Illustrator vs. Indesign

[jsonthegreat]

Hey all!

I am in need of some advice.

I work in a company with another designer and we do all the in-house graphic design work for them. We are currently working on a 36 page brochure and it is a very large project we need to have done by Thanksgiving which is not a great amount of time.

My manager is *** us seperate pages for us to layout and then we will be mixing it all into one file later on to do revisions.

I am designing my pages in Indesign with a 36 page layout and I am simply leaving the pages not done blank. I am creating images in photoshop and then placing them into the indesign file.

The other designer is using Illustrator. She is creating the entire image layout in photoshop and then importing that psd file into illustrator and then putting text on it.

I know that we should be using Indesign for this project but everytime I try to talk to the other designer about it she doesnt want to even consider the possibility of using InDesign for whatever reason.

My question is... Is it possible that we can do this project with each designer using a different program? What kind of problems could it create down the road?

Thanks!

[zigbot]

Possible it is, but it won't have good results. Your coworker is quite wrong in method. Other than for some select headlines and the like, there is no benefit at all to using illustrator to text on a project that you'll be bringing into inDesign.

First of all, you have zero control over your text conventions. Lets say you decide down the road to change a rule ... say, take in your tracking a little. Where this would be a simple change to your style rules in inDesign, you will now have to go back to every illustrator file and do the same. Does your coworker plan on getting it all ready for print by hand, rather than just choosing the 'preflight' option in inDesign? Etc, etc etc. What a nightmare you have on your hands.

It's just a very bad idea, and I hope you can convince your coworker that she is in the worng about this. Do you have an Art Director or similar creative lead that you can appeal to? If the only reason she is using illustrator is preference, if you go talk to your boss with a list of logistical nightmare scenarios, you can get it overturned I am sure. Layout of that sort is simply not what Illustrator was made to do, and it's all inDesign is used for.

If you can't get her to switch over, I predict that you will not get the project done in time due to currently unseen production issues from lack of control of your fonts, especially on a project that large. At the very least, it will go to print with the pages she designs looking slightly different than pages you design, and not in ways you want. I would appeal to your boss immediately, as bad project flow kills projects like this.

Good luck! Let us know how it works out.

[chumann]

I totally agree!  it would seem to me that maybe she doesn't realize the benefits that InDesign has as far as Style sheets and the like?  I can't understand why it would take her 2 different applications (which weren't made for page layout) to complete the task.....maybe she is just feeling uncomfortable.. Could you sit her down and explain the advantages and time saving techniques, maybe give her a little tutorial?

GOOOOOOOOOD LUCK!!!!

[Rolo]

It sounds to me like she doesn't know InDesign well enough to use. This project will be a nightmare for you if she doesn't learn it quickly. I learned it by watching online tutorials. But it's very difficult to teach someone who doesn't want to learn.

[rletanx]

You can place the illustrator files into InDesign (similar to placing in a image) but as others have stated this has major set backs if you need to modify anything.

[oz27]

Yeah, I once worked with a graphic designer like this. She would use Illustrator for everything. She'd just add layers to make new pages and her computer was crashing all the time because she'd embed huge photos and each time she saved the file it would take forever. Meanwhile I'd whip up the whole thing in InDesign in a quarter of the time. I don't understand people's aversion to InDesign - it's really not that difficult to learn if you already know Illustrator.
 
I would flat out refuse to work on the project in both InDesign and Illustrator. Even if you have to do most of it, then once it's over ask your boss to send your coworker on an InDesign refresher course.

[LaurenMarie]

Zigbot, actually Illustrator has paragraph and character styles, so that alone wouldn't be a reason to not use Illy for this project. You can also import styles from one document to another. A little more time consuming, but not impossible. And as long as images are saved CMYK in Photoshop and the document is CMYK in Illustrator, I don't understand what there would be to "prepare by hand." Illustrator does NOT however, support multiple pages... as a 36 page book would obviously have.
 
Please don't take this as a support for your coworker, though Json. I am the HUGEST fan on InDesign and I agree with the other comments here that it sounds like she is just unfamiliar with the program and let's face it, we're all intimidated by using new programs-it takes us longer to do things, it can be frustrating when you're searching for the right tools/functions. So I do have sympathy for her.
 
If there is still time, I would talk to your manager and tell him/her that there is a high possibility that text will look inconsistent between your pages and your coworkers pages. InDesign is a PAGE LAYOUT program for a reason! Flyers are ok to do in Illy, but when it comes to multiple page documents, you have to use ID (or Quirk I suppose).
 
I would highly, highly recommend asking your manager to buy you guys a Lynda.com subscription. It's only $25/month and if you are diligent about watching the video tutorials you will learn soooo much about programs that you might've considered yourself pretty savvy in before. I've been using InDesign since CS and I'm only watching the beginner tutorials and I'm amazed at what I didn't know. Rolo is right though, it's very difficult to teach someone who doesn't want to learn
 
If you'd like, I wrote some beginner InDesign tutorials on Creative Curio, and my writeups were even mentioned by InDesign Secrets (the preeminent InDesign site) as a great place for beginners! There are two series, the first is a general overview of InDesign Basics, the second is a walkthrough for an actual project I did. I would be more than happy to try to answer any questions she (or you!) might have.
 
Best of luck. Please do let us know what happened!

[jsonthegreat]

Thanks for all of the help on this.

Just want to post an update on this project. It ended up getting done. The girl who was hellbent on using Illustrator was taken off of the project and the book became my responsibility completely.
It took a couple months but the book got done and printed in January and the feedback on it is great.

Thanks again for all of your help!

[joedavis]

Multi page files are better done indesign. Master pages, auto page numbering, page management etc. but Illustrator can work as well but it is a bit tricky. I would find out where you plan to print your project and find out how they would like to have the final files. The printer we use always has us break up the document in separate PDF files. We then up load each pdf via the web into a press application. Because of how the printer wants the final file, and the massive size of the file I have split up the indesign document into 132 separate pages. This is a big help in sending separate indesign files to multiple people to work on. The only draw backs that I have found are the loss of automatic page numbering as well as the benefits to a master page when auto placing like graphics on every page. If the files need to be combined later you can do this in acrobat.

If the other designer insists on using Illustrator it might be a good idea to make sure your templates are identical as well as all the fonts being exactly the same. Sometimes when fonts are in different programs they might look a little different. what happens when a font is made into a outline is the stroke exactly the same in indesign and illustrator? How about color and tone? even using pantones maybe there is little differences that can really make a really nice project into production nightmare. All the testing that it would take to make both files production mess proof would not be worth it. Its best to use Indesign so maybe teach a little to here and help her out. The program has similar tools so she should be able to catch on. Make a dummy file and show here how easy indesign manages multiple documents. Maybe let her borrow some of your books.

Joe

[joedavis]

Opps I am two years late.
Joe