06/02 — 2025 by abduzeedo Explore how andstudio created a unified, nature-inspired branding and visual identity for Mana Hotels, blending luxury with authentic connection. Hey fellow creatives! Ever dive into a project that just clicks? Where the core idea shines through every design choice? That’s exactly what happened with Mana Hotels' unified brand identity, a beautiful piece of work by andstudio. It's a masterclass in how thoughtful branding and visual identity can truly elevate an experience. Mana Hotels isn't just another luxury escape. It’s an apartment-style hotel and wellness retreat, redefining relaxation by blending nature with well-being. Think seaside tranquility in Palanga or spa serenity in Druskininkai. The challenge for andstudio was clear: how to create a unified brand identity that resonates across diverse locations and audiences, while still feeling authentic and personalized. The Sun's Embrace: A Core Inspiration The design team at andstudio found their anchor in the rhythm of the sun. This natural cycle, from dawn to twilight, became the central inspiration. It's a smart move. The sun-inspired logo isn't just pretty; it represents vitality, blending luxury with approachability. This focus on a natural, constant element grounds the entire visual language. Color Palettes: Reflecting Local Soul One of the standout elements in this branding and visual identity project is the use of distinct color palettes for each location. For Palanga, the branding reflects the sunlit coast, evoking a bright, airy feel. In contrast, Druskininkai's palette captures the shift from day to night, aligning with the spa's focus on tranquility and restful sleep. You can see this subtle yet impactful differentiation in the visual identity artifacts. It’s a clever way to maintain unity while celebrating local character. Beyond the Logo: A Holistic Experience The branding extends far beyond a simple logo. It’s a comprehensive system that includes motion design, signage, and stationery. Look at the subtle branding on the stationery, like the "Hey Hepy, see you at the pool!" note, or the refined packaging elements. Even the robes feature the Mana logo. This consistent visual language, paired with authentic photography of peaceful moments, highlights a retreat centered on genuine human connection and relaxation. It’s about creating an overall soothing and luxurious experience that nurtures mind, body, and soul. Mana’s approach to branding and visual identity truly emphasizes human connection and a deep understanding of modern-day stresses. They’ve successfully bridged the gap between a service-oriented approach and a family-oriented atmosphere, creating a unique value proposition. This project by andstudio reminds us that great design isn't just about aesthetics; it's about understanding the core essence of a brand and translating that into a cohesive, meaningful visual story. It's about creating a feeling, an experience, and a connection that resonates deeply with the audience. Want to see more of their inspiring work? Check out andstudio's portfolio directly on Behance. Branding and visual identity artifacts Tags branding

New Contest! Download a free asset pack and create a render of a 3D Magical scene. I hope you will join this super fun contest. It’s a great way to practice some new skills. We’re doing “3D Magical” as the theme. If you look up “Magical 3D” on Behance, Pinterest, or Google, you’ll get some inspiration. I put an image below of some that I pinned just to get your creative juices flowing. You could do something totally different in the “Magical” or fantasy realm if you want, though. By joining this contest, you’ll get a free mini-pack of assets to use for your design elements, you’ll get some great practice, and you can use the result on your social media or reel. The winners will get some rad prizes too. I hope you enjoy the contest, I think it will be TONS of fun! Btw, make it a challenge to yourself. Try a new program. Try a new app. Try a new technique you have never done. Find a way to push yourself out of your comfort zone and really get some new skills with this fun challenge. That’s the whole point of it! Prizes First Place: VDB Bundle from The Pixel Lab Second Place: 10 Free Products from The Pixel Lab Third Place: 5 Free Products from The Pixel LabRules 1. Download the mini-pack with 8 3D Assets: Portal, Wispy Smoke, Plume, Stage Smoke, Electricity, Smoke, and 2 Power Streams. (FYI, The full products on our site have complete animation sequences, but for this contest, I’m giving you one of the frames from the animations for free).2. Make sure to use at least some of the assets in your render. You can use as many of them as you want; it’s up to you! These are either Alembic files or VDB files. If you don’t know how to use them, shoot me an e-mail and I can help you out. 3. Create a 3D Magical design. It could be anything. Search Behance for Magical 3D to get tons of inspiration! 4. Make a still render and send it to joren@thepixellab.net 5. The deadline will be July 31, 2025. Our internal team of judges will look at all of the entries. We will pick the top three entries based on creativity/originality/design, and we will announce the winners in early August 2025. We will fulfill the prizes shortly after. Note 1: This artwork must be created for the contest. It cannot be a previous piece you have already created. No AI is allowed. I’m not anti AI, but the goal of this contest is to learn texturing, lighting, design, layout, and more. Note 2: If you want to purchase any of our products, and you end up winning, we will refund your purchase, so don’t worry about buying them if you want to in the next month. Ready to get started? Download the pack and get going! Let me know if you have any questions! Download Free Mini-Pack of 3D Assets

Designing without modern tools isn’t regression — it’s a stance against authoritative, tech-imposed aesthetics.The Art of Suminagashi Japanese Marbling | Image source: youtube.comI find most design trends irritating — not because they exist, but because too many designers follow them instead of forging their own. Then again, maybe that’s just my rebellious nature talking.There’s nothing wrong with using trends for inspiration or to practice various techniques. But latching onto a popular aesthetic as if it’s your identity? That’s just uninspired — especially if you consider yourself a creative professional.Take Airbnb’s recent Lava icon format — currently causing quite a stir among designers. The icons stand out for their dimensional look — a so-called break from the flat, minimal trend that’s really just recycled Web 2.0 aesthetics. But more importantly than the visuals, they use a custom animation format.https://medium.com/media/85cb356a935a5b28844c2b60587db172/hrefInstead of using standard video, Lottie, or WebGL, Airbnb created a lightweight proprietary format for animated UI icons. It supports transparency and runs smoothly across platforms using their own playback engine. The result is a low-key, technically efficient solution tailored to their design system.Cool? Sure. Game-changing? Not really.It’s just another gimmicky trend that’ll be overused by designers until the next shiny thing comes out of Silicon Valley — assuming we’re still employed by then. But hey, I’m sure our AI overlords will credit us in the footnotes.The video below by Michal Malewicz shows just how effortlessly AI can generate these dynamic icons — maybe too effortlessly. Aside from the animation, these icons remind me of 2010 all over again — minus the part where designers actually, you know, design stuff.https://medium.com/media/366d8d8678e02caa2971f432cb9c9832/hrefThis new aesthetic shift sparked