Horses for courses

I'd be very interested to hear from people using the Creative Suite professionally how they break tasks up between the individual applications. There seems to be quite a crossover of functionality now.

I find that some documents that I would imagine to have been put together in Indesign were done in Photoshop, for example.

Are some parts of a complex document or publication easier to put together in one app, and then move to a different one to progress the next bit? What processes work best or easiest in which app?

If we're buying a suite of creative apps, it makes sense to optimise it!

Hi Phoenix,

This is a really interesting question. I'm not a Pro CS user, so I would reach for whatever I'm more comfortable with or works ;-)

Out of interest, are these documents done in Photoshop multi-page?

Hi Rounik

I don't know! But I'm thinking I should get to grips with InDesign and Illustrator as well as Photoshop, just in case there are easier ways of doing certain things in each.

I've always thought of myself as a photographer and a writer, but the boundaries between these are getting blurred and incorporating more of what I would think of as graphic design, typography and web design, so I'm re-thinking my professional identity as well as the tools of my trade.

Whenever I get the opportunity I still shoot on film, with brass, glass and chemicals, but the trend now seems to be towards a one-stop creative solution involving words, images and layout. Which is equally cool if I know enough about the means of creating it that I can enjoy the process!

Are you planning any tutorials in Illustrator to go with the other CS4 titles?

Phoenix


PS - you see how far my identity issues go?! If I reply to threads from a different part of MacPro, my name comes up as Elektrikgypsy! Don't worry; we're one and the same person.

Hi Phoenix,

I understand... I wouldn't feel comfortable advising one way or the other from my limited knowledge. However, purchasing one of the CS4 bundles (e.g. Design) bundles would give you access to the app's you mention. Indesign is definitely geared well towards pro layout and photoshop is just great for all types of graphic & photo manipulation and creation. But of course you know all this! So I hope some other pro users can contribute to this thread in time :-)

I don't know for definite about an Illustrator title. Do start a thread in the suggested training forum:
http://www.macprovideo.com/forum/general/suggested-training

If people are interested it... good things could happen!

[quote:6037]PS - you see how far my identity issues go?! If I reply to threads from a different part of MacPro, my name comes up as Elektrikgypsy! Don't worry; we're one and the same person.

LOL ;-)
I'm sure being able to tap into different aspects of your "personalities" would only make you more adaptable and creative :-)

Rounik

That is the million dollar question. I've worked with Adobe products for ages, used the CS3 Master suite, and am waiting for my CS4 Master suite to arrive.

There isn't a hard and fast way to define what's the best program to use for a particular purpose. Look beyond your favorite programs, if you have the time.

If you have access to a few products, look in the help files for example workflows, or just check out Adobe's site. All the CS4 products have moved to community-based help and resource systems online.

Each program's files include workflows, and you can often see similarities between what's described and your particular task collection.

You'll see in CS4 that there's even more coordination between programs than we saw in CS3. The familiarity is reassuring, but it can also be disorienting when you look at a program window and can't find your stuff!

Basically, I use InDesign and Acrobat to control pretty much everything. InDesign is the platform I use for designing, I do my image work mainly in Photoshop, except for images I want to repurpose for Flash which I find easier to work with in Illustrator -- your basic program split.

I've found that the more time I spend in InDesign, the more time I work with Illustrator. There's so much in common between the two programs. In fact, Indesign's drawing tools are a subset of Illustrator's toolbox, and Illustrator includes a fair number of templates for building publications of different types.

Then I use Acrobat for moving content around, as well as in and out of InDesign. For example, you bring Illustrator artwork into InDesign as a PDF file.

I haven't done enough work yet to develop an InDesign > Flash > Acrobat workflow, but I know there's one there. Of course, then you can start looking at Fireworks vs Photoshop discussions, and decide whether to build your web pages in Dreamweaver or InDesign.

donna.