Microsoft Office®

Microsoft Office is currently considered the standard. It includes word processing, presentations, graphics, layout, spreadsheet, email and many other types of programs. Also the file types used by Microsoft Office are universal and are accepted by most similar programs. We use Microsoft office for the Excel program which creates spreadsheets. The mail lists that you would be using for you personal printing mailer would come in a spreadsheet generally and if you plan on personalizing a mailer, you will probably want to make adjustments to the list to work around your individual needs. Click here to get Microsoft Office.

Openoffice®

Openoffice is an open source office program. It is completely free for download and is a good alternative to Microsoft Office but doesn't have the same abilities. Openoffice is what I will be using in the mailing list section. Openoffice can open all the same file types as Microsoft Office and do many of the same things.
Click here to get Openoffice.

For more information on how to setup or edit your mailing list.

Indesign

Indesign has taken the lead in layout programs both because of it's ease of use and also because of its compatibility with the other Adobe design programs that have already become the standard in their fields. Indesign is incredibly user friendly and is specifically designed for print layout and can also create vector graphics. It can be downloaded in a suite with other Adobe design programs so that all aspects of design are covered such as vector illustration, and image editing.

Alternatives to Indesign

There are alternatives to Indesign for variable data. Some other popular layout software includes Quark Xpress and Microsoft Publisher. Quark Xpress, like Adobe Indesign, is a very powerful layout tool and shares similar functionality. Most design software have free trials, download and try different programs to find software that feels comfortable.

Creating Your Document

If you would like more information on creating your Indesign Document or inserting the variable data into the document please visit our section on Variable Data document creation for printing.

Photoshop

Chances are you will need to do some work on images while designing the personalized printing document. Adobe Photoshop is an incredibly powerful tool for image editing. Photoshop can come as part of the Adobe Creative Suite, which includes Indesign as well. It is also compatible with Indesign and very user friendly. This is the software used by the Marsid M&M design team.

Alternatives to Photoshop

There are many image editing programs out there. Photoshop may be the most popular, but there are plenty of alternatives. One alternative is Corel. Corel has quite a few image editing programs that can be used to create quality artwork for your project. Corel-Paint is the image editing program that is included in the CorelDraw design suite. Corel programs also have a lot of the similar functionality as Photoshop. For minor editing, a free program such as Irfanview may also be sufficient.

Proper Image Formatting

The two most important things to remember when creating an image insert in your personalized printing document is to make sure it is the right size and is in the right color format. The image should be the size you want with a resolution of 300 dpi, learn more about image resolution. The images should also be in CMYK color format or in spot color if PMS colors are used. We also provide design services for proper image formatting.