Inspiration is Everywhere: Adobe Max 2025

There is truly nothing like the world’s largest creativity conference, Adobe Max. Some may assume that Adobe Max is strictly for designers, artists, and creators, but it actually caters to a wide range of creatives and facets of business. As an account manager at a creative agency, I left feeling excited about the future and inspired to support my creative coworkers in new and fun ways. This is my second time attending Adobe Max, all thanks to my incredible employer, Grova Creative—and boy, was it a blast. There is no feeling like being surrounded by people from all over the world who love the creative industry. This three-day conference is jam-packed with all things creative, and I’m going to take you through my journey at Adobe Max 2025!  

Day 1

The first day of Max started with the Opening Keynote, and it’s here where you realize just how many creatives are here with you for the week. Adobe leaders, including Shantanu Narayen (CEO), break down all of the new things that Adobe has been working on. And of course, there were tons of demos for everything new. This keynote was pretty mindblowing. 

After the keynote, I headed to my sessions for the day! First was a session led by Warissara Muangsaen, the Creative Director at Too Faced Cosmetics. As a makeup lover, I was super excited for this one. Warissara spoke about how they were challenged earlier this year to create Estee Lauder’s first AI video in just two weeks. My favorite quote during this talk was, “AI is powerful but only when guided.” 

Next, I attended a session at the Creator Stage about maximizing performance on Meta featuring a family content creator, @jayplussharon. He discussed how he approaches partnership ads with brands and emphasized how being mindful goes both ways for creators and brands. 

Finally, I sat in on a session by Julie Sheeran and Samantha Tuttle with Newell Brands about their AI-powered content supply chain. Newell Brands includes brands we know and love, such as Sharpie, Papermate, Rubbermaid, and Yankee Candle. Would you believe they found they saved 40% on production costs by using AI in their workflow? Mind=blown.  

Day 2

The second day of Adobe Max started with yet another inspirational keynote with three really cool guest speakers. First off was Brandon Baum with StudioB, who showed us how to use Firefly to edit a video by generating images, soundtracks, and even transitions. Next came Mark Rober, who discussed how he makes viral content on YouTube and other platforms—the content needs to create a visceral response. Finally, we listened in on a conversation between James Gunn (director of Guardians of the Galaxy, Superman, and many more) and Adobe’s Jason Levine. Getting to hear from someone who has worked on such incredible films was an awesome experience. 

And just like that, I got started on my sessions for Day 2, beginning with one on Paramount’s modern storytelling. Next, I headed to the Creator Stage for a Q&A with content creators Drex Lee, Madeline Sals, and Ramisha, who shared lots of great tips and info. Then, I joined a “Bring Your Own Phone Creator Lab” about the Firefly app. Here, an Adobe educator walked us through how to use the Firefly mobile app for text to image, text to video, generating sound effects, image to video, and more. 

Max Bash was just as fun as I remembered. This time, they had activities like a human claw machine, s’mores stand, and even light-up seesaws. Plus, the performances by Blu DeTiger and St. Paul and The Broken Bones were absolutely unreal.  

Day 3

The third and final day was mostly spent soaking up all the fun of the Creative Park, but I did attend one session by one of my personal favorite designers and one of the most fun public speakers ever: Aaron Draplin. His session was all about how it’s okay to slow down and enjoy life, even when you’re stuck on the never-ending hamster wheel we all know as “the grind.” It did NOT disappoint! 

Bonus: Creative Park Adventures

Now, let’s talk about the Creative Park because it just gets better every time. Here are some things I did, rapid-fire style:

• Adobe Acrobat Escape Room
• Cafe Express-o by Adobe Express – made my own sticker, got it printed, and enjoyed a free latte
• Took a creator quiz at the TikTok booth and won freebies
• Got my Adobe MAX passport stamped at the Adobe Community Airport
• Watched my coworker get a live portrait drawn by manga artist Acky Bright
• Stopped by a million sponsor booths like Monotype, Google, Pantone, Ceros, and more
• Shopped at the MAX Marketplace to grab some stickers from some of my faves: Aaron Draplin and Sage Aune
• Tried to figure out how everything was going to fit in my suitcase 🙂

Takeaways

My second time at Adobe Max was soooo good for the soul. Truthfully, nothing beats soaking up all the creative energy with your coworkers in an incredible city (Los Angeles!). Thank you to Grova for allowing me to continue learning, exploring, and enjoying creative experiences like this that I’d never have the opportunity to experience elsewhere. I left Adobe Max 2025 feeling overwhelmingly inspired and grateful.