Melissa Piccone is a dynamic and highly skilled certified creative trainer with expertise in teaching and training Adobe software.
Melissa is speaking at our upcoming online event, The Design + AI Summit 2026, part one of which takes place April 9–10, 2026. We thought it would be fun to get to know her better with some Q&A.
Attendees at the 2025 Design + AI Summit were excited by the cross-application workflows you demonstrated with ChatGPT, Photoshop, and InDesign. Has your workflow evolved since then?
Yes, definitely.
One of the biggest changes is that ChatGPT is no longer the only LLM AI tool in my workflow. I have been using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and NotebookLM. I don’t have one favorite and I would not recommend one over another across the board. I think they each have strengths, and I tend to use whichever one helps me get where I need to go fastest.
I have also developed a much better way to move text into InDesign and convert it to my InDesign styles using a script. I am not a programmer, and I don’t know how to write scripts myself, but AI has made that process a lot less intimidating. That really fits with something I have always taught: You do not have to know every exact step or memorize every tool. You need to know what is possible. Once you know something can be done, you can figure out the how later. That has always been part of how I teach, and AI makes that approach even more practical.
Your sessions focus on workflows, not just tools. Why is that especially important for designers today?
Because the tools are only part of the story.
As much as we all love our tools, they’re still just tools. They help us get the work done. The real goal is getting the work done well, efficiently, and in a way that makes sense for the project. That is why workflow matters so much.
There are so many ways to do the same thing. In Photoshop alone, you can often get to a similar result five different ways. So the real question is not just, “How do I do this?” It is also, “Why would I do it this way instead of that way?” Sometimes the answer is speed. Sometimes it is flexibility. Sometimes it is because one choice makes the next step easier.
That is the part I think designers really need help with right now. Not just learning features, but learning how to think through the process.
I am very focused on speed and efficiency. I want to know the fastest, smartest way to get from idea to finished piece so I can move on to the next thing. Sometimes that means changing apps. Sometimes it means staying in one app longer. Sometimes it means using AI to get a first draft started, and sometimes it means taking that result into Photoshop and controlling every detail from there.
What are you most excited to share with attendees at the 2026 Design + AI Summit?
I’m most excited to share the bigger picture: how you can go from an idea to a finished deliverable inside the Adobe ecosystem relatively quickly.
Each part of the session has its own useful tips and productivity takeaways, but for me, the most valuable part is seeing how it all connects. When you put the pieces together, you start to see how to build a workflow for yourself or your team that is collaborative, flexible, and efficient.
That is what I really want attendees to walk away with. Not just, “That was a cool feature,” but, “I can see how I would actually use this.”
I also think there is something important about showing people that they already have access to many of these tools through Creative Cloud. Learning how to use them together in a smart way is not just a creative advantage, it is also a smart use of time and budget.
You’re a longtime Disney fan. If you could have one creative role at Disney, what would it be and why?
My Disney dream job would be painting the rides.
That probably is not the answer people expect, but it is true. Actually painting and refreshing the murals, walls, scenic elements, and all of those hand-crafted details that make the rides and spaces feel so immersive.
That is the part I love. So many of the rides have beautiful painted environments and visual details that people enjoy without even fully noticing them. There is so much artistry in those spaces. I would love to be part of maintaining that and helping keep it looking beautiful.
This article was last modified on March 19, 2026
This article was first published on March 19, 2026
Commenting is easier and faster when you're logged in!
Recommended for you
How to Use the New AI Features in Illustrator
Learn how to use Illustrator’s new AI features to use a prompt to create vector...
Interview with Monika Gause, Print Designer and Illustrator Expert
Q&A with Monika Gausse, who is presenting at the 2026 Design + AI Summit for Cre...
Interview with Jigyasa Grover, Author, Instructor, and Machine Learning Engineer
Q&A with Jigyasa Grover, who is presenting at The Design + AI Summit 2025