Label design on a Mac

[Kary Karahadian]

I used to use MS Publisher on my pc for label design and printing, but have moved over to a Mac. Any recommendations on Mac software/app that works well for this purpose?

[Dan Miller]

I use a Mac, and do pretty much all of my graphic arts work in Illustrator/Photoshop. Photoshop Elements will do all you need and more, and can be had fairly inexpensively or even free (it is often free with various cameras and such these days).

[Pat Foster]

Myself, I've not been able to make effective use of Photoshop Elements for desktop publishing. It's made for photo editing, and works well for that for me, on a non-professional level.

You might have a look at Scribus. It's an open-source desktop publishing application, is free (though donations are encouraged) and available for Mac, Windows and Linux. Worth a look, I think.

Pat

[Chad Schmidt]

You may also want to check out Inkscape. It's a lot like Illustrator but it's open source. I've had good luck with it.

[Kary Karahadian]

thanks for the suggestions. ( I too found Elements to be great for photos but not for a ground up design. probably my lack of experience with it.)

[Simon Magennis]

I would be interest to know how homemade labels shape up not in terms of design but longevity? Getting acide free paper shouldnt be difficult but how do the inks/toner we use in domestic printers shape up? Printers ink from old-fashioned shops is a very different creature.

[Martin Taylor]

I use Adobe Illustrator for labels, and InDesign for Desktop Publishing. They used to be very expensive but are now cheaper under the new cloud licensing. Also as to the inks, you can get archival inks for most inkjet printers or at least refills blanks that can be filled with them. To protect my labels I also spray them with Archival Spray Fixative This helps protect the ink from finger smudges etc when placing the label in the guitar.

[Gilbert Fredrickson]

www.alfredom.com has some lovely clip-art.