Reinventing the System: The New Adobe Desktop Brand

[cfig]

This topic was imported from the Typophile platform

Ran across this blog post from Adobe this morning and thought it was really fascinating, great read on the history and development of the Adobe branding for their desktop apps:
Reinventing the System: The New Adobe Desktop Brand

(also appears to hint that we'll see CS5 very soon)

[penn]

Don't like the looks of those new CS5 icons . . . taking away the nice simple squareness :(

[Thomas Phinney]

I think they will be very distinctive and functional in the Mac Dock or Windows Taskbar. Nicely done.

[dezcom]

I just hope they actually make the interfaces of all the apps work the same, include glyph palette in all, and allow stylistic sets in AI. I could care less about the icons if they don't fix the hodge/podge interface.

[Don McCahill]

Changing the interface has got to take time, when you are integrating the different interfaces from what, a half dozen companies. I think Illustrator is the only big app that is entirely Adobe-made. Even InDesign is based on PageMaker, which was Aldus. Then there is all the Macromedia stuff.

While it might seem a great idea to pick one interface, the problem is choosing which one. Folk get upset when you start moving shortcuts and workflows around on them.

I think Adobe has done a pretty good job, with the interfaces getting closer and closer together all the time. I suspect we will see more this version, but still short of perfection.

[cfig]

Totally agree on the interfaces, and I realize most people here don't do web and interactive development but if you think the interface consistency is bad for print apps you should try going back and forth between Illustrator, Photoshop, and Flash. Paste in Place from Illustrator to Flash annoys me at least once a day.

[dezcom]

Don, they are working on CS-5 in what THEY call a suite. I would buy your argument for CS-1 & 2 but by now, they need to cut the crap and get it done, already.

[TKDesign]

Mr. Phinney,

I saw you at Justified West and just wanted to say your talk was great. I am not a CSI fan but the fact you're solving crimes and lawsuits through typography is rad.

[Si_Daniels]

Maybe Steve has a valid point about Adobe being lazy :-)

Good article though, can't wait for part 2. Gauge vs Myriad!

[scannerlicker]

Well, following the logic, Adobe will probably drop the square for CS6. That would be a branding revolution: not having a thing at all.

I would love to see the meeting where Adobe's designers explain this rebranding. :P

[Dunwich Type]

I could care less about the icons if they don't fix the hodge/podge interface.

Agreed. Cutesy icons don’t make up for the glaring flaws that carry over into each successive version.

[Miguel Sousa]

@Si
The CS5 row is just a hint to what the icons will look like. The final versions are not as basic as the picture suggests.

[dezcom]

I sure hope the letters are still there in the final, Miguel! With an icon, all you really ask for is quick recognition, not art.

[Si_Daniels]

>The final versions are not as basic as the picture suggests.

Makes sense. :-)

[Bert Vanderveen]

Half open shower stalls, right?

[quadibloc]

@Don Mc Cahill:
While it might seem a great idea to pick one interface, the problem is choosing which one. Folk get upset when you start moving shortcuts and workflows around on them.

Why not let the user do the picking? If there are five applications with diverse interfaces in the suite, fully debug each of the five interface styles for each application, and make it a user-configurable setting which one is presented by the application to the user.

That way, users comfortable with the traditional interface for any of the applications can keep those interfaces, and they can set the other ones to be similar for when they move to the other applications from the one most important to them.

[Thomas Phinney]

That is a nice idea, but would be a huge increase in required testing. UI issues are a huge source of bugs for software.