Adobe goes all Web 2.0-ey
Given Photoshop’s reputation as a graphics industry favorite, it’s surprising that their new logo design has missed the broad side of the barn. It’s been met with a range of reactions spanning from disgust, to general dislike, to complete impartiality. Read the comments at John Nack on Adobe since Photoshop announced its new logo: To represent this rich family of products, Adobe is introducing the Photoshop visual logo. This logo will soon appear in all Photoshop-related marketing, so keep an eye out for it.
The Photoshop logo on a product, service, or technology, represents the rich legacy, technical quality, and attention to detail that has made Photoshop the gold standard in digital imaging. The message of this new image is baffling people. It’s not that the logo’s meaning isn’t blatantly obvious. It’s a textbook web 2.0 speech bubble, abstractly a letter ‘P’. The question is what does that have to do with Photoshop’s brand and products? This logo fails to reinforce the brand’s quality and position. It’s a departure from the Photoshop logos of the past; which were never that consistent, anyway. The eye was the most recognizable image of the brand. Sticking with that would have made a seamless continuation. Perhaps the new logo is meant to be an interpretation of the eye, but it’s not made clear. Negative responses to the change are prevalent. It’s generally perceived as a speech bubble meshed with the letter P. The mark has been compared to such things as: the PBS Logo, a widget, a startup web 2.0 company trying to look big,ET’s head, something from the aqua iMac era, and the Microsoft Silverlight Logo.
Some would argue that as long as it is easily visible and fits into the tray, it’s working. This is not an overwhelmingly positive stance, but it’s the best point made in the icon’s favor. It does have to be recognizable as a 16 x 16 pixel favicon, but that should not be so limiting as to produce this ill result. It’s unbelievable that this unoriginal logo and tagline are being slapped onto such a well respected product. The new logo is made to encompass the full line of Adobe Photoshop software: Photoshop CS3, Photoshop CS3 Extended, Photoshop Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, and Photoshop Album Starter Edition. Therefore, they’ll be spanning a broad consumer base- not just industry designers. But maybe the various products didn’t need a unified brand, if it meant cheapening their staple program. It will be interesting to see how the branding carries through and whether the new mark will appeal to the non-commercial Photoshop users.
September 27th, 2007
I agree, well said. Very good website.
September 28th, 2007
Great article. It reminds me of a poorly designed keyring. Although strictly speaking it says a lot about Adobe, as clearly programmers are more important in decision making than creatives. Hence a first year design student logo, again.
October 1st, 2007
this article is very interesting. This new Photoshop logo is represent the photoshop creativity brilliant.
October 11th, 2007
Very well said. The new logo design for Photoshop certainly shows the shift of focus for the product. Yesterday it was the graphic design industry in general, and today the new logo focuses on the web.
October 17th, 2007
I agree, well said, a very good website