a question in my mind — why are we so quick to react and follow design trends instead of creating them? And more importantly, why are we feeding those trends with the same technology that threatens to hollow out the value of creative work? That’s like a sheep teaching wolves how to season meat — it’s the opposite of self-preservation.Designers already have the tools — not just digital, but physical, emotional, and cultural — to shape what comes next. And with AI stripping creative work of depth and nuance, maybe the next shift shouldn’t be about advancing the tech, but about returning to what’s raw, handmade, and unpredictable. Less about outcomes, more about process.I’m not talking about arts and crafts. I’m talking about a process that requires both expertise and experimentation — where clear vision meets material intuition. Where the story of creation is just as important as the final result. And where the medium isn’t chosen for convenience, but for its ability to convey meaning through the craft itself.Most contemporary design leans on minimalism and “clean” aesthetics — traits that aren’t principles so much as trends, and like any trend, they’re fleeting. What passes for “usable” today often masks a deeper fear of disruption — a retreat into sterile, risk-averse conformity at the expense of expressive creativity.Maybe it’s time to be bold. Brave. Experimental. Unruly. Time to stop letting authoritarian tech giants like Google and Apple dictate the future of design. Maybe it’s time for humans — driven by imagination, emotion, and real creativity — to shape what comes next.We don’t need permission to create work that feels alive and personal. The trend should be the process of human craft, not the outcome.That being said, here are a few hands-on techniques that can reignite that spark — or at least offer an inspirational avenue for expression and experimentation as technology slowly strips away our creative soul.Hand Sketching with PurposeImage source: RedditNot as a wireframe or placeholder, but as a final aesthetic choice. Embrace smudges, uneven line weight, imperfect perspective — these things inject humanity. Digitize them, yes — but don’t correct them. The imperfections are the point.Suminagashi (Floating Ink Marbling)Image source: suminagashi.comThis ancient Japanese technique involves dropping ink onto water and manipulating the patterns with breath or tools before laying paper on top to capture the design. The result is a one-of-a-kind, fluid composition that feels spontaneous and alive. Scanning these marbled textures into digital work adds unpredictability and human touch.Gelli PrintingImage source: schack.orgA monoprinting technique using gelatin-based plates. You apply ink or paint to a soft surface and press textures into it — leaves, string, mesh — then transfer it to paper. The result is a layered, atmospheric texture full of nuance. Perfect for backgrounds, overlays, or subtle storytelling.Block PrintingImage source: mokuartstudio.comOne of the oldest and most tactile forms of printmaking. Carve a design into wood, linoleum, or rubber, roll ink across the surface, and press it onto paper or fabric. The pressure inconsistencies, ink bleed, and subtle misalignments give each print its own personality. Digitizing these prints introduces organic irregularity into otherwise sterile digital layouts.Photocopy TransferImage source: billchambers.netThis hands-on technique — something I picked up from a fellow faculty member at LIU — involves printing a design with a laser printer, placing it face-down on a new surface, and applying an alcohol-based solvent like acetone or eucalyptus oil to transfer the toner. The result is rough, imperfect, and full of texture — like a ghost of the original image. Perfect for adding grit, unpredictability, and a touch of rebellion to otherwise sterile digital work.Stop-Motion MicrointeractionsImage source: BehanceCreate frame-by-frame animations using physical materials — paper cutouts, clay, thread, even coffee stains. Photograph each frame and compile them into short animations using GIF or Lottie formats. These can be used for loading states, transitions, tooltips, or hover effects — anywhere your interface needs a moment of life.Analog CollageImage source: reddit.comRip up magazines. Cut out old photos. Layer tape, torn paper, brush strokes. Glue it down, scan it in. This physical interaction with media encourages spontaneous composition and leads to surprising juxtapositions that would never happen inside a grid system.Film Photography as Texture SourceImage source: behance.netShoot 35mm film, cross-process it, scratch the negatives, scan it all. Use these as grainy, unpredictable texture layers. It gives your design a worn-in honesty, unlike the sterile perfection of stock photos or digital renders.Hand-Lettering with Intentional InconsistencyImage source: youtube.comNot polished script or Instagram calligraphy. We’re talking rough, personal letterforms drawn with pencil, marker, or brush — complete with wobbly baselines, inconsistent kerning, and raw edges. The goal isn’t perfection — it’s character.Material Experiments with Failure in MindImage source: threadsmagazine.comWork with candle wax, clay, bleach on paper, or burning the edges of cardboard. These experiments are often messy and may “fail” by conventional standards — but the accidents are often the most expressive parts.Some might argue that AI can replicate the outcomes of these techniques — and they’d be right. But that misses the point. These aren’t just aesthetic choices — they’re philosophical stances. They resist convenience. They reject the sterile, corporate polish that defines so much of modern design. They demand time, intention, and effort. And that’s exactly the point.AI can churn out a thousand “good-enough” designs in seconds. And maybe that’s fine for companies that don’t value creativity. But for those of us who do? That’s not the bar. It’s an insult. I refuse to let corporations and tech platforms strip away the very thing that gives so many designers a sense of purpose.I believe we should be working toward a future where what truly sets a designer apart is their willingness to get their hands dirty — to make mistakes, challenge convention, and find meaning in the mess of the process itself.That’s how you create a trend worth following — not by imitating the machine, literally or metaphorically, but by doing what it can not — creating from passion, intuition, resistance, and imperfection. By making the process — and the story behind it — part of the value, you restore meaning to the work.Maybe if we’re brave enough, honest enough, the next big design trend won’t come from Figma templates or top-down tech mandates. Maybe it’ll come from a torn piece of paper, a botched ink spill, or a stubborn pencil stroke. Maybe the next trend begins the moment we stop chasing — and start making again.Don’t miss out! Join my email list and receive the latest content.The next design trend should start with your hands, not a computer was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

