Are.na Alternative: Why Visual Designers Are Switching to Mare

The Problem with Are.na

Are.na is beautiful. It’s minimal, thoughtful, and appeals to the “slow web” aesthetic. But for working designers, it has critical limitations:

  • No quick capture - Adding references requires too many clicks
  • No visual search - Can’t find “that blue gradient from 3 months ago”
  • Limited organization - Channels are flat, no nested collections
  • No client sharing - Can’t create private share links for mood boards

What Designers Actually Need

After talking to 50+ visual designers who tried Are.na and left, here’s what they wanted:

  1. Instant save - Screenshot → organized in 2 seconds
  2. Visual memory - “Show me everything with coral pink”
  3. Project hierarchy - Client → Project → Subcategory → References
  4. Frictionless sharing - Clients view boards without signing up

Mare: Built for Working Designers

Quick Capture

  • Browser extension: right-click any image → auto-tagged and saved
  • Screenshot tool: drag selection → instant upload with OCR text extraction
  • Mobile: share sheet integration for saving from Instagram, Pinterest, etc.

Search by:

  • Color palette (dominant + accent colors auto-extracted)
  • Composition (grid, full-bleed, centered, etc.)
  • Style tags (brutalist, editorial, minimalist)
  • Text content (OCR reads text in images)

Project Organization

Acme Branding (Client)
├── Logo Exploration
│   ├── Geometric Marks
│   └── Organic Shapes
├── Color Studies
│   ├── Warm Palettes
│   └── Cool Palettes
└── Typography
    ├── Serif Options
    └── Sans Options

Client Sharing

  • Public view links (no login required)
  • Password protection
  • Commenting enabled/disabled per board
  • Export to PDF for presentations

Real Designer Workflows

Before Are.na:

“I loved the vibe but I was spending 10 minutes organizing what took 30 seconds to find. My clients couldn’t view my boards without creating accounts.” — Sarah K., Brand Designer

After switching to Mare:

“I save 50+ references per day without breaking flow. My clients get links and can comment directly. It’s invisible infrastructure.” — Sarah K., 3 months later

Feature Comparison

FeatureAre.naMare
Aesthetic focus✅ High✅ High
Quick capture❌ No✅ Yes
Visual search❌ No✅ Yes
Nested collections❌ Flat✅ Hierarchical
Client sharing❌ Account required✅ Public links
Color extraction❌ No✅ Auto
OCR text search❌ No✅ Yes
Mobile app⚠️ Limited✅ Full-featured

Who Should Use Are.na vs Mare?

Choose Are.na if:

  • You’re curating for curation’s sake
  • You value the community/social aspect
  • Your collections are small and personal
  • You don’t need to share with clients

Choose Mare if:

  • You’re a working designer with deadlines
  • You save 20+ references per day
  • You need to find things quickly
  • You share mood boards with clients
  • Your reference library is 1000+ items

Migration from Are.na

Moving your Are.na channels to Mare takes about 10 minutes:

  1. Export your Are.na channels as CSV
  2. Import to Mare (preserves channel structure)
  3. Auto-tag - Mare analyzes images and suggests tags
  4. Done - Start capturing new references immediately

Try Mare Free

  • 14-day free trial
  • No credit card required
  • Import your Are.na export in one click
  • Full feature access during trial

[Start Free Trial →]

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