Adobe DESIGN.md
Adobe brand studyadobe.com
Create at the highest level.
Rethink Sans for Adobe Clean Display Black · Source Sans 3 for Adobe Clean
button-primary-on-dark- primary
#EB1000 - secondary
#3B63FB - surface
#FFFFFF - on-surface
#000000 - gray-75
#F3F3F3 - muted-ink
#5C5C5C - gray-800
#292929 - photoshop-cyan
#31A8FF
- Aa
display-xl 80px / 800 - Aa
display-l 56px / 800 - Aa
title 24px / 800 - Aa
lead 20px / 400
DESIGN.md173 lines · version alpha
---
version: alpha
name: "Adobe"
description: "The creative, document and customer-experience tools for everyone, from students to global brands."
colors:
primary: "#eb1000"
secondary: "#3b63fb"
surface: "#ffffff"
on-surface: "#000000"
gray-75: "#F3F3F3"
muted-ink: "#5C5C5C"
gray-800: "#292929"
photoshop-cyan: "#31A8FF"
photoshop-dark: "#001E36"
illustrator-orange: "#FF9A00"
illustrator-dark: "#330000"
after-effects-indigo: "#9999FF"
typography:
headline-display:
fontFamily: "Rethink Sans"
fontSize: 80px
fontWeight: 800
lineHeight: 0.95
letterSpacing: -1.6px
body-md:
fontFamily: "Source Sans 3"
fontSize: 16px
fontWeight: 400
lineHeight: 1.25
display-l:
fontFamily: "Rethink Sans"
fontSize: 56px
fontWeight: 800
lineHeight: 1
letterSpacing: -1.12px
title:
fontFamily: "Rethink Sans"
fontSize: 24px
fontWeight: 800
lineHeight: 1
letterSpacing: -0.96px
lead:
fontFamily: "Source Sans 3"
fontSize: 20px
fontWeight: 400
lineHeight: 1.2
body-strong:
fontFamily: "Source Sans 3"
fontSize: 16px
fontWeight: 700
lineHeight: 1.25
letterSpacing: -0.2px
label:
fontFamily: "Source Sans 3"
fontSize: 14px
fontWeight: 700
lineHeight: 1.286
legal:
fontFamily: "Source Sans 3"
fontSize: 12px
fontWeight: 700
lineHeight: 1.333
rounded:
sm: 8px
md: 16px
lg: 26px
full: 9999px
spacing:
margin: 120px
margin-phone: 24px
gutter: 8px
gutter-phone: 8px
section: 128px
section-phone: 40px
card-gap: 8px
container-max: 1200px
columns: 3
components:
button-primary-on-dark:
backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
textColor: "{colors.on-surface}"
rounded: "{rounded.full}"
height: 40px
button-signin:
backgroundColor: "{colors.surface}"
textColor: "{colors.on-surface}"
rounded: "{rounded.full}"
height: 40px
---
# Adobe design system
## Overview
Generated on 2026-11-03 from the Adobe brand study (unfairly.ai/brand-guidelines/adobe/, checked 2026-10-30). An independent study of what Adobe publishes and ships, not official Adobe guidelines.
Adobe runs two systems that meet on adobe.com: Spectrum, its public product design system (colour, type, icons, motion, voice), and a marketing homepage built as a dark cinematic stage with a white sheet riding over it. The constants are black and white, Adobe Clean in a heavy Black display cut, and the product app tiles as the only colour. Adobe lets the work be the colour. The chrome is black, white and one heavy typeface; colour arrives through customer photos, product screenshots and the app tiles, each in its own published pair.
- Logo: The Adobe wordmark (custom lettering) and the "A" logomark; on adobe.com the wordmark alone in the nav, white over the hero, and a giant white A + wordmark lockup in the footer. The red square "A" tile is the corporate app tile (from the Adobe brand study). Link your approved master files.
- Headline on the site: "Create at the highest level."