For many creatives, there are few times in life that are more thrilling and filled with possibilities than the summer you graduate. At the same time, there's usually a fair bit of anxiety, and in 2025, there are good reasons for that. If you're a creative graduate preparing to enter the workforce, you face a rapidly changing landscape shaped by technological advancements, shifting work paradigms and unprecedented challenges. In short, you'll be navigating uncharted waters as you transition from structured academic environments to the professional world. To help bridge this gap, we've gathered industry-leading advice from established leaders across various disciplines. These veterans have weathered economic shifts, tech revolutions, and cultural transformations throughout their careers. As such, their collective wisdom offers a compass for any graduate at a time of extraordinary opportunity and complexity. 1. Be kind to yourself First things first. You'll want to get into decent-paid work straight away, but in the current job market, that might not happen. That completely sucks, of course, but the important thing is that you don't beat yourself up over it. Creative director Charlie Bowden acknowledges the challenges of getting your foot in the door, even with a degree. "Converting an internship into a job is hard and may take longer than you'd like," he cautions. "So be kind to yourself. The best work comes when you're happy." Adrian Carroll, creative director at D8, agrees. "Don't be too hard on yourself if you don't land a role straight away," he stresses. "It's an incredibly tough market for graduates at the moment. Fewer people are setting up agencies, and more people are opting to freelance, which is tough if you don't have much experience." 2. Build your personal brand In a crowded jobs market, you need to stand out. That can be challenging for many creatives, especially if you're shy or introverted. But the important thing to understand, according to Simon Manchipp, founding partner at SomeOne, is this: "YOU ARE A BRAND. Like it or not." With that in mind, he recommends you: "Get your story straight. Make it stick. Website. Insta. LinkedIn. Behance. They should sing the same song—and it should sound like you. SHOW WORK. NOT PROMISES. Don't tell us what you want to do; show us what you did. Projects are better than platitudes. Side hustles count. So do failed ones. Especially failed ones." 3. Craft a portfolio with cut-through When it comes to your portfolio, Alex Rexworthy, co-founder and design director at Outlaw, advises showcasing development alongside final work. "Show your process, not just a flashy render," he urges. "Take the reader on a journey through each project in your portfolio. Start with the brief, share your initial ideas, and explain how you arrived at the final result." Above all, encourages Cat How, founder and ECD at How Studio, make an impact. "Go big, or go home," she says. "This is your time to shine, so you owe it to yourself to be OUTRAGEOUS." 4. Stay true to your vision When you're struggling to get work, it's natural to want to apply for everything and maybe even pretend to be someone you're not. But Paul Leon, creative director at U037, reckons you'll ultimately be more successful if you focus on your authentic creative path. "Focus on what you really want to do and head for that," he advises. "If you feel something's not right for you, don't be afraid to speak up, and don't be afraid to say no. Value yourself: the journey is where all the good stuff happens. Detours, etc, are fine." When applying for a job at an agency, you obviously need to do your research. But Charlie notes that you need to look beyond an agency's portfolio. "Consider the culture, not just the work," he explains. "Certain agencies make great work, but their culture may not be right for you. Internships are a great way of getting a gauge of this, but so is asking to come in for coffee and a crit, so you can see what the agency is like first-hand." 5. Embrace the beginner's mindset You need confidence to succeed in life, but that confidence shouldn't spill over into overconfidence or the idea that you already know it all; you don't. With that in mind, Kiser Barnes, partner and chief creative officer at Red Antler, stresses the importance of humility paired with curiosity. "Be humble and stay wildly curious," he says. "Finishing school feels like reaching the peak… until you realise you're right back at the bottom of a new hill again. That's okay. The people who thrive in this industry are the ones most open to learning, evolving and collaborating." Barrington Reeves, creative director at Too Gallus, offers similar advice. "Be ready to learn," he urges. "The change from education to commercial can sometimes be daunting. But although you've just been through a full course of education, the real learning begins now. " Part of that means adapting to commercial timeframes. "Don't be discouraged by the pace of change and iteration," he stresses. "While university might teach you to nurture and grow an idea over a prolonged period of time, in the commercial market, it is an incredible skill to be able to think—and fail—fast." 6. Develop leadership skills early Being humble doesn't mean you can't have one eye on the future and start developing your leadership skills. With that in mind, Ashleigh Hansberger, co-founder and COO at Motto, suggests you: "Start studying business and leadership now. Leadership isn't about title; it's about behaviour. That means building discipline, making clear decisions, being accountable, and taking responsibility for your actions and impact. "Practise your own leadership development early," she adds. "Read about it. Reflect on it. Try it. Accumulate experience and wisdom through the unglamorous work of getting 1% better every day. That's how you grow into someone people want to follow." 7. Master your craft while embracing technology Emerging technologies might be disrupting everything right now, with negative consequences for employment. But Kiser encourages graduates to engage with them all the same. "Don't be afraid of AI—tinker with it, play with it, understand it," he says. "Use your fresh perspective to imagine better ways of working. The world doesn't need more copies of what already exists. It needs people who can push the whole system forward." Matthew Schneider, director of product marketing at LucidLink, takes a similar line. "Know your craft, but don't be afraid of new tech," he advises. "When I started, a single video editing system cost well over $100k; now, a subscription to professional editing software might cost as little as $20 monthly." And the moral of this story? "Now people have access to great tools, what sets you apart is how you use them and the story you ultimately tell with them," Matthew explains. "Growing up an aspiring filmmaker myself, my mother would always tell me, 'It's not the story; it's the storytelling'. She's right!" Tom Munckton, ECD at Fold7Design, similarly notes the accelerating pace of industry evolution right now. "The industry used to shift annually; now it feels more like monthly—with processes and project delivery being challenged by AI and other democratising factors," he says. Ultimately, though, he recommends focusing on creative direction over specific tools. "Regardless of the tool or method you use right now or in the future, confidence will come from being clear about the type of work you want to make and making constant steps towards that," he reasons. 8. Embrace discomfort as growth Finding all this stressful and frightening? Many creative people feel like they don't "belong" in normal society, but the good news is that agencies are generally pretty friendly places and are probably filled with other people who've felt like outsiders themselves. Take Claire Parker, group creative partner at The Chase. "I never fitted in at school—couldn't do maths, couldn't spell—but I could create," she recalls. "The world needs curious minds like yours. Creativity isn't about having all the answers; it's about asking better questions. "Stay interested, stay committed, and back yourself even when you feel out of your depth," she adds. "In fact, especially then, as David Bowie said, 'Always go a little further into the water'. That's where the magic happens. Be more Bowie."

