menu's have graphics which may need tweaking and this is our every day software. I know people may say use InDesign but we find creating multiple pages and making checks with artwork in illustrator easier. If this is not the case and we need a crash course in InDesign i'll jump straight into that!!. We have seen things on variable data but can't find enough or the information we need to move forward with learning this.

Any help on this will be extremely appreciated and thank you in advance.

RKG

[Monika Gause]

You have lists and numbering and lot of text in them?

Can we please see a screenshot?

Editing text in a PDF doesn't make stuff easier.

So it looks like you somehow shoot yourself in the foot.

[rickyg969515]

This is what we receive. Each design below comes as a separate PDF.

[Grant H]

This needs to be done and kept originally as an indesign file, then a csv spreadsheet collated and changed eg prices, and a simple data merge to create the new document with updated info.

[rickyg969515]

Thanks for the reply. We only receive the PDF files and don't really know what software the client has used. So they could be using Illustrator too.

[Grant H]

then you are really don't have much choice i am afraid. The use of "find and replace and the wand tool may just become your best friends.

/G

[Test Screen Name]

If you receive finished art from the client, then it should be treated as finished. If they need something you will edit, you need the original file. Just ask, it won’t occur to them to send it. If they won’t send it, then remake it in InDesign and charge accordingly. It’s often quicker to remake small work than mess with it.

[Ton Frederiks]

rickyg969515  wrote

Thanks for the reply. We only receive the PDF files and don't really know what software the client has used. So they could be using Illustrator too.

You can find out about the software used to create the pdf by going to File > Properties > Description in Acrobat