Coreldraw X3 Version 13 Review

Fonts
  • Allium
  • Allium Rounded
  • Allium Text
  • Amira 2 VF
  • Amira Mono VF
  • Antenna 2 VF
  • Antenna Serif
  • Biscotti
  • Carp VF
  • Daleys Gothic
  • Dispatch 2 VF
  • Dispatch Mono
  • Eggwhite
  • Gasket
  • Gasket Uncial
  • Gasket Unicase
  • Heron Sans
  • Heron Serif
  • Ibis Display
  • Ibis Text
  • Icebox
  • Icebox Magnet
  • Loupot
  • Magmatic VF
  • Mantar
  • Occupant Gothic
  • Occupant Modern VF
  • Occupant Modern Text VF
  • Occupant Oldstyle VF
  • Pentameter VF
  • Prensa
  • Prensa Display
  • Quiosco
  • Quiosco Display
  • Rapport
  • Relay
  • Salvo Sans
  • Salvo Serif
  • Scout
  • Scout Text
  • Serge
  • Stainless 2 VF
  • Tick
  • Tock
  • Zócalo Banner
  • Zócalo Display
  • Zócalo Text
NormalWidths
  • Width
  • Extended
  • Wide
  • Normal
  • Condensed
  • Extra Condensed
  • Compressed
Weight
  • Weight
  • Ultra Thin
  • Thin
  • Ultra Light
  • Extra Light
  • Light
  • Lite
  • Book
  • Regular
  • Medium
  • Semibold
  • Bold
  • Black
  • Heavy
  • Ultra
Variable

Coreldraw X3 Version 13 Review

CorelDRAW X3 included PHOTO-PAINT X3, which received a huge facelift. The Image Adjustment Lab allowed photographers to fix exposure, color balance, and noise in a non-destructive preview window. The Straighten Image tool automatically rotated scanned images to align them with the horizon. For sign-makers scanning sketches, this turned a 10-minute chore into a 10-second click.

Before X3, creating a 3D bevel on text or shapes required duplicating objects and manipulating step-and-repeat. The new Bevel Docker allowed for real-time vector bevels (soft or emboss) that remained fully editable. This was a massive time-saver for web graphic designers creating buttons and banners for the Web 2.0 era (the era of glossy, rounded corners).

In the long and storied history of graphic design software, few releases have managed to bridge the gap between legacy functionality and modern expectations as effectively as CorelDRAW X3 (Version 13). Released in January 2006, CorelDRAW X3 arrived at a critical time. The design world was shifting; Adobe was gaining ground with Illustrator CS2, and the demand for native support for new file formats (like Adobe Illustrator’s AI and Photoshop’s PSD) was at an all-time high.

For professionals who remember the transition from Windows 98 to Windows XP, CorelDRAW X3 represented not just an incremental update, but a philosophical leap. This article explores the history, standout features, system requirements, and lasting legacy of CorelDRAW X3—a version that many veterans still consider the "goldilocks" edition of the software.

Developing a "piece" in CorelDRAW X3 (Version 13) usually refers to creating a specific design layout, such as a flyer, business card, or logo illustration. Since the prompt is open-ended, I will walk you through the development of a Professional 2-Color Logo Design.

This exercise is ideal for CorelDRAW X3 as it utilizes the classic "Weld" and "Trim" shaping commands which were central to the X3 workflow.

CorelDRAW X3 (Version 13) represents a pivotal moment in graphic design history. It is the version that proved Corel could compete with Adobe on interoperability while retaining the intuitive, "right-click everything" workflow that loyalists loved. It is a time capsule of the mid-2000s design aesthetic—bevels, gradients, and glossy vectors. coreldraw x3 version 13

If you are a professional looking to archive old client files or a hobbyist building a retro Windows XP design rig, X3 is the benchmark. It is not the most modern vector editor on the market—Figma, Affinity Designer, and Illustrator 2024 have long surpassed it in cloud features and typography. But for pure, unadulterated speed, stability, and ownership, CorelDRAW X3 remains a legend.

Are you still using CorelDRAW X3 in your workflow today? We’d love to hear your story in the comments below.

Unlocking Creativity with CorelDRAW X3 (Version 13)

CorelDRAW X3, also known as version 13, is a powerful vector graphics editor that has been a favorite among designers, artists, and craftspeople for years. Released in 2006, this version of CorelDRAW still holds up today as a versatile and feature-rich tool for creating stunning graphics, logos, icons, and more.

