Hello,

I need to design a brochure. I've never done this. Can anyone give me
pointers on the size the brochure should be? When doing print do I
still work in inches or points, or picas? I know I sure don't work in
pixels. And do I work in CMYK or RGB? I think it's CMYK.

Anyway, I am designing everything and importing it into Adobe In
Design. How do I create the grid to the correct size, and where do I
know where the folds will be?

Like I said, designing for print is something totally new to me.

Thanks for your help!

on 23/07/2006 5:44 pm, healthystealthy@gmail.com wrote:


What kind of design have you been used to?

In article <1153673071.371894.244570@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups .com>,
healthystealthy@gmail.com wrote:

pass the job onto someone who knows what they're doing.

amgine wrote:
I am a web designer. I specialize in Flash.
This brochure job is only a test for the employer to see how I would do
with print work. It's not going to the printers. It's just to see how
I would design a print job.
Thanks

healthystealthy@gmail.com arranged shapes to form:

In determining size I calculate in the following factors:

Postage: postage costs, standard envelope sizes / custom postage costs.
Ergonomics: holding, carrying, reading.
Filing: shelves, intrays, desks, briefcases.
Costs: budget, amount of paper.
Language: big/expensive/loud, small/precious.

Whilst thinking about size you might want to get in some paper samples,
and think about coated/uncoated stock, gloss, glare etc. Might also want
to consider die-cutting, blind-embossing, gloss-overprints,
semi-transparent papers, and other fancy things that print can do that
screen can't.

If it makes sence to *you* to work in pixels (assuming a 300dpi output)
then do that. Work with whatver you feel comfortable with whilst you get
the design done, then convert it. When it comes to talking with
printers, I always use metric (millimeters), and they can convert it to
whatever they want.

You will probably be using CMYK, although you might want to consider
working in 2 spot-colours, or other options depending on budget and
style.

use the indesign help, although the info about 'folds' you're looking
for is probably under bleed.

The gap from screen to print is massive, and not the sort of thing to
undertake without a sympathetic printer and possibly some formal
training - but have fun, remind your boss that you learn by mistakes!

HTH

--

Davémon
http://www.nightsoil.co.uk/

healthystealthy@gmail.com arranged shapes to form:

But then what happens when you do send a job to the printers, and what
looks 'ok' to you and your boss, is completely impossible for a pressman
to set up? You might suggest to your boss to get some wet-proofs done
and asking for feedback files you send. Or is your employer experienced
in print-production and do they know what to look for?


--

Davémon
http://www.nightsoil.co.uk/

on 24/07/2006 1:32 am, healthystealthy@gmail.com wrote:

Does your employer employ any designers that specialize in print and
exhibition work?

I would find it daunting to be thrown in the deep end with web design, so
I'm not surprised you feel a bit overwhelmed. If your employer is likely to
want this kind of work doing in the future, they would be best advised to
employ a designer with the right experience in this field. Otherwise it
would be like expecting an interior designer to be able to do web design.

healthystealthy@gmail.com wrote:
Imagine walking into a law firm that specializes in family law
(divorces, probate, etc.) and asking them to take on a class action
malpractice case. Sure, they *might* be able to handle it (if they
even agreed to take the job), but that area law isn't their expertise.
If they were responsible, they would refer you to another law firm.

Yet to most people, a lawyer is a lawyer.

People tend to have the same opinion of designers.

That isn't to say that there isn't anyone who is proficient in both web
and print, or that there shouldn't be. It just needs to be understood
that they are two completely different animals. So the question is,
what is the motivation behind your employer having you do this? Is he
just trying to save a few bucks? Or are you genuinely interested in
expanding your skills?

If it's the former, then he won't. Save a few bucks, that is.
Becoming a consistently good print designer has a steep learning curve.
If you're a decently competent multi-media designer, think back to
those first couple of sites you made and how awful they were compared
to your skills now. You'll experience the same thing with print --
except now there is tangible, physical evidence of your mistakes.
Screw up a web site? Just redo it and upload a new one. Screw up a
run of 10,000 4/4 trifold brochures? That's a lot of expensive scrap
paper.

If the situation is the second option, and you really want to expand
your skills, then I'm afraid simply asking how to build a brochure in a
newsgroup isn't the way to go about it. You might get some useful
tips, but you're really going to need more than that: on-the-job
training in a print environment (assuming they can afford your
inevitable learning curve mistakes), or some kind of classroom
instruction.

If you think you're ready to jump into print, ask yourself if you
understand the answers to the following basic questions:

What is a bleed?

What are trim/crop/registration marks and what are they for?

What is trapping and why is it important?

What does 4/0, 2/1, or 4/4 mean?

What's the difference between process and spot color?

And those are all easy ones, and likely most (if not all) would apply
to a basic brochure design.

I'm not really trying to discourage you if you want to get into print.
Rather, just point out that there's a lot more to it than just knowing
it should be designed in CMYK. Your boss should be aware that having
you take on print duties is going to be a process, and will likely cost
some money in mistakes before it's all said and done.

