Case Study 02
Adobe. Principal Designer
For drawing on the iPad, the finger isn’t good enough. We designed, developed, and manufactured Adobe's first hardware devices Adobe Ink & Slide – a precision cloud pen and digital ruler.
Ink & Slide advanced the art of drawing one year before Apple Pencil’s arrival. The product inspired the creation of new Adobe drawing apps, and required the development of Adobe’s first stylus SDK. My favorite moment: the patented Creative Cloud copy > paste.
Adobe Ink & Slide
What if your finger was never good enough for drawing on the iPad? What if Adobe made a pen that was connected to the Creative Cloud? What would it be and what would it do?
For starters, it would have pressure sensitivity and a precision tip for the iPad. With Creative Cloud connectivity, all of your Art & Design DNA within. Adobe Ink would have a natural sidekick – a digital ruler called Slide – a reinvention of the straight edge. Both were rooted in a need for precision drawing on larger canvas touch screens. Both were tributes to our architectural drafting pasts.
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Born out of Friday R&D sessions sponsored by design leader Phil Clevenger, we had runway to explore fresh ideas untethered from annual product roadmaps. We called the pen initiative “Project Mighty”. And the little ruler? “Napoleon”.
The global team was inspired, and our support network was vast. Key mentoring came directly from Adobe executives Kevin Lynch, Michael Gough, Scott Belsky, David Wadhwani, and Adobe’s CEO Shantanu Narayen – who believed in the innovation story taking shape.
Master lessons came from my industrial design partner Ammunition Group, and the engineering labs of Mindtribe. My residency with Adonit in Taipei was key to learning tooling, vendor negotiation, and the incredible night markets.
As the design lead and spokesperson for the product, I received professional media training enabling me to speak to thousands in-person, and many more through digital, print, and multimedia. Hard lessons, magical discoveries, and a whole lot of love was the theme. The core team has since gone on to do many great things with Adobe, at Apple Design, Google Seed, and beyond.
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Consumer Electronic Design
Industrial Design & Engineering
Software & Firmware
Cloud Ecosystem Design
iOS App Design & Development
Packaging
Media Training
IP & Patent Writing
Taiwan, SF, LA, NY, Asia, Europe, & the UK
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Adobe Design
Adobe Engineering
Adobe PR
Adobe Brand Marketing & Studio
Ammunition Group
Mindtribe
Adonit
Character
99u
TED
“A drawing is simply a line going for a walk.”
– Paul Klee
Behind the scenes: Draw what you want to be real.
Late night, I drew the first Adobe pen in Illustrator and rendered it in Photoshop, racing to make the next day’s presentation. I’m not an industrial designer. I was making believe.
The team wanted our pen to be different and deluxe.
It was my introduction to Industrial Design legends Ammunition Group that gave form to the idea.
Perfect form.
After countless 3-D printed models with an endless variety of form, we recalled how those triangular rubber pencil grips helped kids write. The next printed model felt inevitably perfect in hand.
It was my introduction to Product Engineering aces Mindtribe that gave the idea life.
Micheal Gough, Design Vanguard.
As Adobe's long-time design executive, Michael led me through the journey. It turns out he had always wanted to make integrated hardware, software and services. It turns out, Michael is an incredible mentor and friend. Here, Michael is testing out the first wired-prototype.
Phil Clevenger, Design Leader.
Phil (in the back as usual) believes that anything is possible. In fact, one of his Philisims is, “You just have to consider the possibility that it will all work out.” Phil was the earliest champion of the effort. His belief in the team was inspiring and humbling..
From L to R: Greg Muscolino, Steve Myers, Phil Clevenger, Geoff Dowd, Sam Kang, and Timothy Van Ruitenbeek at Adobe MAX in Los Angeles, rare devices in-hand.
