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I
iamprep101
Participant
March 11, 2022
Question

Switching from Canva to InDesign

  • March 11, 2022
  • 3 replies
  • 26455 views

How difficult is it to switch making my magazine in Canva to InDesign?

    3 replies

    JonathanArias
    JonathanArias
    Legend
    March 11, 2022

    depends on your knowledge of indesign. how much do you know?

    I
    iamprep101Author
    Participant
    March 11, 2022

    Not much minus what I've watched on YouTube. I got it free for 30 days and going to mess around with it this weekend but it definitely seems super difficult

    JonathanArias
    JonathanArias
    Legend
    March 12, 2022

    ok, you should do this training. you get a free month access, so this may work about right in 30 days.

     

    https://www.linkedin.com/learning/magazine-design-getting-started?trk=learning-serp_learning-search-card_search-card&upsellOrderOrigin=lynda_redirect_learning

     

     

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    March 11, 2022

    Difficult or easy is something that depends on many factors. InDesign has a fairly steep learning curve, even for those with some experience in publication design who might come in from other/older tools. Some training to get up to speed on the basics will go a long, long ways.

     

    But it's worth it; InDesign and the supporting Adobe tools are the way pros do it. Canva is... a lot of things, but it's not really a pro tool and once you get out of its ecosphere and want, say, to print things other than using their service or on your office printer, it can get messy.

     

    I note you tagged this for EPUB, though. Is your magazine print, online, EPUB or some combination of the three? The basic layout and so forth is the same for all, and probably much the same as what you're used to, but the last steps to print, EPUB and online/web forms will be different and probably more demanding than you're used to.

     

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      I
      iamprep101Author
      Participant
      March 11, 2022

      I got a self publishing company that handles the printing professional but some of the new things I want to add to the magazine like splitting a picture equally on 2 pages and better EPUB files can't be done in Canva. To get picked up by a distribution company I personally think I need to use a better platform. I use Photoshop a bit to edit some photos, but I mainly used Canva and Google docs. Just curious if it is worth buying to hit the next level

      James Gifford—NitroPress
      James Gifford—NitroPress
      Legend
      March 11, 2022

      If you want to publish like a pro, you really have to go to a pro approach. Canva and Docs really aren't it — maybe for a company newsletter or high school magazine, but even then, most HS graphics classes and so forth use the Adobe set.

       

      It's only $50 a month for the best graphics and publication platform you can get. 🙂 And learning it will enable you to do things you can't in simpler tools, and open doors to many different things in the field.

       

      ID does decent fixed-page EPUB out of the box, and I assume that's what you're using and expecting to use. Reflowable is... better in many ways but not necessarily for elaborate page layouts, and it does take some knowledge and tweaking to get the most out of it.

       

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        T
        Test Screen Name
        Legend
        March 11, 2022

        I'm not sure if you're hoping InDesign can keep working with Canva projects; it can't.

        I don't know how difficult it is but the process is

        1. Get training in InDesign

        2. Rercreate everything needed for your magazine (except the placed graphics, which you can place again).

        Don't skip step 1 or things will truly be difficult.

         

        I don't know if Canva is used for photo editing or drawings; it's important to know that InDesign isn't an all-in-one solution. It's used together with Photoshop and Illustrator. A subscription to InDesign is rarely enough unless someone else is providing all the graphic resources; All Apps is the subscription needed.

          I
          iamprep101Author
          Participant
          March 11, 2022

          You can do basic photo editing with Canva but I use Photoshop mostly for that. I use Google docs to put together as a EPUB file which somewhat sucks. I just want something to reach the next level of my magazine with it's fast growth

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