Need Help With PDF: "Spread Format" - What and How???

[neil poulsen]

My wife is submitting an illustration in a contest, and they want it sent by PDF in "spread" format". The submission consists of both text and the single illustration.

Here are the written directions: "Submit your artwork and its corresponding text as a PDF in spread format with the image on one side and text on the other."

Is this a special Adobe Acrobat feature that one can specify in creating a PDF? If so, I don't know how to do this. I've not heard the term "spread format" related to a PDF. I don't really know what that is, nor how to achieve it. I have Creative Suite 4 Acrobat on my Mac.

I could always create two files and merge them side by side in Photoshop and generate the PDF from that? But, they can get kind of sticky in contests. If it isn't done JUST SO, the submission won't be considered.

[Leigh]

It sounds like they want something resembling an open magazine, i.e. two pages next to each other.

I've never heard that term before.

- Leige

[Jim Andrada]

A "two page spread" would be an image or artwork running across two open pages so in this case it would be an image on one and text on the other. "Spread" in this case is a fairly common layout term. I always do these things in InDesign (the modern versions of PageMaker) so I can control placement pretty exactly. Then print to PDF. I find that word processing programs don't give enough control of layout.

[IanB]

I would agree with Jim - doing this in InDesign is the best bet. Prepare the image in Photoshop or Lightroom and the text in Word, then import them into a layout in Indd.
Failing that you can plact the image as a smaller layer onto a larger background in Photoshop, and add text in a box, but the result may be a bit less sophisticated - there are fewer options for accurate placement and adjustment.
Once you have created the spead and you are happy with it, then print to PDF.

[neil poulsen]

Thanks for the information. It turned out to be just the text opposite the image in a "two-page spread". My concern was that they were requesting some special Adobe configuration. (Or, something.)

Ended up using Photoshop to put the text and image side-by-side, and then exported it to a pdf. Seemed to work OK.

[Jim Andrada]

I was a Pagemaker user since - well practically since it came out on the PC platform around 1990 or a little before. Loved it. I don't like InDesign quite as much but it's very capable.
Regardless it does give you the kind of control you need for precise work including the ability to print crop marks around your document. Probably overkill for something really simple though.

One program I find invaluable is something called Quite Imposing. As it's name might suggest - at least to people who know printing, it allows you to take a PDF document and prepare it for printing by placing pages so they will be in correct orientation and location for the kind of document you are printing. If for example you want to print a booklet that will be stapled together, first two pages would be printed on the same sheet as the last two pages so the stack of pages can be folded in half and stapled in the center. Nice package. folded in half and stapled in the center