Adobe Illustrator vs. Photoshop vs. In. Design. Photoshop, Illustrator and In. Design represent the big three of the Adobe Creative Suitebut never assume that one is interchangeable with another. Use the wrong design program to create a certain element of your artwork, and you might end up with blurry text, sloppy layouts, or a logo that you can never resize without turning it into a pixelated nightmare. Using all three programs together, however, turns them into the ultimate dream team. You can maximize the strengths of each Adobe product while also minimizing their weaknesses where one program fails, another can pick up the slack. Which Adobe Program Should You Use for Designing Print Media Since each program has its own set of strengths and weaknesses, the one you should choose depends on which part of the print design youre actually making. Using this presentation folder design as an example, lets break down which Adobe programs Photoshop vs. Illustrator vs. In. Design were used to create its various elements. Learn software, creative, and business skills to achieve your personal and professional goals. Install Adobe Flash Solaris 10 Top here. Join today to get access to thousands of courses. Edit Indesign Files In Photoshop' title='Edit Indesign Files In Photoshop' />Designing a Logo Illustrator. The perfect scalability of vector images makes Illustrator, hands down, the best program for creating print logos. A logo you create in Illustrator can be imported into a number of different projects and will always print with crystal clarity. Runner Up In. Design. If you dont have Illustrator, In. Design also has the vector tools you need to create a scalable logo. Photoshop can work as a last resort, but keep in mind that the vectors you create will be converted to raster images and youll likely see some slight pixelation if you try to reproduce the logo in different sizes. Drawing Shapes and Graphics Illustrator. Illustrator is the go to choice for drawing any shaped visual elements, since vectors can be easily manipulated, altered and resized. Vector illustration can be tricky to learn, but the results are much more professional looking than other hand drawn options. Runner Up Photoshop. If you dont mind working in a pixel based environment, you can achieve similar results using Photoshop. Since not all of your illustrative elements will be reused in other designs, you wont run into any pixelation issues as long as you dont have to resize the image. Adding Filters and Special Effects Photoshop. Photoshop gives you access to an impressive library of filters and special effects. If you want to give your print media projects that extra level of flair, Photoshop should be your first choice. Edit Indesign Files In Photoshop' title='Edit Indesign Files In Photoshop' />Flattening and saving files. When you finish editing all the layers in your image, you can merge or flatten layers to reduce the file size. Flattening combines all. If you need to know how to edit PDF files there are a number of ways to approach the task. To make complex changes youll need Illustrator and Photoshop to help. Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Systems for macOS and Windows. Photoshop was created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. You can download a 30 day free trial of Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Windows, and a a free trial of Adobe Photoshop CS4 for MAC at the Adobe website. Runner Up In. Design. If you dont have access to Photoshop, you can add a few limited filters to your photos directly from In. Design. It doesnt have quite the same scope as Photoshop, but it can handle the basics. Manipulating Photos Photoshop. The name says it allPhotoshop has the most tools for manipulating photos, and since photos are created using pixels, you dont have to worry about distortion. Whenever your print design includes photographs, use Photoshop first to improve the image quality before importing into another program. Runner Up In. Design. Again, if you dont have access to Photoshop, In. Design can at least handle the basics, like cropping and resizing. It shouldnt be your first choice, but its manageable in a pinch. Writing Copy In. Design. If youre designing a brochure, pocket folder or other print project that has large passages of text, In. Design is very handy for its intuitive word wrap feature. Word wrap helps you easily break up your copy into columns, letting you utilize every inch of canvas space. In. Design also creates crisp, clean text devoid of pixelation. Runner Up Illustrator. Illustrator can also be used to create smooth, scalable text out of vector shapes, but without the word wrap tools, it can be difficult to create a good looking layout for text. Designing Layouts In. Design. In. Design has all of the best tools for creating complete layouts for print, especially multi page layouts using its master page system. It can also handle multi page templates, which makes it easier for you to quickly put together a sharp looking layout. Runner Up Illustrator. Illustrator can also handle multi page layouts to a degree, but without the master page system, youll end up having to do a lot of extra work. Creating Your Print Ready Files In. Design. Composing a print ready folder design in In. Design is a fairly simple affair. It keeps all of the design elements in their original state, so when it comes time to print, youll have the most accurate representation possible. In. Design is also better than most other Adobe programs at creating. EPS files, one of the more ideal formats for print ready artwork. Runner Up Illustrator. Illustrator makes a decent second choice for its ability to export accurate print ready. EPS files. What About Adobe Fireworks Although Adobe Fireworks is an excellent illustration and photo editing tool, when it comes to designing print media, there isnt much that Fireworks has to offer over the other programs in the Adobe Creative Suite. Its actually something of an amalgam of all three programsit has layers and photo editing tools like Photoshop, vector illustrations like Illustrator, and the use of master pages like In. Design. However, Fireworks is primarily for web and digital design, so when it comes to creating print designs, it doesnt bring anything new to the table. Conclusion. We all have our own ways of doing things, and you should ultimately choose the program that best fits you as a designer. In the end, what matters is that your final product is clean, clear and catching to the eye. Do you have any questions about using Illustrator vs. Photoshop vs. In.