indesign/print help.. (a mix of a few questions)

[jenroberts92]

I've been a graphic designer for about 3.5 years and recently got hired in-house for a restaurant group.

my previous experience is less digital and more hand drawn, so i'm not an expert on the digital end of things.

I'm good with photoshop and illustrator but i have a few setbacks...

1. i know nothing about indesign

2. i don't know anything about printing/using the right print settings

My current project is to turn a 3 page menu into a 1 page double sided menu.

I know I should be using indesign, but I'm using photoshop because I'm most familiar with it and I like the layer style effects I can add to text.

-is photoshop capable of printing a 11"x17" menu?

-if not, what is my best option here since I don't know Indesign?

please someone help my confusion. I really don't want these setbacks to hold me behind @ my job.

[kglad]

[moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to InDesign]

[Dave Creamer of IDEAS · Accepted solution]

For a two-page/two-side menu, either program will work.

For Photoshop: 11x17 is fine--there is even a preset for it under Print at 300ppi. You could create a separate document for each page or use custom Artboards. Output as Photoshop PDF--this will keep your type vector (it won't rasterize). (Artboards need to use the File>Export>Artboards to PDF menu.)

If you use Illustrator, use artboards too. Save as .ai file and then as PDF when final. Artboards should be separate pages by default.

Of course, you could use InDesign, but if on a deadline, use the one you feel most comfortable with.

Be sure to use Paragraph and Character Styles in either program.

[jenroberts92]

thank you so much. this really helped me.

[Jeffrey_Smith]

Although you can use Photoshop for this task, I would not recommend it, and here are some of the reasons:

- Photoshop file size will be considerably larger than ID

- Photoshop has one canvas, you will need multiple files

- Photoshop with many type layers will be really cumbersome

- Photoshop does not have crop marks

- Photoshop canvas would need to be oversized to accommodate bleed

- Photoshop file will need to be saved as a PDF to send to printer, would not recommend sending a native .psd file

- Photoshop typography is not ideal for tabs, leaders, alignments, etc.

[SJRiegel]

InDesign is really the best option for menus, but if you don't have time to learn it for your first project, Illustrator is far better than Photoshop for this kind of job.