It takes well over a year to design, execute, deliver, and ensure the proper implementation of the roughly 5,000 or so assets it takes to get a CS release out the door (we’re already thinking about CS7). Along the away, there are innumerable institutional, technological, and political hurdles to overcome. It can be daunting, but we do everything we can to get it made with as few design compromises as possible.
We know that every release requires change and that the change will make some people unhappy. Like many of you, we are life-long users and fans of the tools, and we do our best to create something that we can be proud of, knowing full well that some people will not agree with our choices. Then again, if no one reacts negatively, it’s probably not very interesting.
In this regard, we consider our work for CS6 a success. We achieved our design goals, met the technical requirements, and shipped it more or less in the form we imagined. If you’ve ever done design work for a big company, you will understand why this is cause for celebration.
As we write this, CS6 has just shipped, and the first reactions are starting to appear on the web. Though much of this may be new to you, we’ve been staring at it for more than a year and have come to really love these bright little icons, illustrative splashes, and other elements. We hope you will too.
Goals & Requirements
Whenever we prepare for a Creative Suite release, we start off with a list of technical requirements and design goals. Here’s what we wanted to accomplish from an experience standpoint:
- Expressive. The product splash screens for CS3 and CS4 were basically extensions of the product icons. This helped establish the powerful color system that we now rely on for our brand. Having done this for two releases, there was some leeway in CS5 to do something a little different, and we had an opportunity to push it even further for CS6. We wanted to get back to the more expressive nature of pre-CS Adobe products while keeping what we loved about the past few iterations.
- Interaction with the desktop. Our work lives in and interacts with the OS. We were interested in what ways we might exploit the parameters and limitations of those interactions.
- Back to squares. The folded-plane icons of CS5 were a reaction to the splash screens. While we liked the aesthetic, there are a ton of reasons to avoid non-square forms for brand assets. For instance, the CS5 icons tend to be awkward as avatars for social media and don’t translate to mobile environments.
- Creating a Creative Suite brand segment. After we launched CS3, the default move for Adobe applications was to simply throw them on a square and give them a two-letter designation. That worked great when we had 20-ish products, but we’ve now got well over 100 and have long abandoned this practice. We wanted to create something that would be unique to Creative Suite.
- A more cohesive connection to marketing imagery / packaging. More on this later, but in a nutshell, we wanted to partner as closely as possible with our marketing department and external agencies to try to make the two experiences relate to each other.
Our work is functional and must be optimized for the contexts in which it will be consumed. There’s a lot of ins and outs, but the basic requirements are fairly straightforward:
- Legible. Application icons should be distinguishable from one another at small icon sizes, on file icons, and in the OS. Icons must be differentiable beyond color and should be legible for color blind persons via shape, letter-forms, tone, or other method.
- Differentiable. Application icons must be visually distinguishable from the previous two version’s icons since many customers run concurrent versions of a product on one machine.
- Flexible. There must be enough flexibility in the branding system to accommodate the variations across the product line and allow for appropriate icons for products, product line extensions, technologies, servers, and a large range of file types.
- Credible. The branding system must be credible to our creative audience. This doesn’t mean everyone has to like it, or that it is non-controversial. It means that it adheres to core design principles around typography, color, composition, etc. In other words, we should make something we’re proud of.
- Consistent. The equity of our brand is built through consistent execution. While allowing for the occasional technical limitation, the icons, splash screens, and other high-visibility branding areas should vary as little as possible from product to product or should vary in a highly prescribed way. Each product is part of a system, the sum of which defines our brand experience.
We Start With Color
None of us were part of the team that rebranded Creative Suite for CS3 (that work was done by our friend and colleague Ryan Hicks). Like many people, when we first saw the CS3 rebrand with the now iconic two-letter mnemonic system, we weren’t all that impressed. However, once we had it on our desktops and spent some time with it we fell in love. It was a system that embraced timeless design, clear communication, and modernism. The icons became the most identifiable part of your desktop, with each tool easily distinguishable. Other people loved the system too and were drawn to the colored squares—they are copied, transformed, and turned into tzotchkes on a daily basis.
Whenever we start thinking about a new Creative Suite release, we like to start with the colors—and by extension—the icons. Since we wanted the CS offerings to all feel like part of a family—a toolbox—we thought it appropriate to place them within a single, continuous, logical color spectrum. It’s hard to talk about color without a good visual reference, so let’s start with the color choices from CS3 and Cs5:
In terms of value and saturation, prior vintages varied quite a bit. What we wanted was something more like this:
We began creating a variety of color models, like these saturation tests:
And from there we worked on figure-ground relationships:
We finally landed on the forms you see below. These icons are bright and bold. We love this and pushed it as hard as we could. If you see just one or two, they stick out a bit, but when lined up chromatically (as so many of us like to do), they own the dock… or any other context.
There’s also a subtle bit of transparency in the tiles which is most notable in the dock and in the app switcher. That transparency enables them to interact with elements in the OS (a theme that plays out in other elements as well) and it means that their color will vary slightly, depending on where they appear.
Arranging the CS6 icons around a color wheel demonstrates their (relatively) equal distribution and the fact that they all share the same level of brightness and contrast. You’ll notice there’s a bit more space between Dreamweaver and Fireworks as the in-between colors are hard for most people to differentiate (these products are traditionally green and yellow, respectively). There are a lot of these little trade-offs.
The Splash
The splash screens have (almost) always been the centerpiece of the desktop brand experience. Some people say they are a relic of a bygone era, or bely an experience that is bloated, but we still love them and believe they’re an immutable part of the Adobe experience—and heritage—for better or worse.
For many years, Adobe’s splash screens were illustrative and intricate and, for their time, were pretty impressive pieces of digital artwork. They taunted you, suggesting that if only you were skilled enough at Photoshop or Illustrator then you, too, could create something like this.
When Adobe and Macromedia merged, they needed a new system that could accomodate a much larger tool set, and the illustrative work was wisely abandoned in favor of a systematic approach. As a result, the splash screens for CS3 and CS4 largely became an extension of the icon.
Pursuing this approach through CS3 and CS4 established a pattern that gave us a little bit of freedom to try something new with CS5. We kept the geometry idea, but lost the rectangles. It was a bit of a departure, but not too much of one.
What we wanted to do this time was extend things just a bit further. We debated at length about whether it was more appropriate to do something evolutionary, as with CS5, or to break the mold a bit. We didn’t want to make something new just for the sake of making something new.
The Continuum of Expressiveness
Experiments, Experiments, Experiments
Holy cow, did we try some things. First, we played with the idea of extending the geometric language from CS5, experimenting with dozens of grids and schemes, some more practical than others.
Since we were interested in texture, we started exploring organic forms.
Next, we began experiments on how the two languages might work together.
Ultimately, however, we found that the complexity of the textures worked best with simple geometry. We decided to start thinking about the splash screens as a canvas of sorts—a simple echo of the icon as it had been in CS3 and CS4. The two letter mnemonic system used by Adobe is reminiscent of the two letters used in the Periodic Table of Elements. Coupled with the textures, the splash screens began to feel like a visual representation of “elements” of creativity.
Bridging the Gap
About the time we were starting to hone in on the basic design language that would inform our work for CS6, we started checking in with our colleagues on the marketing side of the house, and they showed us some early versions of the imagery they were working on. Their work centered around human faces being used as a sort of canvas in much the same way we were thinking of our splash screens as a canvas. From that point forward, we collaborated closely with them to make sure the textures and colors were aligned for each product.
We began making textures by extracting bits and pieces from the marketing imagery that was being executed in parallel to our work. This is easier said than done. We couldn’t rely on any layer effects like “multiply” to get the transparency, since ultimately, we needed to output PNG files with their own alpha, and the textures had to work against any background, since we can’t account for how our user’s desktop might look.
As an example, here’s the imagery for AfterEffects and the textural component we crafted from dozens of original photographs:
And here’s that same textural language integrated into the actual splash screen:
Other Pieces
The icons and splash screens always get the most attention, but there are a lot of smaller elements to the system as well. These include file type icons, install assets, welcome banners, “About” screens, and other little pieces you’ve probably never considered.
The file icons have had a pretty consistent look for a number of years now and this was really the first opportunity we’ve had to take a fresh look at them. We’ve been doing a lot of “flattening out” of our work over the last few years and decided to extend that into these icons as well. The flat look also works particularly well when reduced down to 16 pixels, the most common size seen in the OS.
The “About” screens also got a new treatment this round and most of our product teams have standardized how these are handled. Like the other elements, they make use of transparency:
To give you a sense of how many brand assets are created for a given product, here’s a cross-section of how the system played out for Dreamweaver:
Show and Tell
Without further ado, here are all of the splash screens, presented in chromatic order:
Credits
The Adobe Brand Experience design team is Shawn Cheris (manager, designer), Sonja Hernandez (designer), and Sam Wick (designer). CS6 would have been infinitely more challenging without the superb support from our (former) Project Manager, Bradee Evans. Special thanks to Kim Pimmel, who was kind enough to provide us with a hard drive full of his incredible photography for prototyping. His work is the basis for the Encore imagery.
We had the full support of our management, Ty Lettau (Director, Experience Design) and Michael Gough (VP, Experience Design).
Adobe’s Brand Strategy team, Siri Lackovic and Alison Tre, are invaluable partners who help us get things out the door, among other feats.
We collaborated closely with our colleagues from marketing, Eddie Yuen and John Caponi, who in turn provided art direction to Tolleson Design for the packaging and marketing imagery.
By Michel May 16, 2012 - 10:57 pm
So, Ryan Hicks is no more part of the Adobe xD team?…
That’d explain the horrible color choices for the Adobe Fireworks CS6 branding…
By ev149 May 26, 2012 - 2:07 am
There all nice except for the Fw one, it looks too urine-yellow to me.
By pancha villa May 26, 2012 - 6:45 pm
i totally agree. colors are horrible. the concept may be clear but it doesn’t matter what your concept is if the end result it’s gonna look so tacky.
