Quark. Ah.

"Quark may or may not suck, but complaining about plagiarism – creativity and originality aside – in this case, does suck."

That's from here:

http://www.underconsideration.com/speakup/archives/002412.html#002412

Well, whatever. But that's not really my concern, anyway.

My interest is a brand I know well and a product I've used for 14 years. A brand on a comeback. An attempted comeback.

A comeback formerly trying to appeal to edgy, nutty, gen-x designers... but one that comes back by not only trumpeting their arrival at this New and Important juncture with an unispired logo, but also one that has ironically drawn chortles and snuffs from some (or many) of its intended audience.

Quark responded in time to the challenge of Adobe's InDesign by thrusting, in-your-face, caricatures of designers seemingly found at a stock house in a search for "people I don't want to associate with."

It also seems to me that InDesign's continuing and building popularity caused the cork to blow and the rush to a new identity to leave us with little more than "NEW" on a fluorescent orange deli sticker.

Perhaps it's the cynicism of the times. Maybe it's that [i]I would have loved to have had a shot at that logo...[/i]

It's certainly that aside for some long-ago customer service attitude, and aside from that current poor marketing leaves little incentive to hold-outs from older versions - come on Quark, give 7 away to those who upgrade to 6.5 now - I hold a special place in my designer's heart for Xpress.

I do.

Should they have been more careful? You bet.

Andrew