The Opportunity
Adobe is one of those top-shelf, tier-1 companies that you want to work for or do business with. They fully embody what a design-centric company is. And every business unit is always in need of things being created at the highest levels—including their design standards.
Adobe is one of those top-shelf, tier-1 companies that you want to work for or do business with. They fully embody what a design-centric company is. And every business unit is always in need of things being created at the highest levels—including their design standards.
When their internal resources can’t produce, they outsource to vendors to fill the void. For example, presentation design is a service that is sought after for high-level engagements when Adobe’s own small internal presentation team is overloaded and can’t do the work for the requesting person or group. For that, various Adobe BUs turn to me to help design deliverables while maintaining the same Adobe quality and brand standards. A sample presentation (shown below) for the Document Solutions team is one of numerous presentations I’ve created for them over the years.
The Services
Creative strategy
Art direction
Design: Presentation
Design (not shown): Numerous other presentations and keynotes, interactive demos, interactive applications, microsites, advertising, illustrations, event conference signage and swag, collateral, posters
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, HTML/CSS, Javascript, PowerPoint, Keynote
Creative strategy
Art direction
Design: Presentation
Design (not shown): Numerous other presentations and keynotes, interactive demos, interactive applications, microsites, advertising, illustrations, event conference signage and swag, collateral, posters
Tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, HTML/CSS, Javascript, PowerPoint, Keynote
The Partnership
My partnership and history with Adobe is two-fold. I started my career with Adobe as an in-house Designer for about six years. While there, I learned much of its core creative products, improved my craft, and learned the “Adobe way.” Years later after venturing out on my own to start RESONATE, I was fortunate enough to reconnect as a vendor. I’ve been partnering with various Adobe teams for several years now.
My partnership and history with Adobe is two-fold. I started my career with Adobe as an in-house Designer for about six years. While there, I learned much of its core creative products, improved my craft, and learned the “Adobe way.” Years later after venturing out on my own to start RESONATE, I was fortunate enough to reconnect as a vendor. I’ve been partnering with various Adobe teams for several years now.
The majority of my work comes from the Adobe Document Solutions group. But I’ve also worked with Adobe Creative Cloud, Stock, EchoSign, AdobeTV, PrimeTime, Flash, Inspire, LiveCycle, SlideZoom, Open Screen; its Presentation team, Corporate Marketing, Customer Briefing Center, Privacy, Evangelism, Cloud Integration, Education, Enterprise Sales, Channel Sales, Volume Licensing, and Enterprise Application teams, amongst others; as well as, Adobe Summit, MAX, and Worldwide Sales Conferences.
The bulk of what I do for Adobe are presentations and keynotes for conferences, product launches, press, and analyst events. But I’ve also created interactive product demos, an internal interactive support application and an internal wiki support microsite for the Document Solutions group; as well as, produced a lot of print and trade show design pieces—all in support of sales and/or marketing.
The Result
One thing about Adobe though is that they like to wait until the last minute to do anything. So you have to be very flexible and be willing to take the work on short notice, and often with quick turn around time. It may mean very late nights ahead. But when you consistently deliver a quality product, they will typically come back to you.
One thing about Adobe though is that they like to wait until the last minute to do anything. So you have to be very flexible and be willing to take the work on short notice, and often with quick turn around time. It may mean very late nights ahead. But when you consistently deliver a quality product, they will typically come back to you.
As an Adobe employee I did a lot work with the Acrobat (e-Paper) team then as an internal creative lead, and always had a strong rapport with many of the team members. Currently, as an Adobe vendor I do a lot of work with the Document Solutions group (which now includes Acrobat) and continue to have a good working relationship with many of its members.
Acrobat alone has been one of Adobe’s top revenue generators—surpassing Photoshop a long time ago. With my history of working with the Acrobat products teams, I’d like to think that I have been able to put my own tiny stamp on the success that it continues to have.
