I have to design adverts for local newspapers, I use M/S word and Publisher but It looks a bit home-made?

Question

Does anyone know of cost effective alternative software I could buy to give my adverts a more professional look?

Answer 1

Hope this doesn't come across to harsh.
Often the reason an ad looks home-made is because of the content. My advise would be to keep it simple. Make sure your headline has a clear message for your target market and that any picture/illustration reinforces that message.

Ad design doesn't have to be complex to achieve results but it does have to be relevant.

If you can use Publisher you should be able to get a professional result and it will save you a large learning curve. More of a problem is that many newspapers and printers in the UK will not accept files in publisher or MS Word so you may need to convert to something they can use such as a TIFF, Use the Save as option and select the file type you want to use then click save. You could also print the file to Generic PDF (select it from your printer options), If you don't have it installed you can obtain it from:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/assistance/HP010464291033.aspx

I have assumed in the above you have an understanding of CMYK print and picture resolution which should be a minimum of 300dpi.

If you still want to try another software package I would recommend
Indesign: http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/
QuarkXpress: http://euro.quark.com/en/
Illustrator: http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/

Unfortunately none are cheap and all will take some time for you to become familiar with.

I've included a couple of links to sites either providing examples of ads or info on preparing them. Thers's loads of info out there.

Best of luck.

Answer 2

If you're working with print Photoshop/Illustrator and Quark is your best bet. Thats what the pros use, but you may be put off by the cost. To be honest Photoshop and Publisher would be fine too - in the end you use Publisher and/or Quark to do the laying out of the graphics, but the graphics themselves should be created in a higher quality art package. Publisher is a more than adequate layout tool, so concentrate on spending money on a decent art package such as Photoshop.

I'm a freelance designer by trade so feel free to get in touch if you'd like a quote on anything. Adverts aren't very time consuming so I wouldn't normally charge a great deal.

Answer 3

If you are dealing with a commerical company then you will need to use InDesign but you will have to be a bit of a pro to use it. However, ask, what formats they can accept artwork. If they are a pro outfit then the chances are PDF or Jpeg will be your answer. If PDF then you will need to install at least Acrobat Standard but can prove unreliable if in conjunction with Publisher. Things will appear to be fine until it goes to print and there is no way in knowing until it has been printed. If this is regular for you then invest in new software. If not, then seek the advice of a professional artworker. Adverts are pretty much on a bespoke basis so get your clients to submit images, copy and take it from there.

Answer 4

Illustrator and Pagemaker are the two I would reccomend most. Thats what our local university teaches students to use, more Illustrator. Photoshop is nice too. I tend to find PS is better for image work, where Illustrator is great for layouts. Both have their uses. Problem, is Photoshop and Illustrator are not too cheap, a few hundred dollars if you go the legit route. If you want to try them out to see what they can do, go to your local FedEx Kinkos, and you can play with them. It's prob 40cents a min for the machine with those, but it will give ya a test drive. You can prob download a demo from Adobe's web site.

Answer 5

"Cockapoos" seem to be very popular in my area. There's always some of breeder in the paper. There's also always an "AKC Siberian Husky" breeder. "Cockapoos, 8 weeks, $500. Call ___ at ____." Too much money for a mutt but at least the puppies are being given away at 8 weeks. 5 "Rare AKC Husky. 1 girl 3 boys $500 for girl 350 for boys. Home raised pups Call _____." Too much for a husky in the paper. I don't really know what "home raised" means, is that some sort of breeder term? Don't get me started on the "rare" part. They probably just look like normal huskies. 7 "Teacup babies. Call _____." I don't know if this is a dog so I can't really rate it... 3 Here's an ad I saw awhile ago: "Teacups, Morkies, & Poddles! $600-800!" I'm assuming that this person owns a china shop and sells things called "poddles" and "morkies". Where do I begin? That's too much money for a mutt or runt. What on earth is a poddle? I don't know if that is a misspelling of poodle or some sort of designer name. I'm guessing that this person is breeding poodles, (teacup?) yorkies, and (teacup?) maltese while breeding the yorkies and maltese together to make "morkies". 9-10 Legit- My dog doesn't like dog beds. He has about 5 dog beds that he's never used. He sleeps on the floor or sometimes on an old sofa.

Answer 6

Adobe Pagemaker

Answer 7

Photoshop Pro.

You can download it for free if you know where to look. Otherwise make it an investment. There are millions of tutorials to achieve desired affects, so theres no excuse. And you are correct, people immediately identify something made on word - word art anyone? lol.

Answer 8

Why not exploit the fact that it looks homemade and make it look moreso.
This type of design has been used by advertising companies in the past.
Perhaps you could start a new trend....

Answer 9

A good open source program is called Scribus. There is a version for Windows (if you must use that) that can be found at:
http://windows.scribus.net
Instructions for installing are at:
http://wiki.scribus.net/index.php/Installing_Scribus_on_Win32
If you use a good OS like Linux of Mac OS X then:
http://www.scribus.net/

Answer 10

to makek advet for newspaper the profesional software is illustrator. if u are able to find ileagal copy it doesnt matter for your art work