Pfeiffer. Adobe InDesign CS2: Market Perspectives, Productivity and Return on Investment. Consulting

Transcription

1 Pfeiffer Consuling Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

2 Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen Conens Inroducion Evoluions of he Page Layou Marke Design and Publishing: Marke Perspecives Naive File Formas and he Reurn of he High-Resoluion Workflow Adobe InDesign CS2: Redefining Produciviy InDesign CS2: Poenial of he Modern Page Layou Environmen Produciviy Measures of he Modern Publishing Workflow Adobe InDesign CS2: Reurn on Invesmen and Migraion Sraegies Reurn on Invesmen wih Adobe InDesign CS Migraion o InDesign: Key Conceps and Recommendaions Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 2 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

3 Inroducion Abou his Repor This repor presens he research findings of an exensive research projec conduced by Pfeiffer Consuling for Adobe Sysems, Inc. The aim of he research projec was hreefold: o assess he marke siuaion of design and publishing ools on an inernaional level, o measure he impac of recenly released ools such as Adobe Creaive Suie 2 and Adobe InDesign CS2 on he produciviy of he creaive workflow, and o presen reurn on invesmen projecions and recommendaions based on he daa colleced during he research. Abou he Research The research projec was composed of hree disinc research srands: an inernaional, qualiaive marke research sudy colleced daa from 7 differen counries; produciviy measures, based on he Pfeiffer Consuling Mehodology for Produciviy Benchmarking, compared workflow produciviy based on he Adobe Creaive Suie 2 wih radiional workflows; finally, echnology analysis compared he laes generaion of he Adobe Creaive Suie o radiional workflows as well as he previous release of he Creaive Suie. For deails on he mehodology used for he research and he produciviy benchmarks, please refer o he Mehodology sidebar on he following page. In addiion o he research conduced specifically for his projec, his repor also draws upon several independen sudies and research projecs conduced by Pfeiffer Consuling, such as he Creaive Markes Research Projec. For more informaion on Pfeiffer Consuling s repors and research, please visi Srucure of his Repor This repor is srucured in 3 secions: Evoluions of he Page Layou Marke (page 5) presens he rends and evoluions of he design and publishing marke; InDesign CS2: Redefining Produciviy (page 11) analyzes echnology and feaures of he laes generaion of page layou sofware and presens Major Poins This repor presens daa from an inernaional research projec conduced by Pfeiffer Consuling in he Spring of The projec combined inernaional marke research, produciviy benchmarks and echnology analysis. The repor presens marke daa, produciviy measures based on real-world assignmens and research-based reurn of invesmen projecions. Abou Pfeiffer Consuling Pfeiffer Consuling is an independen echnology research insiue and consuling operaion focused on he needs of publishing, digial conen producion, and new media professionals. Download he full Adobe InDesign CS2 Produciviy Benchmark Repor a Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

4 Mehodology This repor is based on inernaional marke research, echnology analysis and marke specific produciviy benchmarks conduced by Pfeiffer Consuling for Adobe Sysems Incorporaed. I also includes elemens from independen research and echnology analysis projecs conduced by Pfeiffer Consuling. Marke Research Mehodology Naure of research: The research consised of qualiaive research inerviews wih IT decision makers and users in adverising agencies and publishing houses in he Unied Saes and Europe. The research included companies working wih QuarkXPress-based workflows, as well as companies ha have already moved o InDesign. Geographic reach: The research was conduced wih respondens from he USA, Briain, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Holland and Belgium. A oal of 65 companies paricipaed in he projec. The majoriy of inerviews was conduced on-sie. Produciviy Measures In parallel o he marke research projec, Pfeiffer Consuling conduced exensive, marke specific produciviy benchmarks. Naure of benchmarks: Experienced professionals performed segmen-specific design assignmens, defined in clearly repeaable seps and execued in a closely moniored way. The benchmarks covered a variey of workflow-relaed produciviy measures as well as marke-specific design and publishing assignmens Addiional benchmarks measured he impac of InDesign-specific funcionaliy on overall produciviy in publishing workflows. To insure real-world resuls, no scriping was used for any benchmarks. All saemens in his repor are facual and can be independenly verified. For in-deph discussion of he benchmark mehodology, sysem configuraions as well as comprehensive benchmark descripion and resuls, please download he complee Adobe InDesign CS2 Produciviy Benchmark Repor a hp:// key figures of he produciviy benchmarks conduced for his projec; InDesign CS2: Reurn on Invesmen and Migraion Sraegies (page 18) presens core analysis and recommendaions concerning reurn on invesmen (ROI), and provides ROI projecions based on he produciviy benchmarks and marke research daa from his research projec. Abou Pfeiffer Consuling Pfeiffer Consuling is a Paris-based, inernaional research and consuling operaion specializing in echnology and media. Pfeiffer Consuling s mission is o provide unique high-level, inernaional marke inelligence and sraegic consuling for boh conen and echnology providers. Pfeiffer Consuling is he publisher he Pfeiffer Repor on Emerging Trends and Technologies, an online resource on rends in he echnology and conen indusry, as well as numerous specialized sudies and repors. For more informaion on Pfeiffer Consuling s repors and services, please visi: hp://pfeifferconsuling.com This repor was creaed by Pfeiffer Consuling (hp:// All exs and illusraions Pfeiffer Consuling Chars: Fischer Design. Research Assisance: Raphael Pfeiffer. Reproducion prohibied wihou previous wrien approval. For furher informaion, please conac research@pfeifferrepor.com. The daa presened in his repor are evaluaions and generic simulaions and are communicaed for informaional purposes only. The informaion is no inended o provide, nor can i replace specific produciviy research and calculaions of exising companies or workflow siuaions. Pfeiffer Consuling declines any responsibiliy for he use or course of acion underaken on he basis of any informaion, advice or recommendaion conained in his repor, and can no be held responsible for purchase, equipmen and invesmen or any oher decisions and underakings based on he daa provided in his repor or any associaed documen. Adobe, Acroba, GoLive, Illusraor, InCopy, InDesign, Phooshop, and Version Cue are eiher regisered rademarks or rademarks of Adobe Sysems Incorporaed in he Unied Saes and/or oher counries. Mac and Macinosh are rademarks of Apple Compuer, Inc., regisered in he Unied Saes and oher counries. OpenType and Windows are eiher regisered rademarks or rademarks of Microsof Corporaion in he Unied Saes and/or oher counries. All oher rademarks are he propery of heir respecive owners. Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

