Re: Layout and Design

["Jelinek, Jennifer" <JJelinek -at- PLYMOUTHWATER -dot- COM>]

BEST PACKAGES FOR DESKTOP PUBLISHING
For a magazine, either Quark or PageMaker. Since it sounds like you
might be a bit of a novice at desktop publishing, I would probably
suggest PageMaker. Quark provides more / better artistic control for
graphics designers, especially on single-page layouts, but I think
you'll find PageMaker easier to use when producing a magazine. It's
geared more towards multiple page publications than Quark is.

WORKING WITH PRINTERS
You should talk to several printers in your area and find out what each
offers. If you work on a PC rather than a Macintosh, you'll want to ask
specifically if / how they deal with PC files.  In the printing world,
Macintosh is still the standard, and you'll often (though not always)
find either higher costs or lower quality incurred when taking PC files
to the printer (at least four-color work).

As far as putting everything on a disk versus outside artwork, most work
that goes to printers today is handled entirely digitally. It may be
necessary in some cases, however, to bring photographic transparencies
to printers so they can handle the high-resolution scanning. It depends
on what kind of reproductive quality you're looking for. As far as
illustrations or line art goes, it depends on where that art comes from.
Most of the art we work with is produced digitally, and can be sent to
the printer that way. If you have art of which you do not have digital
files, you may need to have the printer scan or reproduce that art for
you.

BOOK ON DESIGN
A good starter book for both layout/design principles and using
PageMaker is "Desktop Publishing by Design", put out by the Microsoft
Press. I would also suggest the Pocket Pal (which was already suggested
by someone else) as an intro to printing processes. If you're going to
be producing a quality, four-color publication, you're going to need a
lot more than a DTP program and a manual. I would suggest looking into
some classes in graphic design or at least in using programs such as
PageMaker. I would also suggest learning Photoshop, an indispensable
tool for color-correction and image manipulation.

Good luck!


________________________________________________________________________
___
Jennifer Jelinek
Marketing Services Manager
Plymouth Products, Inc. Sheboygan, WI
jjelinek -at- plymouthwater -dot- com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Hughes [SMTP:david -at- NYNEXBK -dot- CO -dot- TH]
> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 1998 10:20 AM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Layout and Design
>
> Part of my job as a Technical Writer involves me producing my company
> magazine.  Three questions then:
>
> 1.  Can anyone tell me what the best packages are for desktop
> publishing?  What do I need? (When you give advice consider printing
> shop needs - I use Microsoft Publisher.  It's ok, but a bit
> restricting).
>
> 2.  (A simplistic question coming here) With these packages, is it
> possible to just put everything onto a disk and send it to the
> printers,
> or will additional artwork always be required?
>
> 3.  Can anyone recommend a good, approachable book on layout and
> design
> (particularly for magazines)?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> John Hughes
>
>
> ~~
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