Have you ever been surrounded by 14,000 creative minds before?

This past October, I traveled to Los Angeles to attend the Adobe Max conference, also known as “the creativity conference.” I was one person in a sea of thousands of like-minded individuals looking for their next creative inspiration.

Adobe representatives showed us the newest Creative Cloud features. You’ve never seen such a room full of hooting, hollering, whistling and clapping – especially when the commotion was about software used on a daily basis. But, for us creatives, this software helps our visions come to life. The latest and greatest Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator features help us do our jobs better.

We watched live demos of unimaginable tools, all while hoping the technology would be at our desktop upon return home. I think it’s safe to say the group of 14,000 collectively geeked out. It was mind-numbing but completely awesome at the same time.

I won’t pass along too much creative geekiness, but I will share a few learnings from the sessions I attended:

• Email marketing:
  • The average person spends 2.5 hours per day checking personal email and 4 hours per day checking work email. For this reason, emails need to be engaging, insightful and memorable.
  • Seventy-three percent of emails are opened on mobile devices. Create emails with mobile viewing in mind. Consider responsive design and test emails accordingly.
  • Be (appropriately) disruptive. Be creative, thoughtful and perhaps even bold in the delivery.
• Social media:
  • Facebook still rules the social media world with the most monthly active users; YouTube, Instagram and Twitter follow.
  • Different channels have different purposes and should use content tailored to meet channel goals. Give viewers a reason to check out your channels by identifying an objective for each and then stick with that approach when posting content.
• Graphics:
  • Humans are wired to be visual, processing visuals 60,000 times faster than text!
  • Ninety percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual.
  • Seventy percent of our sensory receptors are in our eyes.
  • Fifty percent of our brains actively process visuals.
  • Forty percent of people respond better to visuals.

These numbers provide further evidence of something I’ve known my entire life; I’m drawn to visuals and, apparently, so is everyone else!

Look for ways to be creative with your work. Consider adding or strengthening graphics. The final product will be better for it. After all, a creative mind always wins.

Want to add a creative mind to your next campaign? Let’s talk.