By J October 5, 2012 - 2:51 am
I think the designs are great and creative, except for illustrator. The background is just like
a folded paper.
By Shawn Cheris May 16, 2012 - 11:00 pm
Actually, he’s still here and working on our Creative Cloud offering.
By Jake Barlow May 17, 2012 - 6:03 am
It’s great to see the process detailed so thoroughly, but I find the results disappointing. With CS4 and CS5, I actually got a small bit of delight looking at the product icons. With CS6, I get disappointment instead. It doesn’t really affect me enough to normally be noteworthy, but in the context of how you arrived at these results, it’s worth the mention. You’ve gotten many of the smaller details right (i.e., targeting 16 px), but overall, it’s a big let down. Brown in the Ai icon? Really?
By ElegantArtist June 3, 2012 - 7:37 pm
I respect the creativity but as you’ve mentioned the results were quite disappointing.
By James May 17, 2012 - 1:19 pm
The Adobe Dreamweaver icon is like retiling my kitchen for the art deco era.
By Prescott Perez-Fox May 17, 2012 - 2:11 pm
As a designer, I find this post really interesting and I can definitely geek out over the science and logic behind this process. But I do have two specific questions:
Why did you change the colour for Bridge? It’s been in the Suite for several versions, and many users have the association with dark red/orange. Was there a determination that Flash Builder is more important and therefore got seniority for colour choice?
Similarly, regarding Bridge, it seems to be the only app that doesn’t have a Splash Screen which is nice because it loads super-quick. Wouldn’t it be a nice solution to this problem to try and engineer a way for apps to launch faster and therefore not require a splash screen? As much as I enjoy a good bit of graphic goodness, the less we see of splash screens the better.
By Davros May 17, 2012 - 2:24 pm
Yes Adobe, you start thinking about CS7. Meanwhile the rest of the world is still wondering if its worth spending £20k to upgrade a design studio from CS5 to CS5.5 (an unnecessary ghetto of an upgrade), let alone CS6.
By Shawn Cheris May 17, 2012 - 5:47 pm
Have you seen the new subscription pricing? It’s $29/mo for existing customers for the first year and I think there are multi-seat subscription deals, too. I think that’s a pretty good deal. I won’t comment on 5.5, but I’ve been playing with 6 for a while and it’s a pretty nice upgrade.
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativecloud.html
By Dave May 19, 2012 - 4:34 pm
Yes, you try to dig your head out of the sand. Meanwhile the rest of the world has switched to subscription based licenses and will not be charged additionally for updates in the future.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:27 am
I couldn’t agree more with Dave and Shawn – if you were not aware of the subscription packages, perhaps somebody else should be dealing with the upgrade for your studio?
By Paul May 25, 2012 - 1:40 pm
Of course $29 a month sounds great but really? So firstly let’s go with $29*12 so it’s going to cost me $348 a license for year 1 only. bear in mind that I no longer own Creative Suite at this point so if I ever in the future stop paying that monthly fee, I have no software. Year 2? Well at least $49 per month but of course once I’m on a subscription there’s absolutely nothing to stop Adobe hiking up the monthly fee to whatever they want. So now I’ve paid $936 for 2 years of usage and again, if I stop paying, no more software. Of course when you look at the Master Collection pricing this can seem really, really attractive BUT for the majority of the market that don’t buy Master Collection and only need Photoshop or Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, it means even as a longtime user I’m almost buying the software again after two years and if I was a new user I am buying it again every two years. Great pricing model if you’re Adobe because you just figured out how to take twice as much money off of every user every 2 years plus you know you have everyone locked in with no where to go. Don’t get me wrong, if I want to add a couple of temporary licenses for extra staff for a limited period of time, this is a great option but for everyone else this route just leaves a monopoly even more in control and me even further out of pocket. Maybe it’s everyone else that should wake up on this one. For now perpetual licenses make much better economic sense for customers because they get to decide, based on features, whether it’s worth the investment to upgrade or not.
By Bob May 25, 2012 - 3:15 pm
Actually, the plan is quite disappointing once you get to look at it. Instead of truly being $50/month or $30/month for students, its $360/year. As a non-graphics art student myself, there’s no way I’m going to pay $360 for software that I can substitute free alternatives for almost seamlessly.
If you buy it by the month, it then becomes a ridiculous $80/month. So those month or two temp licenses you mentioned are going to cost $80/month. If adobe made it $30/$50 per month on a month by month basis, I think the plan would be much more appealing.
By Desmond July 27, 2012 - 2:20 pm
I agree Davros.
As a user who began using Adobe Illustrator when it was first released for Windows way back in 1990-ish when Photoshop was still on version 3, PageMaker was version 5 and Premier was just released as version 4, it seems it was only shortly after that Adobe’s products were buggy releases just to keep in time with Macromedia and *cough* Corel – without any due regard for its existing user base.
If only Adobe had kept to quality, stable, bug-free releases with patches that fixed things and kept their product line running stable they would have cornered the graphics market with a doubt… when it could.
The last product I bought, to my horror, was CS4. I still feel burned by that acquisition. At least the bread and butter applications still work: Photoshop and Illustrator. Pagemaker was dropped in favour of InDesign (now on par with Quark) but all the video editing abilities of that suite are simply… rubbish. They’re unreliable, unstable and crash a lot.
Before this the last major Adobe purchase I made was an upgrade to Illustrator version 7, and although I was apprehensive of buying CS4, I did it anyway… and what a mistake. But like everything else you have to move on and upgrade when a new OS comes out which forces you to do so.
I always had an issue with Macromedia’s cluttered UI but at least they had stable products, and in a way I was glad Adobe and Macromedia merged/were bought out. I thought this would be the best of both worlds! Not true.
If Adobe decides to charge monthly as they say they will, I think they will seriously lose market share even further. Large studios may be able to afford it, but there is better software out there at competitive prices, and good support. The vendors want their products to be recognised. Increasingly, the video editing segment is being cornered by the *very expensive* (and stable) Unix/Linux platforms which I can’t afford, while “Independents” will look elsewhere for a software solution which is increasingly more afforable.
I don’t think Adobe thought this one through entirely.
By Steve Haslip May 17, 2012 - 2:26 pm
It seems like a confusing mix of complementary colors for some apps related by discipline, and others who have a strong existing relationship to a color. i.e. Photoshop and Blue.
It seems like After Effects and Premiere are far too similar now, and people use these apps side by side every day. They each wen’t from a distinct, ownable color to virtually the same hue. This may look great on a color spectrum diagram but users (even designers) don’t care about the rationalization of the idea if it comes at the expense of usability.
By Jake Holzman June 19, 2012 - 9:29 pm
I couldn’t agree with Steve more.
I think I was most surprised and dissapointed by the change of colors. Especially with illustrator and fireworks. They’ve been basically the same for the past 3 Suites so I’ve gotten so used to going to that specific color to open them up not really the text on the icon persay. The 3D folded design was awesome. It was modern, simple, elegant, and yet still really cool. It kept up with the style of design in general. This whole step to organic textures and such are a step backwards to the beginning of CS.
I hope that when CS7 comes it will be back to the opac, geometrical designs and the old colors. You don’t need to reinvent yourself every time you come out with another Suite.
Thank god it’s not hard to use a program to change CS6 icons with the CS5 ones on my computer cause that’s what I’m doin.
By Brad G May 17, 2012 - 7:52 pm
I absolutely loved the CS5 branding. The elegant origami feel was risky but really paid off. The CS6 branding just doesn’t hit me the same way. I find the splash screens really busy and the colours aren’t really doing it for me. The Illustrator CS6 splash screen is kind of eye catching though. I think you were onto something there. It ties in with CS5′s look quite a bit. Great blog post in any case.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:29 am
I have to disagree with this – I think the hard work has definitely paid off and the splash screens are extremely impressive. I am not 100% sure about the icons, but the splash screens are appealing and creative.
By Isaac May 27, 2012 - 10:32 am
Funny, the Illustrator splash screen is the one which I dislike the most. The visual composition just seems off to me. The concept has potential but the execution is not doing it for me. Some of the others are definitely neat.
By J October 5, 2012 - 3:02 am
I agree with Isaac. Illustrator’s splash really doesn’t look very good. What I did is locate the splash.png file and edit it with photoshop. My new splash doesn’t look any better, I just didn’t like the look of illustrator’s splash
By Thomas Philp May 17, 2012 - 8:19 pm
That was a great article to read. Thanks!
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[...] CS6 ir savs stāsts par to, kā tika veidota tās identitāte. Kā vienmēr interesants. Saite šeit. Pamats attīstībai līdzīgs, bet galarezultāts, protams, [...]
By Tilo Rust May 17, 2012 - 9:03 pm
And here is the Big-Chart, an interactive PDF bringing all the applications into a technical consent (and additional 90 more from Adobe) http://tilorust.com/adobe-big-chart/
(Download free english verison as PDF.)
By Shawn Cheris May 17, 2012 - 9:07 pm
Wow that’s crazy! In an upcoming post, we’ll have to post our own chart showing how we organize our brand.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:30 am
Definitely want to see that
By Andree Proulx June 4, 2012 - 3:29 pm
I agree it is pretty crazy, I might add scary too. Look forward seeing your own chart. Amongst the obvious observations: there seems to be some disconnect between mobile style and desktop. Is that intentional?
By Christopher Coveney May 17, 2012 - 10:29 pm
Absolutely love the CS6 Splash Screens! Spectacular! Great Job. Who’s responsible?
By Shawn Cheris May 17, 2012 - 11:01 pm
Us. The Brand Experience Team. See the “credits” section at the end of the article.
By Isaac May 27, 2012 - 10:35 am
You did read the post right?
By Michal Janowski May 17, 2012 - 11:18 pm
My #1 feature request for C6 and next releases: an option for switching the splash screen OFF.
The After Effects splash screen is horrible. The Photoshop splash looks like it was build from stock vectors from Istockphoto. I could go on. I just close my eyes on startup.
The effort behind the logical explanation of this system impressive, but who cares if the result is – to put it mildly – an insult for the eyes???
