@ADOBEUK

Red Bull, in partnership with Adobe, has just made art history! And we’re inviting members of the public to be part of it when it hits London as part of a three day exhibition from 5 – 7 June 2013. After taking in LA, Oslo and Mexico City, London will host the Red Bull Collective Art exhibition, in partnership with Adobe, at Red Bull Studios, London Bridge. The exhibition is free of charge and open 11am – 5pm each day.

But what is it all about? Well, in a nutshell, more than 2,000 individual pieces of artwork (90% of which, were created using tools available in Adobe Creative Cloud) have been brought together to create one piece of ‘collective art’ measuring a massive 1.3km in length – that’s 500m longer than the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.

Back in February, we announced our partnership with Red Bull Collective Art, a project which gave creative talent from across the globe – including everyone from designers and artists, to photographers and publicists – the chance to take part in creating the biggest and most original piece of artwork the world has ever seen.

The project saw contributions from 85 countries and brought ‘Cadavre Exquís’ into the digital age by layering multiple pieces of art created by different people to make one collective piece. Of the 2,000 people that took part, 500 submissions were from the UK, testament to the extraordinary creativity of our nation. Each contributor had one hour to put their artistic stamp on the final piece of artwork, which is now being exhibited in a variety of unique settings around the world, giving members of the public the opportunity to see this ground-breaking piece of art.

To learn more about the project, you can visit the website where you can browse and interact with the inspirational pieces of art from around the globe. You can also follow the social journey using #CreateNow and #RedBullCollectiveArt.

This week’s announcement that computer science will be granted EBacc status in the Government’s planned GCSE reforms is a positive step in the right direction, however it does not go far enough.

Whilst the move to include Computer Science in the mooted English Baccalaureate will no doubt help equip future generations of 14 to 16-year olds with some technology skills that higher education institutions and businesses may be looking for, it does not address the fundamental problem of omitting design and the wider arts as a core subject in the proposals. As it stands, a gaping hole remains in the Government’s planned reforms with the continued omission of arts subjects in the.

Therefore, I’m pleased to announce that today Adobe has joined the #IncludeDesign campaign, as part of our ongoing commitment to supporting creativity in education in the UK.

The creative industries constitute one of the fastest-growing sectors in the UK and the creative skills needed to be successful should be fully supported & embedded in both primary & secondary education. Our own research tells us that 77% of UK employers and University lecturers place a high value on creativity in school leavers, with 78% of people in the UK in agreement that creativity is key to driving economic growth.

The UK is renowned for its creativity thanks to its successes in fashion, art, design, film and music, so providing all students with access to creative subjects is essential to our future economic success.

A programme of study devoid of any arts or design tuition threatens to stifle creativity, which is why today we are joining some of the creative industry’s best known names and most high-profile agencies in backing #IncludeDesign. You can find out more by checking out this article on Digital Arts.

Liz Wilkins, Senior Education Marketing Manager, Adobe

Despite the shaky UK economy, brands are continuing to invest billions into digital advertising – both online and through mobile devices.

This is one of the findings from the latest advertising expenditure report from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB); with advertising spend shooting up by 12.6 percent to £2.6 billion in the first half of the year.

Fuelled by the rocketing number of smartphone and tablet users, mobile advertising alone grew by 132 percent to £181.5 million in the first half of 2012, from the previous year, and now accounts for seven percent of all digital advertising spend.

These results support the findings of Adobe’s Q2 2012 Global Digital Advertising Update, which we blogged about back in July.   Our report showed that whilst conversion rates for tablets are 120 percent higher than those for PCs, Cost Per Clicks (CPC) rates are markedly less than desktops or laptops, 30 percent less in fact – opening a window of opportunity in the digital advertising market.

“Mobile traffic continues to demonstrate a significant opportunity for advertisers as the industry is still yet to normalise click through rates” comments Jonathan Beeston, director of new product innovation at Adobe. “With results remaining strong for mobile, there is a growing emphasis on mobile devices as tablet conversion rates outshine desktop conversion rates.”

However, the gap in that window of opportunity is starting to close and it won’t be long until the cost per click rate starts to increase. To make the most of this, brands need to act now to make sure they don’t get shut out by their competitors.

“There’s still time for brands to get in there and reap the benefits delivering greater ROI but they need to move quickly before this ever shrinking window shuts,” adds Beeston.

Students are now paying up to £9,000 a year in tuition fees. As such, Universities should anticipate their new intake of undergraduates to have much higher expectations about what they’re getting from their studies. With more and more employers expecting their staff to be well versed in digital, there will naturally be increased demand from students for access to industry-standard technology that will help them get a job once they graduate.

To support institutions in meeting this demand, we’ve launched a new three year license agreement, the Eduserv Adobe ELA Framework Agreement. It means that both Further Education and Higher Education institutions will be able to provide access to Adobe’s latest Creative Suite software across the whole campus for the first time. Plus staff get it too!

