Graham Peace — a publishing design powerhouse — has attained tremendous success over a longstanding career as a freelance art director. For more than two decades, he's worked with publishers on projects for brands such as Barclays, British Airways, L'Oreal, Reader's Digest, and Qatar Airlines. Four years ago, he launched his own business, Graham Peace Design (GPD), rooted in print design. However, seeing a growing future in digital publishing, Peace moved to expand GPD's competitive advantage to encompass digital formats such as the iPad. His solution of choice: Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition.

"I thought the leap to tablet devices might be a big challenge, but Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition made it very simple — it is a natural extension of my existing print skill set using Adobe InDesign®," he says. "The workflow is intuitive, and you don't need to hire programmers to bring content to life on devices like the iPad."

Embracing new media with ease

Peace, who hails from Manchester, England, is known for his elegant, arresting, and thought-provoking work. Now located in London, he draws inspiration from cultural sources like music, film, and posters, as well as many magazines, such as the award-winning work in The New York Times Magazine and the annual publication of The Society of Publication Designers.

Although fully immersed in print design for years, GPD has recently seen a growing demand for digital publishing to devices such as the iPad to increase reach, produce more captivating experiences for consumers, and augment the power of print. Although clients want to publish on tablet devices, many of them — and the designers who serve them — don't know how to get started. Peace notes that those who sit on the sidelines will miss a tremendous opportunity to enable clients to enhance their brand identities and garner new readers and customers.

A cost-effective publishing model

According to Peace, there is also a misconception among clients that publishing to tablets is going to be prohibitively expensive and require writing substantial code. In fact, he notes, the opposite is true.

Peace recently joined Adobe Creative Cloud™, an affordable monthly membership program that includes upgrades to all new versions of Adobe Creative Suite® components upon release, plus new features and services between releases. Better still, his Creative Cloud membership now enables him to publish an unlimited number of apps created using Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition, to the Apple App Store, at no additional cost.

Extending print skills to digital publishing

Peace wanted to stay up to date with rapidly evolving digital publishing requirements, and he saw Adobe as the frontrunner. After evaluating his options, he wholeheartedly chose Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition. To gain experience, he created a tablet-based version of his own portfolio, with two chief aims: learn about the inner workings of Digital Publishing Suite, and create a showpiece for clients that would inspire them to leverage the newest digital publishing opportunities themselves.

Using Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition, Peace found that he was able to use existing InDesign skills to extend content to tablet devices. He can now bring his ideas to life both in print and on the iPad — without having to code, hire programmers, or learn new skills.

"I took my print media skills and applied them to digital media using Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition — it wasn’t a massive transition. Rather, it was a pleasant surprise and a logical extension of what any print designer is familiar with," he says. "In only a couple of days, learning on my own, I was up to speed."

“Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition made the process very simple — it is a natural extension of my existing print skill set using Adobe InDesign.”

Generating new revenue streams

For Peace, having his portfolio on the iPad wows existing and potential clients and adds a powerful new service to his palette — one that clients are eager to tap into. Clients are already requesting apps as part of the services GPD provides. His ability to publish digitally is helping him expand his services and add potential new revenue streams, both by augmenting services for existing clients and by attracting new business.

Now, he can create a print brochure or report, for instance, as well as one for the iPad, at only incremental additional cost to the client. Clients appreciate that publishing apps can be done simply and affordably without going through a big publishing agency or print provider.

A seamless workflow and easy transition

Key to the ease of using Digital Publishing Suite is an end-to-end Adobe workflow that does not require programming or other new skills. Peace creates layouts in InDesign just as he would for a print project. After adding interactivity such as video, slide shows, or 360-degree object rotation, he uses Digital Publishing Suite to create a digital folio for publication as a tablet app.

Unlike iPad publishing plug-ins that offer limited integration, InDesign CS6 includes several advantageous features that streamline the digital publishing workflow. DPS Desktop Tools available in InDesign CS6, including the Folio Overlays panel, Folio Builder panel, and Content Viewers for multiple devices, enable GPD to create and preview digital content, including brochures and annual reports, with engaging elements such as 360-degree object rotation and image panoramas.

The ability to preview the folio from InDesign in real time on a connected iPad allows for immediate testing of interactive elements as well as quick feedback. InDesign CS6 integrates fully with Digital Publishing Suite, allowing Peace to upload content from InDesign for production and publication to the iPad.

Peace concludes, "As a design veteran, if I could offer any advice to an upcoming young designer, it would be, 'Keep your head down, work hard — and whatever you want to do, regardless of the medium, you can learn to do it yourself using Adobe's integrated suite of creative tools.' Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, Single Edition is intuitive and cost effective, and pays for itself quickly in creating new revenue streams and meeting client demand as new markets and technologies emerge."