Transcript of Interview With Brooke Hopper

Interview With Brooke Hopper

This interview features Brooke Hopper, principal designer, machine intelligence & new technology at Adobe. You can watch it on Brook’s profile page.

Transcript

– Hello again. I’m Joe Welinske, conference director for ConveyUX, and our 12th annual event is coming up at the end of February, the last three days in Seattle and also online. And one of the fun things I get to do is talk to our many speakers at the conference and right now, I am meeting with Brooke Hopper. Hello, Brooke. How are you today?

– Great. How are you doing? I’m excited to be here.

– Well, thanks. I’m talking to you from my home office in Bellingham, Washington, which is just north of Blink Seattle headquarters. Where are you talking to us from?

– I am based in the San Francisco Bay Area, specifically from Berkeley.

– Alright, well that’s a great area and I’ve been there many times and we’re happy to be bringing you to Seattle for the conference. Probably the best place to start is if you could talk a little bit about your background, some highlights and the nature of your work.

– Yeah, of course. I always like to say I’m a recovering graphic designer because that’s kind of how I started out, doing pretty standard graphic design work. One of my favorite stories that I like to tell when I’m talking with, you know, either new grads or undergrads, is that I got hired to do web design and I had never designed a website in my life, so trial by fire is kind of the way I like to do things. And specifically right now, you know, as I’m working with Adobe, I’m working on Adobe Firefly and I’m, you know, looking at AI and ML and generative AI and what the future is and you know, it kind of is the same, it’s a lot of trial by fire and trying to figure out the hard things as we go along. So, yeah, my background, like I said, in graphic design, very traditional. I started out in web design and then went to graphic design and like, you know, logos and websites and all of those good things. And I’ve been at Adobe for eight and a half years now, which is something I never thought I’d say, but it’s a great place to be and I’ve loved every minute of it.

– Well, you mentioned AI briefly, and that’s one of the major themes of the conference and part of your talk, the title is “Future in Flux: How AI Is Changing Creative Workflows.” So tell us a little bit about how you came around to this topic and what we can expect.

– Yeah, well, I think it’s a big one and not just, you know, for creatives necessarily, but for, you know, I think everyone who has, you know, a job that, you know, is creating anything, whether it’s words or code or you know, visual art, I think, you know, there’s a lot of unknowns out there right now. There’s a lot of things that are changing and sometimes that can be scary, sometimes it can be exciting, sometimes it’s a combination of both of those things. And so what I’m really excited to talk about is how is this sort of new era and this, you know, significant shift in technology, how is this gonna affect the way, you know, not just the stuff that we make, but actually the entire creative process? Because I think there’s an opportunity for us to, you know, really step in and take advantage and as creatives sort of have our voice known and the fact that, you know, we want this to be a tool to help this help us. And I do firmly believe that that is what generative AI can be. You know, having worked in a lot of the generative AI stuff, I can tell you a 100% of the time I take something into Photoshop or Illustrator or After Effects or Premiere that has been generated because it’s not there. And that’s not to say that we won’t get there, but, you know, on the other side of things, I think it’s really gonna fundamentally shift our approach to the creative process. Right now as a designer, I spend a ton of time doing the production side of what I have, you know, created. And I think what I’m excited about is how generative AI can potentially take care of some of that, you know, production process and you know, the stuff that just takes a ton of time and doesn’t really give me all that much satisfaction so I can spend more mental energy and time on the part that I really enjoy about the creative process, which is actually creating, rather than the production pieces.

– Well, I think that’s going to add some great discussion to the conference, we’ll look forward to that. I’m sure there’s a lot of things you’re involved with for work. Is there anything that you’re particularly excited about or passionate about that you’re working on today that you might be able to share with us?

– Yeah, I think one of the things that I’m most passionate about, and this is kind of just broadly, is creating community for creatives. And, you know, I think there’s a lot of companies that do this well, and I think Adobe is one of those companies that, you know, we tend to be just like a logo or an app or a software that you open every day, but there’s a lot of human faces behind those apps and logos. And it’s really important to me that as someone who you know, is behind one of those, that I actually come face to face with the artists that are using it. Because, you know, one of the things that I like to say is, as a UX designer, it’s easy for me to say, “Oh, I’m just making, you know, I’m making apps for myself,” and you get stuck into this point of view that maybe doesn’t necessarily represent the broader picture of the people who are using the tools and services that you’re creating. You know, and as someone who works for Adobe, it’s a really big responsibility for me and an honor, I have to say, to create tools for the literally the most creative people in the world, you know, and people who are learning to, you know, wanting to enter the creative market and then people who’ve been in here forever and it’s like that’s a huge swath of people. And so for me to be connected to all of those people as much as possible is really, really important to me.

– Well, in addition to, you know, that interest in community, are there any particular challenges that you’re having to deal with either, you know, individually or with your team, possibly broader with your organization or even as broad as the software development area or tech industry? Are there any things that you see that are always coming up that you’re talking about with your peers?

– Yeah, I mean, obviously, you know, this is, I keep bringing it up ’cause it’s just top of mind and it’s what I’m doing every day is, you know, we are living in such a crazy time right now. Like there’s some pretty fundamental shifts going on just due to the ubiquity of generative AI right now, you know, and it’s for a lot of artists, I spent the past seven years actually working on drawing and painting apps at Adobe. Adobe Fresco was one of the primary apps that I led the design and creation of. It’s a little bit of an uncertain time, you know, for the illustration community. And so that’s one of those things where it’s really important to me, and, you know, we talk about this a lot is like how is generative AI changing the way that we’re approaching creativity? You know, and this is sort of why I’m talking about this is, you know, it’s something I think about day in and day out and I do strongly believe that as a creative community, we have this opportunity to step in and say, “Hey, this is how generative AI can be a benefit to creative work and creative workflows and really speak out when it’s going in a direction that’s not.” And I think that’s something that as creators and creatives, and particularly as someone who works for Adobe, that we have the opportunity to really make a difference in the way that this comes to life. You know, and I speak generally and broadly in creativity, again, whether it’s, you know, writing or, you know, visual creation, I think that, you know, there’s a lot that we can do and say to have this be good and not end up in a, you know, sad dystopia.

– Well, that’s a great insight and it’ll be of interest to the many participants at the conference, both in Seattle and online. Most of our audience consists of fairly experienced senior practitioners, but we also have a lot of people every year that are relatively new to the profession. Do you have a tip or a thought that you might share for those that are looking to improve their skills or move deeper into the profession?

– Yeah, I think one of my biggest hot tips is, you know, technology is great. I feel like, as someone who works in the tech industry, you’re always sort of like trying to figure out what the next thing is? What’s the next best thing? But tech always changes, and curiosity is much better. And so to have and really focus on that curiosity and dig into things, I think that’s one of those things that I always look for when I’m hiring someone, is I wanna see curiosity. Sure, it’s great if you know about all the latest technology, that stuff can be learned, but curiosity is something that sticks with you for a much longer time. And so, that would be my recommendation, my unsolicited advice, per se.

– Well, it’s a great tip to have shared. And Brooke, thank you so much for sharing a preview of your topic and your thoughts about AI and the broader industry and we look forward to having you at the event in a couple of months.

– Yeah, I’m super excited. Thanks for having me here.

– All right, thanks a lot, bye-bye.

– Thank you.