Why Learn Adobe?

As part of the creative community, you’ve probably worked with one or several Adobe programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. And if you have any Adobe programs installed on your computer, you may already have access to Adobe Creative Cloud. This creative service allows you to pay a monthly subscription to use the Adobe programs you love while being able to upload your work to the cloud to continue working on it at any time from anywhere. It’s worthwhile to explore all the apps available through Adobe Creative Cloud. With 20+ programs and access to new programs and updates as they become available, Adobe Creative Cloud is a versatile software across industries, from marketing to graphic design to web development!

Here you will look into the different career paths for which skills in Creative Cloud are advantageous and understand how learning to use various software programs can enhance your design skills and grow your career. No matter your professional or creative goals, having Adobe Creative Cloud skills on your resume can help you reach the career you want. 

What is Adobe?

Adobe Creative Cloud is a computer software application that allows users access to all the different Adobe programs. Creative design and marketing professionals typically use it to create content for print, video, or online distribution. You can find professionals in nearly every industry that uses Adobe Creative Cloud, including advertising, website design, and video editing.

At the center of the creative community, Adobe Creative Cloud connects creativity with collaboration, as the cloud-based systems allow you to share work with fellow creatives and work from anywhere. Adobe’s spectrum of programs allows you to edit photos, create stunning digital designs, build websites, and edit videos. Adobe Creative Cloud stores all your programs under the same roof, allowing you to switch easily between programs as needed. Using Creative Cloud can also introduce you to new programs you have not used before to help upgrade your career. 

Read more about what Adobe is and why you should learn it. 

What Can You Do with Adobe?

Adobe Creative Cloud is a one-stop shop for all creative projects, and several applications are industry leaders for creative software. Adobe has over 20 applications, though typically, when referring to Adobe Creative Cloud, people think of the top five most popular; After Effects, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro. However, Adobe Creative Cloud has much more to explore. 

Adobe offers applications to fit every project, from allowing users to view and edit PDF files to designing and publishing web pages. The top five applications allow users to edit photos and videos, create visual effects and motion graphics, and create page layouts, typography, and illustrations. With other programs like Adobe Spark, users can create social media or web content directly from their computer or phone. Dreamweaver allows users to publish web pages with a simplified code engine. Adobe Aero focuses on the world of augmented reality. There are endless possibilities for creating with Adobe Creative Cloud.

Common Professional Uses for Adobe

Becoming proficient in Adobe Creative Cloud opens the door to several exciting career opportunities, such as:

• Graphic Design: Graphic Designers create images or graphics using text, colors, and animation to develop media for both digital and physical forms that communicate branding, advertising, and marketing. Typically, these images are produced with Photoshop and Illustrator; however, Graphic Designers also use InDesign, making Adobe Creative Cloud a vital part of their skill set. Graphic Designers can seek out freelance work, or they can choose to work for individual companies. Usually, their work appears as logos, social media campaigns, brochures, and advertisements. 

• Digital Design: Digital Design and Graphic Design share similar elements, so the career paths overlap. But since Digital Designers specialize in dynamic designs, additional career options include web design, applications, advertisements, and publications. They use multiple Adobe Creative Cloud programs, including Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator, to produce animations and other visual effects. 

• User Experience/ User Interface (UX/UI) Design: UX and UI Designers help create a website’s interactivity aspects. UX Designers focus on usability as opposed to visual design. They often create wireframes and prototypes and perform user testing. UI designers create a website’s visual look and feel. For these positions, you will work primarily with Photoshop or Adobe XD. 

• Digital Marketing: Digital Marketers with Adobe Creative Cloud training will use aspects of graphic design and digital design to produce online content for clients that promotes their products or services, including social media and email marketing. Digital Marketers use similar programs to Graphic Designers. This career path is more specialized than graphic and digital design, as marketing training is also required. 

• Motion Graphics Design: Motion Graphics Designers work with visual effects and animation, using programs like After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Cinema 4D to create animated artwork for various projects ranging from film to tech devices to video games to web applications.  

Investing in an Adobe Creative Cloud course or bootcamp can fast-track you to a new career. Noble Desktop offers an Adobe Creative Cloud Bootcamp that guides students through multiple programs they will use throughout their careers.

Develop Soft Skills

As you learn various Adobe programs, you are developing marketable creative and software skills that can advance your professional life. But for creative types, learning Adobe Creative Cloud is also fun! And as you teach yourself the basics of various Adobe applications, you are also building collateral skills. 

Each application can help improve numerous soft skills, which are essential when starting a new career or seeking a promotion in your current career. Adobe applications are complex, and as you learn the basics, you develop and enhance patience and problem-solving skills. You learn to work through difficult and frustrating situations as you focus on your primary goals. And learning these applications during gaps in a busy schedule strengthens time management and organization skills. Creative Cloud regularly updates applications, adding new features and enhancing existing ones, so potential employers might view you as easily adaptable if these skills appear on your resume.

Build Foundational Design Skills

Each Adobe Creative Cloud program teaches program-specific skills. For example, in Illustrator, you’ll learn to draw using shapes and tools, and in InDesign, you’ll learn layout and design.