-- Robert
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blog: http://www.freshlysqueezeddesign.com/pulp

<healthystealthy@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1153701120.120479.40970@b28g2000cwb.googlegro ups.com...
|
| amgine wrote:
| > on 23/07/2006 5:44 pm, healthystealthy@gmail.com wrote:
| >
|
| >
| > What kind of design have you been used to?
|
| I am a web designer. I specialize in Flash.
| This brochure job is only a test for the employer to see how I would do
| with print work. It's not going to the printers. It's just to see how
| I would design a print job.
| Thanks

If this is a test ask the questions as though it was going to the printer.
Cutting out steps is an indication a) you don't know or b) you're careless.

That would be my suggestion...
scg

"woods" <noreply@none.com> wrote in message
news:44c40915$0$22362$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.a u...

On 23 Jul 2006 09:44:31 -0700, healthystealthy@gmail.com wrote:

Are you an idiot? I mean...no, really, are you?

BTW, I doubt you're much of a web designer, "specializing in Flash",
if you have such a poverty of intellect that you can't even figure out
how to design a brochure.

--

Onideus Mad Hatter
mhm ¹ x ¹
http://www.backwater-productions.net
http://www.backwater-productions.net/hatter-blog


Hatter Quotes
-------------
"I'm not a professional, I'm an artist."

"The more I learn the more I'm killing my idols."

"Is it wrong to incur and then use the hate ridden, vengeful stupidity
of complete strangers in random Usenet froups to further my art?"

"Freedom is only a concept, like race it's merely a social construct
that doesn't really exist outside of your ability to convince others
of its relevancy."

"Next time slow up a lil, then maybe you won't jump the gun and start
creamin yer panties before it's time to pop the champagne proper."

"Reality is directly proportionate to how creative you are."

"People are pretty fucking high on themselves if they think that
they're just born with a soul. *snicker*...yeah, like they're just
givin em out for free."

"Quible, quible said the Hare. Quite a lot of quibling...everywhere.
So the Hare took a long stare and decided at best, to leave the rest,
to their merry little mess."

"There's a difference between 'bad' and 'so earth shatteringly
horrible it makes the angels scream in terror as they violently rip
their heads off, their blood spraying into the faces of a thousand
sweet innocent horrified children, who will forever have the terrible
images burned into their tiny little minds'."

"How sad that you're such a poor judge of style that you can't even
properly gauge the artistic worth of your own efforts."

"Those who record history are those who control history."

"Is my .sig delimiter broken? Really? You're sure? Awww,
gee...that's too bad...for YOU!" `, )

Onideus Mad Hatter wrote:
Ah, nothing like a long river of sympathy and compassion ending hard in
a dam of Onideus Mad Hatter-brand contempt and rage.

I remember designing my first offset print brochure as though it was
yesterday. I did it in Quark at the time because that's what I knew and
hadn't yet discovered that InDesign is to Quark what a blowjob is to
having all of your skin shaved off with a vegetable peeler.

It came out fairly well considering I didn't have a proper workstation
with color calibration or anything, just my shitty Dell laptop with its
shitty LCD screen and a couple of Pantone process color chip books. I
remember that even after careful scrutiny from myself and two others it
still went to press with a misspelling on the back.

Designing for print is not easy, healthystealthy. I certainly had more
experience in web design than anything else before I did any print work,
so I know what it's like to move from one medium to the other, but I
also had formal training. There are a lot of eccentricities to preparing
work for print that you just don't have to deal with in any other field
and only formal training and experience can help you there. Also, as
someone else said, a sympathetic printer.

If your boss is keen on the idea of getting two people for the price of
one by sending his print design needs to you, and if you actually want
to do this kind of thing, I recommend picking up a print production
course at a local college (mine was called Design and Production) just
to get your feet wet in the field before spending money to find out how
badly you botched it. Tell your boss that you'd be happy to do the work
if he pays for the course(s).

Designing for print is really exciting. I love web design, but having
something tangible produced from your work is a huge rush, and I
recommend it.

--
Aaron

"Mankind are greater gainers by suffering each other to live as seems
good to themselves, than by compelling each to live as seems good to the
rest." -- John Stuart Mill

In article <zNadnfCzMZe670bZnZ2dnUVZ_oKdnZ2d@giganews.com>, Aaron
<aaron@thebailiwick.com> wrote:

I personally love traditional design over web design any day of the
week. I love the feel of the paper, the tooth, the texture, the sound
it makes when it rustles . . . and don't even get me started on the
smell of the inks! ; ) Choosing paper for a job is like opening
presents at Christmas! Oooh!! What's this one like?! and so forth . . .


But then, I've been in the business a long time - before geocities and
high-speed access!! Back in my day, after walking to school in the
snow, uphill both ways, web pages were far and few between . . .
Prodigy was king and AOL was but a newcome carpetbagger.

You have people now like you and Hat, Spacegirl and Davemon, who move
seamlessly from print to web and back and forth. Your world is as
liquid as you like it. And I envy you all . . . I just can't seem to
wrap my brain around Flash . . . : (

*sigh*

Btw, I like the quote in your sig.
--
Connie