By Patricia B. Mirasol, Reporter
Adobe, Inc., launched a suite of features that improve collaboration and lessen the friction of keeping track of design iterations across teams.
“We are doubling down on collaboration,” said David Wadhwani, president of digital media business, at the 20th Adobe MAX Creative Conference. “Creativity is increasingly a team sport — whether you’re collaborating with other creators, or asking feedback from stakeholders.”
The features will first roll out with Illustrator (a vector graphics app) and InDesign (a layout and page design software).
“Whenever you see ‘Share’ in the top right corner of your app, you can invite others to edit your document with just a URL [a Uniform Resource Locator or a web address] …,” said Scott Belsky, Adobe chief product officer and executive vice president of Creative Cloud, in his keynote address at the Oct. 20 event. “Another brand-new option is ‘Share for Review,’ which is a super-efficient way to get feedback from all stakeholders in your project with just a click.”
The “Share” option makes projects accessible on the desktop app or Photoshop on the web. “Share for Review,” meanwhile, allows colleagues to work, comment, and point out details on a project from any browser without having to sign up for or log into Creative Cloud, Adobe’s subscription-based products.
“To deliver a successful project on deadline, a team needs to share everything from creative inspiration to assets to feedback,” Mr. Belsky previously said. These latest innovations “enable seamless collaboration throughout the creative process.”
“Collaborative creativity” is one of three themes underpinning the multinational software company’s new features and capabilities, along with “precision and superpowers” and “speed and ease.”
Updates that highlight precision include Premiere Pro’s automatic color correction; and Photoshop on the web’s new editing, compositing, and retouching capabilities. Speed and ease, meanwhile, is represented by Express, a selection of quick editing functions.
GENERATIVE AI
With the explosion of digital content consumption, content, creativity, and design has never been more valued, Mr. Wadhwani said.
A 2022 Adobe study found that over 165 million people have joined the creator economy since 2020, with roughly one in four people contributing photography, videography, creative writing, and other digital content.
Four out of five (81%) such professionals, however, also say “consumers expect fresh content at their fingertips today more than ever before.”
“Every business needs a digital presence. This creates amazing opportunities for all of you — but also real challenges,” said Mr. Wadhwani. “The vast majority of you say it’s really hard to keep up with the demands on your time, and that you have less bandwidth to experiment and learn new things.”
He shared that the company is upping its investment in Sensei, its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning tool, to help creators generate work with higher production value in less time.
Mr. Wadhwani noted how generative AI can create an image from a text description.
“We’re excited with what this can do for all of you, but we also want to do this thoughtfully,” he said. “We’re approaching generative technology from a creator-centric perspective. AI should enhance human creativity not replace it. It should benefit creators, not replace them.”
Adobe will “work with our communities and partners…to develop standards in ethics and digital provenance,” he added.