5 Evoluions of he Page Layou Marke Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 5 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

6 Design and Publishing: Marke Perspecives Major Poins A Wave of Change The publishing indusry is undergoing a wave of significan echnological changes, which redefines user requiremens for key sofware applicaions. Since is arrival in lae 1999, Adobe InDesign has garnered significan marke share of he page layou marke. Inegraion wih he Adobe Creaive Suie 2 is a key perceived echnology advanage of Adobe InDesign CS2. In he las five years, he design and publishing marke has changed radically. Take page layou sofware: In he nineies, he wesern professional publishing marke had almos compleely sandardized around QuarkXPress 3.x and 4.x, accompanied by Adobe Phooshop and Adobe Illusraor (and, in some counries, by Macromedia FreeHand). This well-enrenched basic workflow had no evolved significanly in years, and i did no look paricularly poised for change when Adobe InDesign arrived on he marke in lae Today, he publishing indusry is undergoing one of he mos significan waves of change in he hisory of deskop publishing: Adobe InDesign, now available in is fourh major release, has garnered serious racion in he page layou space worldwide; Adobe s Creaive Suie and he recenly released Creaive Suie 2 offer a new approach o sofware inegraion for he design and publishing marke; in erms of operaing sysems, Apple s Mac OS X has aken over from he aging Mac OS 9, and Windows XP has sared o make inroads ino professional design and publishing. Wha Is Slowing You Down? The Evoluion of Perceived Technology Needs Wha is slowing you down? Sofware Compaibiliy issues Training/Learning Hardware 4% 11% 17% 24% Sofware is much more frequenly cied as a slow-down facor in he creaive workflow han oher aspecs. This char is based on a survey of 120 creaive professionals in Europe, Asia, he Unied Saes and Lain America. (Source: Creaive Markes Research Projec, Pfeiffer Consuling, ) Org./Managmen 9% Nework 4% Cos 6% Oher 8% Nohing 18% Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 6 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

7 The Imporance of Applicaion Inegraion Perceived Advanages of InDesign CS2: Beer Inegraion wih Oher Adobe Sofware From 1 (no imporan) o 5 (essenial) % 0% 5% Inegraion wih oher Adobe applicaions is one of he key perceived benefis of he InDesign CS2: during he inernaional marke research conduced for his projec, 75 percen of he respondens raed applicaion inegraion as essenial. Only 3 percen raed i 3 or less in erms of perceived imporance. (Source: Adobe CS2 Research Projec, Pfeiffer Consuling, 2005) 4 18% 5 75% No reply 2% The End of a Monopoly While iniial response o InDesign was hesian, Adobe s page layou program has since managed o galvanize he marke, esablishing a new high ground in erms of publishing funcionaliy. 1 Transparency, drop shadows, OpenType suppor and igh inegraion wih naive file formas of oher Adobe sofware (mos noably Phooshop) have quickly become mus-have feaures for a modern page layou applicaion. The arrival of InDesign is no he only facor which has conribued o he increasing fragmenaion of he page layou marke. Five years ago, QuarkXPress was only used in wo differen releases, version 3.x, (iniially launched in 1990, and sill in producion wih some publishers, paricularly in Europe) and version 4.x, inroduced in Today, hree addiional releases (5.0, 6.0 and 6.5) are used in producion. Only QuarkXPress 6.x runs naively on Mac OS X; surprisingly, some major publishers have chosen o use QuarkXPress 4 running in Classic mode, raher han upgrading o QuarkXPress 6. This is for insance he case of Forune magazine, which uses QuarkXPress 4.x and QPS. (InDesign has suppored Mac OS X since version 2.0; he vas majoriy of he InDesign sies inerviewed for his research projec are using InDesign CS, and are planning o upgrade o InDesign CS2.) Where Is he Marke Going? Clearly, Adobe was facing an uphill bale when i launched InDesign. A brief glimpse a he hisory of compuing ells us ha echnical superioriy is by no means a guaranee for marke adopion; in he case of InDesign, he challenge was even more difficul: In compuing echnology, rying o gain marke share from an esablished marke leader is known o be exremely difficul. 1 See also Pfeiffer Consuling s independen echnology analysis InDesign CS vs. QuarkXPress 6.x (for more informaion, please visi Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

