Background

Apple and Adobe cooperated on a number of cross-promotional projects in the early days of desktop publishing. In 1990 Apple agreed to include a brochure touting Adobe software with each new high-end Macintosh computer.

The project

I wrote, designed and produced the brochure for the in-box campaign.

While I was working on this project I was living in Boston, working out of my apartment as one of the first full-time, long-distance telecommuters. The size and complexity of the brochure strained what was then a state-of-the-art telecommuting setup: a 9600 baud fax-modem, AppleLink (Apple’s proprietary corporate email system), a LaserWriter II printer, a Macintosh IIfx computer, and a maxed-out FedEx account.

The centerpiece of the brochure was a stylized schematic flow showing how Apple and Adobe products could be used together in the print design and production process. Beginning with a photograph and an Apple scanner, a user could bring an image into Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, or both. After enhancing or manipulating the image the user could print the results with an Apple LaserWriter.