After just a few weeks into my new job at Adobe, I have already had the opportunity to travel to Taipei to attend the 2011 Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA) ceremony. It’s an amazing event – educators and student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers and computer artists came together from around the world to compete in the “world cup” of design.  Simply put, I was just amazed by the creativity, quality, and design of the showcased work.  Since this competition began in 2001, nearly 25,000 students across 73 countries have been involved. This year, for the first time in ADAA history, we also had the privilege of recognizing faculty in categories honoring teaching excellence.

A few things really stand out for me from the experience. First off, the winner from Taiwan, Sean Chang, is a gifted designer who won the Print Communications category. When asked about his message to other students around the world on using technology and design, his advice was, “Think big and outside the box. Have a positive impact on the world. And make sure that your design tells a story.”  Secondly, almost all of the students spent time talking about the role of design — in their words, “design is about making this a better world for all of us, people and environment.” We could all learn from the terrific insights and pure passion displayed by the students and educators – I know I certainly did.

The winners and finalist projects will be showcased during the Taipei World Design Expo from October 22 through October 30 for the world’s creative and technical luminaries to enjoy.  Join us in congratulating the talented winners in each of the competition’s 15 categories. We encourage you to check out the ADAA Gallery, a digital collection of not only this year’s winners and finalists, but also projects from winners and finalists over the past 10 years. Click here for a recap of the winners and the evening’s events.

We want to thank our partner for the third consecutive year, Icograda, as well as our prestigious judges and Master of Ceremonies, Lita Talarico, School of Visual Arts co-chair of the MFA program for continuing to help us recognize the best student and faculty creative leaders around the world. To view judges’ commentary on the 2011 Adobe Design Achievement Awards click here.

We feel privileged and proud to honor such incredible work through the Adobe Design Achievement Awards!

How can students show what they love, what they do or who they are? Last week, Adobe announced The Imagination Challenge, designed to encourage all students to creatively express themselves across diverse fields, such as engineering, architecture, science, art or literature.

During the four entry periods from August 22 through October 30, students can download a free trial of CS5.5 Student and Teacher Editions, create something original and unique to them and then upload it to the Imagination Gallery.
Voters will choose one winner during each entry period who will win $10,000. All semi-finalists and winners from the entry periods will also be automatically entered in the Grand Prize judging to win an additional $10,000. For more contest details, visit here.

Adobe is also proud to partner with four celebrity judges renowned for not only using technology to express themselves but also to connect with their fans and readership:

Deadmau5 (@deadmau5): Known for his unforgettable live sets, Deadmau5 pushes the technological boundaries of his stage show while he assembles tracks on the fly using cutting edge computer technology—including software that he’s helped write himself.  Deadmau5 has been nominated for a Grammy Award, won multiple Beatport Music Awards, International Dance Music Awards and Juno Awards, headlined festivals including Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, and is the first electronic music artist to headline and sell-out London’s 17,000-capacity Earl’s Court.  Regarded for his brand, creative image and large “mau5head” worn on stage, he recently hosted a contest on his website encouraging fans to design his next “mau5head.”

Jake and Amir (@jakeandamir): Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld are the writers/actors/editors behind the Webby award winning internet series “Jake and Amir” on CollegeHumor.com. The duo has released two videos a week for over four years, with each episode now averaging more than 500,000 views. “Jake and Amir” has won several awards
including the Webby’s People Voice for Best Web Series in 2010 – and has been named one of PCMag’s Top 15 Web-Only Shows. Their series has also appeared on television on MTV’s “The CollegeHumor Show.”

Rivers Cuomo (@riverscuomo): Rivers Cuomo is the lead singer, lead guitarist and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Weezer.  Cuomo has also worked as a solo artist, a writer, an artist manager, and has collaborated with many artists including B.o.B., Simple Plan, Mark Ronson, Sugar Ray and others.  Rivers is multi-instrumentalist and renowned as a prolific songwriter who embraces experimentation like in 2008 when he started a video series on his YouTube channel called “Let’s Write A Sawng,” an online songwriting collaboration between Rivers and his fans across the globe.  The final version of the collaboration, titled “Turning Up The Radio,” appeared as the first track on Weezer’s “Death to False Metal” album.

Scott Dadich (@sdadich): Scott Dadich is a vice president of digital magazine development and leads Condé Nast’s digital magazine efforts, a role central to the publishing mainstay’s
evolution into a 21st-century media company. Prior to that, Dadich was the creative director of Condé Nast’s WIRED, and during his tenure, become the only creative director in history to have won both the National Magazine Award for Design and the Society of Publication Designers Magazine of the Year award three years in a row.

Check out the judges’ videos at Adobe YouTube Channel and hear Deadmau5, Jake and Amir, Rivers Cuomo and Scott Dadich talk about inspiration and the art of creativity.

So what are you waiting for? Get your creative juices flowing and win big!