We’re working with loads of leading institutions to help them deliver a strong digital offering. Here’s what a few have to say about the Eduserv Adobe ELA Framework Agreement:

 Kirk Laws-Chapman, Resources Manager, Norwich University College of the Arts:

“The new Eduserv Adobe ELA Framework Agreement has provided Norwich University College of the Arts with an affordable way to give our students access to latest industry standard software across the campus. Meeting expectations against a background of rising tuition fees is a challenge, and this is a great way for us to add value to the student experience here.”

Phil Purves – Senior Lecturer, Bath Spa University:

“I’m confident that a lot of current and future students will benefit the new Eduserv Adobe ELA Framework Agreement. In addition to saving the University money, it is giving us software consistency everywhere with the latest CS6 suite available on whatever machine is capable of running it. All our creative areas have been keen to support this new agreement. It’s going to make a huge difference.”

Steve Harvey, Arts University College at Bournemouth:

“The Arts University College at Bournemouth (AUCB) feels extremely privileged to be signed up to the Eduserv Adobe ELA Framework Agreement. It enables us to offer more access to industry standard software at a good price, but also helps with the strategic development of software maintenance to align Education and Business application deployment.”

 For more information on how to sign up to the agreement, check outwww.eduserv.org.uk/ela. To be included in the next entry point in November 2012, institutions must complete all paperwork by 24^th October.

It’s just over a month now until Create the Web London!

The event is a fantastic opportunity to learn about the latest tools and techniques for creating content for the modern web. You’ll also find out how Adobe is helping shape the future of the web and get a sneak peak at new tools, technologies and services for web designers and developers. Topics covered will include HTML5, CSS3, motion graphics, web development and more.

This free, full day event held in London on 2^nd October is filling up fast, so if you don’t want to miss out make sure you register here today.

Here’s a lowdown of what to expect: 

10:00 – Keynote/General Session

In the opening keynote, Adobe will layout its commitment to the web as the primary platform of the future, and will announce and demonstrate new tools and technologies that enable web designers and developers to create the experiences that push the boundaries of what is possible on the web.

10:30 – A Journey Through the Graphical Web

Vincent Hardy (Director of Engineering, Web Platform)

This presentation will walk us through the quest towards a more graphical web with an immersive presentation of the key features (and characters) that are, have been or will be available to the create graphical content on the web. The goal of this playful presentation is to inspire and show the vision of a web with a wide graphical creative surface.

11:15 An introduction to the modern Web for the creative professional

HTML5 and CSS3 introduce new features that expand the creative capabilities of the web. In this session, you will get an introduction to some of the newest and most expressive features in HTML5 and CSS3, as well as an overview of what new features are coming in the future.

1:00 Move the Web : Introduction to Motion Graphics on the Web

Mike Chambers (Director of Developer Advocacy)

Discover all the ways that animation is coming to the modern web. Hear about how to make use of CSS3 transitions and animation, JavaScript libraries that can help with animation, and suggestions for best practices around creating animations with web technologies.

1:30 Adobe Edge Animate: Creating the interactive web

Lee Brimelow (Developer Evangelist)

Adobe Edge Animate is a tool for creating web animations with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. In this session you’ll see how you can start using Edge Animate to create animations that run on browsers and mobile devices.

2:15 – Brackets: Code the Web

Adam Lehman (Sr. Product Manager, Interactive Development)

Brackets is an open source code editor that challenges the status quo with innovations like inline Quick Editing and live browser connectivity built with HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. This session will provide an overview of Brackets and demonstrate how to hack on the project so you can customize and extend it to meet your needs.

2:45 - PhoneGap & Shadow: Building & Testing Mobile Apps with Web Standards

Every web developer needs to think about a mobile strategy when it comes to deploying content. This session will take a look at new APIs in HTML5 that make the most of mobile device features, how to test and debug content with tools like Adobe “Shadow”, and workflows for creating mobile applications from web technologies with PhoneGap and PhoneGap Build.

3:35 - CreateJS: Creating Rich, Interactive Experiences for HTML5

Grant Skinner (CEO / Technical Director gskinner.com)

CreateJS is a suite of JavaScript libraries for building expressive content that targets HTML5 Canvas. Find out how to use libraries that let you easily manipulate content on top of HTML5 Canvas, manipulate sound, animate content, and manage loading of assets.

4:15 - Design Responsively: Creating a Site that Works Across Screens

Responsive design is forcing designers and developers to think about their content differently.  The huge variation of screen sizes and device capabilities is enabling a whole new level of experiences.  In this session you’ll learn the principles of responsive design and get a sneak peak at what Adobe’s been working on.

Look forward to seeing you there, and make sure you follow the conversation on Twitter with #CreateTheWeb.