Aral Balkan: Historical Archive — Adobe goes for cool new "shareware" look in CS3

Adobe goes for cool new "shareware" look in CS3

John Nack revealed the branding strategy for Adobe's next generation of products on his blog yesterday. OK, so "strategy" might be too harsh a word. More like "disaster".

Having seen the "design" for the public beta of Photoshop CS3, I was entirely hoping that they were placeholders and that it was a case of priorities; Adobe merely had not gotten round to branding the application by the time of the release. It seemed odd to me that they would release the first public beta of one of their flagship products with a splash screen and icon that looked like it was created in five minutes in Microsoft Paint. At the same time though, a nasty thought surfaced at the back of my head: "That icon sure looks like something you'd see on the Periodic Table, I hope they're not trying to be smart!"

Apparently, they were trying to be smart.

Adobe, now listen: I don't know you too well yet but since you married Macromedia, I see you as part of the family now. So I'm going to speak freely here because I care:

You're making a huge mistake with the CS3 branding.

Please get another agency (or several) to pitch for this and go back to the drawing board. The Macromedia Studio 8 production values were a step down from what we were used to in the Macromedia products and this current design is a huge tumble down a grand canyon from that even. When I look at the branding for the public beta of Photoshop CS3, one word comes to mind:

Shareware.

Your tools are used by some of the most talented graphic designers in the world. As a recent Mac convert, I can appreciate perhaps better than most the very real impact that the production values and aesthetic quality of the tools that you use on a daily basis can have on your inspiration and enthusiasm as a creative individual. More importantly, however, your branding is a reflection of the quality of your products. We still judge books by covers. At least at first, before taking a look inside. Having played with Photoshop CS3, I can attest that it is wonderful on the inside but I can't, for the life of me, understand why it comes wrapped up in a dirty old newspaper.

Please, Adobe, review this decision. It's a bad one.

