Technology is accelerating at a pace we’ve never seen, expanding what’s possible for creative expression. At the same time, audiences are demanding work that doesn’t just look good, but feels relatable, relevant, and genuinely useful.
Adobe’s 2026 Creative Trends report explores the styles, behaviors, and ideas shaping this new reality. And creators are using these trends as signposts that help them deepen their craft and enhance their storytelling across different platforms and in styles that range from emotionally resonant imagery to delightfully unconventional AI-driven creations.
Here’s a look at how our creative community has used the four key creative trends in their work:
All the Feels
Adobe's 2026 Creative Trends reveal that there's a desire for content to be larger than life with a multi-sensory approach that demands your attention.
Vladimir Petkovic, senior creative 3D evangelist and community advocate at Adobe, brought this to life in his own work.
“My composition blends a range of surfaces to express the feeling of being the master of one’s own world,” Petkovic said. “Like ‘All the Feels,’ the tactility of the image creates a visual experience that is magnetizing. Waves and soft fabrics merge while fruits, sparkling crystals, bubbles, and vibrant colors represent a lush inner landscape. The model is my wife, Ivana, and her hair becomes a river of emotions: wild and joyful. The reflection in the glasses serves as a metaphor to convey that the sky really is the limit.”
Explore more of this trend in the All the Feels collection.
Connectioneering
We live in a time when people are seeking common ground, and shared emotions bring people together. Connectioneering celebrates these bonds with storytelling that reminds us of what it means to be human. Per Levander, co-founder and creative director of Maskot Images, speaks to the integral role Connectioneering plays in his agency’s work.
“At Maskot, our focus is people, because relationships are where emotion lives. We build images around genuine interactions and real moments of connection and communication. By creating a sense of real emotional range viewers think ‘That’s me. That’s my life.’”
Find more examples of content that speak to universal emotions in Adobe’s Connectioneering collection.
Surreal Silliness
This trend is the joyful chaos of creativity unleashed and unhinged. Surreal Silliness goes far beyond strange visuals — its imagery both intrigues and entertains, humorously magnetizing consumer attention. Luke Choice, also known as Velvet Spectrum, who is a principal design community engagement specialist at Adobe, describes how the combination of a technical workflow with imaginative exploration is what allows surrealism to thrive in his work.
“I’m drawn to non-linear storytelling because it gives me the freedom to experiment with different tools and techniques and find new ways to marry them together. This encourages the audience to spend time with a piece and unpack and interpret the narrative, increasing their interest in the piece,” Choice said. “Surrealism plays a central role in this process, shaping how I craft elements that feel rooted yet reimagined in playful, unexpected ways.”
For more of this trend, dive into Adobe’s Surreal Silliness collection.
Local Flavor
We rarely have the chance to fully experience the beauty of other cultures — the colors, textures, and voices of specific places. Local Flavor is about rediscovering that authenticity. The Local Flavor trend is embedded in the very ethos of imagery offered by Stocksy, a global community of visual media creatives.
Stocksy’s Creative director Genevieve Ross said: “As a global cooperative, we encourage creators to tell stories from their own unique vantage points — the communities, landscapes, and traditions they’re rooted in — and our curation prioritizes diverse perspectives, regional specificity, and narratives shaped by authentic experience.”
Explore the world through Adobe’s Local Flavor collection.
A new horizon
The 2026 Creative Trends mark a milestone, the tenth year of tracking content shifts that reshape our industry. As content expectations have evolved, demanding both aesthetic impact and functional value, our annual trends coverage has evolved with them. What began as a focus on visual style alone for Stock content has grown into a holistic view of the entire content ecosystem including Adobe Stock, Adobe Firefly, Adobe Express and Adobe Creative Cloud, reflecting the expanding role of content, and the inventive ways creators continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible.
We determine the Creative Trends by reviewing commercial campaigns and creative projects across all sectors throughout the year. We also work with feedback from our customers in Creative Cloud communities and track search history, which has increased by 150 percent for keywords related to 2026 trends since 2024. Through this process, we begin to recognize and identify visual patterns, styles, and techniques rising in commercial relevance and attaining mainstream relevance, engagement, and demand.
As technology and audience expectations continue to evolve, we at Adobe remain focused on understanding what creators and customers need next. By sharing these insights and how creators of all types are using them, we aim to support creative people throughout their work, across every format, workflow, and creative ambition.
Wherever you take it from here, we hope these trends help you push boundaries and create work that connects and endures.
