Expert: Roy Wilhelm - 10/14/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi Roy,
Maybe you can help me (I hope). I originally sent the below question to Candice, but she was unable to help me. I am certainly open to suggestions as how to solve the problem, such as other software solutions. I look forward to your reply.

Thank you

My question was:

I am using InDesign (CS4 Mac) for a variety of publications. My frustration is
custom charts or graphs. For years I used FreeHand which allowed me to have
custom line weights and colors, but unfortunately that is no longer an option
since FreeHand isn't upgradable. Keynote has great possibility except that you
can't customize colors (something we need to meet our branding). Can't export
graphs from Excel and copy and paste looks terrible. I attempted using
Illustrator and was totally confused...So, can you help me?

But this is outside of my expertise.

Expert: Candice Anderson


ANSWER: Hi Jean,

Illustrator is definitely the better tool for charts and graphs. Can you describe the type of data (or chart of graph type) that you're trying to display?

Roy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I guess I fall into the category of trying to teach an old dog new tricks, but I haven't found how to do charts in Illustrator very easy. To answer you question as to the type of data I'm using...we publish a lot of statistical information, i.e., population for our region for 10 or more years, or building permit information or transportation statistics. The data is usually from an excel sheet. Many of the graphics are incorporated into an InDesign document for print. It is important that I have the capability to assign specific colors (CMYK) and I would prefer to have the option to change the axis line weights and color also.

It Illustrator is my only or still the preferred solution, can  you recommend where I can go to learn how to produce these graphics. I purchased Illustrator Classroom in a Book, but charts and graphs are hardly mentioned and therefore no help at all.

Thank you

Answer
Yes, you can definitely modify the colors, strokes, etc. Take a look at this tutorial:
http://flowingdata.com/2008/12/16/how-to-make-a-graph-in-adobe-illustrator/

And this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teEp1yyTRR0

Good luck!

And there's also this:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyBNpBbMcI0&feature=related

;)