The whole Suite design and packaging looks like designed by an raver on pill overdose, who stared vomiting in neon colors. Seriously Adobe, there’s no logical explanation for this…
By Enrique June 3, 2012 - 2:55 pm
Totally agree with your comment. Would be nice to turn the splash screen off, I feel embarrassed whenever I see the AI splash, don’t know why. You can change the icons, but the ugly squared, vector stock-ish splash screens remains there.
By Goop May 17, 2012 - 11:24 pm
Love the splash screens, could go either either way with the product icons, but the thing that really hits me is the file icons – they’ve lost a lot of their charm…
By Camilla Golden May 17, 2012 - 11:28 pm
I’m getting a bit nauseous loking at all that splash and effect.
I can follow the process, up until the last couple of (missing) steps,
which should have been:
Simplify, simplify, clarify, refine,
toss decoration, toss cheesy effects,
boil down to iconic simplicity.
THEN you’d be providing a beautiful work environment for the design world.
By Ty Lettau May 18, 2012 - 10:00 pm
You should do a Google search for CS3 Branding and look for things written about the time it launched. “Simplify” was exactly what we got slammed for. People missed the old expressiveness of the Starfish and Feather (even though those metaphors meant nothing.) This is the next logical evolution – a simple system that also is a bit more expressive than the past.
You can’t please all of the people all of the time. But in past releases, once people used them for a while, they grew to love them each and every time.
By Jay May 19, 2012 - 4:08 pm
Who’s gonna love the Photoshop splash? that one looks like my little sister was having fun with some random vector brushes
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:34 am
I would like to see you do better? Exactly what is your non-constructive criticism meant to achieve? I think the splash screens are creative and innovative and if you don’t like them then pull up another window while the application starts up.
I really don’t understand all these complaints and the negativity – job well done in my opinion.
By Mark Alan Thomas June 26, 2012 - 8:47 pm
Good design is taking away — eliminating the unnecessary — thus the obvious way to improve these awful splash screens is to reduce them to simple rectangles containing just the application icon and name, or to get rid of them completely.
By Mandy May 25, 2012 - 5:56 pm
Agreed, I think this looks exactly like a splash screen set you’d download off of some kid on deviantArt, not the splash screens of a company that keeps buying smaller companies in order to position itself (or create a monopoly) as the go-to for design software. Insulting.
By Buck Sommerkamp May 18, 2012 - 1:20 am
This is great — it’s always fun to learn how the concepts went from idea to execution when we fire up our tools. I actually really like the new icons because they have enough contrast to be seen well at small sizes (now that there are more of them in the dock/quick launch bar!).
Thanks for a deep excursion into the art and science of brand imagery.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:35 am
I agree, thanks for taking the time to make this post. An interesting read and I have renewed appreciation for the artwork and imagery that comes along with CS6
By Rich McCoy May 18, 2012 - 2:22 am
Hell I like these, I like that you have explained the rational even more,its a good example to set the creative community.
With regards the somewhat subjective negative feedback, who cares, I’m a little disappointed that my fellows in the creative community can be so reactive and silly enough to comment about closing there eyes at start up screens, really…
You have illustrated the rational, and it is sound, and the outcome, in my opinion is perfectly pleasant.
Good work guys
By Michal Janowski May 18, 2012 - 10:34 am
Dear “fellow member of the creative community”.
As a member of the creative community you’ve probably hear a few times about form following function.
Now take a look at this, thats the CS6 packaging showcase:
http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2012/4/27/adobe-creative-suite-6.html
Now imagine you switch the cover images between apps: swich PS with AE, Indesign with Flash, etc. See any difference? No, because those images mean nothing, there’s no message.
I always thought that design is much more than creating something fancy and gorgeous looking.
Besides, your opinion is as subjective as mine…
So I repeat to clarify my previous post: Adobe’s essay about the design process is impressive and is a great lesson for all of us. But the general look is a serious acid trip, not something I would like to see on a daily basis.
By Ty Lettau May 18, 2012 - 10:20 pm
Michael,
I’d challenge your criticism about “message” and citing “form follows function” here. Since we are talking about software packages and splash screens, I’d invite you to provide examples of software packaging that are literal. Apple names their OS after cats and shows pictures of said cats. Microsoft Office uses color, very similarly to how we do. The point is… these canvases have no real function other than “make me want it.” Since this is creative software, I’d argue that having a these images and splashes be largely about expressiveness and creativity is pretty much exactly form following function. Also, you should know that the wait time for loading apps would not change one bit with or without the Splash screen. We look at it as giving you something to look at and reaffirming that the app is starting. Without the Splash screen, a longer load can seem like a crash or error.
There is always a strong reaction to our Brand. And that’s a good thing. It shows how much of people’s daily lives our apps really are. That people care at all is a great thing. But every time we do this, it’s always the same. After a few months, these things grow on you. We don’t design them for the first 5 minutes, we design them for extended use. And if I’ve learned anything with every release starting with CS3, it’s that people come to appreciate these systems in terms of use. You may be one of the people that just don’t like it and never will, but the odds are in favor of them growing on you. So I guess we’ll wait and see.
By Michal Janowski May 21, 2012 - 9:47 am
Hi,
Thanks for the comment. As for the packaging – I understand – the concept is to show some inspiring artworks, and the message is – look what cool things you can make with Creative Suite.
As for “growing on me” – you’re right, this happens. I was also critical about the CS3 icons, the first Adobe “periodical table”. Today I think it was a brilliant idea, they are the most legible icons in my dock
Still, I think this whole idea went on a ravey, fluorescent acid trip. I hope it gets back from drug rehab in CS7
By Dana Bell May 23, 2012 - 9:39 pm
These things grow on you. That’s unfortunate. It’s as if it doesn’t really matter what it looks like. You’ll get used to them over time. That doesn’t sound like good principles for design of any kind.
Corporate Identity concepts suggest that a company’s logo design should make it easier for clients to recognize the brand, even though it may gradually change over time. That includes the color. Suddenly recoloring all of the products icons isn’t the best way to insure that customers identify the product by the color anymore.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:38 am
Dana I am sorry to say that you completely missed the point.
By Evan Pine May 18, 2012 - 4:18 am
Absolutely the best set of icons yet. They look great on the dock, just takes a bit of getting used like the new dark gray workspace, but now I wouldn’t have it any other way.
By GAntico May 18, 2012 - 8:39 am
It would be interesting to know something more about the process of organising and sorting the applications by colour. Were you free to decide it, was a marketing decision or something else?
Video apps seem in reverse order if you think about the common workflow, that might usually be: Pl > Pr > Ae > Sg > Au > En. It’s a bit strange to have Pr side by side with Id, but even more puzzling is the position of Flash, far away from Dreamweaver and close to Id, but probably it makes sense thinking about applications made with Id and Fl.
Great job anyway!
By Shawn Cheris May 18, 2012 - 2:41 pm
There are a number of factors that go into deciding the colors. There are some things that are set in stone. Users are accustomed to Photoshop being blue so we can’t exactly change it to yellow. InDesign has always been roughly magenta or mauve. With each shift of the color set from version to version, we map the old color to the new one. So Photoshop isn’t the same blue it was last time, but it’s the same blue relative to the other products in the new spectrum. It’s a matter of tradition or what some might call brand equity. There’s also always a few new ones each time, too, and that requires a little nudging here and there.
Trying to assign meaning to the system (workflow order, related technologies, etc.) is a game of rapidly diminishing returns. It’s extremely subjective (and therefore unsolvable), so what makes sense to one person, product group, marketing manager, or user might not make sense to another.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:40 am
Thanks for answering, definitely an interesting question.
By Andy Malhan May 18, 2012 - 9:28 am
I like this a lot, it’s always interesting to follow someone else’s process. Thanks for sharing, and for the record, good job!
By Bas May 18, 2012 - 10:47 am
I get the feeling it’s more aimed at the ‘happy amateur’ than the design professionial. Am I right?
By Komnas Papadopoulos May 18, 2012 - 12:23 pm
The first splash screen i saw was the one of Photoshop. I was like, omg, what the hell did they smoke before creating this? I hated it. But isnt this our first reaction to everything new? If we loved it would mean its something that we have already seen and are familiar to it.
People here created something amazing, something never seen before. I personally love splashs screens, in fact i intalled the whole trial master suite only to see the splashs screens since not all were available from day one.
Now everytime i switch to cs5, it feels old. And its only been a few days since the release date. So i belive that the team did its job, created something stunning, something fresh.
Congrats!
By Ty Lettau May 18, 2012 - 10:05 pm
The thing that I think a lot of people don’t realize, and Shawn specifically points out in this article… We have these things loaded on our desktops for about 6 months prior to the release. So when we launch and everyone has their visceral reactions to the “newness” of it, we’ve been living with them for a long time. We wouldn’t release something that we didn’t think people would like after than initial shock wore off.
So thanks for making your point, we wish everyone would think about it that way.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:43 am
Don’t get bogged down by all the negativity on this post. I think that firstly people like to have a good moan and rant, that’s standard. Secondly, there is bound to be bias on comment threads like this, people who dislike the splash screens are going to find this post just so they can air their opinions.
By sylvester September 26, 2012 - 1:46 am
great point about our reaction to new things.
By Roland Roy May 18, 2012 - 12:40 pm
Some of the colors would not have been my first choice but they are easy to spot which is my main concern. The splash page designs are very cool. Thank you for sharing the process!
Based on some of the feedback, it might be a good idea to have some type of “Creative Idol” contest to see what some of these other creatives can come up with and then let the community vote on their work. Maybe tie the process into the social networks (i.e.Pinterest , Flickr) and provide incentives for participation and prizes for the winner(s). Crowdsourcing under the guise of a contest?
By nooko May 20, 2012 - 9:56 am
A creative contest, based on clear colour guidelines, is a great idea!
By murtiyano May 18, 2012 - 4:03 pm
Acımasız olacak belki ama. Simgelerin şeklinin rezalet olması bir yana renkler gerçekten felaket. Eğer alırsam herhalde bütün simgeleri değiştirmeden kullanamam.
