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InDesign is something I use whenever I need to layout print documents. It's occasionally used to work with files sent over by clients so I can prepare them for animation. It isn't ideal, but I'm thankful for having InDesign as another tool available to do this.
InDesign is mostly helpful for digital to print, and as such, it's how we use it.
InDesign is mostly helpful for digital to print, and as such, it's how we use it.
- InDesign has lots and lots of tools for laying out, resizing, creating pagination, templates for pages, etc.
- InDesign syncs pretty well with other Adobe programs, so it's not usually a challenge to bring in .psd or .ai files, then update them, while maintaining their size/detail within InDesign.
- Like all Adobe programs, shortcuts are different. Though tools between programs vary, it's always hard to get good consistency between each program, and that's the same issue here.
- InDesign isn't necessarily archaic in design and UI, but it's not the kind of program you can use without basic software knowledge of how it works. So much so, I know multiple colleagues who avoid it entirely when printing, resorting to using Photoshop or Illustrator instead. Yes, there is a nuance to this, but overall, I think InDesign would benefit from onboarding new users better.
February 13, 2020
Adobe Indesign is mainly used by me as the marketing manager to design ebooks and sometimes other collateral as needed. Therefore, it is used in the Marketing department. InDesign has helped us in creating more collateral and being able to edit current collateral. We no longer have to get someone else to do it. We can do it ourselves, which allows us to do it faster and correct the first time since we know what we are wanting to be changed. We have become more efficient in our content creation and able to create more meaningful content.
- Able to use in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop to edit photos within the document.
- Able to create professional looking material without having to outsource the project.
- Adobe continues to update the product so you are able to stay up to date on the latest tools.
- If you are familiar with the other platforms, it is fairly similar so you can pick up on how to use it quickly.
- It is sometimes hard to find tools or settings, I wish there was an easier way to find them versus having to look them up.
- There are so many tools and features that it can be overwhelming for a new user, a new user tutorial would be helpful.
- I wish there were more tools included on the left toolbox bar.
We use Adobe InDesign for design projects such as brochures, booklets, or sometimes single-page flyers (depending on the content). We are a small organization, and I am currently the only designer, so I am the only one who uses it. However, I serve as Marketing Director for some of my clients, and I manage other junior design team members there who also use it. InDesign is great for multi-page components, particularly those with dedicated sections or templates which need to be organized and displayed a certain way. It's also great for text-heavy projects, or those which use a lot of linked assets. Through use of shared Adobe Creative Cloud libraries and folders, it allows easy sharing between design teams, and avoids the need to package & send files between designers.
- Include linked assets from Creative Cloud library for easy sharing.
- Ideal for building page layouts and master templates for multi-page document formatting.
- Can be difficult for beginners to understand tools and functionality.
- Can sometimes be difficult to decide when to use InDesign vs Illustrator, depending on the project.
April 23, 2020
Adobe InDesign is currently being used in our company to create and/or receive design files for our clients' direct mail needs, this mostly includes forms and envelopes. We also use it to create the copy decks for the direct mail we send out. The software is only used by our Marketing and Lettershop departments. The reason we choose Adobe InDesign over other products is because of it's complexity and because of its standardization in the industry. As far as complexity goes, we have found that other products just don't seem to compare when it comes to the amount of things the tool itself can do. We use it for aspects such as mail merge, layering, shared libraries, master pages, and much more. When it comes to standardization in the industry, you really aren't going to find a more standard product used for design than an Adobe product. It makes it much easier to work in a agency setting, like we do, when you use the same products as your clients.
- Layering - When comparing to products like Microsoft Word, the layering becomes a big plus for Adobe InDesign. Layering allows you to turn "on" and "off" certain aspects of your document, such as if you wanted to show what a direct mail piece looks like with just the art work showing and then again with sample data showing by just the click of a button.
- Master Pages - Again, when comparing to Microsoft Word, master pages in Adobe InDesign takes "styling" just a little bit further. It makes it much easier to create certain multiple styles that you can easily apply (or not apply) to various pages. Such as if you wanted the page number and company to show on certain pages, and not on others.
