InDesign benefits from favorable pricing, while QuarkXPress remains saddled by tardy support for Mac OS X.As the debate rages in creative circles over the relative merits of QuarkXPress and InDesign, Quark Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc. have found that when it comes to winning the hearts of designers, it's best to get 'em while they're young.
QuarkXPress once dominated the computer labs at major graphic design schools, but in the past few years Adobe has made significant strides toward capturing the education market with InDesign.
Several significant factors have given Adobe an edge over Quark, including attractive licensing plans specifically designed for schools, and rising familiarity with Photoshop and Illustrator among students.
"InDesign is a million times easier to teach, because the kids know other Adobe applications," said Michael Josefowicz, special projects manager at the Parsons School of Design. "Also, we believe that everything is going to PDF. As educators, our job is to figure out what the standard will be three years from now, and our bet is that it's going to be Adobe."
Creative Suite 2 presents challenges for Quark. Click here to read Andreas Pfeiffer's column.
Adobe has an additional advantage, since Quark is still feeling reverberations from its decision to delay support for Apple Computer Inc.'s OS X platform. Given the prevalence of Macintosh computers in graphic design schools, the reluctance to jump on the OS X bandwagon alienated some students.
"When Quark didn't update to OS X, I switched along with nearly everyone I knew," said Ryan Alexander, a senior at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. "I was a big Quark user, but after they made that particular decision, it turned me into an InDesign fan."
Adobe plans to continue its momentum in the educational space, where it believes creating fans like Alexander while they are students will mean a generation of InDesign-only users after graduation.
"We've made sure schools have everything they need to convert from Quark to Adobe," said Will Eisley, InDesign group product manager for Adobe. Adobe provides schools with printed and online conversion guides, in-person support, and special licensing.
"We see education as a key segment, and we'll continue to do outreach and initiatives that will benefit schools," Eisley added.
Adobe will need such enthusiasm, considering that the fight is certainly not over yet, especially since Quark has resolved to go after the education market aggressively as well. In implementing new strategies, it could win back some school contracts, or keep others from switching to InDesign.
In summer 2004, several Quark program specialists formed the Quark Alliance, a team committed to finding new ways to tap into the education arena.
"We realized that we hadn't paid enough attention to education," said Shellie Hall, Quark product marketing specialist and the main liaison to graphic design schools. "We launched an educational program with new pricing and licensing, and since then, we've more than quadrupled the amount of educational licenses we have out there."
Hall travels every week to a different school, and admitted that she has seen some wavering between Quark and Adobe products. "We've seen schools that are on the fence, but when they hear about our new educational programs, they stick with Quark."
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