Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 6: Personal Computer Era (1980s)
1987
Adope Illustrator Developed

Developed in 1986 but first shipped in 1987, Adobe Illustrator emerged as a groundbreaking vector graphics software, revolutionizing the design industry. Developed by Adobe Systems for the Apple Macintoush, Illustrator provided designers with a powerful toolset for creating scalable and precise, visually compelling illustrations. Its intuitive interface and robust features quickly made it an essential piece of software for graphic designers, allowing for the creation of logos, icons and intricate artwork. Illustrator is the companion product to Photoshop that focuses on areas of typesetting and logography in design. The program was a step forward in graphic design from software such as MacDraw and was the commercialization of Adobe’s PostScript.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
Movements
digital art, graphic design
Filed under
- Ideas
- design, digital art, graphic design, tools, typography
- Technologies
- Illustrator, MacDraw, Macintosh, Photoshop, PostScript, vector graphics
- Organisations
- Adobe, Apple
Related moments
- 1984 · PostScript Released
- 1987 · Photoshop Developed
- 1990 · February: initial public release of Adobe Photoshop
Echoes across time
- 2009 · MuirMcNeil founded
- 1968 · Computer Graphic Exhibition at Brno House of Arts
- 1968 · Leslie Mezei Develops SPARTA
Le Random editorials
- Rafaël Rozendaal on a Liquid Canvas, Peter Bauman, January 21, 2025
- Zach Lieberman on the Resonance of Generative Art, Peter Bauman, August 2, 2023
- Demystifying Generative Art, Peter Bauman, July 20, 2023
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 7—Net Era (1990s) with Auriea Harvey, Joshua Davis, LIA, Scott Draves & Vuk Ćosić — listen with transcript on Le Random (11 Apr 2024, 77 min). Transcript mentions Illustrator. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 6—Personal Computer Era (1980s) with Mark Wilson, Copper Giloth, Dan Sandin, David Em, William Latham, Stephen Todd, Darcy Gerbarg & Geoff Davis — listen with transcript on Le Random (08 Feb 2024, 85 min). Chapter 6’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify