wheel-o'-icons

Dreamweaver
http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/

Adobe Illustrator
http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/

Fireworks
http://www.adobe.com/products/fireworks/

Bridge

InDesign
http://www.adobe.com/products/indesign/

Premiere
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/

After Effects
http://www.adobe.com/products/aftereffects/

Cold Fusion
http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/

Photoshop
http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/

Freehand
http://www.adobe.com/products/freehand/

Flash

Acrobat
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/

Reader
http://www.adobe.com/products/reader/

Soundbooth
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/soundbooth/

Flash Player

Adobe InCopy
http://www.adobe.com/products/incopy/

Adobe FrameMaker
http://www.adobe.com/products/framemaker/

Captivate
http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/

Contribute
http://www.adobe.com/products/contribute/

Director
http://www.adobe.com/products/director/

Flex
http://www.adobe.com/products/flex/

JRun
http://www.adobe.com/products/jrun/

Audition
http://www.adobe.com/products/audition/

RoboHelp
http://www.adobe.com/products/robohelp/

Lightroom
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/lightroom/

Extension Manager

Adobe GoLive

AuthorWare

LiveCycle
http://www.adobe.com/products/livecycle/

GoLive
http://www.adobe.com/products/golive/

PageMaker
http://www.adobe.com/products/pagemaker/

Version Cue

Adobe Integrated Runtime (Formerly known as Apollo)
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/air/

Device Central

Flex Builder (?)

Encore DVD
http://www.adobe.com/products/encore/

Adobe Connect
http://www.adobe.com/products/connect/

Version Cue
(As it appears in Bridge 2 with Photoshop CS3 beta...)

Adobe Digital Editions
http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/digitaleditions/

Acrobat Distiller

Adobe OnLocation
http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere/onlocation/

Thanks, thebakachan!

Flash Video Encoder

Adobe Ultra
http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/production/ultra/

Thanks, thebakachan!

Originally found here: blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2006/12/the_other_cs3_icons.html

I've tried to add links to the products where available.

This photo has notes. Move your mouse over the photo to see them.

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Comments

Sören 'chucker' Kuklau says:

Adobe just keeps managing to found new lows in icon design, don't they?

I want their Photoshop 7.0-era icon design back.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

PhotoLayne says:

'Br' is for Bridge, I think.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Stephens Review Photos says:

Yes, Br is currently being used for Bridge in the Beta.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Solsys says:

I think the Vc between Dreamweaver and Fireworks is Version Cue and the En near the center is Encore
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

mike.chambers says:

The Arrow Icon top right near flash is Apollo

www.adobe.com/go/apollo

mike
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Interesting thing... I do believe Vc represent Version Cue, but if it does, then there's a problem here... The icon right next to the Rh is used in the new Bridge 2 (bundled with Photoshop CS3 Beta) to signify Version Cue.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

pbaird00 says:

The open book, I believe is Adobe Digital Editions.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cd.harrison says:

You're absolutely right pbaird00. Thanks!
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Jarod Lee says:

cool,how to build this?
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

henriklantz says:

Hm. No sign of ACR or DNG converter here. Are they to be considered part of Lighttroom, pray tell?
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cd.harrison says:

@Jarod Lee: Good question. Not sure I have an answer.

@henriklantz: That could be one of the icons not yet identified, but at this point it is hard to tell.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

codepo8 says:

ha! So some hours ago
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

sphereboy says:

those are the icons? just type? you think it would be the Beta icons?
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Juan Ignacio says:

I can only hope that's just a Product line system. I really hope those not to be the icons the program will take...

Not only they are awful as a program icon but they are so confusing. Imagine having to search for a program between a handful of squares with letter with similar colors in your dock or W$ start menu... mission impossible....

There already some confusion between icons for Illustrator and ImageReady for CS1 and CS3, you have to stare a few second to each to tell which is which...

Why don't they continue the Macromedia Icon System?: they are so great: good looking, easy to identify, original, they have style....

Why Adobe do so many things wrong? I'm already missing Macromedia's professionalism....
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cameronkerr says:

I thought they said they were getting rid of golive and freehand?
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cd.harrison says:

@Chris - Yeah, I wasn't the only one who did this.

@sphereboy - Yep, those are the icons. Adobe should be "explaining" them more thoroughly in the coming days.

@ Juan - I hear ya. Your sentiments echo a lot of other designers. I for one like them, but I know they are going to take some getting used to.

@camkerr - I think GoLive is dead, but I'm not sure about Freehand. I'm more surprised PageMaker made it onto the diagram... but I guess since they still offer support for it...
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cruxdestruct says:

So, does Adobe hate all colorblind people, everywhere, or just every colorblind person, in all places?
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

talldoofyirish says:

This is awful. I'll need this annotated color wheel on my desktop to realize what the hell I'm using.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cd.harrison says:

@cruxdestruct - I think they only hate colorblind, transvestite midgets. But I could be wrong.

@talldoofyirish - How many of the apps do you actually use? Most people are only going to have a handful of the apps. And I don't think the idea is that they want you to identify the icons on color alone, though certainly it is part of the point.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

chas s. says:

icons should have a distinct shape:
img19.imageshack.us/img19/7125/masksqh9.png
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

CrackedButter says:

I like the icons. They are simple and effective.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Nrico says:

They actually seem to be going in the direction of Macromedia's recent icons. They are color coded with an immediately identifyable letterform. They will be a lot easier to identify than Adobe's recent feather, flower, butterfly icons.

Sorry, but these icons will probably work very well.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

macevangelist says:

I love the new icons… the feathers and butterflies never worked for me…
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

kyouteki says:

They still make Pagemaker? I thought InDesign completely usurped it.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

heyjohngreen says:

icons are horrible. I want Venus back.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cd.harrison says:

@ Enure - A unique shape helps to indentify a program (iTunes, Panic's Transmit, Apple Mail, iChat, GarageBand, Disco), no doubt about that.

@CrackedButter - me too :)

@ Nrico - Agreed. I think the simplicity of the icons will work very well also.

@ marzipanguy - I got used to them over time, but it's still a PITA trying to identify them when they're 16x16 icons.

@ kyouteki - Yep, you can still buy Pagemaker, which is really surprising considering there hasn't been an update in years... Maybe they have plans to keep the brand around and turn PM into more of a consumer-level app like they've done with the Elements branded stuff...?

@ heyjohngreen - huh? (edit: nevermind. After a quick Google search I received enlightenment. We all have our dee-duh-dee moments, right?)
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

kittensandcorpses says:

Worst rebrand since Walkers crisps.

@Nrico, yeah because a good icon is one you actually have to read isn't it…

Someone should do a contemporary book on icon design, and page two would be this graphic and 120pt red Helvetica which reads "DON'T"
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Polackio says:

@Juan Ignacio

The Macromedia designers are the ones who came up with this scheme so be careful to give credit where credit is due next time.

Post on Veerle's blog

scroll to the bottom... The remaining Macromedia team did this.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Rennard says:

Why does Acrobat still have a graphical icon ? Why is Illustrator 'Ai' (Adobe Illustrator) - surely these are all Abode products, and could all be prefaced with 'A' ?

A really bizarre decision. This is worse than 'New Coke' !
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cd.harrison says:

@ Rennard - some of that may have been predicated by commonly used abbreviations already in place. Usually, when people talk about Adobe Illustrator, they talk about AI (files) and Ai definitely works better than Il (Capital I + lowercase L ... which doesn't work at all)

Photoshop has been commonly abbreviated as PS. ColdFusion = CF. DreamWeaver = DW... etc. So these at least make sense. Some of them are a stretch... But I still think they'll be easier to use than what is already present in CS and CS2...
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

sandrosandro says:

What font is used?
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

A Karbassi says:

I think they are going reverse in quality. Most of the famous heads (Dave Shea and Jason Santa Maria) hate the new icons.

--
Found this from http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2006/12/the_othe r_cs3_icons.html (?)
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

matthew.clifford says:

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but I actually don't mind the new icons at all. Granted, I don't use that many of the Adobe apps (Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator and very occasionally ImageReady) but I don't find these icons that hard to tell apart at all, or at least no harder than I found the CS1, CS2 or PS7 era icons to tell apart at first.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

PlanoMUG says:

"Br" would not be "Bridge" it would be "Breeze".
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

aylk says:

Icons? It looks more like abbreviations in a box, an icon is a picture representation. Talk about "lazy minimalism".
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

eizzumdm says:

PlanoMUG, Br is most certainly "Bridge" It is installed with the Photoshop CS3 public beta. Breeze is now renamed to "Adobe Connect."

Also, the warm gray Acrobat icon is Acrobat Distiller.

Hate these icons with a passion. What's up with the inconsistent capitalization of the second letter (GoLive [Gl], Lightroom [LR])?
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

sketchee says:

MetaDesign created them
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

nohoval says:

Ugly, uninspired and useless. Inconsistent as well - they've got two-letter-abbreviations in some cases, and the actual (monochrome) programm icon in a box in others (see Acrobat).

I can't believe Meta did this. When I installed the PS CS 3 beta I thought this is a placeholder icon, and they'll have a "proper" icon when CS finally comes out.

Consider me shocked.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

eargang says:

Supposedly one of the Macromedia design teams did these. Haven't seen any evidence of the Meta claim yet.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

xamonix says:

I just don't understand why is everybody complaining about the icons. Do you really work with the icons or with the software itself? Do you get your job done just looking at the icons? They are just icons... ok? I really believe that the software they represent could be more important to debate.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

hahaxo says:

nice
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Edo` says:

I like them. I think they are clean and easy to identify, much better than the current icons. It enables Adobe to use an unified style throughout their portfolio, something that would have been much more difficult with graphic icons.

