Adobe’s recent brand update, developed by Mother Design, is so inherent, so natural that it takes a beat to figure out exactly what has changed. Freed from a traditional wordmark/logo lockup, the new design simply gets down to business.
The update links directly back to an original 1982 design. MD designers reworked the negative space inside of the A to create a “positive space” and turn the letter into logo/icon that can stand alone or be part of the whole name. The team also refined the brand palette to red, black, and white to strengthen the brand’s recognizability.
Another new element in the identity is “the Adobe lens, a frame-like graphic device that contains, highlights, and transforms imagery. The lens is a unifying, immediately recognizable symbol representing Adobe’s role as a ‘portal’ to transformation and creativity.” The lens is scalable: it can operate as a frame, as a graphic inside of another image, or as a full red wash behind imagery.