The year 2003 was a good one for Adobe Systems, and, if the company has its way, 2004 will be an even better year for the already tremendously successful company. In late October, at a meeting in New York, several Adobe senior staff members shared details of the company’s strategic plans for 2004 with analysts and press. The news was all good, and included firm indications that Adobe will continue to support the creative professional market.
Later in the year, Adobe announced that the company’s fourth quarter (which ended November 23) earnings broke corporate records and, overall, the company had done very well in 2003. In fiscal 2003, Adobe booked $1.295 billion in revenue, compared to $1.165 billion in fiscal 2002. On a year-over-year basis, annual revenue grew 11 percent — an excellent performance in any year, but especially impressive considering how poorly the economy was performing overall.
Shortly after Adobe announced its fourth quarter earnings, we asked Adobe to give WTT readers an update on its creative professional products (InDesign, Creative Suite, PDF, and others) and to share some the company’s insight on how creative professionals work today. Mark Hilton, Director of Product Marketing for the Creative Professional Products, took some time to answer our questions.
WTT: How is InDesign doing in terms of market share? The Creative Professional slide presentation at the October briefing mentioned some major publications are using the product, so is it gaining ground against Quark?
Hilton: While Adobe can’t discuss market share numbers, we do have a growing community of creative professionals who have switched to InDesign from QuarkXPress and we are seeing a lot of customer interest and enthusiasm for the latest release –- InDesign CS. Industry analysts and product reviews all point to the same thing –- the momentum is shifting to InDesign.
Some other facts you may find interesting:
- The number of service providers accepting InDesign files worldwide has grown from 300 to over 6,000 since 2001.
- The number of trainers now teaching InDesign has tripled since the launch of InDesign 2.0.
- 95% of Adobe’s system integrator partners are currently selling InDesign solutions.
- Top universities and design schools nationwide are no longer teaching QuarkXPress and are now only teaching InDesign (e.g. Carnegie Melon, RIT, Cal Arts and Ringling School of Design).WTT: The slide show also mentioned that Adobe is aware of a need for creative professionals to repurpose materials. What do you mean by “repurpose?” Also, in terms of non-print design such as for the Web and other purposes, how do you see the needs of creative professionals evolving?Hilton: In today’s world, workflows are very print-driven. The idea of repurposing materials is to be able to take content intended for print and publish that content to the Web. This is exactly what Adobe had in mind when developing the Creative Suite and in our Network Publishing vision. For example, content can be tagged in XML in InDesign and the Package for GoLive capability can export the content from InDesign directly to GoLive for Web publishing. It fulfills the concept of publishing simultaneously to print and the Web. This is evolving because it will become more than just repurposing for the Web; it will become a delivery neutral workflow process – content will be published to print, Web, wireless, and other devices simultaneously.WTT: The need to work in collaboration was also mentioned. Explain how Adobe came to that conclusion and how the CS supports those needs.Hilton: After talking to many customers, Adobe realized collaboration with other team members or clients was a key pain point for our customers. We find that our products are commonly used together in a workflow with others –- a designer creates something in Illustrator or Photoshop and someone else lays it out in InDesign. The layout needs to be reviewed and approved and then the content is published for print and sent to the Web team for publishing to the Web via GoLive.
During this process many files and versions of files are created. The management of these files and their versions is another pain point for our customers. We included in the Creative Suite an innovative file and version management tool called Version Cue. Content is added into Version Cue and is easily available for all team members to access. Most importantly, each team member can simply find the most current version of the file.
WTT: How do the Creative Suite products help creative professionals add value and increase productivity? Is that what you see as their major needs at the moment?
Hilton: The Creative Suite increases productivity by streamlining the workflow process. The Creative Suite supports the placing of native PDF, Photoshop, and Illustrator objects. For example, native Photoshop files can be placed into InDesign, unlike competitive products, which typically have to convert the Photoshop file to another format before it can be used.
The Creative Suite applications also share common technologies for PDF creation as well as image, color, and type engines. This allows our customers to get their projects completed quicker and with greater consistency. The increased productivity leaves our customer with two simple options: 1) their work can be shipped earlier and brought to market faster, or 2) the customer gets more time to enhance the content or to be creative. They can go back and adjust the design or improve the content (such as typography), which would not have been possible without the extra time saved from the streamlined workflow. In fact, we’ve noticed that the Creative Suite has reintroduced the art of typography into the desktop publishing world.
Ultimately, the Adobe Creative Suite gives our customer more time to be creative, allowing creative professionals to differentiate themselves from their peers by inspiring innovation. Designers work in a competitive market and any opportunity to set themselves apart can put them one step ahead of the game.
WTT: Please describe the major challenges Creative Professionals face over the next few years and beyond.
Hilton: Creative professionals face a number of challenges, including higher client expectations, challenges in workflow and technology changes. Clients now expect a higher level of creativity from designers and quicker time to market. Clients also want their content to appear in different mediums. This in effect, poses a challenge in workflow. Clients now look for designers who have a wider skill base. Designers who once only specialized in print design now need to have stronger understanding in Web layout and digital imaging. Technological changes such as Mac OS X, new typography trends, switching from QuarkXPress to InDesign, publishing to print, Web and wireless devices are all challenges a creative professional will face.
WTT: The term “document services” was mentioned during the presentation. What are document services?
Hilton: Document services manage the complete document lifecycle by providing the ability to create and integrate documents and enrich communications. Adobe’s document services provide document generation, collaboration, security, and process management capabilities. Adobe’s document services produce “intelligent documents” based on PDF, files that leverage the traditional strengths of PDF, including fidelity and cross-platform compatibility, with strong support for XML and the ability to integrate with enterprise systems. Intelligent documents interact with an enterprise’s core applications and integrate people into business processes.
WTT: How do you see the use of PDF for document publication affecting the way publishers do business, and are you seeing greater interest from publishers in creating all digital publications?
Hilton: We see PDF as a solution that will drive the future of documents. PDF might allow publishers to reach customers through digital magazines. Imagine a personalized publication. If you like ESPN sports and Time magazine, PDF will be able to integrate the two together with personalized content for your convenience.
More standards are growing up around PDF such as Job Definition Format (JDF) and eXtensible Metadata Platform (XMP). The acceptance and use of PDF in the publishing market is widening.
Because PDF is cross-platform compatible, users can embed multiple media file types in it. We see it becoming a general document format for everyone.
WTT: How big is the market for PDF in the business world versus the market in the publishing world?
Hilton: Adobe has seen much interest in PDF as an integral file format for enterprise companies. Adobe’s Intelligent Document Platform enables enterprises to securely extend the power and reach of existing enterprise applications by leveraging the universal nature of PDF. Customers can improve customer satisfaction, speed time to market and extend their data across firewalls to clients and constituents in a secure and high quality format. We see the need rising for these capabilities in the enterprise and see it as a large market, much like the publishing world.
WTT: What role do you see PDF playing in the document management and production needs of printers?
Hilton: We would like to see PDF become a standard format all printers use for document needs. Rather than keeping native files such as Quark, we would like PDF to become the archive source for materials. Ultimately, we see PDF as driving all the production needs of printers.
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on February 20, 2004
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