Adobe’s Create Now at SCAD

Written by Miha Palancha. Graphics by Laura garcía.

The recent Create Now: SCAD event hosted by Adobe kicked off with an engaging workshop focused on Adobe Express, led by platform specialist Jordan Dene Ellis. Ellis, who was warm and approachable, walked students through the platform’s features with a refreshingly beginner-friendly perspective.

The workshop highlighted practical tools like the calendar and bulk create features, particularly useful for students freelancing for clients part time. Ellis’s thorough walkthrough made the platform accessible even to first-time users.

The main event, held the following day at the Marriott, took things to another level. The Adobe team didn’t hold back on the freebies, distributing what they described as “so much cool swag” — bucket hats, tote bags, pins, stickers and beautifully designed calendars.

Ellis returned to showcase some of her favorite features across Adobe’s Creative Suite, demonstrating new and underrated capabilities in Photoshop, Illustrator and Express, and introducing the much-anticipated Project Neo. The room filled with collective gasps when she revealed Photoshop’s ability to mock up designs as embroidered patches.

“The reaction in the room was crazy,” said Aarya Mahapatra, a UX major who attended. “Everyone was blown away by what Project Neo could do.”

After the demonstrations, attendees joined a “super genuine and interesting” panel featuring Tara McCormack and Mick Champayne, who shared insights into creative career paths.

Laura G. Gomez, visuals editor at SCAD District, found particular value in the conversation about nonlinear creative careers.

“Something that really spoke to me was the discussion about how progress doesn’t always have to be linear,” Gomez said. “You don’t have to feel forced to grow in one particular field. You can experiment. As a creative, that experimentation is super important. You can start as a UX major and end up as an illustrator or product designer.”

The Q&A portion proved “really interactive and eye-opening in terms of perspective,” according to several attendees.

Kashvi Pallapotu, an architecture major and SCAD District contributor, highlighted memorable portfolio advice from the panelists.

“When they talked about portfolio advice, they emphasized that no matter how corporate, major-focused and clean your portfolio is, it’s important to have a piece of you in it, something in your design style that is truly you,” Pallapotu said.

By all accounts, the event was well-organized and left students with plenty to consider about their creative processes and career paths.

“Overall, it was a very well-organized event and left us with lots of thinking to do,” Mahapatra said as the day concluded.