What software do I need for amazing PDFs?

Hi everyone,

I'm working on some ebooks and reports. At the moment, I use OpenOffice, and export my files as a pdf. However, I want to have more control over how the finished PDF actually looks. Right now it looks like a Word document, what I want is to be able to produce something that looks like this.

If you've read Seth Godin's free ebooks, they have a similar layout and design.

Does anyone know what software I would need to be able to layout the graphics and text in my PDFs in this way? I was thinking about getting Adobe Acrobat, but is this simply a more advanced "Printer driver" PDF program, or will I have a lot of control over layout etc?

I know that no program will make you a good designer, I'm looking for software that will give a lot of control over making a PDF with a great layout and graphical design.

If anyone has any advice on the best software to use for this, I would appreciate it

Thanks

Neil

 

Looks to me like he/she used a desktop publishing program like InDesign (http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/)

Programs like that basically give you a canvas to place pictures, objects, and text in any location you want. Lots of great features and the PDFs come out looking great.

 

I think indesign was used for that as well.

You can also use something like photoshop, illustrator, quark express, microsoft publisher or powerpoint, and print to a pdf using adobe acrobat.

Whichever way you go, professional software is normally pretty expensive. If you are a student the academic version is definitely the way to go. The standard indesign software costs about $700.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, I downloaded the trial version of Indesign, it's exactly what I was looking for.

Neil