Adobe and I go back a long way. Over two decades, for that matter. The long-standing creative suite for professionals and casual users alike, has changed much over the years. From retail boxes with a dozen floppy disks (oh gawd), to now software and services deployed from the cloud. It’s been quite a journey hasn’t it?
I remember Photoshop 1.0 (and the iconic ‘eye’) and Illustrator 1.0. I remember the Apple Power Mac 6100. I was in art college then, back in the early days of graphic design and desktop publishing. These were all intriguing and exciting to me. Sure, Macs (and PCs) weren’t as powerful then, but that didn’t stop us from doing some amazing stuff with what little we had.
I remember Photoshop v2.5 that was still without layers. Can you imagine Photoshop without layers? Oh yes. I can. Vividly. When I was at the start of my graphic design career, I had a lowly Quadra 650 (remember that?) with 32MB of RAM and 250GB hard drive. Of course I had external SCSI drives plugged in for good measure. I remember big TIFF files, and taking coffee breaks, and saving individual files after every change to the artwork. Because…no layers.
Oh, btw… Happy 25th birthday Photoshop!
I also remember the days when I dabbled in multimedia and web development. I self-taught myself HTML, and used Flash before it was Flash. I was also a big Macromedia Director user, until it was acquired by Adobe back in the day.
And who can forget GoLive Cyberstudio? I was a huge fan of this visual web design tool, which eventually became Dreamweaver.
I remember the expensive Adobe Creative Suite retail boxes we had to buy (and also many didn’t, tsk tsk). There were suites for Video Production, Multimedia Authoring, Web Development, the works.
Hello, cloud
But how times have changed huh? When Adobe announced Adobe Creative Cloud, I was almost instantly sold. No more buying expensive retail packs. No more outdated software. And a low, affordable monthly-fee.
I like that apps are deployed digitally via the cloud. I like that I always have the most updated version of the app. And I like that it is subscription-based so I can choose to pay a monthly instalment or a yearly fee. I like that I can choose to subscribe to a single app, a few, or the entire Creative Suite, if I wanted to.
I like the integration of Behance (digital portfolio site), Adobe Stock image library and Adobe TypeKit for fonts. All in a neat package.
The cool thing is, you have Adobe tools on Mac, PC, iOS, and Android platforms. So no matter what platform, there are Adobe tools to help you get creative.
And it keeps getting better.
My most used apps nowadays are Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier Pro, Audition and Acrobat Pro. I use After Effects sparingly, and still use Edge Code (defunct) from time to time. I think the newly-introduced Adobe Experience Design CC is an awesome tool for rapid prototyping and something that I’ll play with more in the coming months.
Adobe MAX here we come!
And for the first time ever, I’ll be heading to San Diego to attend the amazing Adobe MAX 2016 creative conference. I’m looking forward to obtaining insight on the future of creativity and design, and ready to be inspired by the greats in the creative industry. There will of course, be exciting updates to Adobe tools including Adobe Creative Cloud. Can’t wait!
There will be over 200 expert speakers this year, with major keynotes, breakouts sessions, workshops and networking sessions.
It’s going to be mind-blowing, so stay tuned for updates. I hope to take a selfie with Jared Leto, too, if I get a chance. *fingers crossed
Follow me for updates: vernonchan.com/tag/adobemax2016, and also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
#adobemax
What are your favourite Adobe tools? What’s your earliest memories of Adobe?
Disclaimer: My Adobe MAX trip is generously sponsored by Adobe System. My opinions posted here are on my own.
Latest news
- “Unlimited” Data with Limits? Demystifying Telco Fair Usage Policies (FUP) in Malaysia
- Get Ready for 2024: The Rise of Generative AI in Cyberattacks
- Acer unveils the Predator Triton 16
- Refreshed Acer Swift Edge 16 Laptop set to shine with 3.2K OLED display
- Never miss a World Cup Qatar 2022 match with Astro Fibre
Subscribe to Vernonchan.com: Never miss a story, read stories on Feedly and Medium
Disclosure: Keep in mind that VERNONCHAN.COM may receive commissions when you click our links and make purchases. Clicking on these links cost you nothing and it helps to cover some of the costs for the upkeep of the site. While we may receive commissions, this does not impact our reviews, views and opinions which remain independent, fair, and balanced. Thank you for your support.