- Cloud Libraries - This is a GREAT feature for companies who have multiple employees working in the software. When one employee adds an element to a Cloud Library, every other employee has access to it as well. This doesn't just pertain to images, like you would think - you can add things like styles, whole paragraphs (such as boiler plates), fonts, brand colors, and more. The great part is, you also don't have to be working in an online browser in order to access them.
- Crashes - It is almost understandable because of how large the software is, but we have had issues with the product crashing randomly, more so than others software we use.
- Incompatible Versions - Recently we have had some issues with opening files from other organizations and getting a message stating that their document was made with a "newer version" than ours and that it's incompatible - even though we don't have any pending updates to our software. It can be confusing because now that the Creative Cloud version exists, it seems like there should no longer be error issues for "newer" versions (such as InDesign 5.1, or InDesign 6.1, like there used to be - now it's just InDesign CC going forward with no newer versions.) So this error message, in theory, shouldn't be happening.
- Complicated - Again, it is understandable because of how complex of a tool this is, but this is not a tool you are going to be fully able to train a coworker on in a week. In fact most people who have used it for years still probably only use about 10-20% of the tools features. This type of software, unlike Microsoft Word, is usually only used by people who work in field of design/creative, so you wouldn't expect every employee to be able to use it.
February 27, 2020
We use Adobe InDesign throughout multiple departments in our organization, including Marketing, Finance, and Program Development. Even though we are a small organization, the design features of InDesign makes us look like a large corporation. We are able to development unique, innovative, creative and inspiring designs in both our internal and external publications. So long are the days on Powerpoint and Word designs for flyers and brochures, and we are now able to create a large majority of our designs in house saving us valuable money. This product has brought our organization to the new age in technology and we are beyond impressed with the outcomes we have seen so far.
- Easy to use design features
- Incorporate stock photos and personal photos for seamless look
- HelpDesk or Helpful videos for beginners
We use InDesign in our technology classes. They use it to create posters and other fliers, with the purpose of learning the program. Our public relations team also uses it for creating the posters and fliers that we put around the school for events that are coming up within the school.
- InDesign is really fast and can help boost production.
- It is an awesome program for creating posters or fliers.
- It does not work well with opening PDFs.
- It can be a little difficult to get used to for first-timers to the program.
February 12, 2020
I am a graphic designer and have used InDesign for 20 years. I originally used QuarkXPress as back then, it was the standard, but after getting familiar with InDesign, I quickly made the decision to switch as it was a better product. I've used it for almost every print project I've done.
- Makes design/layouts easy.
- It's incredibly flexible.
- The integration with PDF edits could be smoother.
- I wish there was more flexibility or more features within InDesign when translating to PDF forms.
it is only being used by the communications department. It allows us to create and design various projects for a variety of departments in our organization. We produce everything from invitations, programs, collateral material, social media images, brochures, magazines, etc.
- InDesign has so many excellent features, too many to name. A few that I find very helpful are the Character Styles. Creating styles within my documents saves me much time when formatting content.
- Another feature I use frequently is the feature to export selections as JPEGs.
- There are many times I try to copy images from Illustrator into InDesign and the image is too large so it makes it an EPS rather than an editable image. It would be nice if there weren't limitations on this.
- It would also be nice if the Paste Into feature allowed you to do this to images at different times without erasing the previous Paste Into image.
Adobe InDesign is being used by our company to create brochures and a magazine. It is being used by our whole organisation but particularly in marketing, advert production and by content creators and editors. It is a create way to collaborate with the team and create impactful artwork. Our printers are happy to take our InDesign files.
- Adobe is easy to use and taught at college level - everyone knows how to use it!
- InDesign is the best programme to create magazines and brochures
- I originally had difficulty in resizing the page size
- The system can crash if you aren’t using the most upto date computer
January 25, 2020
Adobe InDesign is used across our Design Team and by e-mail designers/developers. All our print/marketing materials are created using InDesign. It helps a lot to have templates with all the brand styles applied and speeds up the process of creating new brochures, flyers, and email assets. As a person directly involved in designing webpages and email, I found it very easy to use InDesign to change templates, adjust image ratios, and standardize them. Also, exporting InDesign pages in a different format (we use PNGs for emails) is a breeze.
- Great for creating master-templates for a variety of media.
- Great text flow control.
- Links do not auto update.
- A learning curve may be steep for a novice.
