‘Designing in microsoft publisher? Read this blog post to find out why you shouldn’t

MS publisher is not a professional design tool

We can’t express this strongly enough, don’t design anything you want to look good in MS publisher.

We get lots of calls from new clients asking for a print quote, saying they are able to provide a print-ready file.

Further down the line, when we’re ready to jump to action and they’ve left it until the last minute to send their artwork, we hear the dreaded words “My artwork is in MS Publisher, is that ok?” (You’re probably thinking that designers are just being precious (anal) about their expensive Adobe software, run on their swanky Mac computers, but we genuinely care about the quality of your artwork and how it will reproduce when it is printed using a commercial printing press)

If you fall into this category, please bear in mind the following:

1. Our first tip for those designing in Microsoft Publisher is – don’t.
   We can’t edit your files, we can’t fix any of the problems that might be associated with it and invariably our graphic design team end up starting from scratch to re-create artwork in a format we can work with.
2. We have never seen an example of good design from a client that sent us artwork in Microsoft Publisher.
   Ever. If you’re using Publisher, you are probably not a graphic designer. Ask a professional.
3. Graphic design costs money.
   It needn’t break the bank, but please allow for design costs in your budget. This way, you’ll avoid the frustration of reaching the end of your project, sending your Publisher file to your printer to find that they can’t use it and you’ll incur additional costs. This makes you feel cheated, and your printer feel bad.
4. If you’ve left your printing until the last minute, you’re in good company.
   Lots of people do, and that’s fine – turning things around quickly from good artwork is no problem. If you’ve left it until the last minute and you’ve got a Publisher file, you’re just adding to your own pressure. Your deadline is looming and now you don’t have any artwork. That’s really what designing in Publisher means – you don’t have any artwork. Someone’s is going to need to take your files and re-create them, which takes time and costs money.
5. If you’re working in Publisher I’m willing to bet that you’ve committed one of the following sins: created a file in RGB, used images from the internet, used low resolution images, used weird fonts, not embedded the fonts, used clipart images, used low resolution logos, run text right at the edge of the document, not included bleed, set the document up at the wrong size or not included crop marks. If you’ve done any of these things there are two possible results:
   i. Your file can’t be printed as it is. Someone will need to fix it. Fixing it in Publisher is going to be difficult, so someone will probably need to re-create this for you. Make sure you allow some money for this.
   ii. Your file can be printed, but the results cannot be guaranteed. Worst case? Your file gets printed and it looks awful. The money you saved by doing your own graphic design is probably not enough to cover the cost of re-printing (and by now you’ve missed your deadline / trade show / exhibition anyway).

For those of you that are still intent on supplying your own graphic design and you want to work in Publisher please refer to this guide.

1. print it out
2. keep it next to your pc
3. refer to it often
4. hopefully it will help keep you on the right path… Best of luck!