Today, Adobe announced a major revision to Premiere Pro, including a radically improved end-to-end experience. The new update introduces a refreshed import and export experience and a streamlined header bar.
Adobe says the revision results in workflows being ‘easier to learn, more efficient and more enjoyable.’ Adobe continues, ‘We want Premiere Pro to become a more intuitive, yet powerful editing tool that is ready to meet the demands of tomorrow while also helping today’s creators to meet the demand of delivering high-quality content at quick turnarounds and optimizing content for multiple social platforms.’
The refreshed interface has been a long time coming. It’s challenging to modernize a nearly 30-year-old application. It’s further complicated by changing editing and publishing demands. For example, social media video wasn’t around when Premiere Pro was created. Different video platforms have significantly affected user demands.
To balance traditional post-production video editing needs and the demands of those working with new types of video content, the Premiere Pro team put together a cross-functional team from product design, research, engineering and customer experience, who worked closely with real Premiere Pro users. The result is a dramatically different user interface that is more streamlined and modern without sacrificing usability.
The new Import Mode is a media-first experience. It allows editors to access their content easily and quickly. You can still import through the finder and media browser if you want to, but you no longer must. It is easier than ever to import content from multiple file paths and start a new project.
The new header bar is designed to integrate the core phases in the editing process, including importing, editing and exporting. The header bar includes direct access to task-specific workspace dropdown menu and Quick Export functionality. Adobe writes that the header bar will be a universal design element across Creative Cloud applications, promising an easier-to-use and more consistent experience.
Video creators today must often export video in multiple formats. Premiere Pro makes it easier to export content optimized for multiple social platforms and delivery formats. The new export experience offers up a video destination-first approach rather than the prior format-first approach. Adobe writes, ‘The new Export Mode makes it easier to export multiple files to a local drive and streamlines the process of delivering completed videos by focusing on the destination of the content. Users can quickly target either a given media format or the social media platform where they want to publish (e.g., YouTube), use automatic settings to render it, preview it before publishing, and directly upload their video when ready.’ Adobe is also working on background rendering for a future version.
Adobe writes, ‘A guiding philosophy behind the refresh is to keep what people love the most about Premiere Pro, while adding in what we’ve learned over the years to make it better. Our engineering team has over 60 years of professional editing experience combined and knows how impactful changes can be for our customers who have been using Premiere Pro for years. We’re being judicious with this process because we know a lot of you spend a lot of time in Premiere Pro.’
The new Adobe Premiere Pro experience will be introduced first through a public Beta, available now, allowing customers to try out the new user interface and features and leave feedback. To learn more, visit Adobe.