Photoshop vs Illustrator vs Indesign - When to use each one

Today, I'll show you when to
use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator

or InDesign.

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Now, most people are pretty
familiar with Photoshop

and what it can do.

People that use Illustrator,
however, are far rarer.

Even rarer so, are
those that use InDesign.

In this video, I'm going to go
through an overview of each one.

So you know which one to
use for which application.

Let's begin.

Alrighty, let's get started.

And in the most common
program out of the 3

and that is Photoshop.

So I've pasted in a standard
Chuck Norris picture

off the internet, and
I'm going to show you

how the image is made up.

Photoshop is what we
call raster-based,

which is a fancy word for saying
that it's based on pixels.

If you weren't aware,
zooming in will show you

exactly what this means.

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Pixel images are made up of
a grid of different squares,

and each one of
those has a color.

As you zoom out, they
start to blend together

and that's how the
image is created.

Photoshop is number
one for image editing.

Photoshop is perfect
for taking an image

off your phone, your
camera, or even the internet

and touching it up.

In this example here,
I'm going to play

with the black and white
balance by changing the curves.

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One of the real strengths of
Photoshop is using the layers.

You can see here I have
David Hasselhoff and Chuck

Norris on two
separate layers, so I

can move them around
independently of each other.

By using the Transform
tool, it's very easy

to resize, move, skew,
and add perspective

to different objects.

This is what makes Photoshop so
popular for those funny image

edits, where people swap
the head from one thing

onto another.

Before we had Instagram filters,
we had Photoshop filters

and there are
heaps of them here.

There's a huge range
of effects that you

can achieve with these filters.

Here's an example of one.

This is Liquify.

Liquify enables you
to morph an image

around using very little skill.

The presets are very
powerful and not

much time, having
never done it before,

you can get something
that looks pretty crazy.

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Another really prominent
use for Photoshop

is retouching fashion images,
whether it's needed or not.

So in this example, I'm
going to use the Clone tool.

So basically, I can hold down
the Alt key and set my target.

And then when I
come back and paint,

I will transfer that piece
of texture into its place.

So this is commonly used
to get rid of imperfections

and little marks and
things like that.

And it adds to the
effect that people

describe as being airbrushed.

So we've established that
Photoshop is the number one

program for editing
images, especially when it

comes to print and web.

So why do we need Illustrator?

Well, let's revisit that concept
of Photoshop being pixel-based.

Here I've got a simple
pattern where I've

drawn a rectangle and a circle.

Photoshop stores
this information

by recording the color of
every single pixel on the grid.

When we zoom in, we'll
see the problem with this.

We can see here
that our circle is

beginning to become pixelated.

The way to get around this
is to draw all of our shapes

in an enormous resolution.

So that way we have to
zoom in for some time

before it starts to pixelate.

This, however, makes a
really big file sizes,

which isn't quite ideal.

If we switch to Illustrator and
have the same type of pattern,

we can see the difference
between raster and vector

graphics.

Every time I zoom in here,
it simply redraws it,

and you can see that
we never lose quality.

If I hover the mouse
over, I can see

that the vector is highlighted.

Whereas Photoshop
stores the final image

in a series of pixels
on a grid, Illustrator

stores the instructions
to create the image.

In this example, it
will keep instructions

to know that there's a rectangle
here and a circle here,

as well as the proportion and
relative positioning of each.

Every time we zoom
in or out, it simply

follows those instructions
to redraw it on the screen

and create it perfectly.

For this reason, Illustrator
is perfect for doing things

like logos.

If we visit our teaching
tech logo here and zoom in,

we can see that all of the
little shapes that make it up

are made out of vectors.

The advantage here is
that I can blow this up

to the size of a building,
and it never lose quality.

I can also shrink it down
really small for something

like a business card, and
it'll look great there too.

I face it in a
picture of the Hof

to show that
Illustrator, in fact, can

handle raster graphics.

It doesn't automatically convert
them to vectors, however,

so if you Zoom in, it still
will become pixelated.

Illustrator is particularly good
for quickly moving and placing

different elements to
create things like posters.

It's important to
note that Illustrator

does have a range of
raster-editing capabilities,

but it's not really anything
compared to Photoshop.

In fact, it calls it
the Photoshop effects,

but it's still vastly
cut down from what

you'll find in Photoshop.

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Despite being vector-based,
the fills in Illustrator

are quite powerful.

Here we have two examples
of different fills.

The one on the left is
a straight gradient.

You can bring up your gradient
panel, select your object

and then change a
range of parameters

to do with the gradient.

You can also change from
linear to radial and include

extra colors if you wish.

This example on the right
isn't as well known.

This one uses the mesh tool.

You can see when
I hover over, it's

divided the shape up
into a bunch of segments.

If I come up with
the White cursor tool

and click on one
of the segments,

I can set the color
for that segment

and it will try and blend it
into the other ones around it.

Here's an example of a poster
made as an instruction sheet

using Illustrator.

All of the individual
shapes are vectors,

and gradients have
been applied to make

different parts stand out.

