Rob Goodlatte  

Adobe gave us a glimpse at new icons for the CS3 suite yesterday. Each icon resembles an element from the periodic table, distinguished by color and a shorthand abbreviation derived from the name of the app. Many people are upset. Many have cited usability gripes – it’s difficult to read the abbreviation at small sizes; the color differences between icons are too subtle and useless to the colorblind. But my issue with the icons, regardless of usability concerns, is that they’re uninspired, commonplace, and are hardly icons in the true sense of the word.