8 How Saisfied Are You wih he Move o InDesign? Please Rae Your Saisfacion wih he Move o InDesign From 1 (no a all) o 5 (compleely) % 0% Saisfacion raings for Adobe s page layou environmen are very srong: almos half he sies ha have moved o Adobe InDesign raed heir saisfacion a he highes possible mark, and anoher 48% raed i four ou of five. (Source: Adobe CS2 Research Projec, Pfeiffer Consuling, 2005) 3 6% 4 48% 5 48% Adopion of a new produc rarely progresses in a linear way across all markes segmens. In he case of InDesign, he use of he new produc was spearheaded by magazine publishers around he world: Already hree years ago, ACP, a major Ausralian magazine publisher, migraed over 40 publicaions, including weekly iles, in less han a year. In he Unied Kingdom, Conde Nas launched is firs InDesign ile Glamour using he 1.0 release of he produc. Inernaionally, mos major magazine publishers inerviewed for his projec have eiher already compleely moved o InDesign, or are in he process of doing so. This includes companies such as Hears in he Unied Saes, Gruner+Jahr in Germany, Conde Nas in he Unied Kingdom, Prisma Presse in France, among many ohers. Adverising agencies (such as DDB Worldwide, Ogilvy & Maher, TWBA or Inerpublic Group) have also shown significan endorsemen for InDesign. This rend has been increased by srong ineres in he Adobe Creaive Suie. The igh inegraion of InDesign wih he oher Adobe applicaions provides a srong perceived benefi of Adobe InDesign over he compeiion. High Degree of User Saisfacion While for an experienced QuarkXPress user, a change of sofware may seem dauning, user saisfacion of InDesign is very high: 48% of respondens in his research projec raed heir saisfacion a he highes possible level (5 ou of 5); anoher 48% raed i 4 ou of 5 (see char). Ineresingly, more han half of he companies who had moved o InDesign said hey found he process of migraion less difficul han expeced. While i is unlikely ha he page layou marke will ever be as unified around a single produc as in he pas, here can be no doub ha InDesign has become a srong player in he marke las no leas because of is igh inegraion wih he Creaive Suie. Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

9 Naive File Formas and he Reurn of he High-Resoluion Workflow Major Poins Sandard file formas such as TIFF and EPS were essenial for exchanging image daa from a variey of sources and vendors, bu are becoming less mandaory due o increasing suppor for naive file formas. Suppor for naive file ypes such as Phooshop files is highly valued by professionals and can yield significan produciviy gains. A growing number of publishers and agencies are moving from lowresoluion workflows o using highresoluion Phooshop files hroughou he creaive life cycle. The New Sandards When deskop publishing arrived on he marke, he developmen of sandard file formas for daa exchange was an essenial sep owards a unified, muli-vendor workflow: Jus as digial cameras oday use proprieary raw file formas as he firs level of daa encoding, professional scanners and imaging worksaions relied on non-sandard ways of soring images. In order o allow images o be used by sofware and hardware from a variey of vendors, file formas such as EPS (Encapsulaed PosScrip), TIFF (Tagged Image File Forma) and JPEG (shor for Join Phoographic Exper Group) emerged and were rapidly adoped by he indusry. Even oday, mos publishers rely on EPS and TIFF files for incorporaing graphic elemens ino designs and page layous. There are some disinc drawbacks o his mehod, however: Convering picures from heir naive file forma o he sandard ypes adds unnecessary operaions in he ime-sensiive design workflow; in addiion, sandard file ypes have a limied array of feaures and do no cover all he possibiliies of naive file formas. Phooshop files, for insance, can conain no only image and effec layers, bu also vecor elemens, ediable ex, or even Layer Comps (differen variaions of layer arrangemens ha are sored in he same Phooshop file). There is a clear rend owards use of naive file formas in he marke; Phooshop in paricular has become a sandard in is own righ. Adobe s imaging sofware is very widely used buy professionals around he world, and more and more sofware applicaions can open, wrie and oupu Phooshop files. The Reurn of he High-Resoluion Workflow In he early days of deskop publishing, limiaions in hardware and neworking performance on deskop compuers led o a hybrid way of dealing wih image daa: To alleviae he processing overhead, images used during page creaion are low resoluion versions of he images used for producion. These for-placemen-only or FPO images are hen swapped wih high resoluion, oupu ready files of he same image before oupu. (In many cases, his process is handled in an auomaed way by an OPI server.) Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 9 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

10 Popular Image File Formas and Suppored Opions JPEG EPS TIFF PDF Illusraor Phooshop Pixel Daa Color Deph 8 bi/channel 16 bi/channel 32 bi/channel Color Mode Bimap Grayscale Duoone RGB CMYK Vecor Daa Tex (ediable) Layers Image layers Effec layers Tex layers Adjusmen layers Layer Comps Smar Objecs This imaging workflow made a lo of sense a decade ago, when mos images were scanned ransparencies, and i is sill very widely used oday. This is abou o change, however, and he suppor for naive file formas is playing an imporan role in his reurn o he highresoluion workflow. A growing number of sies ha have swiched page producion o InDesign are also rehinking he way images are handled. Insead of consanly swiching beween images sored in Phooshop documens for creaive work, and TIFF or EPS files used for placemen, many companies now use naive Phooshop files direcly. This reduces he need for image processing during producion; working wih high-resoluion files hroughou he design process also allows greaer creaive freedom. I also assures ha he designer sees he acual image ha will be prined, and no jus a low-resoluion version insufficien o properly judge a design on screen. Pushing he Envelope The Adobe Creaive Suie 2 exends he suppor for naive file formas beyond simple impor and oupu of naive Phooshop and Illusraor files. InDesign CS2, for insance, allows he user o hide and show differen layers in a Phooshop documen. In addiion, he program allows access o Phooshop Layer Comps, specific arrangemens of several layers in a Phooshop file, which are ofen used o sore differen versions or composiion wihin he same documen. This means ha a designer can easily swich beween wo versions of he same image composiion, and does no have o move back and forh beween Phooshop and InDesign o change he layer arrangemen. Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 10 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

