Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign is very well suited to image-heavy publications, such as children's books, cookbooks and coffee table books. It gives you almost complete control how to arrange these elements, and to be able to tweak them with precision.

The software is an absolute necessity if one is developing interactive eBooks, especially for the Apple iTunes store. Unless coded by hand, I am not aware of any other tools to handle this.

It is a powerful toolset, and can take on most anything publishing related that you throw at it. I personally have found that it doesn't do too well with reflowable eBooks (like for Kindle Amazon), but it retains that capability.

Adobe InDesign would be well suited for scenarios such as created very intricate documents, such as ones that are utilizing many different views or layers. It would also be well suited for creating very large documents such as creating manuals or books for print. A scenario where Adobe InDesign would be less appropriate would be for creating a logo or a graphic. It also might be less appropriate for something such as a simple company document like an offer letter, or a fax, not that it couldn't be used but it would be similar to using a scientific calculator to add 2+2, it's just too complex of a tool to be used for something as simple as that.

It is well suited when you have a staff member that can be dedicated to learning the process. It's not necessarily the easiest to just "pick up" and run with it. My team member was able to really dig in and learn how to use it, and then train myself afterward.

If you need this tool, there simply isn't any other program to recommend. And if you don't need it, it is a waste of time and money to invest in it. For this reason I don't know that I would recommend it to anybody. If somebody would need this tool to do their work, they would already have it.

Designing printed brochures, flyers and information booklets is where Adobe InDesign shines. It's not a tool to edit images, although you have some options that help you avoid having to open up Photoshop. The two applications work hand-in-hand, and I can't use InDesign without going to Photoshop every once in a while.

I like to tell people that if they are designing anything that is more than one page/artboard, that they should use InDesign. For documents that are one artboard (and not just artistic in nature) Adobe Illustrator is typically a better tool. Having native support for PDF Files built-in makes it an incredibly powerful tool for documents that will be printed offsite or by a 3rd party.

Great for print layouts, but I haven't used it for web yet.

One place where we have found that InDesign has been really useful is with our public relations team at our school. When we have upcoming events or anything going on at the school they will use InDesign to create the posters and flyers for those events. We've also tried it in a technology class and our students have loved it and the ability it gives them to create something.

As far as my experience goes, InDesign is a great tool to create layouts for all the possible print media, from a visit card to a book. Our company deals with travel, and it is imperative to produce high quality, visually attractive promotion materials: postcards, flyers, and brochures that are consistent in style and follow brand guides. InDesign is a great tool for this. It does not allow us to do image manipulation or create vectors, so other Adobe products have to be used instead.

For anyone making print designs, InDesign is the go to standard, more so for booklets, pamphlets, anything with multiple pages or designs that have a lot of copy in layout, such as product detailers and one sheets. If you're doing posters, or badges or anything that has quite a bit of built in creative flair, is recommend sticking with Illustrator. You can use it, but you'll be exporting elements constantly from Illustrator.

Adobe InDesign is an incredible print design tool for experienced designers and developers. It lets you create custom layouts quickly and effectively...if you are familiar with the tool and understand the underlying logic of Adobe systems. If you have the time to devote to learning how layering works and how all of the small simple creation tools can be combined to create more complex elements, you will find this to be maybe the most helpful tool you can use.

I personally do not have experience with any other layout design software, so this is definitely a biased opinion. But Adobe InDesign is relatively intuitive to use and filled with robust features that allow users to accomplish much more complex projects. I rarely need these more high-end features and typically stick with the basics, but it has significantly improved the quality of visual communication in our organization. Our end-goal always is to increase and retain engagement, and even with quality content, if it is not presented in an appealing/professional way, we lose that engagement. Adobe InDesign offers flexibility in the design process that is not possible in just the average word processing tool (i.e., Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc.). It is certainly not designed for graphic/image editing. Still, the integration with Illustrator and Photoshop makes the process very seamless (mainly because it retains vector layers from Illustrator, so you can always make minor adjustments directly in InDesign without having to go back and forth between apps constantly).

Adobe InDesign is an industry standard, and I would not trust a professional designer who did not at least have an intermediate level of knowledge in InDesign. It's best suited for multi-page documents, such as book publication, brochures or pamphlets. Its tools allow designers to build wireframe layouts, roughing in placement of images, text or other linked elements. The ability to create multiple page 'masters' allows for implementation of different template components for each document section. For example, the sections can use their own numbering systems, start at different intervals, have different background design components, and if the tools are used properly, they can be used to dynamically generate Table of Contents layouts which saves designers a lot of time. Content can be flowed between sections, so if additional text is added or the text area gets smaller, the text will flow to the subsequent linked text box. Additionally, it's well suited (and intended) for design all the way through the production process, so its print-ready export settings will typically accommodate professional print vendor specifications, supporting bleed, trim, gutter, and complex PDF export options.

