Val-idated Creatives: Adobe MAX edition

A few weeks (months ago??) ago, Adobe hosted its 21st Adobe MAX conference in Miami with attendees from over 70 different countries attending in person and many more online. I was one of the online viewers and I wanted to share some of my favorite talks from the 2 days of learning. I was able to listen to some old favorites and also discover new inspirational artists to follow. Of course, there were soooo many others that I could not include in this list, but here are the top 6 talks I attended and a little bit about what I learned from each of them.

Javier Jaén - Talk Title: Ideas to Images: A Creative Journey

I just happened to stumble across this talk and I am so glad that I did. For those who don’t know him, (like me), Javier Jaén is a graphic designer and artist based in Barcelona who has created work across many mediums and for many different use cases including museum exhibits, magazine covers, and movie posters. Jaén spoke a lot about how his job is to translate, whether from a movie to an image, or a musical body of work into an album cover and I love that way of thinking about design. “People ignore design that ignores people” is one of the quotes I loved from this talk. Jaén explains how oftentimes, designers will want to pour meaning and symbolism into a piece but they convolute the message and it doesn’t connect with the audience. Because of this, his approach focuses on stripping back the idea to its base concept and really nailing that point down. One of the pieces he shared that I particularly loved was the poster for Madres Paralelas he created and the conversation it sparked internationally about the female body in the media.

Aaron Draplin - Talk Title: Old Dog, New Tricks

I had the pleasure of listening to Aaron Draplin give a talk at my college a few years ago and so when I saw that he was giving a talk at Adobe MAX, I knew I’d have to tune in. This talk was full of design inspiration but also inspiration for living a good life. Draplin’s talk was all about making work that makes you happy and helps others, not just focusing on making the most money possible. One of my favorite pieces that he showed was an album cover and design suite he created for John Davis from Superdrag, a band he had loved for many years before this opportunity arose. While talking about the process of creating this work, Draplin emphasized the importance of being open to new ideas and having fun with the work. One of my favorite quotes from his talk was about his mindset going forward in his career: “Gonna use the time I have left to keep learning, and use those tools to enjoy making stuff.” I left this talk wanting to draw some hotdogs. IYKYK.

Above image: Final designs for various single releases off of John Davis’s Jinx album.

Cey Adams - Talk Title: 40 Years of Art and Design: Graffiti, Hip-Hop, and Fine Art

I was not familiar with Cey Adams before attending this talk and I found him so interesting because of the breadth of his work and the way he came up within the hip-hop industry movement. Adams started his artistic journey by creating street art and eventually found his way into the graphic design world. He maintained an approach that served him well while creating murals and other street art, but he was able to use those skills in a new way. A lot of Adams’s early work was for musicians who were not well known at the time but have become huge names in the hip-hop genre, such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z. He talks about working in collaboration with these artists and the art that they were able to make because of their willingness to push boundaries and try new things. That willingness to collaborate and explore helped to launch him into his career and to cross into many different spaces including logos, environmental installations, and even a Barbie car!

Above image: Cey Adams in front of his piece “All American”, mixed media (Enamel, acrylic, spray paint, magazines and newspaper) on panel.

The next 3 talks I want to mention are a little less in-depth, but I still found them to be super insightful and inspiring:

Cody A Banks - Talk Title: Finding Character Inspiration in Everyday Objects

I loved the simplicity of this talk and its focus on breaking a creative dry spell. After watching this, I used this technique of finding and drawing characters from everyday objects with the 8th grader that I tutor in art lessons and it was a huge success! Definitely got my brain wheels turning!

Kristy Campbell - Talk Title: Unseen to Unforgettable: The Power of Personal Branding

I loved learning how to create a brand and infuse personality into it through Kristy Campell’s eyes. She gave some great tips on how to make your brand feel authentic and capture your audience’s hearts. One of the examples Campbell shared is her love of horses and how it has evolved to become a symbol of her brand, showing up as a large pink horse, Pedro, in the front window of her office and across many aspects of her social media presence.

Image above: Kristy Campbell posing in front of Pedro the pink pony statue.

Catalina Estrada - Talk Title: From Inspiration to Illustration: Believing in the Power of Beauty

Catalina Estrada’s talk was all about finding inspiration in the world around you and also giving back to others through your craft. She talked about her mother’s home growing up, the beautiful colors and items surrounding her, and how she found that to be a huge influence in her work. She talked about an experience where she was able to design a scarf that was being sold to generate funds to help deliver school supplies to children in the Amazon. When the designs went to print, the printer loved the design and the mission so much that they donated better materials in exchange for some scarves to give to their clients. Estrada was so moved by this and talked about how amazing it is that the design itself can speak to people’s hearts. Such a cool talk and an awesome example of how design can shape the world!

Image above: A piece titled Amazon River, a design by Catalina Estrada depicting a leopard, alligators, birds, and various plants

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you found some new inspiration along the way!

If you’re looking for a team to help you discover the right thing to build and help you build it, get in touch.