Terrible
By ulises bolivar May 18, 2012 - 7:57 pm
excelente info,
y me gusta mucho el nuevo ps6
By Allen Cobb May 18, 2012 - 11:28 pm
Terrific article — thanks for going into so much detail, with illustrations, too. I’ve worked with product identification, and some corporate identity programs, and the complexities are interwoven in so many dimensions it can become a true nightmare. Sadly, the nightmare usually results in horrendous or forgettable designs. These new icons and splashes are quite wonderful, to my eye (and mind), and when you consider how soon they’ll all have to be replaced, it’s a minor miracle that you guys were supported in this much effort to make them coherent and usable. I’m delighted to live with them for a year or so, and I hope you have even more fun with CS7.
By John Hawkinson May 19, 2012 - 2:50 am
I thought it was odd that InCopy CS6 got such a pedestrian treatment… and it didn’t even make the list above of “all” imagery
By Steve Ashley May 19, 2012 - 7:19 am
Absolutely great work! Fresh, intuitive, inspiring… Best Yet!
(and I have been using your products since the late 80′s)
By Mery May 19, 2012 - 8:44 am
Looks like Lady Gaga’s software this time. Also mixed with chemistry, like the periodic table. Looks like it’s going to make you feel sick and I even sense an acid smell :/ You really did a really great job when it comes to the technic part but I personally don’t like it :S
By Vasil May 19, 2012 - 9:14 pm
The Ps splash screen is absolutely horrible. One of the flagship products of Adobe gets the worst treatment. One reader commented the it looks like some stock vectors were thrown and the horrible drop shadows are just plain bad. When you put too much sience in art you get mess.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:44 am
I hope, I really hope, that you are not a designer.
By chandra June 1, 2012 - 2:24 am
yeah, that “too much science” is a wack comment…
i do find the splash screens are not attractive, colors used are gloomy because of the black/grey inside the box, they can be used used differently to convey the spirit of creation. and the texture can be less abstract, as in they can be used to attach some more meaningful association with the software. design wise i think the form in those textures doesn’t relate with anything of the software represented, which is an opportunity lost imho.
but great job with the post explaining the design process, of course there will always be someone who hate the result.
By nooko May 20, 2012 - 9:46 am
My 5 cents.
Good you have regular intervals in apps color ranges.
BUT
Sorry guys…my feedback as a visual designer is highly negative about splash screens !!!
Almost can’t find a proper word to express how disturbing and messy they are: like some random Photoshop user just found a bunch of freebies and threw them on a few layers.
I would expect something more elegant, minimal.
These apps are “tools” and should be as neutral as possible, don’t try to make them “artworks”, please.
By nooko May 20, 2012 - 9:54 am
BTW… I’m in prerelease program…and I’m not afraid of “new” things.
If new is better than old my eye can usually get it at once, but even after months these splashes look “wrong” like a broken computer screen to me.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:47 am
” These apps are “tools” and should be as neutral as possible, don’t try to make them “artworks”, please. ”
Care to justify that comment? I personally couldn’t disagree more and I think that is a pretty stupid thing to say. For example…
” This car is for driving and should be as neutral as possible, don’t try to make it an “artwork” please. ”
Why on earth should tools be neutral – creativity and expression is something that should be applied to all walks of life, not reserved for special occasions.
By Kris November 28, 2012 - 2:10 am
Hi Jake, I’m late to the party here but I’m not sure about your analogy. I agree with the original statement that this is a professional product used to design other products/brands/ packaging etc. Of course a car can be designed to be as appealing as possible and even aspire to be a piece of artwork. But a car is used to get from A to B, a car is not used to design other cars.
I’m afraid it does feel like stock artwork to some degree. We have the square/rectangle boxes reminiscent of the old school Adobe screens. These are strong shapes with hard edges and then we have all sorts of stuff thrown in around them, gradients, drop shadows, angles, curves – you name it. There is way too much going and the shapes clash.
I know my self how long it can take to roll out a brand across so many mediums. But that in itself is not the task, that is the application of the idea (and the most time consuming thing). If you strip the application process away, then we are left with the concept, and I think it missed the mark. It’s not bad, but it doesn’t seem to be reminiscent of a professional design product costing thousands of dollars.
And as for saying your customers are making ‘stupid’ comments.. well
Peace.
By huisiski May 20, 2012 - 11:48 am
please give a robust SDK in HTML5 similar to Flex. will be good for developers.
By Alexandre May 20, 2012 - 5:05 pm
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Tron yet
Thanks for detailed info.
By Marius Budu May 21, 2012 - 2:13 pm
I agree with others that the process was interesting to see but I think you guys landed very far from the “sweet spot” you were hoping to hit.
The whole set has a strong “experimenting with Photoshop” feel to it rather than a professional branding look. It’s more artistic, I’ll give you that but it’s not very refined. I can appreciate the experimentation you guys underwent but from that step to the final product there should have been a lot more thought put into the whole process.
The colour choices were also very poor in my opinion. Picking equally distributed points on the color wheel and then fine tuning a bit is far from creative or innovative in any way.
Indeed change is good and some will resist it, but the changes also have to be high quality and with a more justifiable thought process behind them in order to be of strong value to a brand.
By Rafael Ocaña May 21, 2012 - 5:24 pm
Great work! Nevermind people telling it’s not good, I can imagine the id coming to life but with lots of approvals/disapprovals in the middle of the process. Simple but still not a square, leaving space for imagination, resembling the features of each app. Great result!
By Amy May 21, 2012 - 7:42 pm
Honestly, I think the reason you guys believe that “once everyone got used to the old loook, they loved it,” is because that’s what you expect to believe, just like you believed that crucifying the genuine help experience with Ion was something people would just get used to. Three years into THAT fiasco, and I still HATE, HATE, HATE that not only have you destroyed the usefulness of help, you continually find ways to make it worse on every release.
The real truth is that the community has learned with hard experience that Adobe only hears what it wants to hear in the community/user feedback and then does just what it intended to all along. So people give up on telling you the effects your decisions have on them. Honestly, make your icons and splash screens however you want–it doesn’t bother me a bit if they’re ugly (or even if they weren’t). But please put the Help back into some kind of usable state (leave Flash Builder alone–Randy “gets” developers and avoided screwing up his help any worse than what Ion already did for it).
At least the effect of what you’ve done to the Help is that I have discovered the usefulness of the History–if I have looked at something recently I don’t have to navigate through the “everything and the kitchen sink” screen I’m now presented with on most CS6 products!!!
By Ty Lettau May 22, 2012 - 11:59 pm
Amy,
I’m sorry that you hate whatever help system you are referring to. I’m not really sure what that has to do with our brand system. There’s places that will get your opinion heard… this isn’t one of them.
Regarding our beliefs on what people like… I’ve seen it a total of four times now, and this is the start of the fifth. When we launched the new CS3 brand (replacing the feathers and starfish of CS2) the raw venom that was spewed was nothing short of amazing. People said we weren’t designers. That these were auto generated by a program. That Macromedia sold out and the system was just a big corporate periodic table. On and on it went for probably a good solid month. And then, as people started using them, they got it. “Oh, Ps is blue and not a feather. That’s cool because now I can look for a color instead of a random icon.” And before long, blog posts were being written about how functional and nice the system was. Ask any designer now what color their favorite app is.
The point is this… It’s in our nature. When we see change, we question it. And if the rationale for said change is not readily apparent, we assume the worst. But I assure you, the statement that people like the brand after they use it is absolutely true… it’s not some delusional, self-fulfilled prophecy.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:51 am
The point is this… It’s in our nature. When we see change, we question it. And if the rationale for said change is not readily apparent, we assume the worst. But I assure you, the statement that people like the brand after they use it is absolutely true… it’s not some delusional, self-fulfilled prophecy.
Well said.
By Joseba Attard May 22, 2012 - 6:38 am
Given that the majority of designers will be using their products, each Adobe branding exercise is likely to be scrutinized very closely. Adobe is in my eyes at least, a benchmark and a key reference in the design world. Thanks for sharing this post.
By Julio César May 22, 2012 - 1:44 pm
So where can we download some Splash screens desktops icons etc… to play around with it ??
By metai May 22, 2012 - 4:55 pm
I may be suffering from mild pixel-related OCD, but I can’t help but notice the occasional glitch in some of the smaller design elements in CS6.
For example, I get that one can’t just resize the larger icons down to the 32px and 16px sizes. But the current result suffers from piss-poor kerning and, in the 16px versions, anti-aliasing. Why Adobe decided to shift them 2 pixels to the top so they won’t align with other square(ish) icons in the taskbar is beyond me. Also, some of the smaller UI elements (opening/closing arrows on layer groups, for example) have some visible flaws.
Whatever the reason for these oversights, it’s nothing that couldn’t be solved with a little polishing, really, nothing that would take any more than a few hours and to be included in a minor update.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:54 am
“Why Adobe decided to shift them 2 pixels to the top so they won’t align with other square(ish) icons in the taskbar is beyond me.”
My comments on this thread express my support and appreciation for the design work done on CS6 – but I do have to agree on this one. The alignment of the icons in relation to other icons on my task bar is tempting me to remove them all and relocate them to the desktop.
Please polish and fix in a minor update.
By metai May 24, 2012 - 12:28 pm
To illustrate my pixel peeping issue about the arrows, to the left the current state, to the right how it should look:
http://i45.tinypic.com/r9040j.jpg
By Shawn Cheris May 24, 2012 - 4:36 pm
What app is that from, Metai?
By metai May 24, 2012 - 5:02 pm
Photoshop CS6, on Windows 7
By metai May 31, 2012 - 12:44 pm
Just for the record: I spent a few hours examining the new icons, the old ones, and I must correct myself. Even the CS3 icons are shifted those two pixels towards the top, that’s obviously not a new thing in CS6. I don’t remember that I noticed it in CS3 tho, at least to me it’s a bit more apparant in the CS6 icon style.
However, I stand by my point about the awful typography in the 32x32px icons.