This icon system actually does not differ that much from the MS Office icons in their design approach.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

sofimi says:

font details in the postscript. and i believe it's LiveCycle, not LifeCycle.

Also wrote the notes here: LINK
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

cd.harrison says:

Wow... nearly 10,000 views and counting. First digg, now DaringFireball... Thanks John Gruber, for the link here!
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

userloser1 says:

I love these icons! You guys are crazy!
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

devNevyn says:

@Enure: Great image! Really illustrates one reason why these icons are all so horrid. Color blindness is the obvious second reason. The absurdity of reading text on an icon to identify it (aren't icons supposed to *substitute* text labels?!) the obvious third.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

evoxed says:

It looks like they thought 'accessibe' but instead used visual cues as trends and forgot the 'make accessible' part. I'm starting work on my own icon set in CS3 as we speak...
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

seifip says:

Br = Bridge Icon... Just check the Adobe Photoshop CS3 Beta ;)
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

One Spaces Station says:

Mmmmmmmmm~~~ i love new ico too...
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

livatlantis says:

Mixed response on my part. I love the minimalism, but I don't know, "Ps" just doesn't sound right. But maybe it's latency and I'll get used to it.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

Sidnicious says:

I have really mixed feelings about these. Their look alone is awesome. Super clean, super modern. They do, however, go against all past product icons (revolution, not evolution) and aren't as identifiable. I haven't had problems but a few friends and family members are hating them.
They would be great as prerelease icons as they have an unfinished, industrial feel, but I must admit that I'd miss them if they were back to normal in the GM release.
Posted 31 months ago. ( permalink )

~Lynx~ says:

Adobe periodic table FTW!
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

brettwickens says:

MetaDesign did not design these icons or color scheme. We stopped working with Adobe in the spring of 2006 after much of their design efforts were taken internally, subsequent to the Macromedia/Adobe merger.

We did recommend, early in 2006, the idea of a mnemonic scheme as a way of dealing with the vast new catalog of products that would be emerging from the newly merged companies.

Brett Wickens
VP Creative Director
MetaDesign
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

uebersetzung says:

like it
Posted 30 months ago. ( permalink )

kronicred says:

These icons remind me of small soggy tuna sandwiches.
Posted 28 months ago. ( permalink )

thebakachan says:

The unmarked green icon with the person on the filmstrip is Adobe Ultra, and the one near the center (Marked 'Raw? DNG Converter?') is Adobe OnLocation. The acquisitions from Serious Magic :D
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

cd.harrison says:

Thanks for those updates, thebakachan. I updated the wheel 'o' icons to reflect the changes!
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

documentingSpace [deleted] says:

strange, I think there the best they have been in a long while. CS CS2 were the worst icons in softwares history. I never knew which was what in my task bars. very frustrating.
Posted 26 months ago. ( permalink )

Charmeleon says:

I agree, I really like them. Very clean, nice.
Posted 26 months ago. ( permalink )

Rico Madiko says:

It's a shame that FH is long gone. But overall, these new icons really stand out the name of each product (at least easier to understand). Although I hate it when I first saw it (or during Beta period), but now I love it a lot.
Posted 26 months ago. ( permalink )

jaylarson says:

They also show up very nicely in my finder/explorer windows on my computer.
Posted 26 months ago. ( permalink )

rickyaustin says:

I think this is a very nice package of icons. I do not know what everyone is upset about.

I used the beta version of PS3 and the icon means more now with a specific vivid color and initials — than the previous feather, butterfly, flower, seashell & star.

This is sophisticated and clean. Well done Adobe.
Posted 26 months ago. ( permalink )

wdlaurie says:

Should you desire help creating your own CS3 style icons, I've posted a simple three step tutorial:

www.mccannas.com/blog/?p=62

There are a number of tools a designer uses in any design: texture, shape, color, size, contrast, imagery. My personal opinion is that the icon designers showed a lack of imagination. The icons all match, but that's a sad baseline for branding. There's nothing inspirational or interesting about any of these.

These icons also display poorly at 16x16 pixels, something Windows users see a lot of: in the window title for the application, in the taskbar, in the default view of File Explorer.

www.mccannas.com/blog/?p=62
Posted 26 months ago. ( permalink )

shelly_cawood says:

ive been calling photoshop ps for as long as i can rememeber same with dreamwaver; dw so to some extent this works for me. I have always disliked adobes icons and rtaher liked macromedias, i think they have not quite hit the nail on the head with these. the lack of consistency with the upper and lowercase bugs me and the fact they are ALL sqaure makes me cringe... does look like something they didnt think about a whole lot, when i saw them in beta i hoped they were temporary icons heh
Posted 26 months ago. ( permalink )