Brochure creation

[peekaboo]

what is a powerful yet easy application to create a professional-looking brochure?

[EzyStvy]

MS Word comes to mind.

[Force Flow]

I'd use publisher over word for something like this.

[sdkfz]

My wife just went down this path, at the fork… she chose the Word path... as the old knight in the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade movie said s”he chose poorly” that way leads to frustration and madness.

Publisher has tons of brochures templates already set up for you to customize.

[peekaboo]

thanks. i will give publisher a try.

[mairving]

I personally despise Publisher but unless you want to invest money and time into a product like InDesign or Quark then it's still probably your best bet. It can be a bit more difficult if you want to use an outside printer to print the brochures though.

[TwoRails]

The creation of a "professional looking" brochure is more the operator, I'd say. Art, design, and layout are the key components; the program just helps you set things up and get it printed out. Programs like Word, or my favorite, Word prefect, can do a good job. If you need truly "pro" stuff, then you may consider having someone else do the design and layout, etc...

[peekaboo]

Is a brochure like the one found here something for a "professional" or is it something one (I) could manage to create with a little bit of practice and effort?

Is this something that's slapped together with Word or Publisher or is this the result of an experienced professional using quark or indesign (which is considered better btw?)?
When I look at a brochure I have no idea what kind of effort went into creating it.

[XenaWP]

I can't personally vouch for it, but I know some people who use/like this:

http://www.scribus.net/

[Alaron]

I have tried Scribus and found it easy to use, yet very functional. Worth a look before shelling out for the expensive programs.

[TwoRails]

Originally Posted by peekaboo Is a brochure like the one found here something for a "professional" or is it something one (I) could manage to create with a little bit of practice and effort? ....

That's a pretty subjective question. As they say, "you never know until you try." Give it a go with what you have, or try something like Scribus You'll just might like doing stuff like that and find a hidden talent -- You'll be your own worst critic for a while, that's for sure, might even be frustrating for a while, but if you keep at it, you may just find you can produce what you're after.

[peekaboo]

Originally Posted by TwoRails That's a pretty subjective question. As they say, "you never know until you try." Give it a go with what you have, or try something like Scribus You'll just might like doing stuff like that and find a hidden talent -- You'll be your own worst critic for a while, that's for sure, might even be frustrating for a while, but if you keep at it, you may just find you can produce what you're after.

I know. It's just that some things appear really complex when in fact they are pretty simple if you know the basics.
I keep wowing my friends with my photoshop skills but I'm only using a few basic tools that I could teach someone in 1 hour.
On the other hand, I used to do CAD design for an aerospace company and even the simplest of components required a lot of skill and hard work.

I'm sure I will be able to master the tools for creating a brochure, my problem is that I'm not artistic. Any tool to make me more of an artist? a pill, maybe?

[Force Flow]

With some people it comes with practice and trial & error. Others never "get it", and still others do it naturally.

All you can do is try a few things and ask other people how it looks to them (it's usually more helpful if you ask people who are somewhat familiar with the area of artistry you're working with)

[TwoRails]

Sounds like you already have a pretty good foothold since you have photoshop and have cad experience.