By Kajorn Bhirakit May 22, 2012 - 11:51 pm
Thank you for your sharing good article
By audiovisualboy May 23, 2012 - 3:12 am
I find it hilarious that there are people who come on here saying things like “what a terrible choice for the colour of that icon!” Or, “I can’t help but notice this flaw!” Or “Who the heck have you got working on your team, Adobe??” Gimme a break. First off, why bother even making such comments? To try and prove yourselves? The colour of a shortcut icon isn’t going to change because you point it out, so does it even really matter? There is literally a team of professionals all working on getting this stuff dialed in as best as they can, as is so beautifully explained in this blog post.
People are always looking to complain, and don’t really seem to appreciate things as much these days, but personally, I cannot help but be continually astounded and amazed at not only the advancements of the technologies but also the continual advancement of the beauty of both the interface and the experience of using these apps/software. The way they look is pure bonus, in my eyes!
Bottomline: great post, and haters gonna hate, I guess.
By metai May 23, 2012 - 7:03 am
“why bother even making such comments?”
To improve things. Many of the comments are constructive criticism. Not all of them, of course, and I’m afraid yours is not amongst them either.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:56 am
Thumbs up to this. Yes there is some (not much) constructive criticism, but most of it is narrow minded and unhelpful ranting. Appreciate the difficulty involved in the design processes, and stop complaining that the world isn’t pixel-perfect.
By Bill May 23, 2012 - 6:00 am
I’m sorry, but these splash screens are a mess. I miss the cs5 screens. They were tastefully interesting. Does anyone know an easy way to replace the art used on the splash screens with something custom?
By Axel Pfaender May 23, 2012 - 9:41 am
I don’t believe a word you say in that article … only the devil himself could dream up such uglyness in order to torture me everytime I start a CS6 application.
this is by far the ugliest thing that inhabits my computer screen. jeez!
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 1:56 am
Wow that is so helpful. This guy for president please.
By TheJag June 4, 2012 - 6:46 pm
How old are you Jake? We’re dealing with children minds here.
By Creative Suite 6 branding « Photoshop Lightroom Bridge May 23, 2012 - 12:03 pm
[...] The CS6 Desktop Brand System. [...]
By nw42 May 23, 2012 - 12:59 pm
thanks for describing the creation process… I really loved the CS5 splashes – but I really dislike the CS6 ones…
esp. the Premeie CS6 splash screen looks cluttered and unharmonic to me… in extension the new darker violt of the Premiere Elements looks to dark and the ui colors are too saturated on my wide gamut screen the green audio waveform is burning my eyes away… have to significantly desaturate them…
how can I “patch” the Premiere splash screen – have to change it or at least to deactivate it – sorry
By Maldon May 23, 2012 - 1:19 pm
Very nice!
By Fluk3 May 23, 2012 - 2:55 pm
I’ve been a graphic designer for nearly 20 years.
With all due respect, I must echo the criticism of the photoshop splash screen.
I have to say it’s more garish than the old belching cat, and not in a good way. At least the belching cat was interesting, amusing and fun.
I’m fine with the color and everything inside the square border – but good lord, what is that mess surrounding it? Was that a mistake? Did somebody accidently leave some comp layers showing when they flattened it?
What art director looked at those unnatural looking, ugly, misshapen, blobs of meaningless nothings and said “I approve”?
Are they supposed to look like water, clouds, jello gelatin cut with a serrated knife by a serial killer, an auto-traced Rorshack test?
Okay, so it’s supposed to be abstract? like those horrendous paintings that used to be on the walls of my local bank in the 80′s.
I don’t find this splash screen to be representative of what Photoshop is, does or what professionals do with it. It looks more representative of Corel Draw or MS Paint.
I’m sure a lot of thought went into the branding and I know how hard that is, believe me. Much of it, I’m sure, is successful.
I’m not a hater or a troll – my intention is to criticize constructively – but this monstrosity of a splash screen evokes strong emotions of dissapointment and disbelief. Honestly – my confidence in the company has been notably disturbed. I expect professionals to be running this company – I’m supposed to trust them. When I see a splash screen that looks like a 4-year old’s finger painting, it feels like I’m being had, and it makes me angry. I’m supposed to hand out thousands of dollars… for this? What other disappointments should I expect now… why shoud I “subscribe” to these kinds of haphazzard decisions?
I would appreciate any advice on disabling the splash or replacing it, because it is an embarrassment – not a sweet spot.
By Ryno Bengawan May 23, 2012 - 9:23 pm
Corel Draw can do geometric better than Adobe Illustrator, that’s all.. (:
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 2:02 am
“Are they supposed to look like water, clouds, jello gelatin cut with a serrated knife by a serial killer, an auto-traced Rorshack test?”
10/10 for your creativity there – I love the imagery.
“my intention is to criticize constructively” … “it is an embarrassment” quite a lot of contrast there wouldn’t you say.
By Jacq August 7, 2012 - 9:16 am
They’re clearly paint splatters, and there’s lots of people who use PS to paint digital painting. Honestly I like the paint splatters, but I use PS to paint so that’s probably why. I’m glad I found this article so I can get the old image to restore it.
If hated the slash screen that much, you should have just googled on how to change it. It’s not hard.
By Steven Pecoraro May 23, 2012 - 9:01 pm
I wonder why Muse is missing? Any insight as to why Muse’s logo is switched? The light and dark hues have been switched. Still in Beta?
By Steven Pecoraro May 23, 2012 - 9:02 pm
You can’t please evey one. And everyone is a critic.
Personally, I love the icons, the slight transparency in the icon are a nice touch.
I can only imagine how much “needed” time was spent on the start up screens.
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 2:04 am
I am the other way around… not 100% convinced about the icons, but I love the splash screens. I guess it really does come down to personal preference at the end of the day.
It’s a bit worrying that so many ‘professionals’ are spending their time complaining about the least-important aspects of the Adobe Creative tools.
By Shawn Cheris May 23, 2012 - 9:08 pm
Good question. Muse isn’t actually part of Creative Suite 6:
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite.html?promoid=JOLIS
The alternate color treatment is applied to a number of creative products that are not part of CS6. There are only so many differentiable colors in a given scheme (especially with tone-on-tone CS6 vs. the honest 2-color approach of CS5), so having different treatments gives us more headroom.
Obviously, with the focus Creative Cloud in the future (of which the traditional CS offering is only a part), these kinds of designations won’t make the same kind of sense, and headed into the next round, we’ll probably be looking at a “flatter” brand architecture and will be orienting our visual approach to that.
By Ryno Bengawan May 23, 2012 - 9:17 pm
And what is the new Adobe Photoshop other name? Does After Effects had they other name too? Is there any other easter egg in the suite? I think all the new CS6 set is quite new & refreshing. But I just dislike the splash screen, organics? Really?
My favorite is still CS5 splash screen. It’s super-neat & calm me down for waiting the program to launch.
And after effects should have his own color. The purple is quite similar with Premiere but I like the bluish purple of after fx. After fx Rocks!!
Anyway.. I know You’ve going through some hellish condition making this system..
So congratulation!! Keep up the good works.. Cant wait to play with CS6.
By Omi Dreamer May 23, 2012 - 9:36 pm
Thank you.
By b May 23, 2012 - 9:42 pm
i miss the flatness and rawness of earlier icon designs… why is mac and adobe trying to look more and more like windows?
keep it minimal… enough with the ugly aerodynamic digital graphics
By Jake May 24, 2012 - 2:08 am
Overall, good job on the splash screens. Perhaps have a black-and-white text version for all the haters to switch on so they don’t have to waste their time complaining about something that really doesn’t have any impact on the usability of the tools?
The icons look a little under-done, and the alignment on the windows task bar is really appalling considering the user base. Very irritating and I expect a lot of designers feel the same way.
Thank you for taking the time to post about the design/marketing process and the complications.
By Branding the CS6 Desktop System | DsgnSOS May 24, 2012 - 1:42 pm
[...] Read the full article over at the Adobe Branding Experience blog This entry was posted in Articles and tagged adobe, branding, cs6. Bookmark the permalink. ← The Toolbox / Time-saving apps, tools, and widgets from around the web. [...]
By Wa Veghel May 24, 2012 - 4:45 pm
Horrible design, colours give me headaches. Terrible!
By UX Designer @ Naples, Italy. May 25, 2012 - 2:33 pm
Kitsch,
Fresh and Friendly.
“Anti-Vignelli” Design.
Keep up the good work!
By Ana May 25, 2012 - 3:13 pm
Design is subjective, so not everyone may like this, but it’s obvious the people dealing with the branding are dedicated to their craft. Now if only the Adobe QA and customer experience teams were as dedicated as the designers.
By CHRIS May 25, 2012 - 4:06 pm
Adobe doesn’t really have any competitors, not in my eyes. I love the products.
By Egypt Urnash May 25, 2012 - 4:25 pm
First on the list of requirements:
Legible. Application icons should be distinguishable from one another at small icon sizes, on file icons, and in the OS. Icons must be differentiable beyond color and should be legible for color blind persons via shape, letter-forms, tone, or other method.
Scroll down a bit and what do we see? A bunch of black squares, with colored outlines and the same text as always, distinguishable only by the color of square and outline. Which is all the same saturation and value.
Yeeeeaaaah, I’ll be copying over my pre-CS icons once again, thank you very much. At least the new Illustrator splash screen isn’t a giant screaming orange slap in the face to my color sense like it was with CS3.
By Tim May 25, 2012 - 5:35 pm
It’s been a couple versions now, and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to an app using letters as icons. (If every app did this, I’d basically have a 30 inch glass teletype.)
I still think that Illustrator 10 and its brother, Photoshop 7, were the best versions ever. True, all the names and patent numbers in the splash screen were ugly, but that’s no reason to throw out the babe with the bathwater (and what a babe Venus is!). It just got everything right, for the first time, with a high note that Adobe hasn’t really hit since. Not just the visual branding, but lack of activation (I didn’t even know that could be a feature, at the time), the stability, the OS integration points — nothing was perfect, but everything was very good. It had an even, consistent quality. (OK, apart from the installer!)
I respect the work you’ve done here for CS6, and there are some parts of it that I like, but overall I agree that it feels like “design work for a big company”. (Why does that not seem like a compliment?)
If there existed Illustrator 10 and Photoshop 7 that ran on Mac OS X 10.7 (and InDesign 2, while I’m dreaming), I would buy them in a heartbeat.
By skube May 25, 2012 - 8:19 pm
Everyone is entitled to an opinion. It’s interesting to see how much work and effort was put into these. I think the results seem even less impressive knowing the background. I wish more effort was put into the apps themselves – fixing bugs, reducing bloat, improving efficiency and speed to the point where a splash screen wouldn’t even been seen.
By duran May 26, 2012 - 2:41 am
For the record. I’m not a designer, but I’ve always appreciated the work that went in to the adobe brand message. Sure, I’ve got some issues with the software, here and there. But your brand has always been top notch. Thank you for that!
By Johan May 26, 2012 - 5:47 am
I would love to see where the commenters on this post are from. I would not be surprised if the ones who are positive are american and that the more negative comments are from europeans.
As a European, the design of (especially the splash screens) seems completely over the top. I would much prefer a more minimalistic approach.
Or even better, just leave out the splash screens altogether and focus on making the apps boot quicker!
I am writing this on my Nokia Windows Phone, I absolutely love the minimalistic design of it and I hope one day Adobe CS will have a similar Metro inspired look.
By Sebastian May 26, 2012 - 7:56 pm
Splash screens suck. Nobody wants or needs them.
It’s cool you take time to think about what the user should see when they are forced to pause before they can use your project — But it would be much cooler if you would finally work on your application start time, which currently is absolutely horrible.
You could load a lot of plugins in the background when the application is already running, for example.
By Jake May 27, 2012 - 1:41 pm
The application load time is only a few seconds on a design-spec computer… if you are using a poor spec PC then that is not Adobe’s fault. Most people using this software are designers and have hardware which can support the applications and load them in a few seconds, so I highly doubt Adobe will waste time and money on increasing load time when most customers don’t have a problem with it.
4GB of RAM and a SSD will see all Adobe apps loading within a few seconds.
By Gredunza Press » Precious Fragmentation Reading List May 27, 2012 May 27, 2012 - 10:41 am
[...] The CS6 Desktop Brand System For many years, Adobe’s splash screens were illustrative and intricate and, for their time, were pretty impressive pieces of digital artwork. They taunted you, suggesting that if only you were skilled enough at Photoshop or Illustrator then you, too, could create something like this. Related content: Type Study: Pairing typefaces [...]
By The Story Behind Adobe’s CS6 Desktop Brand System | May 28, 2012 - 7:56 pm
[...] team for Adobe is well underway with the branding redesign for CS7. The entire article is on the Adobe Blog and well worth the read if you are a designer, or simply use any of these [...]
By Marc May 28, 2012 - 11:34 pm
In my opinion the final Photoshop splash-screen is ugly. I had to patch it out, didn’t feel like a 1000$ software anymore.
By dp May 28, 2012 - 11:42 pm
I think you guys did a great job. I’m not in love with the splash screens either but all the other elements are better than previous versions. I like the flatter icons and there’s more contrast overall. Keep up the good work.
-dp
By Daniele May 29, 2012 - 4:18 pm
The dark interface is nice (Maya 2011 style). The icons are kind of good (nice color concept), but the splash screens are totally, unarguably terrible. A complete step backwards from the beautiful ones of CS5!
By On Adobe’s Brand Experience — 512 Pixels May 29, 2012 - 6:23 pm
[...] Photoshop on the classic Mac OS on beige hardware.To mark CS6’s release, Adobe has produced a massive blog post, looking back over the history of its products, with in-depth tours of past logo and splash screen [...]
By Sean May 29, 2012 - 7:36 pm
I love the majority of what went into the design for CS6. I love the idea of color to organize the apps, but I feel the splash pages fell a little short this time around… My favorite have been the CS5 splash pages, simplistic yet complex.
By Sahba May 30, 2012 - 7:11 pm
دمتون گرم بابا. پشمام ریخت
By mark May 31, 2012 - 3:05 am
I want to see a tutorial on how to create the illustrator CS5 splash screen, in terms of the soft gradients, as I cannot produce it in photoshop or illustrator, can you post one somewhere and leave the link here?
By The CS6 Desktop Brand System | eDue May 31, 2012 - 6:47 am
[...] The CS6 Desktop Brand System | Adobe Brand Experience. Rate this:Share this:CondivisioneLike this:Mi piaceBe the first to like this post. This entry [...]
By Adobe CS6 Brand System | Headron Collider May 31, 2012 - 7:24 am
[...] The up coming launch of Adobe CS6 brings a refreshed visual language. Naturally, as a designer I can totally appreciate the logic behind the process, especially a brand system as extensive this. I really want to hate this, especially since this is the introduction to subscription based licenses… That aside, the system has definitely grown on me since it was first posted a few weeks ago. No doubt the rebrand of CS3 done by Ryan Hicks was the most significant/iconic in the brand’s evolution, CS6 makes me miss the simplistic functionality. Read more in detail about The CS6 Desktop Brand System. [...]
By The CS6 Desktop Brand System | The D May 31, 2012 - 1:06 pm
[...] you’ve got some time over this weekend. A, well-ah, extensive walk through of the Adobe CS6 Brand System. [...]
By Sharif Tamim May 31, 2012 - 6:18 pm
Hey, I am using dreamweaver CS6 tiral version to try the software. everything is fine except the file association. it associates with the files excluding the .html files. when I set the default program for .html as DW cs 6 then all I see a tiny little icon appearing instead of the icon it should be. I tried several times to fix this up but I failed. You got any idea how would I fix this? just look at the picture http://blogs.adobe.com/brandexperience/files/2015/05/dreamweaver_spread1.jpg and see how DW associated html file icons should appear. but all I see is a small icon with just written DW in the middle. it usually happen when you set a program for a file that is not for the file.
By louis lindgaard May 31, 2012 - 8:49 pm
where can i get he folder icons
By heath May 31, 2012 - 11:40 pm
these are DIRE
its like ive been transported back in time to 2001 where these would have been passable first year work.
new interface is great though
By Jennifer June 1, 2012 - 3:56 pm
When I was 15 I used to participate in blend challenge websites. I blended pictures of celebrites from my favourite tv show over each other, added type and lots of swirly brushes. After I was done I put a color gradient over the result to make it look prettier.
That is exactly how those splashes look to me. They have nothing to do with clean design.
They are just confusing and unnecessary. Let the programs speak for themselves! How can the best graphic design programme in this world come up with those childish splashes? I can’t even look at them. HIDEOUS!
Icons of new interface are very nice though!
By ElegantArtist June 3, 2012 - 9:44 pm
Firstly great article. I don’t have a liking for the new CS6 splash screens, but I may learn to like them in future. I now have the highest respect for the creativity and the thought process behind the designs, which makes me value them a bit more because, at first haha wow disliked, would be an understatement.
By Wonko June 4, 2012 - 9:37 am
I for one enjoy both the article AND the splash screens. Good work!
By Irritated June 4, 2012 - 6:29 pm
I’m with everyone else on this. The color choice and the new CS6 icons are a colossal disaster. Who approved this craziness? The new designs are putrid on every level and it seriously lacks my creative enthusiasm to open up an Adobe product. I don’t care what your choice of reason was to make these icons operate in app and mobile environments, the choice to make them so ugly stirs a lot of frustration from the elegance of what they were in CS5. It was a horrible choice to make Adobe. I suggest you guys correct this go back to the drawing board and send an update patch for the hideous mess you’ve created.
By M. June 9, 2012 - 10:15 pm
I totally agree. I’m very disappointed with the CS6 branding. I thought it’s a joke when I saw it for the first time. The CS4 and CS5 look was beautiful.
By 철저한 디자인 프로세스로 태어난 어도비 CS6의 비밀 | 트렌드와칭 June 7, 2012 - 6:28 am
[...] 일인지 잘 이해할 수 있을 것입니다. ※ 본문에 섬네일 이미지는 원문에서 클릭하면 크게 볼 수 있습니다. [...]
By nooko June 8, 2012 - 5:34 pm
After reading so many unhappy comments about CS6 splashes, just played 10 minutes to have my own “clean CS6 splashes”.
I thought I could share them and be propositional
http://www.mediafire.com/?rkghmaz29rio7
Here you go with the first ones…if you like it I’ll post some more !
Note: google “Customize Photoshop splash screen under Mac OSX” or “Windows”, that’s the hardest one! All others have just PNG files somewhere in the application directory.
Have a nice weekend!
By Losing to Bureaucracy & Complexity / Tobias Bjerrome Ahlin June 9, 2012 - 5:42 pm
[...] Adobe has published a detailed case study explaining their process. Let me translate the first few paragraphs: “It takes well over a year to design, execute, deliver, and ensure the proper implementation of the roughly 5,000 or so assets it takes to get a CS release out the door (we’re already thinking about CS7). Along the away, there are innumerable institutional, technological, and political hurdles to overcome. It can be daunting, but we do everything we can to get it made with as few design compromises as possible.” [...]
By Record Player Needles June 11, 2012 - 6:26 am
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By Filip June 13, 2012 - 8:48 pm
Nice article but…uh, expected a better end result I guess…
By Jim June 14, 2012 - 7:49 pm
No love for Acrobat? I’ve always known it was a bastard step child, but excluding it from the suite of icon updates shows how low even Adobe thinks of this app.
By hking June 18, 2012 - 5:30 am
Sorry but who really gives a monkeys about the splash screens? If this is a genuine concern can you also come and adjust my chair?
Shouldn’t the experience of working with CS6 be as transparent as possible?
Rather the funds and time be spent elsewhere (like fixing the buggy new interface). I upgraded to Cloud but seriously, CS5 was much more stable as a professional tool, and this stuff is just needless garnish on a product that needs more love elsewhere.
