How long have you been creating with Adobe? The customer anniversary pins are back at MAX!
Two years ago, to commemorate being back in person at Adobe MAX, we handed out customer anniversary pins to attendees as a small token of appreciation for our loyal global community and to celebrate the number of years you’ve been creating with Adobe products. The response and reaction that we received from you for these limited edition enamel pins has been extraordinary, and it’s been amazing to hear your heartwarming stories and memories of your own individual creative journeys.
So — we’re doing them again and keeping the celebration going! The previous pins were designed by Carra Sykes (2022) and Jessica Miller (2023), and this time it’s the turn of Marlene Vega, a self-taught Mexican American artist and Adobe Express Ambassador, who brought her unique illustration style to the project. If you attend Adobe MAX in person (October 14-16 in Miami Beach), make sure you pop by the Adobe booth to pick up your pin.
Read on for an exclusive preview of this year’s anniversary pins and a look behind the scenes of Marlene’s creative process.
Capturing a moment in time with the 2024 anniversary pins
This time, the pins take a different approach and evoke a sense of nostalgia by telling a story through the backing card.
“I thought it would be great if each pin had a corresponding card that transported people back to a specific period in time,” Marlene explains. “These backing cards display different desk setups or work environments from each year, showing what they might have looked like. Overall, I wanted the collection of pins to remind people of when they first started creating with Adobe products.”
There are 9 different pins and cards in total, covering Adobe usage throughout the years, from 2022 to 1984 (40 years!):
- 2 years: The past two years have been a blur! TikTok dances kept us moving, Olivia Rodrigo was on repeat, and Adobe Express and Firefly launched and lit up the creative scene. As you begin your creative journey with us, get ready to dive into a world where innovation and creativity collide. Welcome!
- 5 years: 2019 was a whirlwind! Avengers: Endgame left us gasping in theaters, and Old Town Road was the anthem of the year, blurring genre lines like never before. Adobe was at it again with the launch of Fresco ushering in a new era of creativity, whether you were at your desk or on the move!
- 10 years: 2014 was epic! Frozen was everywhere, Game of Thrones kept us hooked, and the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral. Meanwhile, Adobe was giving us constant updates, mobile integration, and the freedom to create anywhere. With mobile apps syncing to desktops, creative freedom wasn’t just a buzzword — it was our new way of life!
- 15 years: 2009 had us doing double takes. Avatar blew our minds, while Glee and FarmVille were all the rage. Meanwhile, web designers and developers were geeking out about recent Flash updates. Creatives were also busy filling up their libraries with industry books and magazines, leveling up, both online and off!
- 20 years: 2004 was a total vibe. Friends ended, Mean Girls ruled, and we all spent hours perfecting our MySpace profiles. It’s the year that Adobe dropped Premiere Pro 1.5, taking video editing to the next level. 2004 wasn’t just about social media and movies; it was the year we started making our own cinematic magic!
- 25 years: Strap in, because 1999 had us grooving to Baby One More Time, The Matrix had us questioning reality, and the world was freaking out over Y2K. But the real game-changer was the launch of Adobe InDesign, which forever changed the digital landscape and has kept the publishing world partying like it's 1999.
- 30 years: 1994 was a total rollercoaster. O.J.’s car chase had us glued to our screens, and baseball season was canceled. The real showstopper? Photoshop 3.0 hit the scene with game-changing layers. Layers! Layers were everything, and they had us all buzzing.
- 35 years: Whoa, 1989 was totally a year to remember. The Berlin Wall came down, and Seinfeld premiered, giving us the “show about nothing” that we couldn’t stop talking about. Adobe released Illustrator 88 the year before, and it was already making waves. Vector-y waves. So yeah, 1989 wasn't just a year — it was a launchpad into the digital future!
- 40 years: 1984 was pivotal. As The Terminator hit theaters and the first Macintosh entered the scene, Adobe was busy getting ready to transform the industry with its groundbreaking PostScript technology. It was a foundational year, setting the stage for digital artistry to take off in ways we couldn’t even imagine.
A look behind the creative process
Marlene started her process of designing the pins by sketching icons that she thought would make cool pin designs. As she refined the concepts for each pin, she brainstormed general ideas for the backgrounds that would complement the pins and were specific to their respective years.
Once Marlene shared the direction that she wanted to take with this year’s theme of nostalgia, the Adobe team put together a mood board, which included references like the Adobe tools and software being used at the time, Adobe magazines, and traditional tools that were popular before the introduction of Illustrator. This mood board served as a valuable guide for how Marlene incorporated little easter eggs into some of the pins and backing cards.
Marlene in her work space with the pin and card that represents how long she has been creating with Adobe (left) and her favorite, the 35-year pin. Marlene says it may seem simple but she loves how the miniature floppy disk of Adobe Illustrator fits so perfectly on the cluttered yet cozy desk.
In the next step, Marlene moved to Adobe Fresco, where she recreated the rough sketches using her go-to brush, the pencil. “As a traditional artist, I usually start with analog tools, but Fresco made it easy to transfer my sketches and polish the pin designs,” she points out. “From there, I brought the designs into Illustrator on the iPad to vectorize them and then focused on drawing the backgrounds and adding all the small details.”
A prototype of the 35-year pin and card (left), and Marlene working on the anniversary pins at her desk and with Illustrator on the iPad.
Which one is your anniversary pin?
Through her work and online presence, Marlene demonstrates that it’s never too late to follow your dreams: She holds a master's degree in physics and only recently started her own artistic journey.
“Growing up, I always dreamed of becoming an artist but I didn’t have the opportunity to pursue it as a career,” she remembers. “After finishing grad school and starting a full-time job, I found myself with a bit more free time and rekindled my love for art.”
Marlene began exploring different mediums, which inspired her to share her work online.
“I started using Adobe tools about four years ago, so my pin would be the five-year pin,” she reveals. “Photoshop was the first tool I learned, as I had just gotten back into creating art with the goal of eventually selling prints. Learning to format my paintings in Photoshop helped kickstart my online art shop.”
How long have you been creating with Adobe? Pick up your anniversary pin at the Adobe booth inside the Creative Park at Adobe MAX from October 14-16 and share your own personal creative journey with us!