Each year, Adobe introduces an array of updates, products and sneak peeks at its conference, Adobe Max, and this year, our designers were lucky enough to be able to soak it all in while also soaking in sunny Los Angeles, California. While they are thrilled to have new tools to play around with and use, they are most excited about how these tools are going to better their workflow and deliverables.
A major theme of the conference was authenticity. Attendees of the conference were encouraged to re-introduce this into their work and keep it top of mind going forward. Being surrounded by Adam J. Kurtz, Lisa Congdon and Tuesday Bassen, design idols who have always been authentic in their work, this idea was easy to adopt on day one of the three-day conference.
Throughout the past decade, images and videos shared have gone more toward distortion than originality or authenticity. Resources at the fingertips of designers such as editing tools and stock photography changed the voice of design to more of a template than an original piece of work. The tools introduced by Adobe are beginning to allow for more on-the-go capabilities, so work can be created quickly without sacrificing authenticity or quality.
From our designers themselves, here are some Adobe updates and thoughts on products:
Adobe Photoshop for the iPad
Previously announced in 2018, Adobe Photoshop for the iPad was unleashed. We are skeptical about the abilities here, but we are going to be staying up to date to see if it is something we will want to adopt.
Adobe Illustrator for the iPad
This is in the works, but we were able to test out the beta version! It took some getting used to, but it was easy and enjoyable to use after that. The look is a little less organic than what can be created in Adobe Draw, but you can create fun patterns in minutes.
Adobe Aero
Adobe Aero allows for the building of immersive AR experiences. You can bring in layered PSD files to and add dimension to them!
As we head into the next couple of years, technology is going to continue to advance and authenticity is going to push its importance to the forefront of each and every photo, video and design. With these capabilities, our designers are able to keep work fresh and creative without losing their voice in the noise of advancements. While we like to consider our designers’ absolute creative geniuses and experts, we are glad they were students for a few days, so they could bring fresh perspectives to OTM!
Check out some of our design work here.