11 Adobe InDesign CS2: Redefining Produciviy Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 11 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

12 Adobe InDesign CS2: Mauraion of he Modern Page Layou Environmen Major Poins Evoluion of he Page Layou Feaure Se The page layou marke has enered a phase of echnological innovaion, leading o increased user expecaions in erms of baseline echnology and cuing-edge opions. Adobe InDesign CS2 has esablished a new echnological high ground in erms of publishing funcionaliy, applicaion inegraion and produciviy. Objec Syles, foonoes, and igh inegraion wih he Adobe Creaive Suie 2 are key innovaions InDesign CS2 brings o design-driven page layou. The evoluion of a echnology plaform is no a coninuous, uninerruped process, bu ends progress in alernaing phases of change and consolidaion. Afer almos a decade of quie, during which relaively lile happened in erms of funcional evoluion, page layou echnology is now undergoing a new phase of change. A lo of his has o do wih he arrival of Adobe InDesign, which no only increased compeiive pressure in he marke, bu also esablished a new plaform for plug-in developers. Change happens when i becomes reasonable o quesion an esablished way of working in order o increase produciviy and creaive poenial. Bu echnological evoluion no jus means exending high-profile feaures, bu also augmening he baseline level of he echnology plaform. And increasingly, his rend covers no only new creaive opions, bu exends o produciviy and workflow hroughpu: Some of he mos ineresing innovaions in InDesign CS2 are linked o efficiency gains as much as o creaive poenial. Exending he Feaure Se: Produciviy Gains of Objec Syles The Produciviy Impac of Objec Syles on Repeiive Formaing Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. Modify Objecs 14.3 InDesign CS2 InDesign CS QuarkXPress Objec Syles, which were inroduced wih Adobe InDesign CS2, allow muliple characerisics of design objecs o be sored and applied in a way similar o ex syle shees. Objec Syles can yield dramaic produciviy improvemens in workflows which rely on repeiive formaing: In he example used for his benchmark, color, ouline and ex inse were applied o 12 objecs on 4 pages using Objec Syles These produciviy gains increase wih he complexiy of he formaing Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 12 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

13 Exending he Feaure Se: Snippes and Apply Nex Syle The Produciviy Impac of Snippes Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. Apply Nex Syle in Repeiive Tex Formaing Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer InDesign CS2 + Snippes InDesign CS QuarkXPress InDesign CS2 InDesign CS Simple Example 20.1 QuarkXPress 6.5 Share Pars of a Page Layou Complee Aricle Adobe InDesign CS2 inroduces several new feaures ha can provide significan produciviy gains. Snippes can be used o sreamline collaboraive workflows by speeding up he process of sharing elemens on a page. (Char on he lef. See also he side-bar Snippes.) The Apply Nex Syle Funcionaliy can significanly accelerae repeiive ex formaing. The es conduced here measured he ime o apply syle shees o he differen ex elemens on a one page magazine aricle. (Char on he righ.) Wha Are Snippes? Snippes were inroduced wih Adobe InDesign CS2, as an easy way o share pars of a page beween documens or wihin a workgroup. Snippes are creaed by dragging pars of an InDesign page o a Bridge Window, or o he compuer deskop. To inroduce a Snippe ino a page, one can simply use he reverse procedure and drag i o an open page layou. Technically speaking, Snippes are selfconained, cross-plaform compaible XML files. In pracical erms, hey can provide significan produciviy benefis in collaboraive workflows. One essenial aspec of Snippes is ha hey memorize he exac posiion of an elemen on a page. One user can for insance drag an elemen o a shared folder, where i is picked up by a member of he eam and edied. Once he work is finished, he compleed elemen can be dragged ono he original page, where i will be placed auomaically in is original locaion. Exending he Baseline Level of Page Layou Technology While i can be challenging o redefine exising workflows ha have been operaing in an idenical fashion for years, i is clear ha users oday expec more from heir page layou sofware han five or en years ago. Muliple (and in InDesign s case, unlimied) Undo, for insance, oday can be considered a mus-have funcion. (Adobe s page layou program also adds crash-proecion, meaning ha in he case of a power cu or compuer crash, unsaved changes can be recovered; only very few design applicaions offer his feaure.) Tigh inegraion wih oher applicaions in he creaive workflow has also become a key requiremen: Adobe InDesign CS2 no only allows he impor of layered Phooshop files (including effecs and vecor layers) bu i also les users change layer visibiliy, and offers access o Phooshop Layer Comps. The imporance of inegraion lies no only in convenience, bu in he resuling produciviy increases. The produciviy benchmarks for his repor show ha even simple operaions such as placing images in a page layou can be significanly acceleraed hrough Inegraion wih Bridge, o cie jus one example. Adobe InDesign has had a significan impac on he level of creaive funcionaliy currenly expeced from a page layou applicaion: OpenType suppor, exper-level ypographic opions have become as imporan o creaive professionals as ransparency and drop shadows. While hese possibiliies migh have seemed slighly exoic o QuarkXPress users when Adobe s produc was firs released, hey are now widely cied as key componens of a modern, professional page layou environmen. Adobe InDesign CS2 also brings funcionaliy which has been cruelly missing from design-driven page layou programs, mos noably foonoes. Oher opions, such as Nesed Syles (inroduced by InDesign CS almos wo years ago) may be less widely known, bu Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 13 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

14 Key Produciviy Figures: PDF Suppor PDF Expor Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. Impor of Muli-page PDF Documen Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. Generae PDFX 1a 6.7 InDesign CS2 QuarkXPress Disiller InDesign CS2 InDesign CS QuarkXPress 6.5 Generae PDF Impor of Muli-page PDF Documen 68.0 Generae PDF 1.3 (QuarkXPress PDF Expor) PDF suppor has become essenial in many publishing workflows. InDesign has a clear performance advanage over QuarkXPress when i comes o generaing PDF files. The char on he lef shows he ime necessary o generae differen ypes of PDF files in boh programs, including buil-in suppor for PDF 1.3 in QuarkXPress The char on he righ compares he ime required o place a muli-page PDF file in a page layou documen. Adobe InDesign CS2 suppors simplified placemen of muli-page PDF documens, yielding significan produciviy gains over earlier versions of Adobe s page layou program as well as over QuarkXPress. should be par of baseline funcionaliy for any page layou applicaion, given heir impac on produciviy in repeiive ex formaing. Pushing he Envelope In creaive erms, some of he mos ground-breaking possibiliies InDesign has pioneered have been available since he firs release of he program and have gone relaively unnoiced. This is he case of he Pase Inside funcionaliy, which allows an elemen (or group of any level of complexiy) o be pased inside ino a shape or compound pah. In pracical erms, his means ha i is possible o crop any graphic elemen, including ediable ex, very much in he same way a designer may crop an impored picure. This resuls in a dazzling array of new creaive possibiliies, overcoming one of he mos serious creaive limiaions of oher page layou programs. Objec Syles are among he mos useful addiions o he page layou process. Inroduced wih InDesign CS2, heir basic principle is quie similar o paragraph or characer syle shees: A complex se of objec-level formaing opions can be saved and subsequenly applied in a single operaion. Objec Syles can provide very significan produciviy gains (see char). Beyond pure page layou funcionaliy, he inegraion wih he res of he Adobe Creaive Suie 2 is one of he major aspecs of InDesign CS2. This goes well beyond he suppor of naive file formas: Bridge (see sidebar) is bound o become key addiion for managing files in he creaive workflow; Version Cue CS2 is an addiional sep o provide easy o use version and file managemen wihou some of he limiaions of folder-based file organizaion. Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 14 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

15 Produciviy Measures of he Modern Publishing Workflow Major Poins An opimized user inerface is key for a producive workflow: Every sep in a procedure has an impac on overall produciviy. Adobe InDesign CS2 can yield significan produciviy gains over QuarkXPress-based workflows, provided users fully exploi he available poenial. Buil-in funcionaliy and igher inegraion wih Phooshop, Illusraor and he Adobe Creaive Suie 2 are key o produciviy gains in Adobe InDesign. Wha Makes Sofware Producive? In mos conemporary workflow siuaions, he processing power of a sysem has less impac on overall produciviy han seemingly secondary aspecs, such as program design and user inerface. In erms of efficiency, every sep couns, every mouse click and cursor movemen akes ime. Lile, impercepible gains add up: If here is one lesson o ake away from years of produciviy benchmarking, i is ha significan produciviy increases ofen depend on small opimizaions of frequenly repeaed operaions. In he case of page layou programs, one good example is he way images are impored in QuarkXPress and InDesign. QuarkXPress requires he user o creae a picure box before being able o impor a picure; InDesign can impor a picure direcly. This may seem like a small difference, ye when one acually measures he ime necessary o impor en or weny images, he overall difference in produciviy is far from negligible. (This difference in efficiency deepens when using Key Produciviy Figures: File Inegraion Phooshop Round-rip Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. High Resoluion Display Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. 50 MB InDesign CS2 QuarkXPress InDesign CS2 QuarkXPress MB 16.0 High-Res Preview MB File inegraion wih key graphics applicaions is essenial in mos design and publishing workflows. The char on he lef shows he ime necessary o execue a Phooshop round-rip from he page layou applicaion, including file modificaion, saving operaion and updaing of he page layou. High resoluion display of impored graphics is suppored by boh Adobe InDesign and QuarkXPress 6.x. InDesign CS2 has a clear performance edge in his operaion: QuarkXPress 6.5 ook almos 3 imes longer o display he same Illusraor graphic. Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 15 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

16 Key Produciviy Figures: Table Impor and Drag-and-drop Image Placemen Table Impor Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. Image Impor (Average of 10 Images) Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. 3.1 InDesign CS2 QuarkXPress InDesign CS2 InDesign CS QuarkXPress 6.5 Impor Formaed Table from Excel Average Time per Image Boh QuarkXPress 6.5 and Adobe InDesign CS2 suppor impor of formaed Excel spreadshees. Neverheless, QuarkXPress significanly lags behind InDesign for his operaion: I ook QuarkXPress almos 12 imes longer o impor a one-page Excel documen (char on he lef). Produciviy measures show ha he combined use of Bridge and Adobe InDesign CS2 can produce noiceable produciviy benefis. The char on he righ shows he average ime necessary o place an image, based on 10 repeiive image placemen operaions. drag-and-drop funcionaliy available in InDesign, bu lacking in he curren release of QuarkXPress.) Here is anoher example o demonsrae he impac of an opimized user inerface: Jus like mos word processors, QuarkXPress and InDesign suppor syle shees, and boh programs can include he Nex Syle in he definiion of a paragraph syle. As an example, yping a carriage reurn afer he syle Subile can auomaically creae a paragraph using he Tex syle. Adobe InDesign CS2 adds a useful wis o his process, by allowing he user o apply several syles in succession. For example, insead of applying Headline, Subile, Drop Cap and Tex individually, he user can selec Apply Headline hen Nex Syle o forma he whole sequence in a single operaion. The produciviy gains of his opion for repeiive ex formaing are significan (see char). Opimizaions like hese are he basis of any maure sofware produc, and can make he difference beween and efficien or inefficien design workflow. I is up o sofware developers o coninually rehink and opimize heir producs o make hem more fluen. How Do InDesign CS2 and QuarkXPress 6.5 Compare? In early releases of InDesign, here was a difference in performance as well as in hardware requiremens beween Adobe s program and he insalled base of QuarkXPress 3.x and 4.x. This does no apply o recen versions, however. Boh InDesign CS2 and QuarkXPress 6.5 require a modern, well equipped compuer o run a comforable speeds, and boh perform basic ediing and page layou operaions a roughly he same speed. Performance differences persis in some areas, however: QuarkXPress ends o have an edge for imporing and auo-paginaing long exs, while Adobe InDesign CS2 is faser when imporing cerain image files, Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 16 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

17 Bridge Bridge is he newcomer of he Creaive Suie 2. Loosely based on he Phooshop file browser, Bridge acs as a cenral hub o he individual applicaions of he Creaive Suie. In essence, Bridge is a file browser environmen specifically creaed for he creaive workflow: Files can be viewed as humbnails, as slide shows, or as liss, and Bridge makes i easy o view and edi keywords and meadaa. Paricularly useful in a page layou environmen, he Bridge window can be used in Compac Mode, which allows i o floa on op of oher applicaions, and speeds up drag and drop image placemen. Bu Bridge aims beyond simple file managemen: The program also acs as fron end for Version Cue CS2 projecs; and Adobe Sock Phoos, included in Bridge, is a unified inerface and cenralized access poin for several sock phoo libraries, including ComSock, Digial Visions and PhooDisc. as well as formaed Excel spreadshees. High-resoluion display, and generaing PDF files is also faser using Adobe s program. QuarkXPress, on he oher hand has an edge for building web-pages. Funcionaliy and Inegraion In erms of overall workflow produciviy, Adobe InDesign CS2 clearly ouperforms QuarkXPress 6.5 in he benchmarks conduced for his projec. Some of hese produciviy gains can be direcly linked o frequenly required funcionaliy inegraed in Adobe s produc, bu no available in QuarkXPress. This is he case of ransparency and drop shadows, which arrived wih InDesign 2.0, bu also funcionaliy inroduced wih InDesign CS2, such as Objec Syles, among ohers. Inegraion wih he oher Adobe applicaions and wih Adobe Creaive Suie 2 componens such as Bridge can also yield considerable produciviy gains over oher workflows. As far as common, everyday design and layou operaions go, he wo programs offer similar fluidiy in he page layou process; Adobe InDesign CS2 neverheless reains an edge over QuarkXPress 6.5 due in par o significanly longer save operaions in Quark s program. To sum hings up, Adobe InDesign can be clearly more producive han QuarkXPress under one condiion: ha users are willing o fully exploi he feaures and possibiliies Adobe s page layou program provides. When moving from sofware applicaion o anoher, i is essenial no o perpeuae less efficien work procedures from he previous workflows. In he end, produciviy always depends on he user; he sofware is jus a ool which helps him o be more efficien. Assignmen-Based Produciviy Comparison Magazine Spread (Complee Assignmen) Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. Everyday Page Layou Operaions (Complee Assignmen) Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. 15 min 1 sec InDesign CS2 QuarkXPress min 10 sec InDesign CS2 QuarkXPress 6.5 Toal Toal 24 min 31 sec 4 min 51 sec The benchmarks conduced for his projec included several assignmenbased produciviy measures. The char on he lef shows he ime necessary o complee a magazine spread, including basic layou, ex formaing and image work. Buil-in funcionaliy such as drop shadows and ransparency conribue o he higher produciviy observed wih InDesign. The char on he righ shows he ime necessary o complee a rich se of everyday design operaions, performed on a 50 page, 3 column layou wih a single coninuous ex flow and muliple images per page. The difference in produciviy is linked o significanly faser save operaions in InDesign, as well as faser image placemen. Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 17 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

18 Adobe InDesign CS2: Reurn on Invesmen and Migraion Sraegies Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 18 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

19 Reurn on Invesmen wih Adobe InDesign CS2 Major Poins Marke-specific produciviy measures show a significan increase in produciviy wih Adobe InDesign CS2 over QuarkXPress-based workflows. Innovaive funcionaliy, beer inegraion wih Adobe Phooshop and Illusraor, and beer PDF suppor are key elemens of higher produciviy. The cumulaive impac of individual produciviy increases may provide an ROI of several housand dollars per worksaion over radiional workflows. Wha is Reurn on Invesmen? In many indusries, he answers are quie simple, bu ha s no he case in he design and publishing world. Defining ROI for publishers and designers is significanly more complex han simply weighing a financial invesmen agains revenues generaed. The complexiy sars wih defining he exac naure of he invesmen. In he case of moving o Adobe InDesign, some professionals see only he cos of he sofware licence. Ohers are concerned abou he cos of raining. Ohers ye consider i par of an upgrade o Mac OS X, or, in some cases, a move o Windows XP. Generally, he bigger he company, he more complex he siuaion becomes. In smaller design agencies, he main perceived cos is quie ofen he acquisiion of he sofware designers expec o pick up InDesign as hey go, wihou any need for specific raining. Larger agencies, on he oher hand, generally perceive he need for a corporae sraegy in adoping he new sofware. The Impac of Inegraed Funcionaliy on Produciviy Transparency Effec Creae Drop Shadow Place Image Files wih Bridge Apply Nex Syle Objec Syles 85.33% 85.71% 60.37% 73.53% 76.71% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Adobe InDesign CS2 Produciviy Gain Reference Value: QuarkXPress 6.5 Workflow This char shows produciviy gains of buil-in funcionaliy of Adobe InDesign CS2 over QuarkXPress 6.5 workflows, based on he produciviy benchmarks conduced for his research projec. The increase in produciviy is expressed as percenage, and uses he ime necessary o achieve a resul in a QuarkXPress 6.5 workflows as reference value. Share Pars of a Page wih Snippes 63.88% 100% Nesed Syles 80.98% 100% 0,00% 20,00% 40,00% 60,00% 80,00% 100,00% Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 19 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

