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Publishing / 'page mock-up' software

Does anyone use any form of desktop publishing package for generating marketing material (ie brochures, soft/hard newsletters etc) apart from standard MS Office tpe applications? I'm not talking about web site publishing software - although I guess you could (ab)use it... Looking for something easy, not too expensive that generate documents in right electonic format to give to digital printers... Any recommendations ?

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  • I do most of my own printing I have bought a high volume A4 inkjet printer for our catalogues, it quickly paid for itself and I can print the number of catalogues I need at a time. If I add new products to the range adding new pages is not a problem and I don't have loose sheets floating about.
    I usually use MS Word sometimes MS Publisher.
    When I did use a professional printer they converted the files from word.
  • As an ex-graphic designer/artworker the market leader is The Adobe suite of software but they come with a heavy price tag. You could look for an old version on ebay it will have all the functions that a novice will require. Others to look at with a more affordable price might be Corel Draw which a quite a nifty package when I used it some 15 years ago or PagePlus seems to have good reviews but I have no personal experience. Print companies these day need a quality PDF file to print from which removes the necessity for the printer to have the software you are running so providing the software you choose can export to press quality PDFs you should be fine.

    I also have a design company, I provide a cost effective service a half way house between using a full blown design agency and doing it your self. I work with clients who already have a brand/logo in place but need additional marketing materials at an affordable price. I can also sort out the printing element of the project.
  • Have a look at Open Office. It's free and has all the office apps you could need including a DTP app. Imports and exports most other file types.
    http://www.openoffice.org/
  • Hi Gary

    I use Page Plus X4 from Serif.
    The first version I used was about version 4, around 15 years ago.

    It's fantastic software at good value rates. Latest release, X4 is selling at £80 but if you call them you might get an older release for a cheaper price if you want.

    Highly recommended, full of features but pretty easy to use ;)
  • Hi Phil,

    Which printer did you buy, and how much does it cost per page (A4?) to run? We're just about to have some leaflets printed, but would be interested to know if we could do it ourselves cost-effectively.

    Fenlandphil said:
    I do most of my own printing I have bought a high volume A4 inkjet printer for our catalogues, it quickly paid for itself and I can print the number of catalogues I need at a time. If I add new products to the range adding new pages is not a problem and I don't have loose sheets floating about.
    I usually use MS Word sometimes MS Publisher.
    When I did use a professional printer they converted the files from word.
  • Serif is quite good and cheapish i prefer it to Microsoft Publisher

    http://www.serif.com/AllProducts/Software/DesktopPublishing/
  • It depends on the quantity. If you only want say 100 you would probably come out ahead because the printer will have setup costs which will be the same if you have 50 or 100,000. Setup is cheaper for a digital printer than an offset printer and you can get him to make any changes needed which isn't so cheap with offset.

    Nick Steele said:
    Hi Phil,

    Which printer did you buy, and how much does it cost per page (A4?) to run? We're just about to have some leaflets printed, but would be interested to know if we could do it ourselves cost-effectively.

    Fenlandphil said:
    I do most of my own printing I have bought a high volume A4 inkjet printer for our catalogues, it quickly paid for itself and I can print the number of catalogues I need at a time. If I add new products to the range adding new pages is not a problem and I don't have loose sheets floating about.
    I usually use MS Word sometimes MS Publisher.
    When I did use a professional printer they converted the files from word.
  • Nick
    It is an Epson B-500DN It came with standard cartridges and I got 100+24 page colour catalogues out of it (6 a 4 sheets per catalogue printed both sides) together with black and white double sided price lists. A set of high capacity cartridges cost about £160 and I am still using them so don't know actual cost to me, Epson reckon on up to 4000 pages per high capacity colour cartridge but obviously it depends on how much colour you are using on a page. A black cartridge can give up to 7000 pages. The printer has the facility to alter the print density so you can optimise the amount of ink you are putting on the page, that way you can control whether it shows through the paper when printing both sides, it also does duplex printing so in the case of the price lists I can run them through printing both sides without using the other paper tray, which I do with the catalogues. If I was doing several thousand copies of say a flyer I would have it printed professionally but for our catalogues where volumes are relatively low it has so far worked out well.

    Nick Steele said:
    Hi Phil,

    Which printer did you buy, and how much does it cost per page (A4?) to run? We're just about to have some leaflets printed, but would be interested to know if we could do it ourselves cost-effectively.

    Fenlandphil said:
    I do most of my own printing I have bought a high volume A4 inkjet printer for our catalogues, it quickly paid for itself and I can print the number of catalogues I need at a time. If I add new products to the range adding new pages is not a problem and I don't have loose sheets floating about.
    I usually use MS Word sometimes MS Publisher.
    When I did use a professional printer they converted the files from word.
  • Thnaks for that Phil. I can see it would make sense for the sort of printing you are doing, and would give a lot of flexibility for short runs and short notice changes. We're looking at about £180 for 5000 full colour both sides double folded leaflets, which is cheaper i guess, but might leave us with more print than we need!

    Fenlandphil said:
    Nick
    It is an Epson B-500DN It came with standard cartridges and I got 100+24 page colour catalogues out of it (6 a 4 sheets per catalogue printed both sides) together with black and white double sided price lists. A set of high capacity cartridges cost about £160 and I am still using them so don't know actual cost to me, Epson reckon on up to 4000 pages per high capacity colour cartridge but obviously it depends on how much colour you are using on a page. A black cartridge can give up to 7000 pages. The printer has the facility to alter the print density so you can optimise the amount of ink you are putting on the page, that way you can control whether it shows through the paper when printing both sides, it also does duplex printing so in the case of the price lists I can run them through printing both sides without using the other paper tray, which I do with the catalogues. If I was doing several thousand copies of say a flyer I would have it printed professionally but for our catalogues where volumes are relatively low it has so far worked out well.

    Nick Steele said:
    Hi Phil,

    Which printer did you buy, and how much does it cost per page (A4?) to run? We're just about to have some leaflets printed, but would be interested to know if we could do it ourselves cost-effectively.

    Fenlandphil said:
    I do most of my own printing I have bought a high volume A4 inkjet printer for our catalogues, it quickly paid for itself and I can print the number of catalogues I need at a time. If I add new products to the range adding new pages is not a problem and I don't have loose sheets floating about.
    I usually use MS Word sometimes MS Publisher.
    When I did use a professional printer they converted the files from word.
  • "We're looking at about £180 for 5000 full colour both sides double folded leaflets, which is cheaper i guess, but might leave us with more print than we need!"

    That's not a bad price. Depending on whether you're buying from a local printer or buying on-line, you could always ask a local guy for a price for 1,000 and 1,000 run on. You'd expect to pay more than 20% of £180 for the first 1,000 because of the aformentioned "set up" costs but your following 1,000's should be cheaper. There' lots of other factors to consider when designing and printing your own e.g. paper weight, do you want your design to "bleed" i.e. go right to the edge of the paper etc. This can't be done with an A4 colour injet or laser.
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