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Adobe is to end its Creative Cloud All Apps subscriptions for users in North America.By default, All Apps subscribers will be switched to a more expensive new subscription plan, Creative Cloud Pro, which provides more generative AI features. Existing users can also choose to switch to a less expensive plan, Creative Cloud Standard, at the cost of reduced access to premium features in Adobe’s web and mobile apps. The changes come into effect for users in the US, Canada and Mexico on 17 June 2025. What services do you currently get with an All Apps subscription? Creative Cloud All Apps subscriptions currently provide access to over 20 of Adobe’s software applications, including After Effects, Photoshop and Premiere Pro. Users also get access to Adobe Fonts, online portfolio service Behance, and 100GB of cloud storage. In addition, All Apps subscriptions come with 1,000 ‘generative credits‘ per month, for use with generative AI services powered by Adobe Firefly: either via the web app, or Firefly-powered tools built into Adobe software. All Apps subscriptions cost $89.99/month or $659.88/year. How are Creative Cloud All Apps subscriptions changing? In North America – the US, Canada and Mexico – Adobe is ending sales of new All Apps subscriptions on 17 June 2025.They will be replaced by a new, more expensive subscription plan, Creative Cloud Pro, which provides more generative credits and extra generative AI features. By default, existing All Apps subscribers will be transferred to this plan. However, existing subscribers can also choose to switch manually to Creative Cloud Standard, a less expensive – but less fully featured – new subscription plan. New users will only be able to take out Creative Cloud Pro subscriptions. How do Creative Cloud Pro subscriptions compare to All Apps subscriptions? Creative Cloud Pro subscriptions provide access to the same software as All Apps subscriptions, and to the same cloud services.Where they differ is in the generative AI features: subscribers get unlimited credits for ‘standard’ generative features, like Generative Fill in Photoshop. They also get 4,000 credits per month for ‘premium‘ generative AI features such as the text-to-image and text-to-video features from the new Firefly Video Model. That translates to 40 five-second AI-generated videos per month, or up to 14 minutes per month of AI-translated audio or video. Creative Cloud Pro subscribers can also generate multiple mood boards with Firefly Boards, Adobe’s new AI-based moodboarding service, which is currently in beta, and choose to use non-Adobe generative AI models in Firefly. Creative Cloud Pro subscriptions cost $104.99/month or $779.99/year: an increase of $15/month or just over $120/year compared to All Apps. How do Creative Cloud Standard subscriptions compare to All Apps subscriptions? Creative Cloud Standard subscriptions provide access to the same desktop software as All Apps subscriptions, and to the same cloud services.However, they provide fewer generative credits – 25 per month rather than 1,000 per month – and only for the standard generative features. They also limit access to the mobile and web editions of applications. Creative Cloud Standard subscribers get access to the full mobile and web edition of Acrobat, but only to the free mobile and web versions of Adobe Express, Fresco, Illustrator, Lightroom and Photoshop, which have a much more limited feature set. Creative Cloud Standard subscriptions cost $82.49/month or $599.88/year: a decrease of $7.50/month or $60/year compared to All Apps. What about students and teachers? Students and teachers can’t opt to switch to Creative Cloud Standard subscriptions, but there is educational pricing for Creative Cloud Pro subscriptions.Are Adobe users outside North America affected? There are no changes to All Apps subscriptions outside North America “at this time“, although it’s hard to imagine that Adobe won’t eventually roll out the new Creative Cloud Pro and Standard subscription plans to the rest of the world.Are any other Creative Cloud subscription plans changing? Although the changes mainly affect All Apps subscriptions, Adobe is also cutting the number of generative credits included free with some other Creative Cloud subscriptions.From 17 June 2025, new subscribers of Photography and Single App subscription plans will get 25 credits per month, down from 500 for Photography and Photoshop subscriptions. Read Adobe’s FAQs about the changes to Creative Cloud All Apps subscriptions Have your say on this story by following CG Channel on Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). As well as being able to comment on stories, followers of our social media accounts can see videos we don’t post on the site itself, including making-ofs for the latest VFX movies, animations, games cinematics and motion graphics projects.