January 24, 2020
InDesign is used in our Art Department, consisting of 8 Pre Press / Graphic Design personnel. It's primarily used to set up text and images to be exported as high-resolution pdf files. InDesign is used in conjunction with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
- Magazine layout. InDesign is extremely stable; you can link text from page to page in any order. You can have a story start on page 3, continue on page 8, and continue again on page 27. If you make edits to the text, it will reflow throughout the magazine/book.
- It's perfect for creating comic books with various sizes and shapes of picture boxes, word bubbles, and so on.
- Problems can occur when adding drop shadows to text. Sometimes the shadow can produce an undesirable effect on graphic elements below. The solution is to use Adobe Illustrator for drop shadows.
- InDesign has a number of special effects that can be better done using Adobe Illustrator and importing into InDesign. Though if you do not have Illustrator, there is a lot you can do in InDesign.
Adobe usually returns support calls within the hour. Also, the web-based help is well laid out and informative.
January 21, 2020
We use Adobe InDesign two-fold. We use it for creation and design of our own initiatives and projects, but also as an editing tool for work that comes in for us from the agency side of things. Being able to create and also edit with it has saved us time and money, especially during tight deadlines.
- Creates flexible layouts
- Easy import and organization of ideas and files
- Massive learning curve to get from zero to functional usability of the program.
- Layout for options isn't intuitive for Photoshop/Illustrator users
January 21, 2020
I use Adobe InDesign in the company for text editing, corporate letters, folders, and newsletters. We are a small communication company, and I use the software myself. It is the most suitable professional tool for this type of service. It works very well with text distribution and combining text with images. It provides fundamental dynamic resources for a good layout.
- Text flow
- Table editing
- Flip page export resources
January 21, 2020
I use Adobe InDesign to create communications materials on a regular basis. I am a single-person department and the only person regularly using Adobe InDesign in our organization. Adobe InDesign gives me the ability to create custom materials for any situation and to fit the needs of our many different program areas. Adobe InDesign seems like a more flexible program that others and gives you the ability to create something just the way you envision it.
- I think you can shape text more efficiently with Adobe InDesign, just by drawing text boxes.
- It's easy to fit diverse elements together in the same document.
- It's not as robust with image editing as PhotoShop or Illustrator, so that you might need multiple programs together.
- The many many options make ID not always beginner-friendly - practice and tutorials help!
January 21, 2020
Adobe InDesign is a powerful design software that allows creators the ability to develop graphic layouts for magazines, advertising brochures, and catalogs. Our creative team uses this application on a daily basis for client print work. The best thing about InDesign is that it is apart of the coveted Adobe Suite which offers nothing but quality. InDesign also has an aesthetically pleasing interface compared to other software that we used in the past to create print work.
- Connects easily to Adobe's Creative Cloud.
- PDF accessibility works smoothly.
- Provide concise instructions for new users.
- Add more vector tools.
January 18, 2020
At our organization, we use InDesign as our exclusive tool for creating custom print materials. I am an instructional designer and I use this program to create all of our print training materials like instructor and participant guides, informational flyers, and product documentation. Our marketing department also uses this program to create their print ads, two-pagers, and battle-cards. This tool is fantastic and allows us to quickly and efficiently create custom print documents, layouts, and templates.
- This tool is really good at creating detailed print layouts in a relatively short amount of time.
- InDesign allows you to create templates for a host of elements that you will use in the system. Whether it is page layouts, text styles, or even spacing preferences, you can customize and save your settings for all of the elements that you will use regularly.
- Because Adobe provides separate programs for vector creation and picture editing, InDesign is fairly light in this kind of functionality. While this makes complete sense from a business standpoint, it is a little frustrating to have to go to a different program when I need to edit pictures and vector images.
- The snap-to-grid and snap-to-line functionality in InDesign can be a little annoying. While it is sometimes very helpful, often the logic behind these functions force the lines that elements that you are trying to align into very different places. You can turn this logic off, though, if need be.
At the Union, I used InDesign to format Write: The Magazine of The Writers' Union of Canada and other publications, such as the annual report and a guidebook series, and special editions.
