THIS New Adobe Feature Can Convert Hand-Drawn Sketches Into Editable Digital Designs In Seconds

Adobe design evangelist Kelsey Slay said, “The more interest shown in a Sneak, the more likely it is to become a real piece of technology that’s either a product or in an Adobe app.”

Adobe has uneviled a new AI tool that would convert hand-drawn sketch into an editable digital design within seconds. Officially dubbed Project Remix a Lot, is part of a series of experimental tools, known as “Sneaks,” that Adobe plans to showcase at its Adobe MAX conference this week. As Adobe’s biggest annual event, the conference provides a prime opportunity for generating excitement around future tech innovations. These Sneaks are unique user experience experiments that may evolve into full-fledged products, depending on the level of user interest.

Adobe design evangelist and community advocate Kelsey Slay said, “The more interest shown in a Sneak, the more likely it is to become a real piece of technology that’s either a product or in an Adobe app.” 

Project Remix A Lot

Project Remix a Lot aims to streamline the creative process by reducing the manual work involved in transforming an initial idea into a complete design. In a demo presented by software engineer Avneet Kaur, she demonstrated three core functionalities: converting a hand-drawn sketch into a digital layout, applying stylistic inspiration from an image to an existing design, and resizing designs effortlessly with a single click.

In one example, Kaur uploaded a hand-drawn sketch of a Halloween party poster into Illustrator. By selecting the "Sketch to Layout" feature, the tool used generative AI to create a digital version of the poster, preserving key elements like the eerie font and ghost illustration. The output remained fully customisable, allowing creators to tweak text, images, and colors. This AI-powered tool builds on familiar Illustrator features such as Image Trace and ReType, offering a more intuitive and efficient way to develop designs.

Kaur said, “I think the best thing about this project is how the original design and layout can get transferred very easily. We’re skipping a lot of manual work with this—and the best part about it is, you can always edit [the designs].”

In addition to digitizing hand-drawn sketches, Project Remix a Lot assists designers in refining digital drafts. Kaur demonstrated this by enhancing a circus poster using an inspiration image of a more vibrant, stylised design. By selecting it as a "Layout Style Reference," the tool re-imagined her draft, incorporating the elements of the inspiration poster.

Though still in its early development, Kaur explained that the goal is to give users more guided, iterative control over their designs, similar to having a generative AI-powered creative assistant.

For designers who frequently create social media content, the third feature is particularly useful. Project Remix a Lot can quickly reformat designs into multiple standard sizes—like banners or Instagram posts. Users can also generate custom dimensions by resizing the artboard and hitting "Remix."