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Originally Posted by flashwiz
Interesting to see what people are saying about these new icons, and the fact that they in the first instance appear to be probably very simple and easy to create. Yet in reality this couldnt be further from the truth. When I first saw the splash screen and application icon of Adobe Photoshop CS3 my thinking pattern was that Macromedia had its influence in the branding process, and that has turned out to be correct. All the new icons have been created by what was the old Macromedia design team.
The idea of using different colors for each application and the way the splash screen is organized for example. The color association that is carried throughout the product's desktop brand and primary imagery makes total sense to me. The absence of illustrative elements as we saw in previous versions needs really getting use to however as Toon as already mentioned, if you look in the Dock, most icons are like pictures and visually very detailed so it's like they are all shouting "choose me, me". Adobe's new icons are so basic and stand out instantly even in a crowded Dock. That's a thing Macromedia always had with their icons, you could immediately tell they belong together.
Because it's only two letters and I personally immediately see the "Ai" just by looking and not by a literal read. It was much harder to differentiate the previous ones, in fact I more than once confused ImageReady with Photoshop. The natural look didn't have any meaning other then being pretty to use as marketing collateral. With regards the typography, the font used in the icons was created by Robert Slimbach, known from typefaces like Adobe Garamond, Adobe Jenson, Myriad etc and is a one off font made exclusivel for Adobe. Also if your wondering why Acrobat Reader hasn't "Ar" as icon or "Pd" or something, just to take the same line with the rest of the products. The curvy triangle is so well known that it's obvious they kept using it for the icon. I think if the other applications had a similar icon over the years, they would have done the same. Since there are none they decided to use a two-letter mnemonic 'nickname' system as their primary identifier.
Other than that you have to think of how big or major an undertaking it is to revamp and re-brand both Adobe's and Macromedia's apps as one brand, we're talking thousands of icons in total so i think they have done a great job personally.
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I feel really anal discussing something as mundane as dock icons, but with all of the above considered, it doesn't alter the fact it's a very dull solution. I'm not being deliberately obtuse, it's quite obvious that to rebrand such a huge collection of apps is going to need some very strict design rules, but ultimately they're boring.
It's not a case of people judging too quickly or otherwise, it's an honest reaction to something we'll all be using on a daily basis. This merger and its subsequent rebrand are just another aspect of the global mono-culture, so unsurprisingly, it reflects its complete lack of diversity.