This Competition Has Ended and is No Longer Accepting Entries. View the Winning Entries Below.

Everyone knows that the [1] last time postcards were used to promote software they weren’t exactly a stunning success. Quark VS InDesign.com thinks you can do better. At least, that’s what we keep telling everyone. If you can prove us right, your work might be featured on Quark VS InDesign.com and you could win your share of US$15,500 (approximate value) worth of some seriously cool stuff.

Our name may be Quark VS InDesign.com, but these twin contests are about showing appreciation—ours and yours—for QuarkXPress and InDesign. These contests are not about which one you don’t like; they’re about which one you do like, which one you can’t work without, and, hopefully, which one excites you. They are not about bashing the competition or proving which is better. And, this is not about the companies; it’s about the applications, each on its own merits, separate from the other.

This is about celebrating and honoring two incredible tools of our trade, tools that spare us from the grueling labor of hand-cutting ruby lithe and waxing up headlines, tools that save us from having to get real jobs.

The Competition

These are two separate, concurrently running design competitions, with separate and independent entries, winners, and prizes.

The “Celebrate QuarkXPress Postcard Competition” from Quark VS InDesign.com is a design competition to create a marketing postcard positively promoting or featuring Quark’s QuarkXPress® product (version 6.x or 7). The purpose and intent of the contest is to encourage creatives to have fun while supporting and celebrating QuarkXPress. Each person or team may submit a single, two-sided postcard design in celebration of QuarkXPress.

One winning design and two runners up (collectively “winners”) will be chosen from the qualifying entries to occupy First Place, First Runner-Up, and Second Runner-Up. The prizes listed below for each place will be awarded to the creators of the winning entries.

Qualifying is easy. All entrants must agree to the “Celebrate QuarkXPress Postcard Competition” Official Rules and complete a registration form to accompany an original entry design that meets the following simple criteria. The entry must:

• Be an original design created by the entrant (an individual or team) solely for the purpose of entering this contest and cannot have been previously published or used for advertising or promotional purposes;
• Be relevant to its subject matter (QuarkXPress 6.x or 7);
• Not disparage or negatively portray any brand, including, but not limited to, Quark, Adobe, QuarkXPress, InDesign, Quark VS InDesign.com, or any persons or personalities associated with them;
• Free from profanity, vulgarity, and nudity;
• Adhere to the mechanical specifications below;
• And, of course, the entry must be from eligible entrants.

Additionally, each of the first fifty entrants (determined by timestamp of entry e-mail) in the “Celebrate QuarkXPress Postcard Competition” will receive a complimentary 1-year subscription to X-Ray Magazine (PDF edition).

1st Place

QuarkMan Delivers
Matt Bargell
[2] Rodderboy LLC
Sterling, CO

How long have you used QuarkXPress?
Since QXP version 2.12 (16 years)

What is it about QuarkXPress that makes you a passionate user?
QuarkXPress gets the job done. It’s user-friendly and fast. Final output? No surprises.

What inspired your winning design? How did it come about?
My 6yr old son’s recent robot fascination and the film “The Incredibles” were my inspiration.

How was it created (software and versions), what techniques did you use?
With the exception of 2 small images, this design was created entirely with QuarkXPress 6.5’s built-in bézier tools.

Tell us about your best design assignment. Include as much detail as you like (client name optional).
I must say that I’m having a blast designing my own company’s product line and mktg collateral!

Tell us about your worst design assignment. Include as much detail as you like (client name optional).
A corporate standards manual. I understood it’s necessity but it was a rather tedious undertaking.

What’s next for you? Where do you want to go in your career?
Youth apparel and accessories design + mrktg collateral for surf, skate and hot rod culture.

What is your dream assignment—a type of project or for a specific client or brand?
Design and build my own home including furniture. 20’s Streamline moderne ala Robert Mallet-Stevens.

1st Runner-Up

Redefining Layout
Michael Piperno
[4] Imbue Creative
New Hope, PA

How long have you used QuarkXPress?
11 years

What is it about QuarkXPress that makes you a passionate user?
While both programs have unique benefits, I find QuarkXpress to be both reliable and powerful.

What inspired your winning design? How did it come about?
I envisioned a clean design with a quick, strong message created entirely in Quark.

How was it created (software and versions), what techniques did you use?
Created entirely in QuarkXpress 6.5, this postcard exemplifies the power of simplicity in design.

Tell us about your best design assignment. Include as much detail as you like (client name optional).
Meeting identity and collateral for a medical education program. Fun to design and well received!

Tell us about your worst design assignment. Include as much detail as you like (client name optional).
Tri-fold investment brochure art directed by 4 people who did not like each other! (Took 14 months.)

What’s next for you? Where do you want to go in your career?
Run a small, award-winning agency with a team of creatives that love to stretch their imaginations.

What is your dream assignment—a type of project or for a specific client or brand?
A complete corporate brand, from logo to web site to collateral, and everything in between!

2nd Runner-Up

Definition
Stephen Cheslik
[6] Casper Star Tribune
Casper, WY

How long have you used QuarkXPress?
Since 1996

What is it about QuarkXPress that makes you a passionate user?
I love Quark. I love that the program offers me a dozen different ways to accomplish each task.

What inspired your winning design? How did it come about?
When you sit on a chair you can’t feel the quarks. When reading a paper your can’t see the software.

How was it created (software and versions), what techniques did you use?
Ironically, I used Adobe InDesign CS. No tricks, just simple design.

Tell us about your best design assignment. Include as much detail as you like (client name optional).
I’m exhausted but exhilarated after just finishing the redesign of the Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune.

Tell us about your worst design assignment. Include as much detail as you like (client name optional).
My first job was in Georgia’s watermelon fields. Gnats, bad pics and three stories a day. I miss it.

What’s next for you? Where do you want to go in your career?
I haven’t finished what I came to Wyoming to do. I want my small paper to earn a reputation.

What is your dream assignment—a type of project or for a specific client or brand?
Doomsday type used to be my dream — done it. Now, I simply want to work with a great team.

Prizes

The following prizes will be furnished to the winning entrant in each place.

First Place Winner

• QuarkXPress 6.5 by [8] Quark
• Real World QuarkXPress 6 signed by David Blatner
• 3-Year Print Subscription to [9] X-Ray Magazine
• X-Ray Magazine T-shirt
• 2-Day Training Class of Choice by [10] Sterling Ledet & Assoc.
• XPert Tools Pro xtension by [11] ALAP
• Multi Style II xtension by [12] Techno Design
• Spellbound with Webster’s Dictionary xtension by [13] Compusense
• MathTabs xtension (Mac only) by [14] eQuatrix
• ProPack xtension by [15] Gluon
• FlightCheck Studio (Mac Only) by [16] Markzware
• Text Grabber xtension by [17] Meadows Publishing
• Vol 3 Master Collection Graphic Design Templates CD by [18] StockLayouts
• Total Training for Adobe Photoshop CS2 by [19] Total Training
• Vtools xtension by [20] Vision’s Edge

First Runner-Up

• QuarkXPress 6.5 by [8] Quark
• 1-Year Print Subscription to [9] X-Ray Magazine
• X-Ray Magazine T-shirt
• FlightCheck Studio (Mac only) by [16] Markzware
• Spellbound with Webster’s Dictionary xtension by [13] Compusense
• Choice of MIF Filter or Text Count xtension by [25] DTP Tools
• ProPack xtension by [15] Gluon
• Commercial Press Template of choice by [18] StockLayouts

Second Runner-Up

• QuarkXPress 6.5 by [8] Quark
• 1-Year Print Subscription to [9] X-Ray Magazine
• X-Ray Magazine T-shirt
• 1-Month Stock Photography Subscription to [30] AbsolutVision
• explainIT xtension (Mac only) by [31] Alef
• ProPack xtension by [15] Gluon
• Commercial Press Template of choice by [18] StockLayouts

Acknowledgements

Quark VS InDesign.com sincerely thanks the companies and private parties who furnished prizes for their generous contributions. Each of these companies is committed to serving the graphic communications industries and their people, as plainly evidenced by their generosity. We hope you will support these companies and turn to them to answer your software, stock photography, news, and other needs.

Pariah would especially like to thank a few individuals in particular for their invaluable assistance in helping launch two concurrent contests on such short notice: Christy Siebler, Samuel John Klein, Cyndie Shaffstall, Michael Taylor, and a few others who have asked not to be embarrassed by being singled out—they know who they are, and Pariah hopes they realize how much he appreciates their help.

Quark, QuarkXPress, and their related logos and indicia are Registered Trademarks of Quark, Inc.