In this program, it's extremely
easy to move things around

and to place them.

Here's another example of
some more advanced editing

in Illustrator.

Zooming in might make you think
that this is something that's

been done in Photoshop,
but hovering the mouse over

reveals that everything
is, in fact, vectors.

This section on the front here
we can see is a gradient mesh.

And we've also used some of the
filters from the dropdown menus

to get the drop shadow
and the texture.

Because this is in Illustrator,
every time we zoom in or out,

it's redrawn and it
should never pixelate.

Because Illustrator
is vector-based,

it's also good for making
files for laser cutting.

You can see here the pieces
for my heart puzzle from

my Valentine's Day
3D printing special.

Each one of them is
made up of vectors,

and this is the type
of path that the laser

cutter needs to follow to be
able to cut something out.

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So we've established
that Photoshop

is great for single images.

Illustrator is good for logos
and single page layouts.

And that brings us
to Adobe InDesign.

InDesign is what you
switch to when you've got

to create a lot of something.

Here, I've set up
an example page

to show you some of the
ways that InDesign can work.

Here's some features that
might be of interest.

If you come to
either of the rulers

and click and drag
across, when you let go,

it'll leave a guideline.

Now when you're
moving things around,

you can easily snap
to that guideline.

The text boxes are a little bit
different to other programs.

You can see that
we can resize them

and there was some
text hidden underneath.

You'll notice there's
a red plus here,

which is telling us this
text that's not fitting.

When we hit the
plus, it'll prompt

us to drag another text
box, and then the text

will continue in that.

If I resize the
original one, the text

will flow between
them as it needs to.

Now, images in InDesign are a
little bit different as well.

When we click on them,
we have two functions.

Generally, resizing
will resize the box

and effectively crop the image.

If you double-click, now you
can resize the actual image,

but that doesn't resize the box.

If you click on an image and
hold down Shift and Control,

now you're resizing the bounding
box as well as the image

in the same go.

If we examine the
components of our design,

we can see that InDesign
supports both raster and vector

graphics.

Zooming in on my
Chuck Norris image

shows me that it is,
in fact, still pixels.

If I come over to my
logo and zoom right in

can see that the
vectors that make it up

are still traced
around the outside.

Despite this crest being
a vector from Illustrator,

you'll notice that the quality
doesn't look that great.

That's because
InDesign, where it can,

keeps a reference
to the original file

and then displays a preview
quality version only.

That means if I update
this design in Illustrator,

it will instantly
update in InDesign,

saving me a lot of time.

If I come up to view
overprint preview,

it'll transform to the highest
quality possible to show you how

it's actually going to print.

Like we touched on earlier,
the real beauty of InDesign

is when you need to do a
lot of something because

of its templating system.

You'll notice under
my Pages panel

that I have my master
up the top, and then

my actual pages down below.

Let's make a copy of my logo
and set it up as a watermark.

I'm going to double
click on a master

and it turns black up here,
and the pages look blank.

I'm going to paste in my logo.

I'm going to resize
it and move it up

to the top left-hand corner.

I'm going to make a copy and put
it in the top right hand corner.

Now, you would never
actually place this

without white space here,
but as an example, for now

it'll do the job.

Let's double click to
come back to our page.

You'll notice that it's been
applied because as this page is

labeled with A which corresponds
to the A master at the top.

As I add in New
pages, you'll see

that each one automatically
Bears the image

that we set up in our master.

If I want to come back
to my master at any time

and edit the way
this is positioned.

When I come back to the
page, it'll instantly

be updated there as well.

We also have some
really good templating

for our paragraph text.

If I come to this
text box here and then

make sure I have
paragraph styles open,

I can add a new one from
the button down below.

If I double click on it, the
control box will come up.

What I'm going to do is rename
this one with whatever I feel.

In this case, I'm going
to call it heading 1.

Now, when I'm
editing other text,

all I need to do to apply
this formatting here

is to click on heading 1.

In a complicated
document, you're

going to end up with probably
five or six different paragraph

styles.

This means you can write and
edit your text in a program

with spell check, and
then when you paste it in,

it's very quick to
come back and click

single time to set the type
of style that you want.

Just like with
the master layout,

paragraph styles can
be edited very quickly

by double clicking them, and
then changing whatever we want.

As soon as I hit OK,
everything in the document

will come through and update.

I can see this one here
has turned accidentally

to the heading 1.

So all I need to do is
put my cursor somewhere

in the paragraph, and then do
a single click to revert it.

Let's do a little recap.

Photoshop, excellent
for image editing

that includes the
images off your camera,

and as well as graphic
designs and single pictures

that you're making for a
variety of applications.

Illustrator, excellent for
logos, and in some cases,

single page graphic
design layouts.

And finally InDesign,
which is set

for making long documents where
you can use the templating

to make sure everything
stays consistent.

Well, that wraps it up.

I hope you found this overview
and comparison very informative.

Thanks for watching, and
I'll see you next time.

Good day, it's Michael again.

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