Last spring, my colleague Amelia Nash attended Adobe MAX in London, where she reported on a general disconnect between the hype around tools and a heavy-handed message that all the technological innovation was meant to empower “next-gen creative access.” It felt to her like Adobe was having a bit of an identity crisis, one that left long-time professional designers feeling adrift.
This October, at MAX in LA, it felt like Adobe might have found a good psychologist, and that the sessions had been worthwhile. There was a meaningful shift in the messaging, with fewer bullet points about what the tools can do and a stronger emphasis on who creatives are, how they work, and how the entire ecosystem supports their growth. This isn’t to say the technology took a backseat—far from it—but rather that the lens has widened. Keynotes found a sweet spot between jaw-dropping innovation and the kind of creative support group everyone secretly loves.
As expected, AI was front and center in most creative presentations—but with an emphasis on how designers are using AI to level up. Brandon Baum, content creator and CEO of Studio B, stressed the importance of storytelling and captivated the audience with a live demo about Adobe Firefly’s strengths, drawing from real-time prompts, community comments, and AI tools to recreate a video ending with visuals, sound, and transitions on the spot.
Against the background of cutting-edge technology were also presentations that spoke to the soul of the creative process. Mark Rober, an engineer and YouTuber, inspired creators to blend emotion, curiosity, and purpose to spark real-world impact with examples ranging from a YouTube glitter-bomb video to a global clean water campaign.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Eric Snowden, SVP of Design, and Deepa Subramaniam, VP Product Marketing & Creative Cloud, to explore this shift in messaging and to understand how that shift has evolved from the inside out.
Snowden runs a centralized global design organization within Adobe. He explained that his team takes on the role of customer in product discussions to ensure that any tech in development is human-focused and meets a real need for the creative community. Subramaniam echoed that commitment to connecting product development to real-life needs. She also noted the importance of customer trust to the company. In the rapidly changing ecosystem of design and generative AI, Adobe stresses principles of accountability, responsibility, and transparency.
As AI and automation transform design, the community keeps Adobe grounded in human creativity. As a result of that dialogue, the company has shown a real focus on aligning tools and conversations with how creatives work in the world, not just how the software functions in isolation. It’s a meaningful shift, and one that helps professional designers feel recognized, supported, and valued.
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