Meet the next-generation creators using technology in unprecedented ways

Creativity has been described as transcending traditional ways of thinking — and for the next generation of digital artists and innovators, that definition is taking on new dimensions armed with generative AI.

As a new wave of creators redefine what it means to be creative, among the ways that Adobe is excited to support young artists across the globe is through the Young Lions Competition (YLC) at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and Adobe Digital Edge Awards (DEA). These two competitions celebrate the talent and ingenuity of today’s rising innovators while helping them build their careers through industry connections and a strong skillset in Adobe tools.

This year’s winners found inspiration in generative AI not only as a tool but as a metaphor for diversity and a canvas for exploring human values. Read on to learn how the brilliant artists behind five of this year’s winning entries tested their creativity across disciplines and continents — proving that when technology and human passion collide, the results can be truly magical.

Seeking the soul of technology

In a world that sometimes dwells on controversial aspects of AI, the winning DEA entry in the Art and Design category reflects a longing to turn away from this dystopian view by showcasing how AI can make us even more human. “Soul,” the work of students Arunima Walimbe and Shruti Jain of California College of Arts, is a speculative design concept for a smart wallpaper that uses AI to create a personalized experience, helping people discover and embrace the soul of their home.

AI also helped Walimbe and Jain visually communicate their idea through storyboards generated in Adobe Firefly that combined existing images in fresh ways — a theme of their creative process.

“I'm like a collage of a lot of things,” says Walimbe. “I was a science kid, and I combined that with my creative side. So, my style has a lot to do with collage making — combining things to tell a story.”

For Jain, creativity is about problem-solving and connection. “I come from a family where four generations live under the same roof, and I have seen how technology creates a generation gap,” says Jain. “I want to use my creativity to help digital immigrants like my family members understand technology.”

Spreading wonder by combining art and science

Debasmita Banerjee has loved drawing and painting for as long as she can remember, but as a PhD student at CREOL, the College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida, she didn’t have much time for art — until she realized she could use it to tell the stories of science. In her winning DEA project in the STEM category, “Quanticle,” Banerjee’s twin passions for art and physics unite.

Banerjee discovered sound effects called “photon” and “electron” in Adobe Premiere Pro, which she used along with Adobe After Effects to animate the wealth of real-world examples in her educational video “Quanticle.” It’s all part of her dream of making STEM education accessible to people everywhere, including villages like those in her home country of India.

“Art is an expression of science and nature — they’re two sides of the same coin,” says Banerjee. “Trees have a pattern in them that can be explained. You see math in the pattern of leaves or snowfall. Nature and art are very integrated.”

The raw joy of creativity

Billy Nhiwatiwa and Ethan Brown believe that when they bring joy to their creations, it shines through in the finished work — including “Billy Wilder — The Man Behind the Picture,” their playful campaign that took home gold in the YLC design category. Their idea to disguise a logo behind other design elements using Adobe Illustrator is a prime example of how the British flatmates and creative partners love to make people smile with a clever design twist.

“So much in everyday life is slightly mundane,” says Brown. “We try to find that bit of something that makes you smile. It might be tiny, but it’s beautiful when creativity unlocks that.”

The goal of spreading happiness also guides their client work. “I get a lot of joy from diving into the heart of a brand, stripping it down to what makes it special, and using that to build something authentic. I think that when brands are authentic, it encourages those engaging with them to be the same,” says Nhiwatiwa.

Generating diversity and possibility

For Berlin-based copywriter Inna Tabachenko and art director Lisa Glonti, AI wasn’t simply a tool used to create their silver-winning YLC film entry “Successful Generation.” It was the overarching metaphor for the film’s entire message, which involved hundreds of diverse images of a “successful man” created using Generative Fill in Adobe Photoshop, a Firefly feature.

In the film, each new prompt generates more possibilities, suggesting endless ways to define success — and yet, Tabachenko points out, AI can only reflect what humans feed it. As immigrants from Ukraine and Georgia respectively, Tabachenko and Glonti are especially attuned to the ways culture can impact art and design, and their experiences with war and occupation have developed deep stores of empathy that inform both their creativity and their close working relationship.

Hundreds of AI-generated images in the film “Successful Generation” offer a fresh visual narrative of what it means to be a successful man today. Source: Cannes Lions.

“Design is part of everything we do as humans,” says Glonti. “We’re not just thinking, we’re also feeling — and our culture and art are a reflection of this.”

“Creativity is a constant evolution in which we combine things in new ways to become better,” adds Tabachenko.

Evolving the definition of success

What does it mean to be a “real person,” particularly in the age of social media and AI? Jiayu (Fiona) Cao and Linghui (Vicky) Dai of Havas Creative, China, explored this question in “Who is the Successful Man?”, the YLC media category gold winner. Their interactive project used CAPTCHA images to “verify” and challenge viewers’ ingrained ideas of success while giving them the opportunity to make new image selections that helped evolve the gallery for good.

They are inspired by the belief that art and design are the eyes of the world, helping people see what’s in front of them — in this case, images of diverse human experiences, sourced from Adobe Stock and Firefly, that encourage us all to rethink our perceptions of achievement.

According to Cao and Dai, “AI is merely a tool, a derivative of the human world, and when it reflects problems that exist within humanity, we need to take this seriously. AI perpetuates stereotypes, but humans have the power to break them.”

Get inspired by the complete list of winners of the 2024 Young Lions Competition and Digital Edge Awards.

Then, learn more about how Adobe Express and Adobe Firefly give you new playgrounds for exploration and creativity — all designed to be safe for commercial use.