The decision to create Fresco grew from extensive user research. Illustrations by Kyle Webster and Jessica Wong.

With the help of user research, the app has evolved significantly-from major visual changes to the app framework, to minor interactions and nuances in the experience. The first design (left) for Fresco in 2017 and the 2020 iteration (right). Additionally, we saw Fresco as an opportunity to leverage the advantage of having both pixels and vectors in one app, hence the project name, Project Gemini-a reference to the constellation, represented by twins and the combination of pixels and vectors in a single app.” “There were features in both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator that customers were asking for, and we knew we needed to make the decision to keep iterating on Sketch and Draw, or build a powerful new painting and drawing app that was easy to use, like Sketch and Draw, but that contained the pro-level features that Photoshop and Illustrator artists were used to. “These apps utilized the power of Photoshop brushes and Illustrator vector drawing, and many artists used them for professional, paid work on a daily basis,” Brooke Hopper explains. Both are available as phone and tablet versions for both iOS and Android. Establishing a user needĪdobe already had two free drawing apps on the market: Adobe Photoshop Sketch (pixel) and Adobe Illustrator Draw (vector). In this article, Brooke Hopper, lead designer for drawing and painting at Adobe, gives us an exclusive look behind the scenes to understand just how important user research was-and still is-in the creation of Fresco. With this in mind, Adobe’s design team carried out user research at every step of the design process when planning the new digital painting and drawing app Adobe Fresco.

From establishing an actual need to identifying workflows, user research can provide invaluable insights into your audience to ensure you’re on the right track. An enormous amount of leg work goes into building a great product before even a single pixel is laid down.

Adobe fresco to photoshop