From time to time we’ll recognize significant accomplishments in bad design with nominations to our Bad Design Hall of fame. The potential nominees are almost limitless and we invite Design Refugees to make their own nominations. And, just to be fair, DesignRefugee.com isn’t exempt. When we blow it, feel free to let us know.I’ve been a fan of Adobe’s user interface design since Illustrator 1.1, about twenty years ago. Designing a usable and somewhat intuitive interface for graphics programs is a daunting challenge and few have done it as well as they have. Of course the task has gotten more difficult as new features have bloated my favorite programs. Still, especially considering some of the competing interfaces from the likes of Macromedia (before the takeover) and Microsoft, Adobe remains a leader. That’s why I’m so disappointed in the palettes Adobe has inflicted on Mac users with the CS3 bersions of Photoshop, Illustrator and Flash (apparently Windows users have been suffering through something similar for a while).
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I recently received my copy of Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 Web Premium Edition (henceforth to be known as simply CS3). Being in a hurry to learn enough to introduce the included Dreamweaver update to my web design students, I immediately installed it. (Note: Check out Installation Pain at SEOrefugee for tips for a pain-free installation.) This is Adobe’s first update of DW since purchasing Macromedia. In spite of worries about Adobe’s near monopolistic lock on the graphics market, I’ve been looking forward to the update since the buyout was announced. Adobe has earned their dominant position by churning out great products and I’ve been anxious to see what additions they’d bring to DW and, more importantly, how they would better integrate the program into Creative Suite.
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Note: Most of you won’t be going on to an exciting career in graphic design (of course I’m not talking about you, just the students around you).

First a bit of background

During my senior year studying architecture at the University of Illinois, one of my professors informed the class that less than 10% of us would wind up as practicing architects. In spite of our protestations he was, of course, correct. Within a year of graduating, I was back in school taking art (and the occasional design) classes. And, the few classmates I’m still in touch with aren’t practicing architects either. They’re working for contractors, managing construction projects and more but they aren’t designing buildings.
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