Design PDF is the most popular file format for digital documents. It’s also a common format for sharing and collaborating with others, which means that designers need to be able to design their own PDFs with ease.
In this post we’ll cover how to create your own PDFs using some of the most popular graphic design programs out there:
Design PDF in Photoshop
This is one of the most common ways to design a PDF, as Photoshop is probably the most popular graphics design program out there. To create your own PDFs using Photoshop, follow these steps:
- Create a new file in Photoshop
- Set the page size to A4
- Set the units to millimeters
- Set the resolution to 300 dpi (dots per inch) or higher if possible, but this is not necessary since we are not printing the document (only viewing it on screen)
- Color mode: RGB Color or CMYK Color print mode if you need spot colors defined in your document (which will be used for printing purposes)
- Background color should be set as white because we want our design elements to stand out
Design PDF with PDF Converter
Designing a PDF with a vector application like PDFConverter.org allows you to make changes and edits easily. If you want to change the color of your title or remove an image, all it takes is a few clicks. With raster applications such as Photoshop or GIMP, these kinds of changes are more difficult because they require changing the pixels individually. Therefore, if you want to make any changes to your design or make edits in the future, we recommend using a vector application.
Design PDF in Illustrator
You can use Adobe Illustrator to create your design. Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphics software that allows you to easily draw the elements of your PDF in various layers and with different colors. It’s a professional tool used by graphic designers, web designers, and other professionals to create logos, illustrations, icons and other artwork. If you don’t have Adobe Illustrator, there are other vector graphics applications that you can use. One example is Sketch, a popular alternative to Adobe Illustrator that allows designers to create their own vector graphics and export them into different formats like PDFs.
The process of creating a PDF in Adobe Illustrator is fairly simple. First, you need to create your design on the computer using the software’s tools and features. Select File > Export, then select PDF from the drop-down menu that appears next to “Export As.”
If you’re familiar with Photoshop then you’ll have no trouble using Adobe Illustrator since they both have similar interface but better features for designing documents such as PDF. In this tutorial we will cover how to:
- Create new document
- Import images into a document
- Place text boxes on top of images
Design PDF in GIMP
To convert a JPG or PNG image to PDF, you’ll need to use GIMP. Open the program, then find and open your image using File > Open.
Once your image is open, go to File > Export As and select PDF from the file type drop-down menu. You can choose between different options for page size (you may want to try with landscape mode), resolution (higher resolutions will give you better quality but they take longer to save), and compression settings; if you’re unsure what these do exactly just select the first option in each category and click OK.
To add text, go to Layer > Text and select a font style. Once you’ve picked a font, click the desired size in the drop-down menu. You can then click on your image and drag around until you find an area where you want the text to appear; when you’re happy with its position press Enter or double-click on it to create a new line of text.
Conclusion
Designing a PDF can be very simple if you know how to do it. In this article, we’ve covered some of the best ways to design your own PDFs. From Adobe Acrobat and InDesign, which are great for professional designers and people who want advanced features like image editing; to simpler options like GIMP or Illustrator which can do everything from beginner level up until advanced users need something more specific than what’s available in their standard software program.
