InDesign or Illustrator?

I'd probably do it in inDesign. It will be easier.

Most graphical elements that need to scale will be done in Illustrator, the rest can be easily arranged in inDesign which is really easy for that.

That's how I'd take it. Your mileage may vary.

I do everything in Indesign. The only thing I ever use Illustrator for is fine vector work on illustrations or logos.

The example you used looks like it would be solved with either an InDesign Table or a Paragraph Style using Paragraph Rules.

Of course you can change your units in Illustrator and InDesign (Control-click a ruler-- you have to do it for both the horizontal and vertical in InDesign).

You can also enter any desired unit in any field (use the " for inches, mm for millimeters, etc.) and both programs convert the measurement to the default unit (you can also enter fractions, like 1/8 to get the programs to convert to 0.125, and even division: for example, to get the panel width of a tri-fold tabloid layout, enter 17/3).

Since Illustrator also has paragraph styles, I tend to do anything that is under 5 pages in Illustrator (which uses artboards instead of pages), but still offers almost all of what InDesign offers, plus the far greater graphics capabilities.

UTclassof89 said:

... plus the far greater graphics capabilities.

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Depending on your definition of "far greater".



FYI, I've attached sceeen shots of Illustrator's Paragraph Styles vs. Indesign's.

Looks like Indesign has "far greater" type capabilities than Illustrator.

At least in CS5.

For instance ... Nested Styles. Who could live without those?

Just use what your most comfortable with. I would personally use illustrator for a poster but indesign is best for multi page. For a one of poster it makes no odds.

citizenzen said:

Depending on your definition of "far greater".

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not really.
I doubt anyone who has used both programs would debate Illustrator's far greater graphics capabilities.

InDesign clearly wins in the typesetting category (which is why I wrote Illustrator could do almost everything InDesign can) but posters/flyers/postcards tend to be more graphic, and less typographic.

KJmoon117 said:

Hmm thanks guys! I'll try it in inDesign and get some feedback when it's done.

This is a really stupid and newb question but what should the sizing be for this? My school's printshop doesn't seem to have preset sizing for a poster. I'm thinking 2ft in heigh by 3~4ft in width? (Makes it even harder than InDesign is in mm)

Click to expand...

That size will cost a fortune to print. Give the print shop a few sizes and have them quote pricing.

The key to remember is..

It all depends on your design. If you're going to make any vector graphics at all, you'd probably be better off using Illustrator for those. Then import them to Illustrator, add your text, and call it a day. However, if you want to play with the text and add lots of bells and whistles, just stick with Illustrator. Also, in InDesign's preferences, you can change mm to inches. Also, also, if everything you make is a vector-based image/text, then you don't have to worry about resolution. It will scale up to whatever you want (business card to billboards and beyond). Pixel based images (like photographs, jpegs, etc) don't scale very far without getting uh, pixelated.