Comments

Any screenshots? don't want to install the beta yet.
by sascha/hdrs on 2006-12-21 12:49:21
Chris Heilmann uploaded the periodic table image to Flickr where people are now playing the festive guess the Adobe app game. My top three favorites so far: Aw: Adobe Aww. A new app that shows slideshows of cute animals photos. Ps: Adobe Peshwari - like Photoshop, but filled with nuts and raisins En: Adobe English. An app to teach users of localised versions English so that they can understand the application icons.
by aral on 2006-12-21 13:24:40
Heres all the icons from John Nack: http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/images/wheel-o'-icons.html [Aral: Edited the link because the Url had an apostrophe in it and Wordpress was converting that to a single quotation mark.]
by chris on 2006-12-21 13:26:57
LMAO, aaah the cynicism! This is what happens when a company has to cut down on graphic designers and instead the guys from the chemical lab across the street have to do the job! ;)
by sascha/hdrs on 2006-12-21 13:44:20
There's much, much more to this story than just that single screenshot, so I can understand the immediate reaction. I'm not sure if we can get some more info out before the holidays, but I'll work on that today. Aral, I should bring "don't look like shareware" back into the shop, is that the highlight...? tx, jd/adobe
by John Dowdell on 2006-12-21 14:58:47
I think it's gotta be some joke...or perhaps Adobe is doing much worse financially than I thought?
by LEE on 2006-12-21 15:09:40
It doens't looke like shareware, it looks like a cheesey powerpoint slide.
by pixie on 2006-12-21 16:10:34
Hmm, these icons look very scientific, plain but scientific ... I actually like that! Hey who needs intuitive design anyway in 2007! ;) No, I'm not hallucinating, no I haven't smoked anything strange and no, you are not allowed to throw foul eggs at me!!
by sascha/hdrs on 2006-12-21 17:05:41
Personally, I like the new icons. Looking through my dock, I have 44 icons in there (not all of them are open apps!). Of those 15 are circular or very close to it. The crisp, square CS3 icons really stand out. As someone mentioned, it would not be a good idea if other companies did the same thing - but that is only a problem for OTHER companies. Adobe have done it first (AFAIK), and being so distinctive makes it hard for others to copy. One thing I haven't seen mentioned anywhere is how the Macromedia app colours have been continued in these new icons. Flash is red, Director is orange, Dreamweaver is green, Flex is silver/black. Why couldn't they stick with the old icons? Because they had to merge the look of the Adobe apps with the Macromedia ones. Looking at the icons that are NOT using letters, it looks like they are all plugins or display technologies, eg Flash player, Acrobat Reader, Apollo...They are the apps that users - as well as developers of course - will be installing and using. With there only being two letters in the icons, I believe your eyes will see the shape of the letters as representing an app, rather than having to read them. Is an eye easier to recognise than Ps? Is a feather? I do wonder how non-english speakers see them though. Is it easier or harder if you don't know that the shapes represent letters, which in turn represents an english word or two? In conclusion, I say good job Adobe for risking being different. I wont be changing CS3 my icons.
by kent on 2006-12-21 17:15:29
"guess the Adobe app game" So basically he's implying that that the old Photoshop icon that had a maginifying glass on it, is easier to tell its Photoshop, that an logo with Ps on it? Or the old flash application logo that just had an 'f' on it, would be easier to guess than the new one that has 'Fl' on it? I'm not saying these new ones are clearer, but they are not worse for someone who doesn't know them. The problem is for people who do know what each icon is for, as these are not that different to be able to tell apart from each other. They do stand out compared to any other icons though, and I'd love the set :).
by Tink on 2006-12-21 17:37:31
I kind of like them. I have my reservaions too, but they are quite distinctive compared to the glassy aquyy shiny stuff around right now, which, quite frankly, I'm fed up with. Not so sure about the splash screen (in two letters: ew) and I get shivers down my spine thinking about the packaging of these apps...
by mikaine on 2006-12-21 18:10:46
What if the Photoshop palette used the same design: http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/2789/cs3toolbarop4.gif Love it! :)
by aral on 2006-12-21 18:19:11
[...] I heard through the grapevine about the announcement of the Adobe CS3 icons, and it’s getting quite a bit of criticism. [...]
by BLOG by zaiss » Pretty Colors, Bad Design on 2006-12-21 20:43:02
Good one with the photoshop toolbox, Aral. However, to be a more accurate comparison, the different items should be color-coded in some way.
by Josh Tynjala on 2006-12-21 23:47:57
I am really tired of that mac aqua looking style, these new icons are really welcome, SIMPLE IS BEAUTIFUL, SIMPLE IS POWERFUL, many mac users forget about that...
by KIngofpunk on 2006-12-22 04:26:55
Im waiting for Adobe Bs to be released.
by luke on 2006-12-22 10:02:52
Hi KIngofpunk: A wise man once said "make things as simple as possible, but not simpler." Simplicity doesn't necessarily mean absolute minimalism in every case. Perhaps, in this case, we have a solution that is not as simple as possible but simpler. In other words it doesn't meet the requirements that many people have for it. Requirements that may include a level of aesthetic quality which, in the film world at least, we would call production values. Or an adherence to certain design criteria that has become expected (at least on the Mac platform).
by aral on 2006-12-22 10:16:01
aral, it seems that you had a bad experience in chemistry class. please sit down and tell me about it. LOL. woohoo! drew
by dr woohoo on 2006-12-22 17:08:06
Drew: LOL! Only if you decide to come out of hiding and come visit our lovely Brighton. Or has it been me in hiding? :)
by aral on 2006-12-22 21:37:21
To be honest, the abbreviation of the app names is just a continuation/directly influenced by what macromedia have been doing since the MX series. Although Adobe have successfully managed to up the 'yawn' factor, I can't say I'm all that surprised. In short, this brand package will never invoke the sense of inspiration that this kind lady would do with ease: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mackie/220823735/in/photostream/ :)
by Philip Bulley on 2006-12-23 20:51:32
aral. haha. no, you're right, i'm hiding. i'm working on a couple of special projects right now in my mad laboratory that occupy all of my free time. but, i should be finished sculpting the code in a month or two, so maybe in toronto this spring we can talk about chemistry sets. LOL. happy holidays everyone, dr woohoo!
by dr woohoo on 2006-12-24 16:12:26