Adobe has many programs, and you might find yourself in front of a new one and curious to learn about its different uses.
For instance: Adobe InDesign.
If you are a graphic designer, a marketing professional, or even an artist, you might be familiar with the most common uses of this software, such as creating digital content, sharing them in digital or print formats, etc.
If you aren’t, this article will tell you everything you need to know about it, so make sure to keep reading until the end!
InDesign’s history
First and before digging into InDesign’s uses, a bit of history is important to know about.
Let us go back to the first version ever released of Adobe InDesign. This one goes back to 1999, more precisely on August 31st. But developing the software started way before then, and was made by a company called Aldus, specialized in creating desktop publishing software. It was only in 1994 that Adobe decided to purchase Aldus as they were losing significant market share, especially their most popular software back then, which is PageMaker. They eventually took over PageMaker and many other software apps to release their new versions of them. As you might have guessed, InDesign came to replace PageMaker and came back ready to fight hard in the professional desktop publishing market.
To upscale their game, Adobe decided to bundle InDesign with Photoshop and Illustrator, as people were already using them frequently, which helped a lot in promoting it.
What does Adobe InDesign do?
Adobe InDesign mainly provides you with all the necessary tools to create visual layouts for your digital content and create pages that can be either published or printed. The main perk of using InDesign is its easy and simple interface that offers multiple tools to manipulate your layout perfectly.
InDesign CS vs. InDesign CC: what is the difference?
InDesign was previously available as a part of the Creative Suite, which is why the previous versions were referred to by CS (Creative Suite).
The recent versions go by the name of InDesign CC, which means that it is available as a part of the Creative Cloud. This one is a bunch of applications dedicated to design, marketing, and more, and it knows more updates. The last version so far is InDesign CC 2020, updated in June of the same year.
However, the main difference between the two is that InDesign CS used to be purchased one time for all, as they had a perpetual license allowing the user to benefit from the features forever by paying a one-time fee. On the other hand, InDesign CC requires its users to pay monthly or annually to use the software.
Which InDesign version is better?
Since InDesign CC gets more updates, we can say that they are the best versions of it. Adobe no longer supports the versions that are part of the Creative Suite, so they do not get any bug fixes or adaptations to new operating systems.
Why use Adobe InDesign?
The advantages of Adobe InDesign are countless! First, we have its user-friendly interface that you can learn in no time, offering everything you need to be creative and design professional layouts easily. The tools vary from drawing, modification, and navigation, and you can get used to them quickly. If you already use Photoshop or Illustrator, it will be a piece of cake, as they have unified design elements. You can also easily control all the added elements such as images or text, unlike other software such as Microsoft Word, which gets pretty messy once you add too many elements.
The most common uses of Adobe InDesign are making digital documents and printing them, such as brochures, flyers, magazines, newsletters, books, and so on.
This is why InDesign is mostly used by graphic designers, as it is an efficient tool to create digital content, using different designed layouts that they personalize using their own text and graphics. It can also be used by professionals in both communication and marketing to create online content and promote it.
How much does InDesign cost?
As we said earlier, Adobe InDesign CC requires a monthly or a yearly subscription. The software offers numerous subscription plans depending on the features. The cheapest one costs $19.99 monthly for individual use, but only if you subscribe for a whole year. This price is also available for students and teachers once they send proof of their belonging to an eligible educational institution. If you decide to subscribe only for a month, it will cost you $29.99.
InDesign also offers a subscription for professionals where they get to take advantage of other Adobe apps (more than 20 apps), and this one costs $49.99 per month for a yearly subscription and $74.99 for one month.
Should you download a pirate version?
The answer depends on how much risk you are willing to take. Downloading a pirate version can crash your system, get your personal information stolen, or make you lose all your work data in the blink of an eye. Not to mention that your bank accounts are also at risk!
Pirate versions might be tempting to download since they are free (duh!), but you are putting your safety at stake, and it is not worth it. Not to mention that the pirate versions will always be missing the last updates and are full of bugs.
We are not even going to mention the fact that it is illegal and violating Adobe’s policy; if you do not care about it, just care for yourself and protect your data!
InDesign: Mac vs. Windows
Whether you are using InDesign on Mac OS or Windows, the features are pretty much the same, and InDesign’s performance will be optimal on both.
If you are a professional, you will indeed notice a small difference concerning the scripting languages. Mac uses AppleScript, while Windows uses Visual Basic Scripting (VBScript).
The other difference you will notice is the difference in the key commands, but you will eventually get used to them if you switch from one to another.
Can you teach yourself InDesign?
You can do anything you set your heart to! This might sound cliché, but it is true, in this case too. And thanks to the many tutorials you can find online, this task will be easier than you think. In the beginning, it will require some time and patience to get used to the interface, especially if you do not have any previous experience, but it is worth the effort!
If you are not into tutorials, you can still learn from scratch; open an InDesign template and explore the different tools. Not only will you have so much fun, but it is also a quicker way to memorize them.
But not all of us have the same learning manners. If none of these ways are tempting, consider reading about the software (as you are doing already!) You will find many blogs about InDesign with specific details about the tools.
And to take your designs to a whole new level, you can consider taking an InDesign online course.
We hope you have found the information we provided helpful, and enjoyed reading our article. Feel free to ask any questions you would like us to answer.