A new community created by Quark, the makers of the venerable software program QuarkXPress, aims to provide an online community for desktop publishers and graphic designers who used the page layout application.
The site, www.ilovedesign.com, is relatively new, having been created earlier this year. Quark boasts that it is growing by approximately 10,000 new users a month and that it has members from over 60 different countries. Ilovedesign.com offers designers a chance to show their work to the world, and in turn to see what other Quark users are creating. Members are given an individual portfolio page, while a job section has also been added.There are download pages, a page featuring competitions, case studies, and interviews with top designers.
The site is not an original concept. Other sites have been created by graphic design software companies, including Adobe’s design center, which features articles, tips, and samples of designers’ work. Corel has created a similar site for its popular desktop publishing software, CorelDraw.
On the plus side, the Quark community site is clean and attractive, and easy to navigate. It achieves its goal of allowing QuarkXPress users to feature their work for all the world to see.
It has not, however, reached the critical mass, which is understandable considering that it is relatively new. There are very few downloads available yet, and case studies seem to be confined to product endorsements from QuarkXPress corporate users. The tips and tricks offered on other application specific graphic design and desktop publishing community sites are by and large missing.
Whatever its limitations, the site is worth visiting to see how others are using Quark for their document creation needs. The site also offers another venue for designers and desktop publishers to display their talents.
The Quark site is recognition by the company that desktop publishers and graphic designers demand ongoing support and interaction with other users. They want to see how other users creatively push the envelope with a particular graphic design and desktop publishing software application. It remains to be seen if the Quark site will fully fulfill this demand.