Adobe Premiere Pro earns its status as industry-standard video editing software thanks to its familiar nonlinear editing interface, excellent performance, unmatched ecosystem of tools, and powerful capabilities. The massive application benefits from straightforward import and export experiences, while AI-powered auto-captioning, text-based video editing, and many other features keep it on the cutting edge. Premiere Pro earns our Editors' Choice award for professional-level video editing software. If video editing is more of a hobby for you, check out our Editors' Choice winner for enthusiasts, the less-expensive yet feature-packed CyberLink PowerDirector.Pricing: Subscription RequiredPremiere Pro is available by subscription only. It costs $22.99 per month with an annual commitment or $263.88 per year up front. A month-to-month option with no commitment goes for $34.49 per month. A free trial lasts just seven days.You can also get Premiere Pro as part of the complete suite of Adobe Creative Cloud professional applications that includes After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, and the rest. That costs $59.99 per month with an annual commitment, $659.88 per year up front, or $89.99 on a month-to-month basis. Business customers pay more for either package, at $37.99 per person per month for the single app or $89.99 for the whole suite. The Business version adds collaboration options, enhanced support, and management features. Education users pay less, starting at $19.99 per month for the whole suite for the first year and then $34.99 per month after that.Premiere's subscription pricing means the immediate dent in your pocketbook isn't as noticeable compared with when you had to plunk down $1,000 all at once to buy a perpetual license. A subscription model also means that the app gets regular updates with improvements and new features. For comparison, Apple's Final Cut Pro carries a one-time cost of $299. DaVinci Resolve charges $295, though you should first try its very capable free version. The nonprofessional programs for consumers who enjoy creating dazzling videos without the steep learning curves hover around $99 for a one-off purchase. That's what you pay for Adobe Premiere Elements. Pinnacle Studio Ultimate lists for $129.99, while CyberLink PowerDirector Ultimate costs $139.99 one-time or $74.99 per year for a subscription. A less-expensive tier of editors runs about $70 one-time, including Corel VideoStudio Pro and Filmora.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)Can Your PC Run Premiere Pro?Premiere Pro runs on macOS 10.15 or later and Windows 10 (64-bit) version 22H2 or Windows 11. On Windows, it requires an Intel 6th-generation or newer CPU or an AMD Ryzen 1000 Series or newer, 8GB of RAM (16GB recommended), and a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel display. On Apple computers, Premiere Pro requires macOS 12 or later and an Intel 6th-generation or newer CPU, but also supports Apple silicon natively.When you install Premiere, you also get Adobe Media Encoder, which converts output to common formats for online and broadcast. It also enables batch processing and lets you keep editing during rendering processes.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)What’s New in Adobe Premiere Pro?Adobe updates Premiere Pro every month or two with new tools, interface changes, and performance improvements. The biggest new announcements involve generative AI tools that can extend clips and search for media based on AI analyses. Here's a list of the important recent feature updates available for Premiere Pro (in order of importance):Generative Extend. This is the big AI-powered feature Adobe has long promoted. Available in the 25.2 release version, it lengthens your clip when you need to fill brief moments in your timeline.Media Intelligence. Premiere Pro indexes all your media with AI analysis, letting you later find any clips, sections of clips, or other media, based on images or sounds (including speech).Caption Translation. This feature lets you automatically translate either auto-generated or imported captions into a choice of 27 languages. Automatic Raw and Log Footage Conversion. Premiere Pro recognizes all major raw and log formats and automatically converts them to the color space you're using. Three new wide-gamut color spaces make everything look better on-screen.Support for MKV. The open-source codec has long been popular among file sharers. Premiere Pro users can now play and edit this content.Content Credentials Support. This important initiative allows creators to maintain ownership of their work and lets them tell AI bots not to train using it. Read my take on the initiative.Dynamic Waveforms. I was surprised that Premiere Pro didn't already have this feature since it has long been available in other video editing apps. It just means that dragging the waveform up or down in the timeline makes it larger or smaller.More Sample Media. This is great for learning how to use new features. Once you start up the app after the recent update, you see a project that shows you how to use Generative Extend.Previous recent updates of importance include:Audio Auto-Tagging and Enhanced Speech. Premiere Pro can detect and tag ambient audio, dialogue, music, and special effects. The app surfaces relevant controls for these sound types in the Essential Sound panel. The AI-powered Enhance Speech tool automatically cleans up unwanted audio noise.Automatic Transcription and Text-Based Editing. Premiere Pro can transcribe spoken audio in your clips and lets you edit—that is, split, merge, move, or delete—segments of video based on the transcription. Background Auto-Save. You can set Premiere Pro to auto-save in increments down to a minute. This works in the background without interrupting your work. A Dashboard for background processes shows your saves and other activities. A Recovery Mode lets you restore your project after a program crash or revert to a previous project state.Free Stock Sound Effects. Previously, Premiere Pro inexplicably didn't offer any stock sound effects, only background music. You now have many choices, including car doors slamming and explosions.Motion Graphic Template Views. The Essential Graphics panel is gone (you use the Properties panel for many of its functions), and there's a panel called Graphics Templates.Productions. Premiere Pro now uses a three-level nested hierarchy for editing: Productions, Projects, and Sequences. Productions comprise sets of Projects, which in turn can contain multiple timeline Sequences. You can move or copy media between Projects within Productions by dragging and dropping it.Interface and Ease of Use: Continual ImprovementsPremiere Pro has an attractive, flexible interface, and I'm a fan of Adobe's simplifying changes over the years. The startup view helps you quickly get to recent projects, start new projects, or search for Adobe Stock footage. The dark program window makes your clips the center of attention. It now has just three main modes (in addition to the Home screen): Import, Edit, and Export. A button or menu choice in Edit mode has a good selection of workspace layouts for Assembly, Editing, Color, Export, and more. You can pull off any of the panels and float them wherever you want on your display(s). It's also possible to create content bins based on search terms.By default, the editor uses a four-panel layout, with the source preview at the top left, a project preview at the top right, your project assets at the lower left, and the timeline tracks along the lower right. You can add and remove control buttons to taste; Adobe has removed a bunch of elements over the years for a cleaner interface. Since many editors rely on keyboard shortcuts like J, K, and L for navigating through a project, fewer buttons and a cleaner screen make a lot of sense. It's a very flexible interface, and you can undock and drag around windows to your heart's content. Here's another helpful feature: When you hover the mouse over a clip in the source panel, it scrubs through the video.