On the flight back to Rochester from San Francisco the other day, I found myself reflecting on the annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA) that I’d just attended in the City by the Bay. The ADAA is arguably the foremost international student design competition, thanks to the amazing job Claire Erwin and her dedicated team at Adobe Systems do in producing it each year and, more importantly, the quality of the submissions.
The next generation of designers was well represented again this year by the amazing talent, wild creativity, deep intellect and personal maturity of the 33 student finalists who competed in nine awards categories. They were chosen from among 2,600 entries from 875 design schools in 28 countries. So just being there — being an ADAA finalist — is being a winner.
I was privileged and honored to present the awards in the Print Design Multi-Page category. To understand why I was so thrilled, please check-out the fantastic work from category winner Aaron Kapor, and finalists Sung-Ho Bae, and Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer. Each entry was uniquely fascinating and inspiring. Each pushed creativity to its limits in provocative and intelligent ways. And what a great pleasure it was to meet each of these talented young people.
A special, personal treat for me was seeing two Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) students at the awards ceremony at the beautiful de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. Sean Dekkers, a recent RIT grad with a degree in Film and Animation, took top honors in the Live Action category, and Justin Schrader, a New Media Design major at RIT, is sure to “get them next season” in the Motion Graphics category. For the sake of full-disclosure, this blogger lives in the Rochester area, received an MBA in marketing from RIT, is an active member of the Printing Industry Center at RIT, and from time-to-time teaches a Multimedia Strategies course at RIT’s School of Print Media. Go, Tigers!
I also experienced Xerox-customer pride at the ADAA. The reason: Adobe turned to our great customer, and Premier Partner, Toppan Printing Company America to digitally print about 280,000 pieces supporting the competition in glorious full-color on the iGen3. They do great work!
And — I confess — I also felt company pride. This is the second year we have been affiliated with the ADAA as its “official print communications sponsor.” Adobe Systems does just an incredible job on the competition. I work with a lot of other companies and industry partner organizations, and I can’t think of a finer, more far-reaching and deeply influencing design competition than this. Adobe’s sustained commitment to students is benchmark and its positive contribution to our industry is undeniable. We’re pleased, and proud to be affiliated with Adobe.
The theme of this year’s ADAA was “Go Places,” and I returned home inspired . . . from meeting the students, tomorrow’s design leaders . . . from seeing their work . . . and from meeting the other esteemed awards category presenters and jury members. What a great experience! Surely, this is a group of student designers that’s ready to “Go Places.”
Bob Wagner
Vice President, Creative Services Business and Premier Partners Program
Xerox
robert.wagner@xerox.com
