In June 2016, Priscilla and Josie attended the Adobe Make IT event. We arrived at Carriageworks a little unsure of what was in store for us! However, we were excited at the thought of the new things we were going to see and learn. The day turned out to be a rewarding, inspiring and humbling experience on both a professional and personal level.
The key theme of the conference was ‘fear’—an emotion all of us are very familiar with. The amazing line up of speakers consisted of Kevin Dart , Gemma O’Brien, Jason Little and Erik Johansson. Each creative thinker generously and honestly shared with us how ‘fear’ has played a role in their creative journey and how they were able to overcome that personal fear. Kevin, for example, found the courage to be honest about his colourblindness, and was then able to turn what the design industry perceived as a weakness, into his strength. Gemma’s advice was to stay curious and try new things because “the amateur has nothing to lose”. Jason inspired us with his story about winning a pitch by building the confidence to respect himself as a designer.
We also got the chance to see live previews of new Adobe software. These included Adobe Animate, a powerful animation tool and Adobe XD, a user experience prototyping application. In a data and technology driven world, it is important for designers to keep up to date with the latest technologies, adapt to change and re-frame their way of thinking. Softwares aid in communication, brainstorming and delivery of design. Interestingly, it is also a reflection of human interaction in a digital world. Mobile, for instance, has revolutionised the way we interact as humans. This is why responsive and adaptive design is so important and why new software such as Adobe XD is relevant (check out Georgia’s awesome article on responsive design here).
The Adobe MAKE IT event is a good reminder to respect yourself as a designer first, to embrace the design process and use knowledge to better your design. ‘Fear’ is perceived as a strange and negative emotion but it is something that is natural. Your awareness of your fear and your determination to overcome it can turn ‘fear’ into a powerful tool. We will end this post with Erik’s words of wisdom—“go create and free the mind!”.