5 Thoughts on Adobe MAX 2024
Nothing surprises us anymore
AI has somewhat ruined the excitement that used to be generated by new announcements. I remember the sheer outpouring of joy when “Intertwine” was demoed at MAX 2022, and now AI-generated hyper-realistic video barely gets a whimper. We have been ruined.
Adobe are seriously reinforcing community support while tripling down on Gen AI
Despite some of the backlash earlier this year, Shantanu came out swinging with the first 30 mins of the keynote a non-stop AI party. Adobe is certainly not trying to downplay its belief and pursuit of Gen AI as the core of everything it does, and they are making a concerted effort to reassure their customers by also elevating their focus on community efforts.
3D is being brought to users, rather than users being brought to 3D
MAX 2022 saw Substance 3D announced to great fanfare, with much of Adobe’s efforts focussed on bringing users into their newly-created 3D specific subscription. That same year saw a constant queue for a demo of the just-announced Meta Quest Pro (RIP). This year, the intervening decline of the metaverse hype was reflected in a noticeable strategic shift- Adobe are now bringing simplified 3D to Creative Cloud users through apps such as Project Neo and Substance 3D Viewer, rather than trying to cross-sell the more specialist Substance suite.
Trying to fill a Figma-shaped hole
Some of Adobe’s demos and new features give us a good indicator of what the Figma/Adobe integration roadmap might have been. The opening up of Frame.io as a collaboration platform for all types of media, together with a focus on Express as a collaboration tool for designers and communicators tells us that Adobe saw Figma as the glue that could not only tie their ecosystem together but also bring non-creators into the fold, while Project Concept is clearly a Figjam analogue. What might they do to go further across the design-dev-distribute workflow?
Afraid of stock camera apps?
Initially seemingly strange, a large chunk of the Lightroom demo was mobile-first. Until we were told “yea your standard camera app can remove that unwanted object, but can it offer you 3 different choices for what you replace it with?” Adobe’s anxiety around the democratisation of once-advanced photo editing was laid bare in this moment, this almost desperate demo highlighting the threat that has emerged in the form of on-device AI photo editing. Might they suffer at the hands of their own Scott Belsky’s premise of “the devil is in the default’?