20 Version Cue CS2: Produciviy Impac of Version Managemen Version Managemen Benchmark Time scale in seconds. Shorer is beer. Toal 5 min 9 sec Version Cue Local + Server Server Only 11 min 9 sec Version Cue CS2 is a simple workflow sysem which allows users o manage files, versions and alernaes wihou resoring o complex nesed folders (see also side-bar below). Version Cue CS2 can provide significan produciviy gains over manually managed files. The benchmark illusraed here compared he ime spen in file managemen operaions for a design projec creaed by a 3-person eam. 9 min 24 sec Similarly, wha consiues an appreciable reurn on invesmen is also very variable. For many design professionals, saving billable hours is no nearly as imporan as gaining or mainaining he creaive edge in a highly compeiive marke place. Savings Through Increased Produciviy The produciviy measures conduced for his research projec show real produciviy gains using Adobe s page layou sofware: All major es assignmens could be compleed wih InDesign CS2 significanly faser han wih QuarkXPress based workflows. Buil-in suppor for frequenly used design opions such as ransparency or drop shadows wihin he page layou program, as well as beer inegraion wih Phooshop and Illusraor, creae significan ime savings, and favor creaive experimenaion, making ar direcors less dependen on producion deparmens wihin he company. Advanages of a Sreamlined Workflow Reducing he number of seps necessary o achieve a desired resul is essenial o increasing produciviy. Bu saving ime is no he only benefi of a sreamlined workflow. For a designer or ar direcor, fewer seps o a resul means less disracion from his or her creaive ideas and more laiude o experimen. Equally imporan in a producion environmen, fewer seps reduces he risk of errors. This is paricularly rue for seps ha involve saving files in a differen forma or wih a differen name (and someimes in a differen direcory). Each one of hese operaions conains he poenial risk of an operaor misake ha can be hard o deec and may ake a long ime o correc. Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 20 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

21 Wha he Users Say Users and managers of InDesign-based workflows give Adobe s page layou environmen very high marks: In his research projec, 96% of he InDesign sies rae heir saisfacion 4 or 5 ou of a maximum of 5. The produciviy gains demonsraed by he benchmarks are confirmed by producion sies: almos all InDesign sies confirm produciviy gains ranging from 20 o 50 percen or more; he sies which did no perceive produciviy gains in erms of hroughpu neverheless sae ha users achieve more sophisicaed designs wihou spending addiional ime over he QuarkXPress-based workflow. Esablishing ROI Projecions Every company is differen. Every organizaion has is own way of evaluaing wha consiues a worhwhile invesmen, and wha should be aken ino accoun when evaluaing ROI. Generally, o be reliable, ROI figures need o be esablished for each specific siuaion. I is neverheless possible o esablish a grid for evaluaing he impac of produciviy gains on reurn on invesmens. Here are our saring poins: Beer inegraion wih Phooshop and Illusraor and he Adobe Creaive Suie 2 yields coninuous, quanifiable produciviy gains. Buil-in suppor for ransparency, nesed syle shees, objec syles and oher key feaures can yield significan produciviy gains. Inegraed funcionaliy allows designers and ar direcors o creae effecs such as ransparency, hus reducing he work load of he producion deparmen. Some real benefis of an InDesign based workflow, such as unlimied undo and crash proecion, are hard o quanify bu can significanly conribue o increase overall produciviy. Some Figures Now les ry o ranslae his ino dollars saved. If you are an independen designer charging $100 per hour, every minue you save is worh $1.60. This means ha each individual drop shadow under a headline or a graphic objec creaed direcly in InDesign (as opposed o using a combinaion of QuarkXPress and Phooshop) provides an ROI of $3.52. For a senior ar direcor in a major agency paid $400 per hour his could be up o $14. Le s ake a simple ransparency effec, which akes over 3 minues in a QuarkXPress based workflow, and can be achieved in under 28 seconds in InDesign CS2: A $100 per hour, he ROI would be $ 4.48, and up o $17 or more in he case of a senior designer. In many cases, significan reurn on invesmen will occur because of a sreamlined workflow. The produciviy measures show ha repeiive formaing hrough Objec Syles in InDesign CS2 saves almos 50 seconds for a small series of objecs. If a designer saves jus 6 minues a day his way for 20 workdays a monh, i means ha a he end of one monh, he Objec Syles opion alone has saved wo hours, or a leas $200 (calculaed a $100 per hour). If a producion deparmen relies on hese possibiliies inensely, savings can be impressive jus for his one feaure. Likewise, based on our produciviy benchmarks, exporing a single PDF file in InDesign can generae $0.56 a an hourly rae of $100. The main reurn on invesmen, however, will be in he cumulaive effec of he differen produciviy gains, which could easily amoun o housands of dollars per year as he able on he nex page shows. Tha hese produciviy gains are real is confirmed by many of he pariciaping sies ha have moved o InDesign. Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 21 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

