Agencies and studios see themselves courted by the graphics suite – and creatives may never have to leave the house.

With its array of applications for vector illustration, layout and typography, photo editing, and more, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020 makes its debut today with some extensive updates – and a strong focus on its most interesting new feature in recent years.

While last year the program stole headlines by finally coming to Mac, we were more intrigued by the introduction of CorelDraw.app, a browser-based option that allows creatives to make essential tweaks and corrections while on the go.

Though initially low-key, it seems the take up on this Google Docs-style addition has been strong enough for Corel to lead with the app’s upgrade for 2020, and a swerve away from the home alone-freelancer towards design/creative teams and outfits.

‘Dot app’ as we’ll nickname the browser tool now serves as the central hub to share CorelDraw files with clients and contributors. This new collaborative workflow makes design changes, reviews, and approvals easy by enabling the designer to manage feedback from one or more contributors in a single working file.

A new Comments docker/inspector aims to help agencies and studios save time and screen space by adding detailed comments and mark-up annotations, including note icons, arrows, rectangles and ellipses straight on the document.

Collaborators can also access shared design files and make suggestions and remarks by signing in as a guest or with a Corel customer account on any device through the browser.

This collaborative edge echoes the annotations and shared access customary of Google Docs, and signals the creative software industry’s slow realisation that creative businesses are a viable source of revenue. One could say it’s come just in time for the forced home-working necessitated by the Coronavirus; creators in-house or not may find workflows accelerate all without ever having to leave the home or answering too many client calls and emails.

What else is new in CorelDraw

Moving away from the browser and back to the original CorelDraw, the 2020 vesion offers AI-powered tools that expand design capabilities and accelerate workflows.

AI-based upsampling options create high-quality results when enlarging images, giving clean edges, sharpness, and fine details. 

Users can also quickly and accurately select an image with the new Smart Selection Mask that intelligently expands the selection by finding edges.

There are also OpenType variable fonts that make it less tricky to manipulate text appearance and achieve a wide range of unique looks all from a single font. 

The new Inner Shadow tool applies inner shadows to design elements, giving them 3D depth.

CorelDraw Graphics Suite 2020 also lets creatives position bitmap effects with precision by moving or manipulating the lens and applying a feather effect to seamlessly blend vector and bitmap objects into an existing design.

Also useful is the new Effects docker/inspector that makes it easier to apply, modify, and experiment with effects, all without altering the source object.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020 for Windows and CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 2020 for Mac comes at the subscription price of $249 USD/€349/£299 per year. Perpetual licenses are available at a suggested retail price (SRP) of $499 USD/€719/£599. European and UK prices include VAT.

Note that CorelDRAW.app collaboration features are available exclusively with a CorelDRAW Graphics Suite subscription, licensing with maintenance, or an additional CorelDRAW.app Pro subscription for perpetual license customers.

Related: From Serif to Quark – The 6 Best Graphic Design Apps

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-software/coreldraws-2020-update-makes-it-google-docs-of-visual-design/