By SEO June 18, 2012 - 11:06 am
Yet another fantastic article.
By Jenica June 19, 2012 - 9:08 am
Love the new set of icons and splash screens. I’m glad to see that way more effort goes into the Adobe brand now than in the earlier days!
It’s scary to realise how many of those old splash screens that I actually remember seeing!! And great to see all of the decision making for the colour palette too. Thanks for sharing the behind the scenes.
By Adobe® CS6 Branding | identityhut.com June 19, 2012 - 3:10 pm
[...] Read more about this fascinating process at the Adobe Blog [...]
By Marty June 23, 2012 - 5:34 pm
I definitively don’t like new design of Adobe family icons !!! It’s step back and icons are difficult to see on dark backgrounds. I want to change them, but I must find how, this is awful
By J. Denton June 26, 2012 - 9:15 pm
Good design should be invisible.
Why would you stamp your personal ‘creativity’ all over a professional tool?
Are you trying to ‘inspire’ the artist before they begin?
It makes no sense.
I can’t understand the purpose of these arbitrary ‘designs’ and garish ‘new’ colour schemes.
This is for design for designs sake.
CS3/CS4 had good transparent design. It was simple, tasteful and served its purpose.
Every subsequent release feels like design-by-committee forgettable ‘trendy’ art rubbish.
The really sad thing is that you actually have some viable options in your research and development stages.
CS6 will not age well – everyone who took part it its creation will cringe with embarrassment on reflection.
By Doug July 15, 2012 - 5:14 pm
Ok, I think I figured it out. By constantly changing, you make everybody happy at least part of the time, and they appreciate their favorite design even more when it comes back in style.
This was a well written post that gives a nice insight into what went into the creative process. I too wonder if the result didn’t fall short of the goal. While I embrace design rules and structure, a good designer knows when to break the rules to achieve an even better result. As others have pointed out, the final results may have benefited from more latitude in the refinement phase.
I agree with an earlier poster Tim, that Photoshop 7 was the best icon ever. It clearly illustrated what the product did and was certainly identifiable. It looked like an OSX icon in my dock instead of a Windows tile. While I have grown to accept changes over time, I do still have my favorite.
I can appreciate the desire for a cohesive branding of the product line, but might I suggest that if you’re going from 20 to 100 products, a distinctive color for each product is probably no longer reasonable expectation? Each one at 100/360 hughes just isn’t going to be that distinctive anymore, and lining them up on a continuum might make more sense to some than to others.
Ok, for my first impression, I installed Photoshop CS6 with Bridge CS6. While I certainly think the older Photoshop blue was a prettier color, and much prefer white letters to cyan, the thing that struck me most is the eye catching yellow of Bridge CS6. When you’re editing an image, that bright yellow is a very distracting element to have in your field of vision. It is the one thing that made me seek out this page and submit a comment. Maybe it is less distracting if you have the whole suite of icons down there, and maybe I would learn to ignore it. Yes, I could always change my workflow and hide my dock, but fortunately, OSX gives me the ability to change my icons, which I have done.
Perhaps Adobe should build in an easy tool for designers to customize icons and splash screens to their own branding, much the way some products have supported custom “themes”. Maybe even package and share them like you can with actions. On the other hand, if people are so motivated to replace the branding, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of branding? I submit that one of the goal of branding should be to generate excitement that people want to embrace, not just something they will either replace, hide, or learn to tolerate.
I do appreciate that I can revert some of the usability items back to earlier versions, like floating pallets, non-tabbed windows, and a lighter background. Several products over the years have tried to box their application elements into a single window full screen application window, and most vendors ultimately back off of that approach. For one thing, it makes it infinitely more difficult to view two different applications at the same time, like a web site, email or a requirements document and a photoshop image, which you might want to do for all sorts of reasons, like copying text, or matching colors, or fine tuning a design element for a web page. This one window thing feels like it takes over your screen instead of letting you peer through open spaces to whatever else you want to see while you work. I can appreciate that some people want to block everything out, but when I’m working on multiple assets, I really need to be able to see them at the same time.
By John Hadwin July 16, 2012 - 8:05 pm
The global ugliness of the entire CS6 brand system perfectly paints a picture of how out of touch they currently are with their customers. If a short book were written on the subject I would read it while my head nodded in affirmation. The customer service experience, follow-up to software bugs that now persist through many versions, and now even the inspiration they brought through their artwork, have all rapidly declined. It is abundantly clear that the company has embraced the Extreme Programming (XP) model over its own customers. Quality abandoned for the sake of a large quantity of version deadlines, CS5, 5.5, 6! If they made a perfect version CS(x), they would immediately abandon it for the sake of making something different.
Adobe, why do you think we want something different every year? What we want something that works beautifully forever. How can you go from the cover art of CS5 to CS6? You took two things that are unarguably beautiful, women and color, put them together and made something hideous. I cannot look at your artwork without literally sneering. It is the single largest design failure I have ever witnessed. I will not buy CS6 because of how uninspired I feel when I see it.
I’m sorry but this is really going to hurt Adobe. It hurts me just to look at it! Ouch guys. Please call whoever was in charge of the CS5 branding and offer him his job back!
By Derek July 22, 2012 - 6:36 am
I’ve read most comments and realized how much of a bunch of whiners designers can be over such an insignificant thing. Thing is… these splash screens look “fine”… Not incredibly groundbreaking, not incredibly astounding, not incredibly revolutionary… they just look “fine”.
You’re not buying a product because of ugly splash screens? Are you serious? I don’t really think Adobe cares since they do own a monopoly and losing one customer is mere pocket change… but are you kidding me???
Ok, that’s it. I’m done being a designer. Don’t want to be near these pretentious, latte-sipping idiots who complain all day about restaurant menus and laundromats with bad kerning on their signs…
By a designer July 23, 2012 - 10:16 am
We miss you already !
By John Hadwin November 29, 2012 - 1:38 am
I suppose I was really pissed on the day I wrote that, lol. Well, no kidding, they do have a monopoly and that’s why I’m so upset. I actually like the splash screens fine, it is the marketing art I hate so much… after all the increasing (un-resolved) problems I’ve had with Adobe as the versions progress, I think it is a tell tale sign that they have lost touch with customers and are all about selling a new version as frequently as possible more than focusing on quality… to me, the over emphasis on the artwork and the underemphasis on the resolution of buggy code and versions old problems is echoed in this artwork… saying, “we aren’t putting energy into fixing any of your complaints and concerns, we’re putting our whole budget into designing obnoxiously over-thought box-art for software that doesn’t have a box anymore anyway!” If they had to use After Effects or Premier to produce all that work, they wouldn’t have made the deadline for CS6 until 2013… lol all the bugginess and problems would be impossible to ignore. Instead they leave it to us to develop work arounds. I wouldn’t be so frustrated if they hadn’t started so well… everything, EVERYTHING used to work reliably every time. But each version sees problems that recur and increase…. “oh we fixed the problem in the next ‘CSx.5′ version… just buy it!” I thought I was buying software that worked to begin with! Didn’t I pay for it? Now I have to pay again (and wait till its release) upgrade and hope the new version sorts it all out.
Bummer I say! LOL
I’ll get over it.
By DuranArts July 21, 2012 - 3:57 am
All that work… And they still look terrible.
By LaNovio August 2, 2012 - 12:12 am
the splash screens are ugly and painful to look at… and insult to your customers. could you spare us all your very hard work and spend more time and money on user interface design? could you at least give us instructions on how to replace these images with something else?
By Anri August 2, 2012 - 8:33 am
Hi, Adobe!
Please, answer me. Before I’ve activated my Photoshop CS6 splashscreen was like this –
http://www.theshapeofmotion.com/wp-content/tsom_media/ps_splash_screen.jpg
But after I activated it, it looks like this –
http://www.beardsworth.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/cs6branding.jpg
It’s strange! Is this normal or not?
But, anyway, my new screen is nicer)
By Raf August 21, 2012 - 3:38 pm
We’ve just installed CS6 on our Mac pro towers yesterday and after 18 hours of playing around I have to say that the “illustrative splashes” at startup are the most God awful designs I have ever witness from any Adobe release. WTF? Who was the person in charge who approved this? I’ve been using Adobe software since the mid 90s. Anyway I came online to search out how this CS6 process happened and ended up on this blog.
By Sascha August 22, 2012 - 8:04 am
Whoever looks at this and says: Oh, what a nice design! is obviously not a designer. If it’s “art” or something like that I can’t tell. Therefore I must know the reason behind it. However Splash Screens aren’t supposed to be art. They are supposed to be functional. I have honestly no idea how the person in charge got a job at Adobe. How can you even think about making art on splash screens? I can’t understand as it’s a thing of taste. So maybe 50% out there match your taste, but you can never inspire everybody. So where’s the logic in this? There is none.
I totally agree with the istock comment. It’s an embarrassment to all designers out there who do clean and intelligent design out there.
How do I remove them? They uninspire me everytime I open Photoshop, Illustrator and ESPECIALLY indesign. What are those swirls in the background? Scriptina free font?
By apsolut August 26, 2012 - 1:15 pm
At first i can say its bad… but from that its amazin…
Think out of the box… now CS6 is like Chemical elements ;]
sorry but if u care about how program look then u dont use it good ^_^
and all stuf workin great and faster
By Geraldine August 26, 2012 - 1:46 pm
The Pricing is a really good deal.
By Gloria August 26, 2012 - 1:50 pm
Great, but what comes next?
By hrhigher September 6, 2012 - 12:55 am
adobe can put the final designs in vector?
By Jimmy September 6, 2012 - 12:18 pm
You know, I must say that I was not a big fan of the change to the plain old geometric shapes of late. I thought they were rather dull for the company we go to for most of our application needs for creative work. I then searched the Internet to find a cool set of icons to replace these with. I found a number of sets that I liked and downloaded, and you know, they have sat here for the last couple of releases, unused. Something kept me from changing them, and I think it was because they were so simple, and IMO, branded rather well together, splash screens and all. After reading this article and understanding their entire design and branding process (something I am sure a lot of you may have been quite surprised as to what this project entailed), I have a new found appreciation for the branding of the entire CS6 Suite. On a couple of related discussions here, I am quite pleased with my Creative Cloud subscription at $29/month for the first year. I also find the new interface choices to be a welcomed design change.