- Category: Creative software, document software (PDF) and digital-experience software
- Audience: Students, social influencers, creative professionals, performance marketers and global brands (the homepage names all five)
- Promise: Everything you need to make anything, faster with AI
- Voice: rational, human, focused.
- Use title case only for official names and titles
- Never use all caps for emphasis; all caps only for acronyms and file extensions
- Use common contractions (you're, we'll, can't) to sound natural
- Address the user as you; first person only for the user's own answers, consent or privacy
## Colors
- Primary: #eb1000 (from the Adobe brand study)
- Secondary: #3b63fb (from the Adobe brand study)
- Surface: #ffffff (from the Adobe brand study)
- On surface: #000000 (from the Adobe brand study)
- Adobe red (#EB1000): The A tile and the red product tiles; Spectrum names it a primary brand colour (hex observed in Adobe's SVGs)
- Black (#000000): Homepage text, black product band and footer
- White (#FFFFFF): Page sheet; text and pills on dark
- Gray 75 (#F3F3F3): Carousel cards
- Muted ink (#5C5C5C): Eyebrows and card lines (64% black)
- Gray 800 (#292929): Spectrum icons and linear illustrations
- Primary palette: red, black, grey, white
- Each product keeps its own colours; tiles never change on dark
- Gradients are placed intentionally and tied to product palettes
- Don't make your own colours or gradients: request them
## Typography
- Display: Rethink Sans (from the Adobe brand study)
- Body: Source Sans 3 (from the Adobe brand study)
- Adobe Clean Display Black, Homepage headlines, quotes and card titles at 900. Proprietary to Adobe; not available for others
- Adobe Clean (Adobe Clean Spectrum VF in product), Body, labels, nav and buttons at 400 and 700. Proprietary; Adobe's corporate typeface, a family of 10+ faces
- not published on the public page, Code type style in Spectrum. not published
- headline-display: Hero H1, Rethink Sans 80px/0.95 at 800
- body-md: Body, card line, footer link, Source Sans 3 16px/1.25 at 400
- display-l: Section H2, testimonial quote, Rethink Sans 56px/1 at 800
- title: Card and promo title, Rethink Sans 24px/1 at 800
- lead: Lead, Source Sans 3 20px/1.2 at 400
- body-strong: Eyebrow, card title (carousel), footer heading, attribution name, Source Sans 3 16px/1.25 at 700
- label: Nav link, button label, text link, category card label, Source Sans 3 14px/1.286 at 700
- legal: Legal row, Source Sans 3 12px/1.333 at 700
- Major Second scale, base 14px
- ExtraBold for headings in product UI; Black only for branded headings at 18px+
- Bold for titles, file names and button labels
## Layout
- margin 120px, margin-phone 24px, gutter 8px, gutter-phone 8px, section 128px, section-phone 40px, card-gap 8px, container-max 1200px, columns 3
- Spacing tokens 2, 4, 8, 16... (geometric)
- Rounding: small 4px, medium 8px, large 10px, extra-large 16px, full for buttons
- Nested corners: outer radius - gap = inner radius
## Elevation & Depth
- Icons are outlined with a 1.5px stroke; linear illustrations in gray 800
## Shapes
- Spectrum: no sharp corners; small 4px, medium 8px (default), large 10px, extra-large 16px, full for buttons. Homepage: 8px small cards, 16px media and cards, 32px on the white sheet where it meets a dark band
- pill
## Components
- button-primary-on-dark: #FFFFFF fill, #000000 text, corners {rounded.full}, 40px tall. Free trial 118x40; See all plans 133x40
- button-signin: #FFFFFF fill, #000000 text, corners {rounded.full}, 40px tall. Sign in 77x40
## Do's and Don'ts
- Don't recolour a product tile
- Don't make your own logos, colours or gradients
- Don't use colour for decoration in the chrome
- Don't invent a gradient
- Don't underline for emphasis
- Don't black below 18px