design portamento: Things I Learned at Adobe

Monday, March 28, 2011

Things I Learned at Adobe

People often ask me about the most important thing I learned from working in User Experience Design at Adobe. Six years working under the Big Red 'A' was such a rich and unforgettable time in my life. It's impossible to narrow it down to learning just one thing.

I can however, make a short list (in no particular order):

1. Lighten up and have fun.
We worked really hard at Adobe and we played hard too. I truly believe that you can't be creative in a serious and conservative atmosphere. I lived this everyday at Adobe and instilled this belief in my direct reports as well.

How did we instill lightness in our daily work? By doing things like organizing pancake breakfasts, art shows and snack breaks to name a few. One day during the middle of an intense week working on Acrobat I took my team to the outside balcony of the East Tower 15th floor and we blew bubbles. It only took ten minutes, but when we walked back into our offices we felt rejuvenated and -- well -- lighter. We were ready to face the major design challenges of Acrobat with a fresh perspective.

Design is serious business. The work we do is important. But we do it best when we lighten up.