18 months after Adobe shipped their frankendesign monster child CS3, they unveiled their latest creation. Fortunately they pushed the design style that made CS3 look great to the next level. We’re holding our breath to see if the product inside will live up to the pretty packaging this time.
CS3, The Tragedy:
After they ate Macromedia and eclipsed Quark, Adobe became the ruler of a monopoly on pro creative software. During their rule, they have bloated, overpriced, and hamstrung the software creative professionals depend on to get their jobs done. People all over the world now loath Adobe so much, they started their own website. The products in their current state are basically cars full of shiny features that become annoying when they don’t work properly. Oh, and the engine is an underpowered clunker. Details right?
Lipstick On A Pig
On the plus side, in the last release, Adobe did package all those buggy features into an impressive set of boxes. Even more impressive, they came up with an overarching scheme for controlling their universe of brands under one creative direction. I was pretty impressed. You can see to the right they used simple icons that resemble periodic elements to Identify all their software products. To give each product distinction, they are placed at a given point on a color wheel. Its so simple, so easy to display, and really makes designers smile … until they click on an icon and the crappy updater launches!!!
For CS4, they’ve carried the universal style even further. Now packaging shares the beautifully simple system developed for the icons. Early reviews have been a little critical of the plain-Jane look of the new boxes. I for one, am happy anytime I see Adobe simplifying anything.
The New CS4 Boxes:
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