It’s that time of year again. My social media (mostly LinkedIn) is being flooded with promotions about Adobe MAX.
If you’re not sure what Adobe MAX is, it’s a yearly design conference hosted by Adobe both virtually and in person. It has workshops about design, creative sessions, keynote speakers with a peak behind the curtain at their creative processes, new Adobe things going on, everything you could want related to design.
Sounds like a designers dream, right? Well, to me it sounds like a nightmare.
No matter what career path we choose to take in our lives, we get told to keep up with trends, new technology, new ways to do things, what others in our industry are doing, etc. all to keep us at the top of our game with continual improvement.
But usually, all of this revolves around the “right way” to do something.
I haven’t snooped out the full agenda for this year’s Adobe MAX conference (which is already over, it happened last week), but there is a focus on generative AI and Adobe’s own Firefly.
And I just could not care less about AI right now.
People are either up in arms over it saying it will take away so many jobs, others are so on board and can’t stop dreaming up how it will make them more productive in their businesses and work. And then there are those who are just like “yeah I’ve seen this before, it’ll blow over” and are just trying to move on with their lives (aka me).
I’m happy for the people that love it, but it’s just not for me outside of the joy it brings from finally being able to have images of blue raspberries.
I mean how cool is this?!
But I digress.
My entire year has been focused on moving away from technology. Rediscovering hobbies where I don’t need to stare at a screen. Limiting social media time and even deleting it completely.
I’m happier when I’m not staring at a computer or phone or TV screen. I’m happier when I’m creating something with my hands. I’m happier when I make something with imperfections but that I’m still proud of. It’s human.
My favorite projects are ones that have some weird process to them. I’m actually very thankful for my days in college and the ways in which my professors pushed me.
For one project, I was designing a table-top game (it was basically a board game but no board, just cards and pieces). And I was trying to create these splatter effects with brushes in Illustrator. But I was stuck. They felt digital and gross and flat.
My professor said to me something along the lines of, “Why don’t you create this with brushes and paint or ink or something instead of staring at this and tweaking it for hours?”
So I did. I dug out my ink and my bamboo brushes and I just had fun with it. I made a bunch of splatters and patterns and even letters and numbers! I took those, scanned them in, and digitized them.
They felt so much better! They had energy, they were imperfect, they were human. And design is all about connecting with other people - something I forget from time to time. We can say it’s about marketing or selling or whatnot (and it definitely is to some extent which makes my feelings about it a little tricky) but at the end of the day, it needs to resonate with people.
That’s the reason why I fell in love with design in the first place.
It wasn’t to win any awards. It wasn’t to be prestigious in the field. It wasn’t to work for a big name and show off my design that’s seen by thousands.
It was to help others work through their visions, to help them connect with others. To connect with them in the process. It’s all about people.
And not that Adobe MAX isn’t about people - quite arguably it is as it’s a gathering of so many. But the design field can be competitive and cutthroat. All creative fields can be like this.
Jealousy can take over and make us cut each other down when we should be lifting each other up.
When I started my biz, I would get jealous of other people’s successes. But then I realized that it just wasn’t meant to be and there was enough work for all of us to go around.
And now I’m both excited for others and excited about those who do trust me with their vision. It’s not an easy trust to build and cultivate but it’s very rewarding when someone who you’ve known for years reaches out and says, “Hey, I’m finally ready to rebrand and I think you’re the perfect person to help me with it.”
We all have to find our own way. I think there’s some good to be found in hearing about other designers’ processes, hearing how they found success, being inspired by their designs. And if that’s where you’re at, all the more power to you!
But there’s also a time to shut out all the noise and do things your own way.
To say fuck it and go forage in your yard for mushrooms because you think they’ll help you design the perfect brand.
To go wander through your town taking photos for a project close to your community and just soaking up the place you live in.
To gathering your friends over and drinking a ton of beer because you absolutely need the empty bottles for a project.
To cutting open a book and getting weird looks like you’re some kind of hoarder who’s going to hide things on a bookshelf.
To walking outside and picking raspberry leaves because you decided to quit your job and start a biz and you need some inspiration for your own high-pressure logo.
To me that’s where all of the magic lies. It’s in the story. It’s in the little moments. It’s in the imperfections. It’s in the humanity.
You don’t need fancy tools to be a great designer. You don’t need AI and you won’t “fall behind” without it. You don’t need to do things the “normal” way.
I’m much more interested in developing my drawing, painting, and other art skills to bring me joy while also helping me with design than I am in learning yet another tool or digital technique. I think AI can be helpful in some ways (like giving me amazing blue raspberry images) but overall, I’m not over the moon about it.
You can stay true to yourself and grow at your own pace. Because someone will see the magic in you. Someone will trust you with their vision. And it won’t be because you’ve attended every Adobe MAX conference in the last 5 or 10 years. It will be because you have a spark they can’t ignore.
At the end of the day we’re all out here doing our best. It’s okay to buck the norms. It’s okay to feel anxiety over attending or not attending a certain event. It’s okay to not be the best and be comfortable in your own sphere and techniques.
There’s an infinite amount of things to learn but a finite amount of time. And I’m choosing to spend my time on the things that light me up instead of sitting behind my computer watching a livestream of a conference that I don’t really care about.
And if that makes me a “bad” designer, then so be it.
Thanks so much for venturing into the Blue Raspberry Patch with me! I love exploring all these sustainability and design topics in longer form and sharing little berries of info with you all. I’d be delighted if you’d join me here!
I've learned that I can't plan my way to perfection and sometimes advice is the LAST thing I should be listening to. Just gotta do the damn thing haha
Also, Adobe Max always seemed so pointless to me. Overhyped TedTalks and underwhelming tech reveals. What do attendees ACTUALLY get out of attending that's of value? Do they stay in touch with people they meet? Workshops where they learn a skill that improves their client work? Seems like a lot of money to just hang in auditoriums haha
I love AI but haven't even looked at Adobe's AI stuff yet. I use it to help me write content and text for basic websites and online stores I make for my customers, when I don't know anything about their industry. For example I made a site for a roofing company and had questions like "what the heck is a sun tunnel", so I asked chat GPT to write me a blog post about what sun tunnels are, their benefits, and how they're installed. After a few generations and some minor edits, I had something really great to add to my customers site, which also answered my questions and allowed me to make their site better because I knew what they were talking about.
I've had much less success with image generation. I kind of forgot Adobe had something, I should check that out. I have been using free generators I found online and none of them will give me what I want. How hard is it to come up with a "claw hammer made of rainbow hard candy"? I tried so many prompts for that one it's ridiculous, and even tried ones that can blend images, and none of them worked. Maybe I don't know how to write prompts correctly but I have great success with chat GPT.
Anyway I totally get where you're coming from. There are great uses for it and I do think it will change design for some people, but in a lot of ways it's for people who don't know what they're doing otherwise. I wouldn't need GPT to write for me if I knew how to write well. I don't think it will be able to replace a human brain anytime soon, and definitely will never replace people's desire for human connection. People have asked me if I worry about AI making my business irrelevant, and I say definitely not. The people I work with like working with ME, and even if an AI could do exactly what I do just as well as I do, they would still want to work with me. I can't tell you how many customers were frustrated with the online ordering system at my previous day job and would phone or email their orders instead. The online system was great, but they didn't want to take the time to figure it out or didn't think they could, or just enjoyed the friendly small talk only a human could provide. I don't think that will ever change. We're a social species that evolved in nature, and no matter how many people love AI and live in a tech paradise, even those same people will crave human connection from time to time. ❤️