Designers can and will change history, was the message at Adobe’s MAKE IT event last week in Sydney.
“This is now the design age.” James Noble, co-founder of award-winning UX agency Carter Digital, summed up the state of the creative community in one bold statement at Adobe’s MAKE IT event last week in Sydney.
Industry leaders all said that today’s creatives have the power to change the way we live, work, and communicate with each other. Noble said technology shouldn’t be shocking to us anymore – it’s become an expectation. What’s new and exciting are the experiences we can now create and the empathy we can bring to our work. “It’s time to take technology out of the equation,” he said.
Over 2,000 UX designers, illustrators, photographers and more swarmed on the Sydney International Convention Centre last week for an update on the latest campaigns, tools and conversations affecting their industry – and what’s coming next.
Adobe tasked agencies Never Sit Still and Luxx to create a unique motion graphic to introduce each speaker. To the sound of thumping bass and swarming colour, the audience was taken on a journey through warped geometric shapes and designs, and that’s when the real show began. Check it out in the video below.
Some of the key takeaways from the day: Pro-bono work, or ‘passion projects’ as they are otherwise known, require commitment and resources, yet many speakers acknowledged them as a clear source of inspiration. As creative director of Buck, Gareth O’Brien has made a career out of evocative design that elicits emotion from his audience.
Recent passion projects with Woolmark and Ted X have experimented with 3D textures, different editing styles, new hires, mistakes and hard lessons – just a few of the creative bonuses Gareth values in volunteer work.
“Passion projects often win awards and get your work out there,” he said. “Do the work that you want to be asked to do.”
Sprinkled throughout the day were, of course, Adobe specialists to take the crowd through the magic of Adobe Creative Cloud.
Jon Barrie, Adobe’s strategic development manager for Pro Video ANZ, went step-by-step through new updates to the video tools features, including streamlined sharing and collaboration processes that can save videographers precious time.
Adobe principle evangelist Julieanne Kost took us through Photoshop’s new image-categorising features and Lightroom’s improved de-ghosting functionalities – designed to enhance clarity for photographers and their images.
Today’s creative tools have enabled us to bring thought-provoking ideas and images to life, and no one understands this more than photographer Nicola Tung. In 2011, she travelled to North Africa with her camera (and without a brief) to explore the conflict zones and capture stories of “the people left behind”.
Risking bullets to document the heartache of war, Nicola returned with images so powerful they’ve gained her international praise, sparked conversations and changed opinions.
So what was her message to a crowd far removed from war zones? That for designers, photographers and illustrators, images are a vital reflection of our culture and people, so don’t forget the influence you have and your role in this world.
Harnessing this powerful advice, Adobe showcased the three winners of Project 1324, an Adobe initiative that challenged young designers to create a poster illustrating how climate change is affecting their world.
Check out the thought-provoking work of Ming Bong’s ‘Endangered Species’, Jordan Di Paolo’s ‘Stop Global Warming’, and Harrison McNamara’s ‘Save Our Reef’.