Key Features of CorelDRAW X3

CorelDRAW X3 offers a wide range of tools and features that make it an ideal choice for various design tasks. Some of its key features include: CorelDRAW X3 included PHOTO-PAINT X3, which received a

Benefits of Using CorelDRAW X3

CorelDRAW X3 remains a popular choice among designers and artists due to its numerous benefits, including:

Tips and Tricks for Using CorelDRAW X3

To get the most out of CorelDRAW X3, here are some tips and tricks to keep in mind:

Conclusion

CorelDRAW X3 (version 13) remains a powerful and versatile graphic design tool that offers a range of features and benefits for designers, artists, and craftspeople. Whether you're a seasoned pro or just starting out, CorelDRAW X3 is definitely worth considering for your graphic design needs. Benefits of Using CorelDRAW X3 CorelDRAW X3 remains

Additional Resources

CorelDRAW X3 13th version of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, a comprehensive vector graphics editor. Released in early 2006, it introduced several key features that streamlined the design process for professionals: BioOne Complete Corel PowerTRACE

: An integrated tool used to convert poor-quality bitmap images into high-quality, editable vector graphics. Image Adjustment Lab

: A dedicated space within Corel PHOTO-PAINT X3 for correcting color and tone in digital photos. Enhanced Tools

: Improved text handling, a new "Crop" tool, and the "Smart Fill" tool, which allows users to apply fills to any enclosed area. Academic and Professional Use

In 2024, you might wonder why graphic designers are still hunting for a 2006 application. The answer lies in "Software Bloat" and "The Subscription Model."

Coreldraw X3 Version 13 Review

Allium

Cyrus Highsmith’s Allium series is a humanist sans serif with a pan-European character set. It’s a calm, maybe even quiet design, drawn for headlines and deck sizes. Highsmith named it after a genus of flowering plants that includes onions, leeks, and garlic.

Allium

Allium Text Allium Rounded

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Allium Rounded

Marie Otsuka grew Allium Rounded from Cyrus Highsmith’s humanist sans serif series, Allium. In addition to rounding the stroke endings, Otsuka cultivated the original proportions to suit the new design. It’s a nutritious design that works best at headline and desk sizes.

Allium Rounded

Allium Text Allium

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Allium Text

Cyrus Highsmith culled his Allium family down to size, engineering a text version that shines in the 8 to 24-point range. In addition to adjusting the proportions and spacing, Highsmith accentuated the contrast between inside and outside of letters to increase their broadcast range. June Shin and Cem Eskinazi assisted.

Allium Text

Allium Rounded Allium

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Amira 2•VARIABLE•

The cross between calligraphy and sans serif is rare, inhabiting territory between Hermann Zapf’s Optima, classical sans structure with a calligraphic spirit, and Warren Chappell’s Lydian, classical calligraphy without serifs. Cyrus Highsmith claims adventurous new ground with Amira, a letterform that pops from the page with an angled vitality. Amira both welcomes and surprises readers with bright new rhythms and texture. In 2023, Cem Eskinazi expanded the character set to include small caps plus Greek & Cyrillic.

Amira 2

Amira Mono

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Amira Mono•VARIABLE•

The cross between calligraphy and sans serif is rare, inhabiting territory between Hermann Zapf’s Optima, classical sans structure with a calligraphic spirit, and Warren Chappell’s Lydian, classical calligraphy without serifs. Cyrus Highsmith claimed adventurous new ground with Amira, a letterform that pops from the page with an angled vitality. In 2025, Cem Eskinazi went even further with Amira Mono, imposing a mechanical beat on Amira’s organic forms to create a unique typographic texture.

Amira Mono

Amira 2

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Antenna 2•VARIABLE•

Cyrus Highsmith’s Antenna 2 is a versatile industrial sans serif that projects confidence and deliberation. He slowed down his usual fast curves and shifted the emphasis to pattern of white shapes formed inside and between characters. With seven weights in four widths and matching italics, Antenna 2 is ready for almost anything. Originally released in 2006, the 2025 release, led by Victoria Rushton, includes more language support as well as variable fonts.

Antenna 2

Antenna Serif

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Antenna Serif

Antenna Serif is the slab counterpart to Cyrus Highsmith’s Antenna. Developed with David Jonathan Ross, it weighs in at 56 styles—seven weights in four widths, each with italics. Antenna Serif plays well in print and digital formats.

Antenna Serif

Antenna 2 Antenna

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Biscotti

Biscotti is Cyrus Highsmith’s response to the prompt, “I want a typeface that makes me feel pretty.” It was drawn in 2004 for Brides magazine to set headlines and pull quotes. Biscotti is a simplified 21st century take on the traditional English roundhand calligraphy.

