CorelDRAW, SWEDISH printing industry saving measures – and PRINT 2013 at KISTA fair in Stockholm, SWEDEN
PRINT 2013 Fair is running right now in Kista, suburb to Stockholm SWEDEN. So if you are visiting Stockholm, going by car from the Arlanda Airport into Stockholm City, on Highway E4, take a right and go visit the fair 😉
PS. Kista is the Stockholm equivalent to ”Silicon Valley” – almost.
The Pre press, Offset Printing, media & social media and communications trade fair in Kista is running for three days, 5-7 February. And as a consequence I take the chance to write about the fair and reflections I get after visiting the fair on the first day, and during the fair before and after. In doing so, I write posts from my own view point of the show and the industry. I’m not a journalist, I am an illustrator and graphic designer. And I in my work I also makes printing originals, vectorizing and all other daily jobs thrown at me basically – and because of it I visited the fair on the first day February 5, yesterday. It’s good to be informed. And attend trade shows is not wrong. It can be a bit of fun too. Like yesterday.
In the image the stand of the AGFA Graphics Swedish Branch, where I had time to chat a bit and get information about their UV printer, as you can see in the picture. A little to the left you can hint the stand of the Swedish printing company Storbildsbolaget, who showed really interesting colour reproduction in print on their mesh canvas material. Large format Printing.
Printing business in Sweden like other places are saving money, with decline in orders, but price drop on assignments has stopped thank god – and in the middle of everything, there is even more money to be saved when the software is updated, and production will still be handled highly professionally.
Occasionally I still meet Swedish printers with different speciality skills using CorelDraw graphics suite where PHOTO-PAINT is included in the suite. (Photo-Paint equivalent to Adobe Photoshop). However, at Swedish printer companies where CorelDRAW is no longer used, and the software instead is Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and other software specific to their machines and so on, I was a little surprised when they talk economics – and continues with Adobe software instead of Corel’s software. For after all both Corel and Adobe software is highly professional.
In USA a colour guru as I call him and respect highly said something like: ”CorelDRAW is now the ONLY fully ICC compliant graphics software on the market – and I know, we use both CorelDRAW Graphics Sutie and Corel Photo-Paint, as well as the Adobe Creative suite in our daily workflow.”
If we for a moment take out of the equation both the Adobe and Corel different volume licensing programs, and compare to what Adobe software suite Creative Suite XXX Single licenses cost, and compare with the Corel counterpart CorelDRAW GRAPHICS Suite XXX single license cost – it’s a substantial difference to say the least. And yet it is professional software we’re talking about. Some Swedish printers who are not using CorelDRAW and PHOTO-PAINT, live in the belief that CorelDRAW does not exist anymore. Which is far from the truth, and to prove it even more there is even a Swedish version.
Oh well. It may be okay to not know everything in this world, because who does really, but when it becomes a big economic difference in the purchase investing cost and so forth, then it should be economically interesting. And when the alternative is very much a professional software suite – which is also used worldwide daily in print production and all sorts of businesses, then bells should be ringing. After all I know myself how I get to do for Swedish companies conversions of Adobe Illustrator document to CorelDRAW documents to be sent to factories in INDIA .
Small price comparison, using the respectable online retailer Dustin.se in Sweden as a dealer to compare with
Adobe Creative Suite instance. VAT 19 499 – 24 621 + VAT: –
http://www.dustin.se/search/adobe% 20creative% 20suite
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite instance. VAT 4699: – + VAT 6121: –
http://www.dustin.se/product/5010628426/coreldraw-graphics-suite-x6-win-swe-cd/#intcmp=searchProvider_SiteSeeker
That´s is a difference of
ex. VAT 14 800: –
Inc. VAT 18 500: –
Read those numbers again, because that equals a SAVE in up to 14 800 SEK – excluding VAT. It´s 14 800 SEK cheaper at least – per license, if you buy CorelDRAW Graphics suite instead. In other words if I was a printing company owner and financially responsible, I would see the economic benefits of reducing the number of Adobe licenses and start buying in a few Corel licenses. and have them upgraded like I would Adobe licenses. And from a production standpoint, I would also start to see significant advantages to actually work with CorelDRAW and PHOTO-PAINT.