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)Premiere Pro is touch-screen-friendly, letting you move clips and timeline elements around with a finger or by tapping buttons. You can also pinch-zoom the timeline or video preview window. You can even set in and out points with a tap on thumbnails in the source bin. When you click on a media thumbnail, you get a scrubber bar and can mark in and out points right there before you insert the clip into your project. Premiere gives you several ways to insert a clip into your sequence. You can click the Insert or Overwrite buttons in the source preview monitor, or you can just drag the clip's thumbnail from the media browser onto the timeline or the preview monitor. Holding Command (or Ctrl on Windows) makes your clip overwrite the timeline contents. You can even drag files directly from the OS's file system into the project.The media browser also has tabs for Effects, Markers, and History, the last of which can help you get back to a good spot if you mess up. Markers, too, feature improvements, with the ability to attach notes and place multiple markers at the same time point. Markers can have durations in frame time codes, and the Markers tab shows you entries for every marker in a clip or sequence. Clicking on a marker entry jumps you right to its point in the movie.Any device that can create video footage is fair game for import to Premiere Pro. The software can capture from tape, with scene detection, shuttle transport, and time-code settings. It also imports raw file format from pro-level cameras like the Arri Alexa, Canon Cinema EOS C300, and Red Epic. The software supports resolutions of up to 8K. Of course, you can import video from smartphones and DSLRs. For high-frame-rate video, the program lets you use proxy media for faster editing.You can apply color labels to your clip or open the Metadata panel to view and apply tons of XMP information about a clip, but there's no simple keyword tagging capability. Productions, Projects, Sequences, Libraries, and Bins are available to organize your media.If you’re moving up from the consumer-level Adobe Premiere Elements, you can import your projects, especially since they use the same .PREL file format. But you still might lose some effects, even things like image filters and motion tracking. A project consists of one or more sequences, which in turn contain your clips. There are sequence templates for HDR, high-resolution, and social videos.Semantic Search With Media IntelligenceOne thing that has been missing from the editing interface is a permanent search box for finding commands, content, or help; other major apps, including Adobe’s Photoshop, include this. The Home screen has a search box, but its results are sometimes unhelpful. (Credit: Adobe/PCMag)However, you can now search for any of your media with the Media Intelligence search tool. It's in the top-right corner of the program window, a standard magnifying glass icon with the universal "spark" elements that designate the presence of AI. As you might expect, the tool had no problem coughing up clips with your search text in their captions or metadata. And it did a fine job finding clips with eye close-ups or water bodies. But, for some reason, it couldn't find clips based on color. I searched for "yellow" and "orange" to see if it could find my clips with those colors prominently in the background, but it found nothing. Trimming Project Clips: All the Options You Could WantPremiere Pro has four edit types that sound like they belong at a water park—Ripple. Roll, Slide, and Slip—along with a Razor tool for splitting clips and a Rate Stretch tool for speeding up or slowing down a clip to fill a specific length of time. You can easily access all of them at the left side of the timeline. The cursor shape and color give visual cues about which kind of edit you're dealing with. One welcome capability is that you can make edits while playback is rolling.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)With the Ripple and Rolling edit tools, holding down the mouse button while moving a clip edit point (or double-clicking on an edit point) opens a view of both clips in the preview window—a helpful touch. If you double-click on the edit point, it switches to Trim mode. This shows the outgoing and incoming frames, with buttons for moving back and forward by one frame or five, and another to apply the default transition.As with Adobe Photoshop image layers, layer support in Premiere Pro lets you apply adjustments. These affect all tracks below them. You create a new adjustment layer by right-clicking in the project panel. Then, you drag it onto a clip on your timeline and start applying effects.Generative ExtendAs mentioned, Generative Extend is the feature Adobe is most excited about. It makes use of the emerging field of generative video AI courtesy of Firefly. As its name suggests, this feature lets you extend a clip, though just by up to 2 seconds. You can extend audio by a more practical 10 seconds, however. Perhaps that short video time limit signifies that Adobe intends this as a pro video editor tool rather than something that can generate full AI videos with deepfake potential.The feature adds a new basic editing tool to the toolbar along with Razer, Ripple, Slip, and the rest. Below is how it looks in the interface. When you hover over it, you see a tooltip explaining the new feature.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)You might also notice a white gap in the timeline above. You can use the Generative Extend tool to drag the clip to the left or right and fill the empty space. When you do this, a timer shows you the progress—it's not an instantaneous operation and requires sending the clip to Adobe's servers. After using the tool, you first see an "Uploading" message on the clip, then "Generating," and finally "AI-generated." After it showed this last message, my clip didn't appear extended in the timeline. Instead, I saw a placeholder image from Adobe telling me that it was generating the AI clip. After a few more seconds, my test clip was extended to fill the gap and showed realistic motion. You can see the added frames below as the playhead crosses the section marked AI-generated:The result in my test is pretty convincing, but I wouldn't trust it to extend a clip of a person speaking. Other video AI generators go much further. For example, Sora can create up to 15 seconds of video and lets you describe what you want to see. That's even possible with the consumer-minded Filmora.Adobe's Firefly can extend clips, too, but it requires you to spend credits each time. Generative Extend is free for a limited time in Premiere Pro, but Adobe doesn't specify when the free lunch ends. You can see the list of credit costs and how many each account type gets on this intimidating FAQ page. Generative Extend can produce frames at up to 4K resolution, but those cost more credits than lower-resolution ones. Transitions and Effects: Abundant OptionsEnthusiast-level video editors tend to have a huge number of transitions, so it might surprise you that the professional-grade Premiere Pro includes just 47 (you can install plug-ins for more). Many professionals find a lot of transitions tacky, so when they want to add a fancy transition, they build one in After Effects or buy polished ones from third parties.Premiere Pro has all the video effects you'd expect—colorizing, keying, lighting, and transforming. You can apply an effect just by double-clicking. A search box makes it easy to find the effect or transition you need.The Warp Stabilize feature (originally from After Effects) is very effective at smoothing out bumpy video. This feature now works quicker than before. In testing, it got through a 1:33 (min:sec) clip from a moving tram in 2:38, smoothing out all but the biggest shakes. You can adjust the amount of cropping, make the borders auto-scale, and tweak the smoothness percentage. A cool option is No Motion, compared with the default Smooth Motion. Using it with Stabilize Only (as opposed to adding Crop, Autoscale, or Synthesize Edges) resulted in a weird (and unusable) zooming in and out with rotation in my test, so be careful with the settings you use. The result with default settings is noticeably smoother than with Final Cut Pro in testing.Color AdjustmentsThe Lumetri Color manager in Premiere Pro brings the program in line with Photoshop for video. These tools give you a remarkable amount of color manipulation, along with a great selection of film and HDR looks. Black point, contrast, exposure, highlights, shadows, and white balance adjustments are available—all of which you can activate with keyframes. It includes Faded Film, Saturation, Sharpen, and Vibrance adjustments, too. The curves and color wheel options are impressive and include a Color Match feature with face detection and comparison views. There's also a very cool Lumetri Scope view, which shows the current frame's proportional use of red, green, and blue.Recommended by Our Editors(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)You can opt to apply any of these effects only in masked areas, which you can create from polygons or by using a pen tool. For motion tracking, however, you need to look to After Effects, so those masks won't automatically track, say, a face.