Biscotti

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Carp•VARIABLE•

Carp is Marie Otsuka’s streamlined take on the humanist sans-serif genre inspired by Excoffon’s Antique Olive, where the tops are heavier than the bottom parts of the letter. In Carp, this asymmetric weight balance and contrast is exaggerated in the heavier styles, while the lighter styles lean toward a more functional monolinear sans. Complete with variable axes across width and weight, the result is a versatile family suitable for both expressive display and robust body text.

Carp

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Daleys Gothic

Cyrus Highsmith began work on Daley’s Gothic in 1997, experimenting with a steel brush and ink on paper. He went on to draw many variations, and in 1998 finally settled on three weights with matching italics, designed for compact headlines. He named the family after his mother, who taught him how to draw.

Daleys Gothic

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Dispatch 2•VARIABLE•

Cyrus Highsmith created Dispatch in his search for an industrial-grade slab serif to serve as text and display. It’s a taut amalgam of letterforms found in typescript, on engineering blueprints, and shipping labels. Use it for heavy commercial lifting. Cem Eskinazi assisted with its re-release as Dispatch 2.

Dispatch 2

Dispatch Mono

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Dispatch Mono

Dispatch Mono is a monospaced version of Cyrus Highsmith’s industrial strength slab serif, Dispatch. He originally made it for his own personal use on shipping labels and printing out PostScript code. Now it’s available to everyone in regular and bold weights with corresponding italics.

Dispatch Mono

Dispatch 2

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Eggwhite

Trapped in a seemingly endless meeting, Cyrus Highsmith sought refuge in his ever-present sketchbook. As he attempted to doodle his way to freedom, the idea for Eggwhite began to emerge. It’s an experiment in unconventional weight distribution that comes in a pair of playful weights.

Eggwhite

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Gasket

Cyrus Highsmith began Gasket as a single font to accompany his illustrations in a children’s book. The amiable series moves with a gentle hop thanks to the slight slant and subtly staggered endings. He added weights, italics, and small caps for Gasket’s release into the world.

Gasket

Gasket Unicase Gasket Uncial

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Gasket Uncial

The most famous example of uncial lettering is found in The Book of Kells, circa 800 CE. However, the uncial script dates all the way back to the fourth century. Cyrus Highsmith updates this ancient calligraphy in Gasket Uncial. He hopes his Irish ancestors would be proud.

Gasket Uncial

Gasket Unicase Gasket

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Gasket Unicase

For the busy typographer who cannot be bothered to decide which case to use, Cyrus Highsmith drew Gasket Unicase. It features extralarge lowercase forms designed to fit with the capitals. Gasket Unicase contains no ascenders or descenders.

Gasket Unicase

Gasket Uncial Gasket

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Heron Sans

Steadfast and no-nonsense, Heron Sans is always ready to go to work. Cyrus Highsmith galvanized its mechanically inspired letters with warmth and energy. It’s a versatile family, capable of doing the job in both headlines and text.

Heron Sans

Heron Serif

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Heron Serif

Heron Serif is the slab serif counterpart to Cyrus Highsmith’s Heron Sans. It’s a versatile design, capable of doing the job in both headlines and text. Cem Eskinazi added Greek and Cyrillic alphabets.

Heron Serif

Heron Sans

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Ibis Display

Cyrus Highsmith found inspiration for his Ibis series by combining unlikely sources, Justus Erisch Walbaum’s 1919 Walbaum and Hermann Zapf’s 1952 Melior. For the display version, he thinned the serifs and compacted the fitting. It comes in a robust range of weights and widths with corresponding italics.

Ibis Display

Ibis Text

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Ibis Text

Cyrus Highsmith found inspiration for his Ibis series by combining unlikely sources, Justus Erisch Walbaum’s 1919 Walbaum and Hermann Zapf’s 1952 Melior. He drew Ibis Text for use in his own typography textbook, Inside Paragraphs. It comes in a robust range of weights, small caps, and corresponding italics.

Ibis Text

Ibis Display

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Icebox

Way back in 1997, Cyrus Highsmith bought a box of magentic letters from a variety store. Many years later, the colorful plastic shapes inspired him to make Icebox. It’s a modular sans serif for headlines and short blurbs of text available in three weights plus a bonus Magnet style. It requires no refrigeration.