22 Calculaing Reurn on Invesmen Scenarios (per Worksaion) Produciviy measures QuarkXPress 6.x (Time in seconds) Produciviy measures Adobe InDesign CS2 (Time in seconds) Time saved over QuarkXPressbased workflow (seconds) Prod. gain (%) ROI generaed (1 $100) ROI generaed (1 $200) ROI generaed (1 $300) ROI generaed (1 $400) Assignemen-based produciviy gains and savings Main magazine produciviy assignemen % $15.82 $31.63 $47.45 $63.26 Incremenal produciviy gains (Reurn on Invesmen generaed by individual operaion) Impor images % $0.28 $0.55 $0.83 $1.10 Phooshop round-rip 50Mb % $0.12 $0.25 $0.37 $0.49 Phooshop round-rip 100Mb % $0.21 $0.42 $0.64 $0.85 Phooshop round-rip 200Mb % $0.33 $0.65 $0.98 $1.30 Illusraor round-rip % $0.14 $0.28 $0.42 $0.56 High resoluion preview % $0.27 $0.54 $0.81 $1.08 Simple ransparency effec % $4.48 $8.95 $13.43 $17.90 Drop shadow % $3.52 $7.03 $10.55 $14.07 Forma rep. objecs (Objec Syles) % $1.31 $2.62 $3.93 $5.23 Forma rep. paragraphs (Nesed Syles) % $1.33 $2.65 $3.98 $5.30 Impor formaed able % $0.93 $1.86 $2.79 $3.72 Expor PDF % $0.29 $0.59 $0.88 $1.18 Expor PDF/X-1a % $0.56 $1.11 $1.67 $2.22 ROI projecions based on incremenal produciviy gains Time saved (seconds) Number of occurrences/week ROI generaed (1 $100) ROI generaed (1 $200) ROI generaed (1 $300) ROI generaed (1 $400) Impor images $27.50 $55.00 $82.50 $ Phooshop round-rip 50Mb $3.70 $7.40 $11.10 $14.80 Phooshop round-rip 100Mb $2.12 $4.23 $6.35 $8.47 Phooshop round-rip 200Mb $1.63 $3.25 $4.88 $6.50 Illusraor round-rip $2.78 $5.56 $8.33 $11.11 High resoluion preview $26.94 $53.89 $80.83 $ Simple ransparency effec $44.75 $89.50 $ $ Drop shadow $35.17 $70.33 $ $ Forma rep. objecs (Objec Syles) $13.08 $26.17 $39.25 $52.33 Forma rep. paragraphs (Nesed Syles) $13.25 $26.50 $39.75 $53.00 Impor formaed able $5.08 $10.17 $15.25 $20.33 Expor PDF $9.50 $19.00 $28.50 $38.00 Expor PDF/X-1a $14.83 $29.67 $44.50 $59.33 Toal ROI generaed/week $ $ $ $ Toal ROI generaed/monh $ $1, $2, $3, Toal ROI generaed/year $8, $17, $26, $35, ROI projecions based on assignmen-based prod. gains Time saved (seconds) Number of occurrences/week ROI generaed (1 ROI generaed (1 ROI generaed (1 ROI generaed (1 Main magazine produciviy assignmen $79.08 $ $ $ Toal ROI generaed/monh $ $ $ $1, Toal ROI generaed/year $3, $6, $10, $13, Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 22 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.

23 Migraion o InDesign: Key Conceps and Recommendaions Major Poins The quesion of changing sofware plaforms for publishing is far reaching and needs a considerable amoun of planning. Moivaions for such a move need o be clarified, and mid-erm goals mus be clearly defined. Prioriizing needs is a major sep. Solving he echnological problem of replacing one sofware soluion wih anoher is only he firs sep. Training is a major hurdle. In some cases, moivaing he eams which have o change heir ool is anoher imporan sep. Planning Migraion The arrival of Adobe InDesign in is paricular marke siuaion is unique: In he design and publishing indusry, as in mos compuer-relaed professional aciviies, nobody wishes o swap ools. Even upgrading o a more recen version of he sofware already in place is usually a complicaed and cosly affair. However, as our research has underscored, a considerable number of companies in he publishing marke, are already moving o InDesign, or are evaluaing a migraion o Adobe s produc. This move is no easy and requires a lo of quesions and research. Exploraion Phase: Technical Viabiliy The firs quesion o solve is echnical viabiliy. Pfeiffer Consuling recommends creaing a small eam of echnical expers wihin a publicaion o explore he InDesign adopion process. The ideal way is o sar wih a small publicaion or a supplemen, and o recreae he workflow in andem wih exising mehods. A common requiremen is o say a a level of produciviy comparable o he previous workflow, while implemening mehods which closely mimic he producion processes already in place. While his is a valid saring poin, i is imporan o realize ha his is probably no he bes way o achieve he opimal resuls wih InDesign. Some opions, ha are currenly unavailable in QuarkXPress, such as he Adobe Paragraph Composer can slow down he operaion of InDesign bu can provide increased produciviy if hey are used inelligenly. Oher feaures are relaively new o he page layou process and can make a producion eam more efficien if hey are implemened in a coheren way. A good example are layers, which can be acivaed, hidden and locked individually and can add a new level of srucuring o a producion process. Abou File Conversion InDesign opens exising QuarkXPress x documens, so i s emping o sar ou in InDesign using an exising documen. However, for a number of reasons, Pfeiffer Consuling does no recommend using Adobe InDesign CS2: Marke Perspecives, Produciviy and Reurn on Invesmen 23 Pfeiffer Consuling Reproducion prohibied wihou prior wrien permission.