But that’s me 😉
Stefan Lindblad
Illustrator, Graphic Designer
www.canvas.nu
You wrote: ”However, at Swedish printer companies where CorelDRAW is no longer used, and the software instead is Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and other software…” This available to all countries of the world. Maybe in Africa, and in Asian and South American countries Corel Draw is used most because the price is the factor. I use just Corel Draw daily and i love it but I must admit that coreldraw have many problems, you know this, Corel corp. know this, print companies know this, no wonder if they(companies) use Adobe products. Adobe products are more stable than Corel Draw. I use Corel Draw because much easier than Illy and for the price. In my country CorelDraw is 500 euro and Illy 800, Photoshop 800 euro , InDesign is 750-800 euro
Regards
Hi J_SZ_,
(Had been more fun if you added your actual name. Much nicer when talking to people. I useally dont approve comments when people dont add their names.)
First I am not an employee of Corel Corp. I am only myself. I work daily as a Freelancing illustraor & graphic designer in Stockholm, Sweden.
Secondly: I talk, email and hear from printers such as Sign makers, screen printers and alike, that I have contact with who all uses CorelDRAW simply because, despite popular belief, they feel CorelDRAW is superior and more in tune with their business. CorelDRAW very early on got a big strong hold and user base in sign & screen business. And still has. With tools and features and customization features, Corel got a big following. And still has. Add strong community with Macro´s and combination of other programs.
The biggest factor peoplw use Adobe: the schools often teach Adobe products. And one other factor is that very early on, let say 17 years ago and more, Apple Macintosh computers and computer graphics used at that time mostly created by Quark & PageMaker, were mostly used at commercial printing houses. Adobe then bought Aldus and Pagemaker and with it came Pagemaker. Year 2002, I remember it still while reading a magazine called Computer Arts, Adobe InDesign 1.0 was released for Mac computers. And that made a huge impact on Quark and Corel Ventura as well. Adobe is a bit like Microsoft: they may have different ways of coming into peoples ”top of mind” and their computers. But they are both very good at it.
An example: 2002-2004 or around that time, one of my magazine illustration clients was the Swedish branch of IDG magazines (IDG is an american publishing house with branches in various countries). The worlds largest computer magazine publishing house. I whent up to the editorial staffs office with several of my illustrations I had made for them. Vector illustrations. And we had just had a brainstorming meeting for the next comming issue of the magazine. The Art Director suddenly told me how the IDG bosses had made a deal with Adobe to ONLY use their software Indesign & Photoshop as well as Illustrator. That ment the Art Director had to stop using Quark she loved. And the management/bosses had also taken a decision, that due to the high prices of Mac comuters around that time (before Mac added Intel processors that made them more cheaper to buy), they threw out all Mac´s and replaced with PC´s. SO suddenly everything was PC and Adobe.
In Sweden CorelDRAW GS cost about 650 – 700 euros and adobe creative Suite, before CC, about 1600 – 2000 euros.
On a direct question the editorial staff admitted that now, with the new situation, all other computer programs they used to use and also review in their magazines, would be harder to test and wite about. And I can tell you that up here in Sweden (who dont have euros, but also is part of EU), no IDG computer magazines wrote about any other programs than Adobe. The very rare occasions they do, it comes like in a a few lines from a press release.
With art & design and IT-schools and Magazines almost solely concentrating on Adobe programs, you can clearly see how the monopoly of peoples ”top of mind” is working in Adobes favor.
Now, CorelDRAW stable or not. Yes I have encountered crashes, but that have happened to Adobe programs as well. Just visit Adobe forums and listen to their users.
One thing I think is very important, is to always download any and all service packs/updates Corel release. They are released when Corel find bugs. And so does Adobe and every other serious company.
Todays latest version X7 I feel is way more stable than any other old version, straight form the box. Initial release.I would say that Corel, which is way smaller staffed company than Adobe, have made a huge work.
There are MANY reasons to why people use CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTo-PAINT.
I use it because I prefer Coreldraw and Photo-PAint over Adobe PS, AI, ID any day in the week.
Thanks for your comment!
Stefan
Totally i agree with you and i like your big and meaningful comment. As i wrote, i use every day coreldraw and i love it but honestly i was frustrated when i saw that most of companies prefers adobe products and i put the question ”Why?” . Also, i saw that Adobe products have problems. That’s all.
Regards
Don´t be discouraged by the feeling of some companies prefering Adobe products. As I said, many companies prefer CorelDRAW Graphics Suite from Corel. Otherwise Corel wouldnt even excist as a company 🙂 Have fun and enjoy using CorelDRAW. When you need inspiration and help from other users of CorelDRAW, here some tips:
+ http://www.community.coreldraw.com
+ https://www.youtube.com/user/CorelDRAWchannel
+ http://www.t-shirtforums.com/
+ Advanceartist Youtube channel
And here an inspirational video of fellow CorelDRAW MAster Joe Diaz
Here CorelDRAW MAster Richard Reilly
And here myself, have fun! You are using a great compueter program