Nicky’s Highlights

An Insider’s Guide to InDesign and What’s New

Presented by Vinay Pahlajani and Pranjal Bhatnager from Adobe’s InDesign product team, this session showcased the latest InDesign features and shared best practices for improving workflow efficiency and supporting stronger team collaboration.

I particularly enjoyed learning about placing images in grids on a layout, the tools you can use to do this now has streamlined the method and what would normally take me 15 minutes or more can be done in seconds.

One of the most talked-about additions to InDesign this year was the improved collaboration tools. Adobe has continued to refine Adobe Cloud integration, making it easier for teams to collaborate in real-time.

Live Collaboration: With new real-time collaboration features, designers and content creators can work together seamlessly, editing the same document at the same time.

Sharing Previews: You can now share document previews with clients without them needing to have InDesign installed. The recipient can view the document, comment, and suggest edits, making the feedback loop faster and more transparent.

Watch the session: An Insider’s Guide to InDesign and What’s New

First Takes: Illustrator updates that put creators first

Presented by illustrator Tony Harmer and Adobe designer Kladi Vergine, the session explored the latest Illustrator updates and demonstrated how to elevate your creative workflow with greater speed, precision and ease.

Tony demonstrated how to set up helpful shortcuts to streamline your work and also how to trace a photograph to make it a vector image which is cool. Other helpful tips on how to add gradients to text.

Illustrator is known for its vector tools, and the updates in 2025 elevate those tools to make the drawing experience smoother, faster, and more intuitive.

Vector Brushes with Natural Strokes: Illustrator’s brush engine has been completely revamped. The new vector brushes now simulate natural strokes with incredible precision, giving you the feel of traditional media like pencil, ink, or even watercolour without sacrificing the scalability and precision of vectors. Whether you’re sketching concepts or adding intricate details to your designs, these brushes offer more control and versatility.

Watch the session: First Takes: Illustrator Updates That Put Creators First

Julie’s Highlights

Designing for Everyone: Adobe and the Future of Accessibility in Education

Dr. Nathan Araya, Adobe’s Customer Success Manager for Higher Education, shared insights into how the company is improving accessibility in education, with a focus on PDFs, mobile readability, clearer accessibility features, and better tools for creating accessible content from the outset.

For university design teams, accessible PDFs aren’t just about compliance, they’re essential for inclusive learning. The tricky part is that PDF remediation can be slow, fiddly and frustrating when deadlines are tight. So, whenever a tool promises to save us time or cut down the manual work, we’re all ears.

Key highlights:

AI-based auto-tagging in Acrobat

Found in Preferences → Accessibility, this cloud-based feature can get PDFs 60–80% of the way to being accessible, and close to 100% for simple, text-heavy documents.

Auto-tag prompt in Acrobat Reader

When an inaccessible PDF is opened with assistive technology, Acrobat Reader now offers to auto-tag it immediately – ideal for students who need instant access.

Liquid Mode on mobile

PDFs on phones are usually problematic – pinching, zooming, scrolling sideways – none of it is ideal. Liquid Mode improves mobile readability by reflowing text, allowing font and spacing adjustments, and generating a document outline for easy navigation.

Of course, none of this removes the need for manual checking and clean up. We still need to add alt text, mark decorative images, adjust reading order, and make judgement calls – especially for infographics and complex designs – but it’s encouraging to see Adobe making real progress. Each improvement helps lighten the workload and supports us in creating materials that staff and students can engage with.

Watch the session: Designing for Everyone: Adobe and the Future of Accessibility in Education

AI Is Here. Now What? Insights from Amazon’s Creative Studio 

Jocelyn Chang, Creative Director of Generative AI at Amazon, gave a fascinating insight into how the Amazon Devices Brand Studio is integrating AI into its creative process for products like Kindle, Echo and Ring. 

Before adopting AI tools, the team set clear guiding principles: keep human vision central, experiment boldly, stay flexible with tools, and maintain high creative standards. They also created a quality framework for AI imagery, focused on accuracy, realism, brand alignment, technical standards, context, and ethical considerations. 

AI played a major role in early concepting. For the Kindle “Reading Rediscovered” campaign, Adobe Firefly helped ideas take shape quickly, though final visuals still combine AI, CGI, Photoshop and traditional photography – with people firmly in control. 

In production, tools like Photoshop’s Generative Expand and optimised base images support large-scale content adaptation, reducing repetitive tasks and improving consistency. Not everything needs AI, but it’s useful for efficiency. 

Equally important is team adoption. Amazon supported learning through workshops, hands-on experimentation, a playful hackathon and ongoing initiatives such as education sessions, AI champions, surveys and protected time to experiment. 

Jocelyn emphasised continuous learning, collaboration, flexibility, and trusting your own creative judgment – things AI can’t replicate. The goal isn’t just productivity; it’s unlocking new creative possibilities while keeping human vision at the centre. 

The key takeaway: while tools will keep evolving, mindset matters more. AI should enhance creativity – not replace human vision. 

Watch the session: AI Is Here. Now What? Insights from an Amazon Creative Studio

Gillian’s Highlights

Bold and playful: from sketch to viral hit

FOREAL is a studio specialising in illustration, art direction, and animation, founded by Benjamin and Dirk. They began their journey as media design apprentices and friends in 2005, eventually establishing their studio in 2013 in Trier, Germany. Their work evolved from traditional illustration to incorporating 3D and animation, expanding their team from two to nine. 

During their presentation they highlighted their process of combining inspiration from various sources – like random internet findings or cultural references – into creative projects. Notable works include the “Gone In Style” series, which humorously branded everyday items with luxury logos, and the “BOOOOM” project, which turned personal explorations into successful commercial campaigns for the Brooklyn Film Festival. 

FOREAL emphasises the importance of sketches in exploring ideas and styles, starting with simple sketches which evolve into complete branding. For a major Google event, they used the Google brand colours and transformed basic sketches into complex 3D designs, showcasing their signature visual style. 

Their playful and bold approach extends to social media projects, where they create eye-catching and humorous content for brands like Dr Pepper. Throughout their work, FOREAL maintains that sketches are not only a foundational creative tool but also a blueprint for efficient project execution, underlining the value of combining human creativity with modern technologies. 

Key takeaways: 

• Use references 

• Don’t skimp on the ideation stage 

• Involve the whole team 

• There’s no such thing as a bad idea so don’t throw it away – the client might love it! 

• Refine sketches and use them for finished illustrations/designs 

• Keep a sketch archive as a source of future inspiration 

Watch the session: Bold & Playful: From Sketch to Viral Hit

Final thoughts 

Adobe MAX 2025 highlighted how creativity, technology and human insight are becoming more closely intertwined than ever. From powerful collaboration tools and smarter workflows to advances in accessibility and thoughtful AI integration, one message was clear: the future of design is not just faster – it’s more inclusive, collaborative and imaginative. As a team, we’re excited to explore how these developments can enhance our own practice and help us create more meaningful, accessible and inspiring work. 

Watch all the sessions: Adobe Max 2025 On-demand 

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