As you work in each program, you learn all the skills needed to be proficient, such as photo editing, video editing, and content creation. However, you also develop general design skills, which assist your creative career, such as:

• Contrast: This refers to the difference between art elements. In any creative career, you must know when to highlight the contrast between elements, whether it’s a contrast in light, color, or shape. Using contrast correctly can be a powerful way to convey a message. 
• Alignment: This is the arrangement of items with each other and on the workspace. Alignment skills create clean-looking projects and make them more visually appealing to clients and viewers. 
• Repetition: Just as it sounds, repetition is the frequent use of a particular element, be it color, shape, or text. Learning to use repetition correctly can help create excitement within a particular project. It can even help highlight specific messages. 
• Balance: Similar to alignment, balance uses elements to portray an image, design, or space with symmetry. Using balance and alignment together creates better visual appeal. 
• Composition: This refers to the arrangement of different elements in a project, balancing them with white space, so no one area is overwhelmed or crowded. Developing composition skills helps declutter a piece or project.
• Space: Use the space between, around, and within the elements of a piece to bring a viewer's attention where you want it. Negative and positive spaces create different feelings. Negative space is the space around the elements, whereas positive space is the subject of the work.
• Typography: In graphic design, the letters, words, or phrases in any project are typically the more essential aspects. Typography conveys a message to consumers beyond the actual words. Font, spacing, and color are all used to influence viewers. 

These skills all work together to help you create more visually appealing work. A baseline of creativity is vital, but building the skills outlined above is critical to improving the quality of your work. Working with Adobe Creative Cloud will demonstrate how often these fundamental skills appear in your projects. 

Improve your Resume

Knowing one or two programs might be adequate for some positions if you seek a career in the abovementioned fields. However, being well versed in multiple Adobe Creative Cloud programs can expand your career options as you improve your resume. 

As a Graphic Designer, you may be proficient in Photoshop; however, Creative Cloud offers access to other programs that can boost your creativity and work to a higher level. Through Noble Desktop's Graphic Design Bootcamp, students become proficient in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, developing well-rounded skills for creating more projects for more clients. As a freelance graphic designer, you can expand your client base as your capabilities improve. Having foundational skills in the most broadly-used Creative Cloud applications can increase your appeal to potential employers. Still, many companies may also require knowledge and proficiency in more than just a few programs.

Most bootcamps cover multiple Adobe Creative Cloud programs to prepare you for your chosen career. Consider enrolling in the Adobe Creative Cloud Bootcamp, which covers the most popular applications. In Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate, students learn the industry-standard programs Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. The Motion Graphics Certificate covers Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro. 

How to Start Learning Adobe

When learning Adobe, you may feel like you need the structure of a class to help you succeed. Noble Desktop provides several options to help you find the right course. Students who prefer in-person learning can use the Classes Near Me tool to locate in-person Adobe Creative Cloud classes in their area. If you prefer a virtual learning environment, check out Noble Desktop's live online Adobe classes instead. 

Regardless of your skill level, there are options to fit your schedule. If you have a busy, jam-packed schedule, a full class may not work. On-demand Adobe classes might be better. Several of these introductory courses are free, as they are brief overviews introducing students to key functions of the applications. You can learn at your own pace, even if you want to learn individual Adobe applications simultaneously. Some courses require a subscription to the hosting platform, while others have a base fee for access. Providers for on-demand options include LinkedIn Learning, Shaw Academy, and Udemy. 

Video demonstrations are another option to consider when first learning these applications. Noble Desktop provides an entire YouTube playlist of in-depth Adobe Creative Cloud tutorials. These videos cover topics like the top five popular applications and design elements. You may also look into Noble's free seminars to find courses related to Adobe, like the Intro to Adobe Creative Cloud training. These introductory courses teach students how to get started with Adobe Creative Cloud and what each app does.

Read the full guide on how to learn Adobe.

Key Insights

Learning Adobe Creative Cloud can be daunting yet rewarding. While learning the Creative Cloud system is straightforward, the programs can be complex and challenging. However, by learning them, you:

• Open yourself to new and exciting career opportunities.
• Build upon your design skills, making you a better creative professional.
• Improve your resume to make yourself a highly desirable candidate for various positions.
• Build and develop soft skills like patience, time management, problem-solving, and organization.

Taking on a new challenge is never easy. And while learning Adobe Creative Cloud may take time, your new abilities will put you on the path to your dream career. 

Learn Adobe with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Noble Desktop provides several Adobe Creative Cloud Classes that meet any schedule or learning style. Participants have the option to attend in-person courses at Noble's campus in Manhattan, or they can opt to take courses virtually from anywhere in the world. Each option has students working closely with expert instructors in small groups. Noble also provides a free retake option within one year, allowing students additional time and opportunities to hone their skills without paying for another course. 

Learning Adobe Creative Cloud can be daunting; however, the Intro to Adobe CC Bootcamp is available for students who want to learn only a few applications quickly. This course covers several Adobe applications, introducing students to Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and After Effects. Students use each application to work through real-world exercises and projects. For those with a little more time on their hands who want in-depth training on more programs, the longer Adobe Creative Cloud Bootcamp devotes more time to work with each application. 

Additional options are available for those looking for more career-oriented learning. The Graphic Design Certificate dives into Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, while covering concepts surrounding the graphic design career. For more training on using Adobe programs to design web or mobile interfaces, there is the UI Design Certificate. As part of this course, you will work closely with Photoshop and Illustrator. In addition to learning the programs for your field of interest, you will develop a portfolio to send to potential employers.