With new projects I usually like to take some aspect of it and utilize a new resource, tool or strategy to implement it. This ensures that I’m able to get the job done and thoroughly review new items/ideas to see if I can integrate them into my usual practices. I recently started on a flyer and thought that I might use Apple’s Pages from it’s iWork ‘06 series. Luckily, a free trial comes with iLife ‘06 (which I just upgraded to) and so I decided to give it a spin. My short review: I don’t pull my hair out nearly as much with pages as I do with Word. And that’s saying a lot. There are plenty of times when Word is simply overkill for doing layout based writing vs content based writing and usually to the detriment (or hair) of the author. I’m not well versed in Quark or InDesign (yet) but I don’t necessarily need those for what I’m trying to achieve, which in this case is a simple flyer.
The templates presented to you on launch are rather nice and elegant but certainly didn’t fit my needs. I could see where they might fit nicely into a number of user categories and fill the needs of mosts but I wanted more control. Undaunted, I started with a blank template (gasp!). I guess the more difficult aspect of this was simply my not knowing how I wanted the flyer to really come out. I was an empty glass ready to be filled. Luckily, Pages is pretty easy to navigate and the controls to do things that you easily want to perform often (font changes, line-height and spacing, shapes, etc.) are readily available and there isn’t the endless insanity of menus and toolbars to rove through. I had no problem navigating any adjustments to my document. Granted, my document ends up being rather tame for a Pages doc but this is my first time out of the gate.
Now, the other aspect of this is the flyer itself. After a long day it’s terribly difficult to find the right words to express your marketing message in a clear and concise (and exciting!) manner. Even for the English degree (yours truly) it can be difficult. So the copy is still in flux but I’m ok with the design (though maybe more vibrant colors would be useful). I really wanted the logo to stand out in the flyer and I didn’t want to put in any stock photos (I’m anti-stock photo unless the marketing message is very clear) in there either. Check it out. Odds are this will change anyway as we start gravitating towards specific market segments. Time will tell.