from oct. 13-16, members of planet forward attended the adobe max conference in miami, florida where they learned from some of the best and brightest in the world of creative media.

planet 世界杯欧洲预选赛免费直播 des lewis and social media and communications intern dre pedemonte joined multimedia editor aaron dye at the annual conference, which featured three days of keynote speeches, workshops and networking opportunities. they were able to learn from some key leaders and innovators using adobe technology to further enhance and reshape their fields.

it was the first time the creativity conference, which has been running since 2003, took place on the east coast. the day before the start of the official conference, dye spoke on a panel for adobe’s non-profit day during a section called, “storytelling for good.” along with fellow panelists from human rights watch and doctors without borders, dye spoke about the world-changing potential of science narratives and the importance of bringing storytelling education to students of all backgrounds. 

“non-profit day was so much fun and i made lovely connections with other organizations who’ve partnered with adobe over the years. we’re all trying to use their tools to enact positive change in the world, so it was a really good little community,” dye said. 

as the conference began in full, thousands of attendees descended on the miami beach convention center, many of whom were creative professionals and students. 

“my experience at adobe max was unlike anything else,” pedemonte said. “getting to really see creators in person and seeing how they use adobe for their literal livelihood, to make an income, to make art, was really exciting… i met medical cartoonists, i met people who work in the film industry, photographers, climate scientists. and you really just got to see how creativity touches so many different aspects of different professions and different livelihoods, and that was really, really exciting.”

pedemonte said the highlight of her time at the conference was a workshop she attended led by award-winning graphic designer valentina d’efilippo, a self-described “data designer” who turns numbers and datasets into visually striking art pieces. pedemonte said that d’efilippo’s workshop was so inspiring that she is now seriously considering a career in graphic design, and has already started exploring ways she can implement the craft into her day-to-day life.

“her session was insanely monumental. i remember standing there and my mouth was dropped,” pedemonte said. “i left the conference being like, ‘i think i’m going to start pursuing graphic design,’ and i have. … i’ve been trying to include it in every element of my life.”

lewis found herself awestruck by some of the new features adobe showcased for its creative cloud software, like photoshop or premiere pro. adobe has invested heavily into expanding its ai offerings, and there was no shortage of new technology for the company to show off at the conference.

a few stuck out to lewis, particularly an upcoming feature that will allow video creators to use ai to expand videos that may have ended on an awkward cut off or that were a little bit too short to be used for the project they’re working on. she also noted some of adobe’s projects still in the development stage, including one that allows users to generate sounds for a project instead of combing through a stock audio library to find the perfect bird chirp or stream of water.

“it’s so, so helpful and beneficial, because that happens to me a lot, once i get [a video] into post-production, and i’m scrambling to find this noise that brings it all together,” she said. “i think that’ll be really helpful as well, especially in what i’m doing.”

lewis, who has worked primarily in print journalism, said that some of adobe’s new offerings make it much easier and more accessible for someone, like her, who is trying to break into the digital media landscape without a ton of experience. but she also echoed the concern of many others that ai could become a means for cutting costs on hiring professionals in many fields for the sake of convenience, and stressed that ai should be used as a tool for media professionals, not as a replacement for them.

“i’m an artist that uses ai a lot as a tool, and it could be very beneficial as that, but i do feel like there are some people that are like, ‘oh, it’s helping us,’ but it’s really just kind of stifling creativity,” lewis said. “i do think ai could be used effectively as a tool, if we don’t go too far, and i think sometimes we dip into it a little too far.”

lewis and pedemonte both agreed, though, that the adobe max conference has given them a new set of tools to tell stories in ways they never thought possible, whether it be through stunning, data-driven visuals or through videos that expand beyond conventional industry norms.

“i really pride myself on being a visual storyteller, but i actually feel like my background is visually telling stories through words. i always felt that writing was my strength,” pedemonte said. “as i’ve gotten more into sustainability journalism and environmental storytelling, i’ve found that visuals are of the utmost importance, because we’re able to show our audience what we’re trying to say, what we’re trying to move forward. … everyone learns differently, everyone takes in information differently. and i think being able to produce effective graphics and images is a really accessible way to capture your audience.”

“i believe that storytelling is just such an innately human trait; we are all storytellers, whether we want to think that or not,” lewis added. “i feel the power of these new mediums is [that they can] broaden the horizon of how people choose to consume their media. … so i think having this arsenal of tools to tell the story in the way that it deserves and needs to be told is really beneficial.”

editor’s note: adobe is a planet forward sponsor and made this trip possible through their support of our project. we thank adobe for their continued student educational support.