Lastly, I didn’t realize that so many designers and creative professionals cared this much about the colors, icons and splash screens, in such a negative way. It’s what we create after the icon is clicked, and the splash screen goes away, that should matter most to us. After reading these comments, it seems that for a lot of you, the design choices they made are somehow likened to an epiphany of the end of the world…Wow!
And yes Sascha, I like the design, and I have been a successful designer for going on 26 years.
By Guilherme September 9, 2012 - 3:54 pm
About the splash screen:
You know the feeling when youre trying too hard? When it’s too much? Plus, it feels kinda tacky and is probably going to be easily replaced on version CS7.
I feel the programmed obsolescence already.
By Lisa September 11, 2012 - 1:49 am
The dark background is killing me – for those of us who have been adobe users for 15 years, this is a big adaption change – like putting your shoes on the wrong foot and being forced now to wear them this way….its almost too dark and harder on my eyes which are now older than they use to be….Adobe software designers need to remember that not everyone is 21 who uses your products….be nice to add some customization features, like making the tool box icons a larger, or adjusting your background – heck even converting it back to white….I love adobe – but I hate it when you make drastic changes to the interface with out allowing me to tweak it to my needs. After all I am the one who has to use your product and make money to pay for it. Think about the user’s daily life with your software…not the freakin brand….
By Jerold Schoenig September 15, 2012 - 1:57 am
Good list. I used to use iWebtools. But WebSiteOptimization is more reliable i suppose.
By kamagra September 16, 2012 - 4:12 pm
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By kidor anddhaf September 17, 2012 - 7:05 am
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By Joe M September 18, 2012 - 12:39 pm
Splash screens are pretty bad looking. Illustrator’s being the worst. Photoshop’s isn’t too bad. Those are my 2 most used programs. Illustrator’s would look a lot better if the black transparent box over top of it was removed, it just looks like crap, literally. Not sure how it got released looking like that.
I can get used to the rest of the changes throughout the GUI, but you did change some things for the sake of change, like the order of the Print, Done, Cancel buttons when printing… that was unnecessary and sucks to have to relearn when you hit print hundreds of times a day like me. You also changed the Move box without adding anything new, so that was pointless as well. I don’t like pointless changes in products from one version to the next that consist of just moving the boxes and buttons around. Also, the icons for Illustrator files are uglier than the splash screen.
Overall a F+ on GUI/Visual changes, but the software does feel faster and has better tracing and stroke options… which is all that matters. But if you really did use former Apple employees to do the design work on the icons and stuff then I can see why they are no longer working for Apple.
By 叶究企旦 September 18, 2012 - 2:57 pm
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以星座为主题的同城约会，爱情交友，目前只同意女生加群。
Q群：235893866
By J October 5, 2012 - 3:10 am
Why the heck is this post here? 叶究企旦 you actually think everyone understands this (In this case, I don’t think anyone wants to join your date group) ? Why do Chinese always do stupid annoying things…? You even put you QQ number…*sigh!*… hopeless…
By 石家庄星座约会 September 18, 2012 - 3:25 pm
石家庄星座约会
以星座为主题的同城约会，爱情交友，目前只同意女生加群。
Q群：235893866
By Alvaro Niño September 18, 2012 - 6:13 pm
Hello!
All the designs for this CS6 version were beautiful. Congratulations for the job. I would stay a whole day just staring at the splash screens of the product, what a magnificent and detailed job on everyone!
Of course, there are some downs, like changing some program styles or moving the icons, but this change of CS6 is just perfect.
As you are already thinking about the CS7 design, could I suggest the idea of animals? As in the marketing imagery and in the splash screens, different animal silhouettes, or colored animal images, in the same simple geometrical splash screen would look really awesome. Maybe also with some nature backgrounds. With an abstract design, as you did with CS6. And with that you’re also giving the product a special association (like CS or CS2), but with the animals.
What do you think? Is there another place where I can make that suggestion?
Thank you! Keep delivering all these incredible jobs, you are all fascinating and fresh.
By Simmopsyche September 24, 2012 - 4:38 am
My thoughts on splashscreens are that you should be using at least two monitors in your workflow and shouldn’t even be looking at the one that the Adobe application is launching on. Rather you should be getting on with your work
By Alvaro Niño September 26, 2012 - 9:47 pm
Here’s my article based on this one! Excellent job!
By the way, is in spanish
http://webalazar.com/tecnologia/la-creacion-de-las-pantallas-de-bienvenida-de-adobe-cs6/
By Blake October 2, 2012 - 12:35 pm
Legible.
Someone should then get fired for not implementing an appropriate color theme by industry graphical standards for contrast. Photo Gray on a dark background would have been a no-brainer. Stop getting ‘cutting edge’ cute and provide truly professional upgrades that don’t hinder usage.
As for monthly software fees, I sure wouldn’t want bugs and lack of judgement on a monthly basis. I can barely afford it on a biannual basis.
By Lipozene October 13, 2012 - 5:43 am
This is what I have been searching in many websites and I finally found it here. Amazing article. I am so impressed. Could never think of such a thing is possible with it…I think you have a great knowledge especially while dealings with such subjects.
By Lipozene October 13, 2012 - 5:43 am
Hey that was great to read. Thanks for the great post .Loved every part of it. Lipozene
By Adobe CS6 Design and Web Premium Student and Teacher Edition for Mac [Download] | Nic Naks For Nix October 14, 2012 - 5:30 am
[...] CS6 Desktop Brand SystemThe CS6 Desktop Brand System ul.legalfooter li{ list-style:none; float:left; padding-right:20px; } .accept{ display:none; [...]
By a designer October 15, 2012 - 7:48 am
Some so-called professionals here are not disturbed by these awful splash screens, or do not care or do not even look at the secondary display while “getting ready to work”.
Then…why bothering creating these unbelievable pieces of ***ehm*** art ?
Just give us the app open as soon as possible !!!
By Das Design der CS5 – Icons, Splash-Screens, Entwicklung | kulturbanause blog October 16, 2012 - 5:29 am
[...] The CS6 Desktop Brand System [...]
By XFM October 20, 2012 - 5:49 pm
I have no idea what all these people ar b!tch!ng about, the branding looks great!
The evenly spaced colors idea was very clever. I just wish these products didn’t cost so friggin much. I’d like to use them, but I have nowhere near enough money to afford them
By Clint Bucklin October 30, 2012 - 5:20 pm
Some great points, thank you
By Design: The CS6 Desktop Brand System - Binary Studio November 1, 2012 - 5:01 am
[...] from the Adobe Brand Experience team discussing the new C6 Brand System and their methodology.http://blogs.adobe.com/brandexperience/2012/05/16/the-cs6-desktop-brand-system/ Tagsbranding Design foundRelated PostsiPad vs Desktop where does it fail? Great article from the [...]
By Zobacz jak pracowali graficy nad pakietem CS6 | psdblog.pl - Blog dla grafików o grafice November 5, 2012 - 6:03 am
[...] Po więcej informacji zapraszamy na blog Adobe [...]
By Koush November 6, 2012 - 6:03 am
Hated these new designs on day one and couldn’t stop ranting about how terrible they are to my friends. I just caught myself overwriting the same file 3 times to catch a glimpse of the beautiful DW icon. They really grew on me and I love them now.
By Pier November 6, 2012 - 10:07 pm
I love the icons, but I find most of the splash screens disturbing. It seems that the big conceptual decisions didn’t come from a designers perspective, but from the sales department. “We need to make it more artistic!!!” (whatever that means)
For example the Flash splash screen not only is plain ugly, it really doesn’t convey any message about what Flash is. There’s absolutely no argument in favor of that… thing.
It woud be great if there was an option for hiding Adobe’s splash screens, as they simply get in the middle most of the times.
All in all I appreciate the enormous design effort, but those randomly over designed splash screens remind me more of the 90s than our current era. I much preferred the CS5 geometric Escherian minimalist approach. It seemed more modern and fresh.
What makes those splash screen even worse, is that CS6 is IMO the best suite ever. Performance is excellent and the UI is clean and concise. It’s kind of ironic that they have the worst splash screens I’ve ever seen in any software.
By Tim November 12, 2012 - 12:13 am
I miss whoever designed the CS2 suite of icons. They were expressive and were actually…icons. As opposed to letters in a square. Some REAL thought went into those. The new icon colors, as others have said, are terrible. For this new direction, I much preferred the CS4 icons over 5 or 6. 6 is just awful. And the splash screens…really? The Photoshop one looks like someone still in college designed it with all the drop shadows and different gradients and effects going on.
It is interesting seeing the design process, but I think you need to move in a different direction entirely for CS7 or go back to the CS4 style, because this new one just isn’t working.
OR HOW ABOUT THIS?… don’t worry about the icons and concentrate on getting your @!%$ software to work right without any bugs!!!!
By rafa January 12, 2013 - 3:45 am
Sorry, too much study to take the wrong route…the final images doen’st worth it
By The CS6 desktop brand system | @Mirthe_ February 21, 2013 - 6:05 pm
[...] The CS6 desktop brand system [...]
By Adobe CS6 – Brand experience | CJ's Blog February 28, 2013 - 10:34 am
[...] goes in to designing a new version of the Adobe Creative Suite? Well in this article we see behind the scenes of the making of Adobe CS6, everything from the icons to splash screens, [...]
By Gloria March 1, 2013 - 9:01 am
Looks great.
By Sima March 1, 2013 - 9:03 am
Wow, thank you for this post.
By James K April 16, 2013 - 1:27 am
Please guys, as an advanced web developer i only use fireworks, that’s it, that’s all i use, and heck, it’s the ugliest ever icon, just to be clear, this is the first time in my 20 years using mac that i have to change the main app icon, i mean literally its awful, u know what icon i replaced with? CS4 icon
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