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)Auto Color is something we've seen in photo editing software for many years, but Adobe claims the tool analyzes an entire clip using its patented Sensei AI technology to improve contrast, exposure, and white balance. Unfortunately, it works only on a per-clip basis; it would be nice if you could apply it to your whole sequence, that is, the group of clips and overlays that comprise your digital movie. The above screenshot shows Auto Color's adjustments, which you can then tune to your taste. In testing on several clips, this tool improved both the color and the lighting in testing with several clips but occasionally pumped up saturation too much. Unfortunately, Premiere lacks video noise reduction features like those in CyberLink PowerDirector and DaVinci Resolve.Auto ReframeA good chunk of today's video content ends up on social media, which means different aspect ratio formats. Auto Reframe uses Adobe’s Sensei AI technology to identify what's important in the frame and then crop to 16:9, square, vertical, or custom aspect ratios to match the output device or service. You can use the tool on individual clips or entire sequences.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)You can either drag the video effect onto a clip or choose Auto Reframe from the Sequence menu. Then, you can choose the output aspect ratio, motion tracking, and whether you want clip nesting.Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Vimeo, as well as broadcast outlets, all have different spec requirements, so the feature saves video producers the work of having to custom edit for each. At the very least, Auto Reframe gives producers a starting point; its Nested option means you can adjust what it creates to taste.Apple has a similar tool in Final Cut Pro called Smart Conform. It’s nearly identical to Auto Reframe. Smart Conform also bases the crop on your project aspect ratio setting rather than creating new aspect ratio versions to taste. One thing I prefer about Final Cut’s feature is that it lets you see how the effect worked by showing the full frame outside the automatically cropped area.Collaboration: Excellent FeaturesPremiere Pro lets you use Creative Cloud Libraries to store and organize assets online, and the Team Projects feature lets editors and motion graphics artists using After Effects collaborate in real time. When you create a project, you simply choose Team Project and designate team members. When you're happy with an edit, tap the Publish button so the other members see it. Any Premiere user can sync settings to Creative Cloud, enabling editing from different PCs and locations. (Credit: Adobe/PCMag)These collaboration features also mean you can go to any machine running Premiere and see your workspace when you sign in. Getting this kind of collaboration and workflow capability in Final Cut Pro requires third-party extensions. Similarly, consumer-targeted products like PowerDirector don't have any collaboration features to speak of. Premiere Pro also has a Share button for Team projects, which lets you invite collaborators to your project via email.Frame.io IntegrationAdobe acquired Frame.io in 2021, and Premiere Pro subscribers now get a Frame.io account with 100GB of online storage for five projects. That's separate from the 100GB of Creative Cloud storage. After removing the Frame.io panel from Premiere Pro in favor of a plug-in, Adobe has reinstated it in the current version, with choices for Legacy, V4 Comments, and V4 Preview.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)Note that you need a Version 4 frame.io subscription to use the new features. The upgrade process isn't as simple as it might be, either: you have to wait for an email from frame.io for it to finalize. In its favor, the newer version of the service adds features like connected comments, metadata, and user permissions. You can attach comments to specific time codes in the sequence, which is a big help to editors. You can't simply log in to your frame.io account with your Adobe account through Creative Cloud, however. Multi-Camera Editing: Powerful Tools Multicam support in Premiere Pro can accommodate an unlimited number of angles, limited only by your system capabilities. Final Cut Pro lets you work with only 64 angles, though most projects won't need more. In Premiere, you select your clips and choose Create Multi-Camera Source Sequence from the right-click or Clip menus, and then choose a syncing method. The program does a good job of syncing clips based on their audio, which is helpful for DSLR-shot clips that have no time codes. As in Final Cut, a Multi-Camera Monitor lets you record angle changes as the composite video plays, either by simply clicking on the angle's tile or the corresponding number. You can then adjust the cuts with the normal editing tools. Adobe adds an option for multicam editing preference: Ripple trim adds edits to keep both sides in sync.Titles and Captions: Ample SupportAs you might expect, Premiere Pro has a wealth of text options for titles and captions. It can import SRT or XML files. For titles, you get a great selection of fonts, including Adobe TypeKit fonts. You can set crawling, leading and kerning, opacity, rolling, rotation, texture, and more. As in Photoshop, you can apply strokes and shadows to any font. Stroke styles let those with very particular typographic needs choose the type of caps the strokes have, including bevel, miter, and round. Advanced text animation, however, once again falls to After Effects. For comparison, enthusiast-level programs like PowerDirector and Pinnacle Studio build in a good selection of title animations.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)Automatic TranscriptionsOne of the coolest recent features in Premiere Pro is Transcribe Sequence. This feature uses speech recognition technology to produce a text panel from spoken words in the sequence. It can impressively separate multiple named speakers. You can then jump to the place in the timeline by tapping on words in the panel, and pauses are marked with [...], letting you find and remove them easily. The panel lets you edit the text and combine or separate text blocks, and its CC button automatically creates a caption track using the transcription. (Credit: Adobe/PCMag)The caption editing panel lets you redistribute words among the captions, each of which becomes a separate timeline clip. You can split or merge caption clips and edit the style of all the separate caption clips at once. Then, you export to an SRT or text file or burn the captions into your video project.Automatic Caption TranslationOne welcome new feature is AI translation of captions in 27 languages. This works either with auto-generated captions or imported caption files. Click the translation icon in the Captions panel, and you get a choice of source and target languages. You can also drop down more choices to reveal time and character limits for generated timeline entries. When Premiere Pro finishes processing everything, you see a second caption track in the timeline right above the previous one. This lets you display more than one caption language at once. In my testing, the feature worked quickly and accurately. Keep in mind that Premiere Pro sends data to Adobe's servers for processing.