Icebox

Icebox Magnet

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Icebox Magnet

Way back in 1997, Cyrus Highsmith bought a box of magentic letters from a variety store. The colorful plastic shapes inspired him to make Icebox many years later. It’s a modular sans serif for headlines and short blurbs of text available in three weights plus a bonus Magnet style. It requires no refrigeration.

Icebox Magnet

Icebox

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Loupot

In 1938, French designer Charles Loupot drew a groundbreaking logotype to promote St. Raphaël aperitif wine. Half a century later, the logo inspired New York designer and illustrator Laurie Rosenwald to work with Cyrus Highsmith on expanding it into a typeface. At once industrial and calligraphic, Loupot is one of the few scripts that offers a successful all-caps setting.

Loupot

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Magmatic•VARIABLE•

Magmatic is a massive sans serif series from Cyrus Highsmith and June Shin. Its nuts-and-bolts character remains steady through an extensive range of widths and weights. The design was loosely inspired by Japanese Showa-era typefaces found on shipping labels, machinery, and buildings.

Magmatic

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Mantar

Mantar is a psychedelic Scotch Roman designed by Cem Eskinazi. After stumbling upon a phototypesetting specimen, Cem was inspired by the warmth of the letters. Mantar is a soft display face with curvy and elongated endings. It comes in 12 styles including a funky Ultra weight.

Mantar

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Occupant Gothic

Occupant Gothic typograhically embodies Cyrus Highsmith’s caffeinated sketching style circa 1998. It’s a frantic angular design with no clear function in two weights plus italics. The name predates the founding of Occupant Fonts and sounds beautiful in Highsmith’s Wisconsin accent.

Occupant Gothic

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Occupant Modern•VARIABLE•

Occupant Modern is Cyrus Highsmith’s exploration of the Didone or modern classification of typefaces. It was inspired by Kocho, a high-contrast Mincho-style typeface by the 20th century Japanese graphic designer, Ikko Tanaka, who got his inspiration from the 18th century Italian punchcutter, Giambattista Bodoni. Marie Otsuka drove the design of Occupant Modern’s italics and assisted with production.

Occupant Modern

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Occupant Modern Text•VARIABLE•

Occupant Modern Text is part of Cyrus Highsmith’s exploration into the Didone or modern classification of typefaces. He adapted the delicate details, dimensions, and compact spacing of Occupant Modern to work at text sizes in print as well as on screen. Marie Otsuka drove the design of italics and assisted with production.

Occupant Modern Text

Occupant Modern

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Occupant Oldstyle•VARIABLE•

Occupant Oldstyle is a 21st century text face from Cyrus Highsmith, assisted by June Shin. The rounded triangular endings are the result of a long fermentation process that combines ingredients from Japanese Mincho style typefaces, rounded sans serifs, electronic music, and toys. Highsmith calls them ‘child-safe serifs’.

Occupant Oldstyle

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Pentameter•VARIABLE•

In Pentameter, Marie Otsuka explores the polyrhythmic potential that usually stays dormant inside the limitations of monospaced typefaces. As an “upright italic,” the letterforms create a lively pattern while their uniform metrics remain steady. The result is an inventive design on a syncopated beat that resonates with the poetics beyond code.

Pentameter

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Prensa

Spanish for press, Prensa is a dynamic series for text from Cyrus Highsmith. He arrived at this family’s character through his process of “wrapping outside curves around the inside, deliberately creating tension between the two,” a technique epitomized in Electra, a 1935 bookface by 20th-century master W.A. Dwiggins. This tension really appears in the italics, which stray from the traditional forms to balance simplicity with vitality.

Prensa

Prensa Display

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Prensa Display

Cyrus Highsmith designed Prensa Display to accompany his popular textface, Prensa. The display cut shares Prensa’s distinctive tension within the letterforms but has sharper features and a more compact fit. It also includes additional narrow widths for really packing in powerful headlines.

Prensa Display

Prensa

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Quiosco

“Kiosk” in Spanish is Quiosco, also the name of a text family designed by Cyrus Highsmith. It’s part of his exploration of the work of W.A. Dwiggins and the contrast between the inside and outside of letter­forms. Quiosco brings a lively texture to narrow columns of text and permits compact wordspaces with no loss of readability.

Quiosco

Quiosco Display

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Quiosco Display

Cem Eskinazi took Quiosco and sharpened it for headlines. As he redrew Highsmith’s textface, Eskinazi imagined transforming it from something made of clay into something chiseled in stone. In addition, he also extended the weight range and drew a special set of figures to go with the small caps.

