Following disaffection with Adobe's non-inclusion of Pantone colours, sign designers are once again looking to alternatives, such as the CorelDRAW Design suite. Corel has come a long way in the past two years, since being acquired by private equity giant KKR in 2019 and appointing Christa Quarles in 2020, as a new and dynamic CEO. See CorelDRAW Master Joseph Diaz do an amazing van wrap design in a 'speed design' video.
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| Delicious tucker calls for delicious design - click image to see Joe Diaz put this wrap together in CorelDRAW |
Ottawa, Canada headquartered Corel Corp has had a varied corporate life since its founding in the 1980s my Michael Cowpland, the 'Co' in 'Cowpland Research Labs' - Corel. Twice NASDAQ listed, twice privatised, along the way it acquired the only real alternative to Microsoft Word - WordPerfect and the popular file compression application WinZip, amongst others. 
But it's the CorelDRAW suite that most people, especially signage people, associate with the company and a fresh look at the 2021 edition reveals that it has come a long way from an already impressive journey.
CorelDRAW is avaiable as a monthly subscription, outright purchase (AUD$779 at Officeworks) and a reduced price Education version. A two-week free trial is also available via the company's website, with some excellent case examples in tune with the Signage and Display sector, as Corel's origins is a vector graphics editor.
The re-engineering and re-birthing of Corel Corp is vividly apparent since KKR acquired the company from another private equity firm, coincidentaly named Vector Capital. Its first major appointment was the very accomplished Christa Quarles, as CEO, during Q4 2020.
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| Christa Quarles, Corel CEO |
Ms. Quarles is an industry veteran, having served as CEO of OpenTable and having previously held executive roles at NextDoor, Inc. and The Walt Disney Company. Quarles succeeded former CEO Patrick Nichols who stepped down from the company early in 2020. She currently also serves on the Boards of Directors of Affirm and Kimberly-Clark; received a BSc in Economics and German from Carnegie Mellon University and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.
On taking over the reins, Ms Quarles said: “It is an incredible privilege and honor to join Corel, a company with astounding reach across global businesses small and large, providing powerful software to more than 90 million knowledge workers. Given the explosion in demand for workplace productivity solutions, it’s an exciting time for our business. Today’s rapidly changing technology and business landscape presents a tremendous opportunity for us to shape the future of work by delivering industry-leading value to customers worldwide. I look forward to collaborating with our executive team to continue the company’s already impressive growth path and position our business for future success.”
The most recent hire to support Corel's next growth phase is former Marine, PayPal, Yahoo! and Airbnb HR specialist, Scott Day, as Chief People Officer worldwide. He previously worked with Quarles at OpenTable.
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| Day: 'Corel is on a remarkable journey' |
On joining Corel in January, Day said: "Having worked with Christa before, I have experienced firsthand her unique ability to transform organizations in virtually every way – whether it’s the products they innovate, their connections with customers, or most importantly, the loyalty she builds with her teams. Christa and I share a passion for creating working environments that promote psychological safety, inclusivity, and trust. We believe that greatness is achieved when each employee feels personally empowered to move our business forward, and the ultimate measures of success are outcomes and results. This company is on a remarkable journey, and I am very excited to be part of the team that’s making it a reality.” Day also has a BA, MBA and lives in California with his wife and three children.
So, big things are happening again at Corel Corp. and, with KKR's backing, there is no reason not to see the company head towards the $1 billion sales mark, currently around $265 million.
Find out more about the new Corel on www.corel.com
And there's also the amazing Joseph Diaz van wrap creation video HERE
