
Spectrum Design System
The future is built collectively and is flexible.
Rational. Human. Focused. Collaborative.
Adobe’s products are evolving: more modern, more friendly, more accessible, and more enjoyable to use. Spectrum, Adobe’s design system creates the building blocks of user experiences, and it’s getting a major update to make it happen.
The future is built collectively
Our users are the core of Spectrum 1 & 2. An extensive community of designers, researchers, product managers, engineers, and other partners from across Adobe came together to set our future direction, bringing years of learning from the field. We’ve brought the best of everything at Adobe to our design system, and we’ll continue to grow together.
The future is about feeling at home
Spectrum 2 will bring greater flexibility and personalization to our products. We want to meet you where you are, whether you’re a first-time user or a long-time pro. Spectrum 2 flexes to fit the contexts and conventions of desktop, web, mobile, and mixed reality. It’s what it needs to be, where it needs to be.
The future is inclusive and accessible
Adobe makes a diverse set of tools for a diverse community of people. Our mission is to empower the broadest possible group of humans to express and communicate their ideas. Our next generation of products will be our most inclusively designed yet, with a focus on your individual preferences for size and scale, color and contrast, and more.
The future is joyful and functional
We make powerful professional tooling, but we also make tools that are used by hundreds of millions of people. Whether you’re an expert or just visit from time to time, you’ll find the products you know and love to be even more friendly, approachable, and expressive — a reflection of the creativity of the Adobe community.
The future is in the details
The biggest change in Spectrum is... all of the little things. We’ve revamped our icons, illustrations, fonts, colors, and introduced hundreds of detailed adjustments and improvements. It all adds up to a user experience that feels more polished and — dare we say — delightful.



Challenges
Stakeholder Buy-ins
Incorporation into existing processes
Scalability
Consistency & Compliance
Overhead & Maintenance
Training & Adoption
Coherency across tools and surfaces
Impact on Performance
Cultural Shifts & Custom Components
Solutions
Workshops & Roadmap planning with teams
Developer Training and Advocacy
Scalable Support across Surfaces
Spectrum Plugin to Evaluate Compliance
User Feedback and Updates
Showcase Case Studies & Small Wins
Tooling & Surface Workshops
Quality Testing at Beta Stages
Slack & Office Hours along w/ Dev hackathons