Let’s begin by stating that these two programs are meant for different reasons and work somewhat differently from one another. They’re more like apples and oranges and is also similar to comparing a woodworking shop which has a screwdriver and a few other essential tools like a wrench. Adobe’s InDesign is where you put anything you built in Illustrator in addition to text and other things. It’s your go-to software for such tasks.
Both of these applications have distinct purposes same as the abundance of apps in the Adobe Creative Suite, though there are several additions in some of its tools and features. The moment you get familiar with them, then you can apply what you have learned regarding these tools when you switch to other programs.
Advantage of using Indesign over Illustrator
Illustrator utilizes various tools (with a few similarities) to produce vector images like fonts, illustrations, and logos. It’s an application used to enlarge images as much as you want with no change in its quality as it is not raster based.
On the other hand, InDesign enables designers to layout and design documents such as books, ads, stationery, catalogs, brochures, and more. It has many plugins and tools to let you set very, very distinct font styles, arrangements, and spacing preferences to streamline and control several steps and decisions included in the design process.
WHICH SOFTWARE DO YOU THINK IS BEST: ILLUSTRATOR OR INDESIGN?
Adobe InDesign
Once InDesign projects are complete, its native files will have to be converted to be printed, shared, or exported for web use. Because there are so many components, the data gets “Packaged” so that images, photos, fonts, etc. are all coordinated and included. A designer mainly keeps that packaged InDesign folder and issues a pdf generated to suit the destination.
InDesign is software you use to put everything all together. In simple terms, you make your vector images in Illustrator and then your page layout in InDesign by using its elements. In the technical aspect of things, you could also utilize any of them to execute a few of the things that other applications can do but limitedly. You could employ InDesign to create vectors, but you’ll have better control over them in Illustrator. You could also add a few raster effects to vectors in Illustrator, but you only have limited options to carry on.
Adobe Illustrator
Moreover, you cannot create master pages in Illustrator. The text wrapping feature in it is not near as powerful as the one InDesign has. Nevertheless, Illustrator’s drawing tools are way better compared to InDesign. Both of them are designed to work together for sharing files. Like when combining a blown-up image in InDesign or importing a vector logo from Illustrator to a brochure you are working on in InDesign. It entirely depends on a user’s workflow.
Although it’s possible to do stuff intended for InDesign or Illustrator and vice versa like formatting a whole paragraph or walls of text, it would be more challenging because of formatting limitations.
All in all, and to put it more straightforward, Adobe Illustrator is best used for creating vector images such as logos while Adobe InDesign is the perfect option for anything that has multiple page layouts.
Go and use the right tool for the right job. Yes, it is possible to efficiently use a wrench to punch a nail in a wall, but why not use a hammer instead as that’s what it is intended for, you’ll surely save more time and effort by doing so.
We hope this helps. All the best and happy learning!
