According to TechCrunch, Autodesk just acquired Creative Market, a startup that acts as a marketplace for digital content like fonts, icons and templates. Autodesk hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but TechCrunch cites a blog post by Creative Market founder and CEO Darius ‘Bubs’ Monsel which muses that
Can this champion of design software [Autodesk — Ed.] extend its legacy to empower designers and makers of all levels? We believe the answer is “yes” so much that we’ve decided to join them and to continue building this community and our tools and marketplace as part of the Autodesk Consumer Group. And we have big plans to help lead them into a future where beautiful design can be simple and accessible to everyone. Helping people “imagine, design and create a better world” is Autodesk’s mission, but it’s also been our driving force for us since we launched almost a decade.
I wasn’t aware of Creative Market until just now. The company says it is a “platform for handcrafted, mousemade design content from independent creatives around the world.” A cruise around the shops in the marketplace shows WordPress themes, icon libraries, fonts, patterns, images — all sorts of materials that, in a physical world, might be bought at a local craft supplies shop.
It’s an interesting play on Autodesk’s part, if it turns out to be true. Autodesk’s offering addressed two distinct audience with advanced design and engineering tools for corporate users and nifty apps for casual consumers. These creative stylings will appeal to both audiences: wage slaves trying to jazz up reports and presentations, and artists working on their portfolios.
TechCrunch also highlights one important competitive aspect to Autodesk’s acquisition of Creative Market:
Last year, Creative Market launched a Photoshop extension that let people effectively sell and buy assets from its marketplace directly within the Photoshop app. If this extension remains intact, what it will do is give Autodesk a direct link into the world of professionals who are using Adobe’s flagship design product.
We’ll update when/if Autodesk issues an official release about the acquisition.
