Get Inspired by Luminary Speakers at Adobe MAX 2021

Inspire big thinking by experiencing the creative field’s brightest artists, business owners, educators, and more. From creative rule-breakers to social changemakers to tech trendsetters, the 2021 Adobe MAX speakers are a collective of creative brain power — and these luminaries are right at your fingertips.

Explore some of the featured 2021 Adobe MAX luminary speakers by name and session below.

Casey Neistat, YouTube Personality, Filmmaker, and Vlogger

MB104 – Smarter Social Storytelling

Join this session with YouTube personality and creative pioneer, Casey Neistat, as he shares his mission to inspire young people to use social media for good. Casey is self-made and self-taught, and his history is compelling. But it’s his vision that will inspire you.

Aaron Draplin, Founder, Draplin Design, Co.

MB134 – Graphic Design

A one-of-a-kind workshop. Watch Aaron dissect and demonstrate the creative techniques that he uses in his signature vector designs, from pencil sketch to Illustrator. Aaron shares his love of design in a unique, passionate style that will inspire you.

You can also catch Aaron live for a Meet the Speaker session in the Community Live Lounge.

Yuko Shimizu, Illustrator

MB103 – Illustration and Digital Painting

Featuring Craig & Karl, Co-founders of Craig&Karl

Award-winning Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu gives a workshop revealing how she combines handmade ink illustrations and the latest digital technology for an animated, interactive collaboration with the Artechouse experience space.

This session also features Craig and Karl, an artist duo in constant collaboration from their respective bases in New York and London. As co-founders of Craig&Karl, the pair create bold, vibrant images that playfully communicate nuanced ideas. From large-scale installations to product collaborations, their approach is rooted in an evolving exploration of color, pattern, shape, and texture, inspired by contemporary culture and current events.

Eddie Opara, Partner-in-Charge & Creative Director, Pentagram
S195 – MEWEUSTOGETHER: Designing for Black/Inclusive Causes and Clients

How do you work with progressive clients that are mostly minority owned and have a strong focus on empowering communities through equity, inclusion, diversity, and leadership? For many years, Eddie Opara, partner-in-charge and creative director at Pentagram, has been doing just that, working with clients at the forefront of the arts, fashion, social change, and technology. Join him as he discusses how he and his team work with such leaders and organizations, how these projects have shaped his future endeavors, and how they have transformed the social and cultural landscape using design.

Fabricio Teixeira, Designer at Work & Co.
S190 – How to (Properly) Break Your Design System

Systems thinking is at the core of digital product design. To build products and experiences that are scalable and efficient, designers must take a rigorous approach to design systems. Join Fabricio Teixeira, design partner at Work & Co, to discover how magic can emerge from bending the rules of these systems. To create products millions of people love to use every day, designers must know when and how to break that same system — and push the boundaries of technology.

Gail Anderson, Chair, BFA Design & BFA Advertising, School of Visual Arts
S192 – BIPOC Designers and the Workplace: Pre-Woke to Woke-ish

What’s it like to be the only BIPOC designer in the meeting, at the decision-makers table, or in the organization? How do we make sure that doesn’t happen to the next generation? Join award-winning designer, writer, and educator, Gail Anderson, for an honest conversation, and hear occasionally hair-raising tales about her experiences with diversity, equity, inclusion, and all the words and actions in between.

Giorgia Lupi, Partner at Pentagram
S191 – Speak Data

Data is ubiquitous today. What does data really mean and how can we extract real value from it in our daily lives as designers? Join information designer and Pentagram partner Giorgia Lupi for this illustrated talk as she discusses the new data reality and “data humanism,” her unique philosophy for understanding and working with data.

Mike Alderson, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, ManvsMachine
S193 – Intellectual Eye Candy: Do Before You Think

What if the idea isn’t always the most important thing? What if the visual arrives way before the idea? Meet the founder of an industry-leading studio who admitted that this was the recipe for some of their most celebrated work. Mike Alderson, designer, director, and CCO at ManvsMachine, will lift the lid on how their creative process can be both strangely simplistic and curiously complex at the same time.

Monaris, Street Photographer
S194 – The Art of Color Grading

Join Photoshop Lightroom and Sony Ambassador, Monaris, as she shares her techniques for creating dramatic color in images using Lightroom. Color grading is simply creative color correction — there’s no right or wrong. See how Monaris uses the tools available in Lightroom to give her images the moody, cinematic look that she’s known for. She’ll be showing Lightroom Classic, but the same approach can be taken using Lightroom on desktop or mobile. Tune in to learn from and be inspired by Monaris’s truly unique vision.

Michelle Higa Fox, Creative Director, Buck

S196 – Everything You Weren’t Told About Pivoting to a New Medium

When Michelle Higa Fox pivoted from animation to interactive experiences, she thought it would just be a matter of learning new skills. Now that she’s made that transition twice, join her as she goes beyond the hard skills to reveal how all the software tutorials in the world won’t help you break into the world of creative technology unless you also pivot your relationships, your organization, and your mindset.

Joe Dombrowski, Comedian and Kindergarten Teacher

MB132 – Joe Dombrowski: The Future is Creative

Featuring Frank Sesno, Professor, Director at GWU and Founder of Planet Forward, George Washington University

Hear from top leaders in education in this session led by Joe Dombrowski, stand up comedian and kindergarten teacher. In a tech-driven world, students need to navigate technology with ease. Great. But where do we illiterates start? Joe is here to help. He’ll reinforce the importance of starting with what you already know, then help you build from there.

Frank Sesno, professor and Founder of Planet Forward: Conversations with the Future also joins this session on the power of creativity in driving learning. Students today have more reach, power, and influence than ever before, and their storytelling is the way to move the planet forward.

Ken Lashley, Artist and Illustrator

MB172 – Illustration and Digital Painting

Get the latest insight from well-known illustrators like comic book artist Ken Lashley — he’s worked with Lucasfilm, Hasbro, and DC and MARVEL Comics — as he shares his creative process. During this workshop, you will learn what he uses to create his images, take a peek at his new studio setup, and discover why it’s important to step into places that are uncomfortable — in a creative way.

Laura Jordan Bambach, President & Chief Creative Officer UK, Grey London

S189 – Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable to Flourish and Grow

The ways we work, shop, play, live, and learn have changed dramatically because of the pandemic, resulting in a necessary shift in the use of existing and new technologies. There’s always been tension between creativity and technology as different mindsets try to come together to find solutions. The pandemic has increased this tension with the need to change how we connect. How can we use it to create ideas that meet changing, previously unmet customer needs? In this session, join Laura Jordan Bambach, president and CCO at Grey in the UK, as she explores how getting comfortable with being uncomfortable can help build a hybrid organization that uses tension to challenge thinking and to create an environment where the possibilities of combining creativity and technology can flourish and partnerships can lead to bold new innovations.

In addition to these sessions, you’ll also be able to catch some of these speakers for a live Q&A session in the Community Live Lounge. Stay tuned for more details.

Join us for Adobe MAX 2021 on Oct. 26-28. Register HERE to add these sessions and more to your MAX schedule.