Quiosco Display

Quiosco

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Rapport

Rapport is a grotesque sans serif that exudes warmth. It was born on the walls of RISD Museum when June Shin designed the exhibition Altered States in 2017. She took inspiration from one of the artworks on display, the frontispiece of the 1862 publication of Charles François Daubigny’s etchings. Rapport’s whimsical features and general wideness contribute to the design’s quirky, friendly character.

Rapport

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Relay

Relay is as close as Cyrus Highsmith has gotten to drawing a geometric sans serif. It zigs and zags between European art deco, American sign lettering, and modernist geometry. It comes in five weights and three widths with matching italics for setting headlines and text of all kinds.

Relay

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Salvo Sans

Cyrus Highsmith created the extensive Salvo series to help unify three different magazines under one typographic umbrella. Salvo Sans is an energetic, optimistic design in five weights and three widths with corresponding italics. It works for headlines, pull quotes, as well as short text.

Salvo Sans

Salvo Serif

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Salvo Serif

Cyrus Highsmith created the extensive Salvo series to help unify three different magazines under one typographic umbrella. Salvo Serif is an outspoken slab design in five weights and three widths with corresponding italics. The heavy serifs help to form unified words that catch the reader’s eye and draw them into the text.

Salvo Serif

Salvo Sans

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Scout

Cyrus Highsmith drew Scout to meet the evergreen request for an industrial sans serif that resembles DIN 1451 but not too much. He mixed in ingredients from Venus, Cairoli, as well as his own graphic sensibilities. It comes in a robust range of weights and two widths plus italics for headlines, captions, and sidebars. June Shin added Greek and Cyrillic alphabets.

Scout

Scout Text

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Scout Text

Scout Text was drawn to accompany Cyrus Highsmith’s popular utilitarian sans serif Scout. He optimized it for small sizes by increasing the x-height, opening the spacing, and adding tails to the lowercase ‘l’ and ‘a’ for better legibility. It comes in 4 weights plus italics.

Scout Text

Scout

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Serge

Cyrus Highsmith is known for his all-round workhorse families like Antenna, Scout, and Salvo. In Serge, he lets loose the reins and raises a show pony. It’s an acrobatic design for decorative blurbs, signs, and headlines. The family has three weights, from Regular to Black, but all are equally light on their feet. A set of swash caps adds a subtle flair.

Serge

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Stainless 2•VARIABLE•

Stainless was originally derived from Cyrus Highsmith’s slab serif, Dispatch. It began as a simple experiment but evolved into its own series. It’s been used in headlines and pull quotes in publications around the world from Señor Fútbol to the Wall Street Journal. Cem Eskinazi assisted with its re-release as Stainless 2.

Stainless 2

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Tick

Tick and Tock reflect Cyrus Highsmith’s long love affair with stencils as well as modular alphabets. Tick came from cutting paper and includes a randomizing feature that gives words a natural handmade appearance. It comes in only one weight but it gets the job done when you need a word or two to attract the reader’s attention.

Tick

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Tock

Tick and Tock reflect Cyrus Highsmith’s long love affair with stencils as well as modular alphabets. Tock is the mechanized version of the kit of parts established in Tick. It would be at home on a Bauhaus poster or on the side of a bulldozer. Like Tick, it comes in just one mighty weight.

Tock

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Zócalo Banner

Cyrus Highsmith’s Zócalo series was part of Eduardo Danilo’s 2002 redesign of the leading Mexico City newspaper, El Universal. It was inspired by Nicholas Kis’s oldstyle as well as Highsmith’s impressions of México itself. Zócalo Banner is a stylistic variation of Zócalo Display with simplified serifs for headlines and decks.

Zócalo Banner

Zocalo Text Zocalo Display

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Zócalo Display

Cyrus Highsmith’s Zócalo series was part of Eduardo Danilo’s 2002 redesign of the leading Mexico City newspaper, El Universal. It was inspired by Nicholas Kis’s oldstyle as well as Highsmith’s impressions of México itself. Zócalo Display is a sparkling, compact design for headlines and decks.

Zócalo Display

Zocalo Text Zocalo Banner

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Zócalo Text

Cyrus Highsmith’s Zócalo series was part of Eduardo Danilo’s 2002 redesign of the leading Mexico City newspaper, El Universal. It was inspired by Nicholas Kis’s oldstyle as well as Highsmith’s impressions of México itself. Zócalo Text derives its sturdy proportions from Chauncey Griffith’s classic newsface, Ionic No.5.

Zócalo Text

Zocalo Display Zocalo Banner

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