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)Text-Based Editing: A Whole New Streamlined ApproachAn extension of the auto-transcription capability is the option to edit based on the transcripts. You can select text in the transcription panel and move or delete it, and Premiere Pro adjusts the video clip accordingly. The program lets you automatically highlight filler words (um, ah) or pauses and then delete them all at once, which can be a huge convenience for interviews or expository videos. One issue I have is that the skips are abrupt. Adobe should include an improved version of the Morph Cut transition (similar to Final Cut Pro's excellent Flow transition) in the Text-based Editing interface to fix this. Unfortunately, the current version of Morph Cut caused artifacts in my video. (Credit: Adobe/PCMag)DaVinci Resolve now offers text-based editing capabilities, too, though Apple has yet to announce them for Final Cut Pro.360-Degree VR Video Editing: Decent SupportPremiere Pro lets you view 360-degree VR footage and change the field of view and angle. You can view this content in anaglyphic form, which is a fancy way of saying you can see it in 3D using standard red-and-blue glasses. You can also have your video track the view of a head-mounted display.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)The program, however, couldn't open my Samsung Gear 360 stereoscopic footage unless I converted it to an equirectangular format (this is the only VR format Premiere supports). Corel VideoStudio, CyberLink PowerDirector, and Pinnacle Studio can all open the footage without this conversion. You can't see the spherical view alongside the flattened view as you can in those apps, either, but you can easily toggle back and forth between these views if you add the VR button to the preview window. Helpfully, Adobe’s tool lets you tag a video as VR so that Facebook and YouTube properly recognize it.Audio Editing: Deep OptionsPremiere Pro's Audio Mixer shows balance, pan and VU meters, clipping indicators, and mute/solo controls for all timeline tracks. You can use it to make adjustments as the project plays. Premiere Pro automatically creates new tracks when you drop an audio clip in the timeline, and you can specify types like standard (which can contain a combination of mono and stereo files), mono, stereo, 5.1, and adaptive. Double-clicking the VU meters or panning dials returns their levels to zero.The audio meters next to your timeline are resizable and let you solo any track. The program also supports hardware controllers and third-party VSP plug-ins. If you have Adobe Audition installed, you can round-trip your audio between that and Premiere for advanced techniques such as Adaptive Noise Reduction, Automatic Click Removal, compression, Parametric EQ, and Studio Reverb.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)For background music, you get a large selection of clips from Adobe Stock (some of which are free). A relatively new Free switch lets you see only those clips you don't need to pay for. The program now has a full selection of sound effects, such as car door slams, crowd cheers, and explosions. You find these within the Essential Sound panel, which also lets you designate your audio tracks as Ambience, Dialog, Music, or SFX—either manually or via the AI-powered Auto Detect tool. (Credit: Adobe/PCMag)Switch to the Browse tab to find audio stock, which you can filter by mood or search by term. None of these auto-fits your project length automatically, but you can use the Remix trimming tool to do that. Professionals will likely have a full Creative Cloud subscription, which lets them get sounds through Adobe Audition. The SFX clips include detailed options—not just "car door slam," for example, but specific options like a 1941 Cadillac or 1975 Ford F150 Pickup. The recent Enhance Speech tool does a remarkable job of removing background noise when you are editing a piece shot in a noisy environment. Essential Sound provides another very useful capability: auto-ducking for ambient sounds, which pulls back background noise during dialog or sound effects.Export: Many Output OptionsA clear Export mode button lives at the top of the editing interface, in addition to the Quick Share button at the top right. The simplified Export interface in Premiere doesn't mean you can't go into every little detail about the file you need to render. You now see a list of common output targets along the left—Media File, YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook—along with Adobe's own Behance and Creative Cloud online services. Importantly, you can export to as many as you want with one press of the Export button by toggling several choices. You can also send your rendering job to Adobe Encoder if you want to batch render and get back to editing in Premiere Pro without waiting for the export to finish.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)The categories in the middle section of the interface (in the above screenshot) all allow for fine-tuning, thanks to drop-down arrows. For example, click on Video here, and you can set not only the frame size, frame rate, and aspect ratio but also the bit rate, color space, and time interpolation. For the rest of us, the updated interface thankfully hides those brain-hurting settings.Premiere Pro gives you most formats you want, and for more output options, Adobe Encoder can target Blu-ray, DVD, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, and many other devices. Encoder lets you batch encode to target multiple devices in a single job, such as mobile phones, iPads, and HDTVs. Premiere can also output media using H.265 and the Rec. 2020 color space, as can Final Cut. However, Final Cut requires you to buy the separate Compressor 4 add-on ($49.99) for this functionality.(Credit: Adobe/PCMag)The Quick Export option lets you tap the share icon at the top right, and you can produce the project with minimal fuss using a choice of seven preset formats: Match Source—Adaptive High, Medium, or Low Bitrate; 4K, 1080p, 720p, and 480p.A new option during export is to embed Content Credentials metadata. If you use AI generation tools in any of your project's assets, you see a simple check box called Export Content Credentials, which attaches the credentials to the exported content. Anyone can then check the credentials on Adobe's Content Authenticity site's Inspect page.Performance: Fast Render SpeedsPremiere Pro takes advantage of 64-bit CPUs and multiple cores. For render speed testing, I have each program I test join seven clips of various resolutions, ranging from 720p up to 8K. I then apply cross-dissolve transitions between them and note the time it takes to render the project to 1080p30 with H.264 and 192Kbps audio at a bitrate of 16Mbps. The output movie is just over five minutes in length. I ran this test on a Windows 11 PC with a 3.60GHz Intel Core i7-12700K, 16GB RAM, an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, and a 512GB Samsung PM9A1 PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD.Premiere Pro sits near the top of the leaderboard, with an impressive time of just 35 seconds. Premiere periodically auto-saves your work, in case you forget to save explicitly. If you do encounter a crash, it presents you with a Reopen button in a red warning message upon restart.

Traditional photography focuses on capturing or enhancing reality, while my digital art photography is a recreation beyond reality. From meticulous pre-shoot planning and concept development to refined post-production, compositing, and special effects, every step is a deliberate transformation of reality?crafted to present a bold new visual world that transcends traditional photography?a dreamlike realm never before seen, never existing in the real world. Ethereal and surreal, my work defies the laws of physics; fantasy and science fiction intertwine to construct an otherworldly dimension. Here, light, color, and form flow freely, no longer mere reflections of reality but vessels of emotion and thought. Each creation evolves into a surrealist masterpiece, inviting viewers to explore the boundless possibilities of art?where vision and imagination converge.

This a recent compilation of my last work. Some of them have been published at magazines, newspapers, books or billboards. Hope you like what I have done these past months. Mercedes.