If you are not a trained designer or peer user of the Adobe Suite, I'd recommend using Illustrator for simpler print projects. However, if you are building a large scale print job, such as a book, booklet, or menu, it's worth the steep learning curve. The styles and build in margins are hard to beat for such a larger scale design. If you are an Adobe Suite user, you can also import images, vectors, and other things from Adobe files, so it's integrations are really good. If you are new to Adobe, or already find Illustrator and Photoshop tough, then you may want to stick with them for simpler projects.

InDesign is my preferred tool for publishing, but it is cost prohibitive, and it is not so far above other publishing software options to make it my 10/10 recommendation because of this price issue. For businesses, groups or individuals with 1) heavy software use, 2) ample budget, and 3) nearly constant work to be done, InDesign makes immediate sense. Designers who need web hosting will also find InDesign a great option, because the Publish Online tool is so simple and satisfactory. For those learning to use publishing or who cannot afford the monthly drain that an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription insists upon, another publishing program, such as Affinity Publisher or a free and open source (FOSS) option, would be more appropriate. Other reasons that might make the monthly commitment to Adobe InDesign and its fees unnecessary include if 1) you are only infrequently using layout software and don't use other Adobe products, or 2) you do not need the freedom and customization options and can do the work in a word processing software just as well.

If you are doing professional graphic design, and especially if you are doing design for print or for digital publishing (PDF, etc.), Adobe InDesign is exceptionally good. For magazines, newsletters, books, DVD and CD jackets, business cards, signage, fliers and brochures, newspaper ads, bulletins, etc., it is an ideal software app. However, it does require a somewhat advanced level of computer operator skill, and the initial learning curve is a bit steep.

I would not recommend it for someone whose needs are more in line with what Microsoft Word or Apple Pages can do.

Adobe InDesign is well suited for creating custom, attractive, high-quality reports. It's not great for time saving and efficiency, so if you haven't learned the program and are short on time, it wouldn't be ideal.

It's really the best option for anyone who will be doing print design projects on a somewhat regular basis. It's very affordable, especially if you're a nonprofit (get signed up with TechSoup). It wouldn't be appropriate for someone who has absolutely no design skills. They should look for one of those online apps that guides you through the design process and has lots of professional-looking templates. Just don't do Word or Publisher. They are so limited for design work, and people will be able to tell!

If you need something designed that can be printed, this is the tool. It is the "gold standard" across every industry for printing.

If you work with a printer they generally like receiving the InDesign file so that they can gather the exact Pantone colors, modify the print settings or whatever they need to do. This is such a powerful tool for printing and more.

For an in-house design group Adobe InDesign has been a valuable tool. For any print or online PDFs we use InDesign and have been very successful in doing what we do. From note cards to our award winning magazine Adobe InDesign does it all. There's no other tool like it in the marketplace today.

InDesign is ideal for when you need complete control of all aspects for printing including color, bleeds, slugs, I don’t, and margins for example. If you’re not worried about these types of things the product will still do the job but may be overkill.

Adobe InDesign is best for companies who rely on content to sell their products and need that content to be engaging. Even though the platform can be difficult to understand, it's worth it to invest the time to understand it if you have a complicated product. I have worked for two SaaS companies and selling software can require very detailed and technical explanations. Having Adobe would enable your marketing and/or design team to turn those technical details into colorful pages and graphics that keep prospective customers engaged. It would lower costs in the long run because you'll have employees with deep knowledge of the products creating these documents/graphics quickly rather than outsourcing to a design or marketing agency who would need to learn about your product and how it works for every piece of content you'll need.

Unless you're creating a catalog, I would not recommend Adobe InDesign for companies with products that can be explained in a photo or one simple graphic. It would be best to utilize Adobe Illustrator for those types of products.

Adobe InDesign is great for multi-page layout marketing and allows anyone to create a magazine, a newspaper, a book, all in minutes. I would not use Adobe InDesign for image manipulation, creation of vector content, etc., as Photoshop and Illustrator fill those niches entirely. I like to consider Adobe InDesign as part of the trifecta of Adobe programs in that it fills its role while working with Photoshop/Illustrator to accomplish goals.

It is great for designing anything where you need to make something look professional and as a layout-posters, handouts, booklets, using high-quality media, export as a pdf, etc. It is less appropriate if wanting to do a write up to quick share with others, take notes, or more informal documents.

Adobe InDesign is great, as mentioned before, for magazine layouts and being able to edit a page, and it will automatically adjust the rest of the pages, whereas other Adobe programs don't take that into effect. InDesign is best suited for that, but not much else, and lacks the features of Illustrator and Photoshop, and with both those programs having more features, I tend to use those more often.