- Great measurement tooling
- Perfect kearning and leading abilities
- Good linked file management
- As with all Adobe products, updates mean a learning curve
March 25, 2020
It addresses effectiveness, ease of use and support. InDesign has a well-designed interface and integrates smoothly with the rest of the Creative Cloud programs which provides seamless integration. It can be easy to learn the very basics of InDesign, but it also has complex features for advanced users. I used InDesign at this company in the production department where I prepared graphics for printing or designed layouts from scratch for paid clients.
- Page layout software
- Great at integrating with other Adobe Creative Suite applications
- Digital Interactive capability such as fillable PDFs
- Can data merge using Microsoft Excel which is great for mailings.
- Ease of use
- Not user friendly for a beginner; likely need training
- Complex features that even advanced users may need training
- More tutorials on new features and old would be great
February 24, 2020
We use Adobe InDesign primarily in the Marketing Department to create marketing collateral, sell sheets, event flyers, stickers, price books, catalogs, and other printed material that we publish directly to customers and distribute internally to our sales team. Adobe InDesign is a great solution for keeping our customers and sales force educated and informed about our products, pricing, and events.
- InDesign is the most flexible and capable document layout software I have used. Any size layout is possible.
- InDesign's table functionality is particularly useful.
- InDesign is an advanced piece of software and it can take awhile to learn how to use.
- Some menu items are very hidden and it can be hard to access certain functionality.
January 18, 2020
Adobe InDesign is crucial in our visual communication strategies. The need for print/digital layouts is constant: we create flyers to promote events, handouts to drive campaigns, booklets/workbooks to teach classes, name badges for volunteers, etc.
- Integration with other Adobe Creative Cloud products.
- Bulk layout creation (data imports).
- Creating bulleted lists still feels a bit unintuitive.
- Ability to select colors without creating swatches (for temporary projects).
January 07, 2020
Since our transition to full-time Adobe InDesign use in 2017, our publishing group inside the larger company has seen streamlined production, improved quality in graphics produced, and growth in the ability for each team member to contribute to the larger picture of good design and style. We use InDesign every day to prepare magazines and other publications for print and digital distribution, and InDesign continues to offer new assets to our team. As part of InDesign's fuctions, Adobe Typekit — when functioning properly — allows a uniform look no matter which user or computer our designs are viewed on, as we can trust that Adobe's quality fonts are also consistent in appearance for everyone (and the included licensing pleases our legal department as well).
- Publishing design: The variety of design tools available in InDesign are impressive, helping limit some of the work that needs to be handled in a second program like Photoshop or Illustrator so that we can complete a design sooner. When a second program is necessary, InDesign is also quick to integrate work between Illustrator and Photoshop as well.
- CSV integration: Comma Separated Values sheets lower our production time in the best way. One InDesign template format with a CSV form can be used to produce the thousands of pages we need each year with the same information for different groups with just a few clicks, instead of the copying and pasting from records that used to be required.
- InDesign does not seem to have a simple way to combine many files into one book or document that can be used at the same time. Indeed, it unfortunately runs slower the more pages you put into the same document, and if all pages are in one document, the pages cannot be edited by different people at the same time — no group editing option.
- Most of InDesign's tools work well, and even those that are not as natural to learn, it is simple enough to adapt to using these tools. Selecting objects within groups can be difficult to do without going into the Layers panel, however, and I believe the most difficult feature that I used the most often is the guides tool, which could definitely use better functionality in setup, adjustment and having objects snap to them.
November 12, 2019
I have used Adobe InDesign as a member of the marketing department. Myself and a senior designer had access to Adobe InDesign to create content for marketing campaigns and for our website. While Adobe Illustrator works well for creating graphics and banners, Adobe InDesign helped us to create marketing collateral with a page layout like eBooks, whitepapers, and flyers. It helped us to create content that explained the benefits of our products to customers and ultimately, assisted in generating leads and making sales.
- Adobe is great for creating content like eBooks and whitepapers. Many people use simpler applications like Microsoft Word for creating these types of documents, but Adobe provides more flexibility in layout which helps you to make more engaging content. The platform is more responsive to vector files - enabling you to change image colors. Also, text boxes and images can be placed anywhere on the page rather than having to follow a cursor for placement like one would have to when using Microsoft Word. It seems like the platform was built for creating more engaging content with a variety of imagery and text on every page.
