[surferboy]

I am curious if anyone has a recommendation for an app to design a newspaper ad. The ad will have a large picture with some text- probably a full or half page. I know the Adobe apps have some templates- has anyone used these? Or, is there some other app that is more suitable for this purpose?

Thanks

[Randman]

Quark's No 1, despite its problems. Adobe InDesign is top-notch. As a one-off, you could use PhotoShop or Illustrator.

Is this for work or personal or school?

[Sharky K.]

I really like Create Stone.

[Chuckit]

For simple graphic design, I would not recommend Quark. I can see using it for full-on publication layout (e.g. magazines or newspapers), but for a simple ad, I can see no reason not to go with the Adobe Creative Suite. Quark by itself is simply too limited to use without external image editors, and if you're going to buy the Creative Suite anyway, it has all the power you need to design an ad.

Plus, Quark costs more than my life is worth.

[mitchell_pgh]

90%+ of the publications I send ads to accept PDF files.

I use QuarkXPress to create them. Works well (minus the Quark 80's look and feel)

[mitchell_pgh]

Side note, many places will accept jpgs of an ad (especially newspaper b/w ads). Considering the image is going to be printed on crap paper, it really doesn't matter much.

[tonton]

For God's sake, Quark is not a graphic design app!!!!!

Jesus. Anyone who recommends using Quark, or InDesign for single page layout work obviously has no experience in design. You might as well recommend Microsoft Word (I once had a colleague who used Excel - no joke - for designing modular furniture systems. He used the "grid" as units of measure ).

The only apps professionals would use to create a newspaper ad are Illustrator and FreeHand. Take your pick. I prefer FH but there are plenty of people who swear by AI.

[Randman]

Really? Ever been to a newspaper? I'm a journalist. Have worked professionally since 1989 and let me tell you that Quark is used.

For a small business, it's worth considering. For a one-off a student, there's other alternatives. For someone, or a company that deals more with graphic design elements, there are alternatives.

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by tonton:
Anyone who recommends using Quark, or InDesign for single page layout work obviously has no experience in design.

So...Quark is fine for multipage layout, but single-page layouts have to be done in Illustrator? That doesn't seem very logical.

Originally posted by tonton:
The only apps professionals would use to create a newspaper ad are Illustrator and FreeHand. Take your pick. I prefer FH but there are plenty of people who swear by AI.

For ad design, I'm all about Illustrator. But I do know plenty of professionals (particularly at newspapers) who create perfectly fine ads using Quark and Photoshop. I suppose it's because these are the programs that newspapers on limited budgets tend to have.

[Randman]

That's very true. Very large newspapers might use more Illustrator or Freehand, but it's usually advertising agencies (in my experience in North America and Asia) that use Ill and FH while Quark and PS tend to be more commonly used (house licenses) in ad departments, especially with the greater blurring these days of advertorial copy.

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by tonton:
For God's sake, Quark is not a graphic design app!!!!!

It may not be a "graphic design" app, but it's a design app.- "The industry-leading software for design and layout"
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/overview.html

Granted, it's more of a page layout app. I use QuarkXPress, Illustrator and Photoshop. While InDesign is gaining strength (for good reasons), QuarkXPress, Illustrator and Photoshop ARE the standard design applications used by professionals. [I'm not trying to make this a QuarkXPress vs. InDesign battle because I have used both, but prefer Quark... I'm old school]

Originally posted by tonton:
Jesus. Anyone who recommends using Quark, or InDesign for single page layout work obviously has no experience in design.

UGH, all these years of submitting ads to USA Today, The Washington Post, The Post Express, NY Times, etc. etc. GONE TO WASTE!!! I've worked for newspapers, I've worked with advertising agencies and I've worked on my own... everyone accepts QuarkXPress documents or more to the point PDFs created with Quark.

I have NEVER had an issue with ANY of my ads (color, B&W, text heavy, image heavy, small or large.)

Originally posted by tonton:
You might as well recommend Microsoft Word (I once had a colleague who used Excel - no joke - for designing modular furniture systems. He used the "grid" as units of measure ).

Are you trying to compare QuarkXPress to Word? Have you ever used QuarkXpress?

P.S. Feel free to check out some of the specks... notice they make special reference to QuarkXPress? That's because EVERYONE uses it.
http://advertising.washpost.com/ad_s...ration/PDF.jsp
http://www.usatoday.com/media_kit/us...etup_guide.htm
http://www.nytimesdigest.com/AdSpecs.pdf

Originally posted by tonton:
The only apps professionals would use to create a newspaper ad are Illustrator and FreeHand. Take your pick. I prefer FH but there are plenty of people who swear by AI.

What kind of newspaper ads are you talking about?

[tonton]

I've used Quark. I know Quark is used. A lot.

What I said is "anyone who recommends Quark for single page layout work..."

I understand what you're saying about low-budget newspapers who can't afford to buy the best app for the job because I know bosses exist who despite having a million dollar a week turnaround think $500 is too much to spend on the proper tools. But unless Quark is already needed for another reason and the person doesn't have the budget to buy Illustrator or FreeHand, I stand by my statement. Quark is never the best app to choose for creating an ad, and should never be recommended as such.

Part of the reason a clearly inferior product like Quark endures in the wrong field is because morons keep saying it's the standard. It may be the standard for page layout (though clearly not the easiest to use product for that, either) it is most definitely not the standard for ad design or single page layout.

The biggest problem is when a startup designer is deciding which app to buy to create something like a newspaper ad, and they have to choose between FreeHand/Illustrator and Quark, and they choose Quark because someone who's not very informed says it's "the king" and they end up with the wrong tool at a higher price.

By the way, FreeHand does multipage layout (with master pages) extremely well.

If your business is 90% graphic design and 10% multipage layout I'd choose FreeHand. If your business is 50/50, I'd still choose FreeHand. If it's 90% multipage layout, then I'd choose InDesign (and if you need legacy compatibility, then Quark).

I worked for a year as a graphic designer at a newspaper with a daily circulation of 200,000 copies. We had the full range of apps available. Quark, FreeHand, Illustrator. I've also worked as a packaging designer for various industries such as toys and electronics. It's not my current career, but yes, I have indeed been in a newspaper, as well as a small design firm, and various companies' in-house design studios, thank you.