Software

[ACE]

After being disappointed with the 5th proof for my postcards, I decided I would have to make them myself. I don’t have allot of money to spend on software. I am running vista. Will PhotoShop Elements 6 work for making postcards or do I need to buy CS3?

 

[Royal Man]

A lot of cleaners use MS Publisher. It's inexpensive and compatible with Wayne's PDQ postcard & more marketing templates.

 

[Greg Loe]

Would you know how to use it if you bought it?

 

[Wayne Miller]

I haven't used PhotoShop Elements 6 or CS3 but I can comment a a few others. The right software for you really depends on what you're trying to do, how much you want to spend, and how much time you have to invest.

I have Illustrator, Photoshop, PageMaker, InDesign, all of which I barely or never use, Publisher and CorelDraw. Corel is, far and away, my favorite.

Publisher is cheap, easy to learn and easy to use. If you simply want to drop in a pic or two and add some text, as a page layout tool, it's a good choice. Some printers don't like to work with native Publisher files. 2007 exports PDF and hi-res bitmaps which is what you need for commercial printing. You can generate pdf's from older versions using a PDF driver like pdf995.com. I picked up a nice one at http://www.neevia.com for about $50. On the down side, Publisher very is limited as a design tool.

I haven't priced software lately so don't quote me but Adobe typically runs several hundred dollars. Corel, last time I looked was about half the cost and even less for the upgrade. For the money, Corel in MHO is a much better deal.

Corel and Adobe products are geared towards professional users and the learning curves are steep. You're not gonna learn them in a few days. If you plan on using a commercial printer you'll need a little better understanding of the basics of printing. When it comes to putting material together you're only limited by your imagination and your ability to use the software. But, there's nothing in the software telling you how to produce the effect you want. To get the most bang you'll want to learn both a page layout/illustration package and a program to work with bitmap images.

So, if quick, easy and affordable is important, I'd take a look at Publisher.

If you enjoy a challenge, are seriously committed to creating your own material, want the most flexibility and you don't mind spending time, and maybe lots of it, to learn the software, I'd look at one of the CorelDraw or Adobe Suites.

I'm reasonably sure you can download trial versions. That's what I'd do, especially the more sophisticated programs.

 

[ACE]

Thanks Dave a Wayne. That was helpful.

 

[rhyde]

I have CS3 web premium with Photoshop, illustrator and Dreamweaver as well as Ms publisher. Photoshop & illustrator can do so much more than publisher but both are also more complicate to use as wayne said your not going to learn it in a few days . Ms publisher is cheaper and easy to use and there are plenty of templates for a starting point on projects I recommend it for most.

Ms Publisher falls short with rendering, altering graphics for add work plus photoshop/ illustrator are native for the design community so have a lot of free add on fonts, extensions to do special graphic work that MS will never have.

Adobe web premium will set you back around 700.00 if you look around ..it lists for 1,500.00

MS publisher around 200.00

 

[ACE]

Thanks for the help. I ordered 2007 Office Pro. I am going to do some test marketing on 200-300 higher end homes. I am going to try USPS Direct. It's not the best deal for printing but they can have it printed and in the mail the next day. I'm sure I'll be asking for advice again soon.