- One of my favorite features on Adobe is the option to create color themes. Most companies I've worked for have had brand guidelines that must be followed when creating content. One of the most important guidelines are the brand colors. With Adobe, I can save the company's brand colors as a color theme to make sure that every time I open the application, our brand colors are stored. This shortens the amount of time it takes to start a project and enables me to select, deselect, and change colors to see which brand color works best.
- I love the "Layers" feature on Adobe InDesign. When working on other platforms, I always have to go to the images or text boxes on the page and select "bring forward" or "move backward" to make sure everything is displayed properly. For example, if I want white text on top of a blue shape, the blue shape may come forward and the text will be under the blue shape. This never happens in Adobe InDesign because you can separate your text and images into layers. In most cases, since text is supposed to be read, the text should be on top of all images and shapes. In Adobe InDesign, I can group every text box into a layer that always stays on top of the shapes and images.
- The biggest issue that I think hinders people from using Adobe InDesign is how overwhelming it is to get started. The interface is not intuitive and doesn't mimic the layout of any similar application. Because of that, it can be difficult to adopt if your company's employees have not already had experience using it. In my case, I had been introduced to InDesign as an intern and later accepted a full-time role on a team where I was able to improve to an intermediate level because our senior digital designer (an InDesign expert) was there to support me as I used InDesign for content creation. In my opinion, this is a rare opportunity where a company already has an expert available. Having such a difficult learning curve to overcome also seems to impact employee workload. Since it takes a while for employees to understand how to use the platform, creating content using this application is often tacked onto one or to people who understand how to use it - making the person(s) feel overwhelmed.
January 15, 2020
Mostly used in the marketing and communications department, InDesign and other programs from the Adobe suite are used in our department for graphic design projects. Project scope is usually marketing related, but marketing needs are tended to in the communications department for the entire company. Offline (print) and online marketing materials are created.
- Organization.
- Design.
- Display.
- Automatic link updates.
January 13, 2020
Adobe InDesign is used by the R&D, Design, and Marketing departments in designing new layouts for User Manuals, leaflets, flyers, banners, and any multi-page book or document which demands some graphic design development. We often make use of outsourcing for the bulk of new layout development and then make adjustments with inside resources. I find it an excellent software for this use, and the way it integrates with Illustrator and sometimes Photoshop makes it so easy to jump from and to software to deal with different demands.
- Layout design - integrating graphics and texts.
- Multi-page books and long format design pieces.
- Not enough tools for vector design - Need to use Illustrator for complex designs.
- Interface is not intuitive since it has a lot of tools and resources; it ends up being confusing for new users, although a similar layout to other Adobe Suite Apps makes it easier if you already use different software from the brand.
January 08, 2020
Adobe InDesign is our go-to software application for designing and creating the layout of our printed product brochures and information booklets. It is used exclusively in the marketing department, but we also create printed material for our R&D department. There is no other software application available that allows this kind of speed and ease of use when it comes to layout tasks.
- Creating multi-page printed documents, like brochures
- Creating print-ready PDF of EPS files in the format that the printer requires
- The InDesign files of newer versions are rarely compatible with older versions, which makes sharing work difficult. There is an option to export to a universal file, but this is an avoidable hassle.
- Menu items and workspace layouts are sometimes changed with newer versions, which causes confusion and requires a learning period before you can work at full speed again.
Adobe InDesign Scorecard Summary
What is Adobe InDesign?
Adobe InDesign supports creating digital and print documents such as flyers, stationary, posters, and other types of media, with rich graphics, images, and more. Adobe InDesign is available standalone or as part of the Adobe Creative Suite collection of media management and creation products.
Categories: Desktop Publishing
Adobe InDesign Pricing
- Does not have featureFree Trial Available?No
- Does not have featureFree or Freemium Version Available?No
- Does not have featurePremium Consulting/Integration Services Available?No
- Entry-level set up fee?No
| Edition | Pricing Details | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Plan, Prepaid | $239.88 ($19.99) | per year (per month) |
| Annual Plan, Paid Monthly | $251.88 ($20.99) | per year (per month) |
| Monthly Plan | 31.49 | per month |
Adobe InDesign Technical Details
| Deployment Types: | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems: | Windows, Mac |
| Mobile Application: | No |