Today the most important creative and designer’s software tool in the world is shipping: Adobe Creative Suite 3. And this is not just simply another renewed version Creative Suite 2. This time around you can expect not only fresh versions of core-applications such as Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, but also new applications such as Soundbooth. More importantly, seamless integration of applications from Adobe’s latest purchase: Macromedia. Which means Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and all those other components are now part of everybody’s favorite package.

Studio469 is here to inform you about this latest release, and add some additional views on what can be seen as one of the most important software releases this decade. So read on and get to know the different versions of Creative Suite, with plenty of visuals to match.

Let’s kick things off with the new icons. They have all been designed to match a very minimalistic and modern appearance with the use of 2 characters to indicate the application and a color to denote their respective positions in the entire suite, as seen below in their cohesive branding scheme.

Now there have been many responses considering the design of these icons. Some hate em, some love em, but they sure are a different step entirely from their predecessors. The 2 earlier versions of Creative Suite used a very nature-oriented style. The icons resembled feathers, flowers, butterflies and more earth-related themes. Below you can see a comparison between the CS3 and CS2 icons, showing Photoshop, Bridge and Acrobat. Which style do you prefer?

It can be understood however, that you might have a hard time figuring out what icon represents which application. Therefor we have found the perfect thing: a nice 3D carousel made by Lee Brimelow at The Flash Blog. It shows all the current icons and their matching applications.

Moving on. With the coming of Macromedia’s components and some new Adobe applications such as Soundbooth Adobe decided to create new bundles instead of the usual Standard and Premium packages.

This time there are 4 distinctive bundles, each with their own mix of applications. We have the Design and Web suites, each separated into a Standard and Premium version. Then there is the Production Premium and finally the Master Collection, hosting all the applications into 1 huge package.

To  illustrate the difference between all the bundles there is a table below showing all the details. It makes finding the right box for the job much easier.

As you can see in the above image, Adobe has also re-designed its packaging. The new suite shows a very colorful selection of fluent shapes to create a small orgasm of color onto your screen. Below is a mishmash of some of the different boxes Adobe could deliver to your doorstep.

And what can we expect to pay dear old Adobe for all these nice software tools? Well, a lot actually. The Design Standard comes at 1.269€ and the Premium at 1.999€. Web Standard will set you back 999€, with the Premium going for 1.699€. The Production Premium bundle will come at 1.999€ and last but certainly not least: the Master Collection. This ultimate package will cost you 2.799€. More pricing details on upgrades from CS2 to CS3 can be found at Adobe’s Store.

To give you some more information on the details concerning the different bundles, we have links to the workflow guides of CS3 Design and CS3 Web. The workflow guide of CS3 Production has not been posted tot this point, but you can find most of the information on CS3 Production you need at Adobe’s website. The information shows a tight integration of all the applications together with a big bag full of new features.

So what will you do? Cough up some cash to own the latest in creative software tools or stick with your current applications? What is your opinion about Creative Suite 3? Do you feel it is finally one of the most complete packages out there or are you missing something? Let us know, we are eager to learn the opinion of others on topics such as these.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 14:00 and is filed under Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.