Recently a loyal reader posed a question on the Graphics Unleashed Facebook Page about two color patterns in CorelDRAW. The question was how to move custom two color patterns from one version of CorelDRAW to another. In short, you can’t. They would need to be re-created in each new version of CorelDRAW.

This is just one of the reasons why I feel two color patterns should be avoided. The other is that they are very low resolution bitmaps and look pretty awful because of the low resolution. Instead, use full color patterns. I suggested this on the response I posted on the Graphics Unleashed Facebook page and the response was that only black and white was needed. Just because the name says “full color” doesn’t mean you can’t use only black and white. The big difference is that custom patterns are stored as distinct PAT files. That means they can easily be transferred between versions or computers. Also, they are based on vector artwork so they will look good at any size and any amount of rotation.

I believe the reason full color patterns aren’t used more is because the presets supplied simply aren’t useful to most users. Don’t worry, you can easily create custom patterns that work for you.