A Trip to Adobe Seattle, Where InDesign Is Made (Part 1)

David Blatner

9

Hey, folks, it’s time for a field trip! Let’s put on our coats, skip out the door, and head over to the Adobe office in Seattle, Washington — home of the InDesign team. (Actually, the people working on InDesign are spread all over the world, from California to India; but Seattle can rightly be called InDesign’s home town.)

Adobe’s Seattle office is located in the chillaxed Fremont neighborhood. Signs posted in the area proclaim that Fremont is the center of the universe. It’s probably true. Fremontians like cool art, good food, and a offbeat sense of humor. So as we arrive at the offices, we first see the concrete Fremont Troll, tucked under the George Washington (“Aurora”) bridge. To give you a sense of size, that’s a real VW bug:

As we head down Troll Avenue North, we end up on North 34th Street, where we can find two more fun statues in front of the Adobe offices. First, another classic Seattle sight, Waiting for the Interurban — which locals dress up differently almost weekly, for virtually any occasion:

A relatively recent addition to N 34th is the Late for the Interurban, directly in front of one of two office buildings Seattle inhabits (note the tiny, subtle Adobe logo on the building behind the statue):

Let’s walk down a flight of steps running from street level between those buildings in the background. Here we find ourselves at the heart of Adobe Seattle:

Let’s head on in, shall we? Here at the lobby reception desk is Margie Belling, who has greeted visitors here with a smiling face for as long as I can remember. Easy-going, relaxed, and friendly is a Seattle theme well-reflected here at Adobe. Light wood is everywhere — cabinets, walls, doors — offset by brushed metal and glass. Very pleasant, very high-tech.

Next, let’s enter the sanctum through two sets of cardkey-locked double doors, stepping beyond where the public eye can normally see. In some respects, Adobe’s offices are much like any other large firm. Hallways of offices lead to hallways of more offices, laid out in a maze that only insiders can fathom (or not). The goal, I believe, is like that of fly-paper: If a visitor ever did get lost without a chaperone, they would wander until exhaustion, and be found by security that evening.

However, every now and then we turn a corner that opens up into a larger area, often with chairs, sofas, or even a kitchen area stocked with juice, sodas, fruit, and — yes, it’s true — large bowls of candy for the taking.

You’ll notice that the ceiling is mostly left unfinished throughout most of the Adobe offices. You can see heating ducts, concrete, water pipes, and miles of ethernet cables hung, strung, strapped, and screwed everywhere you go. Yes, it’s supposed to look like that. It’s a design aesthetic which I like to call “Nouvelle Brazil,” in which you get to see how it’s all done, like a magician showing his bag of tricks.

As we turn another corner, we find an open area with a few awards Adobe has won. Note that some of these may not strictly be for InDesign. InDesign was originally built by the PageMaker team, for example. And the Seattle offices are also home to the AfterEffects team.

Whew! That’s a lot of walking. Let’s sit down and take a short break… have some candy while you’re waiting for Part 2 of this 2-part series.