Included in Adobe Creative Cloud are apps like Premiere Pro, XD, Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. If you secure a full license for the CC, you’ll have access to over 20 apps, and you’ll be able to find one that fits almost any type of design you want to do. Hiring managers in most design fields will likely expect job candidates to be familiar with one or more Adobe products. The question of which program is best suited to your goals will depend on the specifics of your desired career. However, regardless of the type of design you choose to pursue, mastery of an Adobe product will strengthen your applications significantly.
Adobe skills are also frequently transferable to a range of professions and industries. If you learn an Adobe product for one type of job and then decide you want another, having learned Adobe will stand you in good stead, whether it’s because you already know the Adobe product your new employer uses or because it’s easier to learn another Adobe product once you’ve mastered your first one. Already a master of an Adobe product or two? It’ll still be worth learning another program, because it’ll make your job applications even stronger. If you’re a Photographer who has studied Photoshop, you may want to pick up Lightroom as well. Film Editors who use Premiere Pro to compile their footage might want to move to studying After Effects so that they can produce more sophisticated effects in their editing process.
The #11 Best On-Demand Adobe Classes
- Udemy—Adobe CC Masterclass
- ONLC—Adobe Bootcamp
- CreativeLive—Adobe Photoshop CC Bootcamp
- Skillshare—Adobe InDesign CC Essentials Training
- Skillshare—Adobe Illustrator CC Essentials Training
- CreativeLive—Adobe Lightroom Classic CC
- Google—Responsive Web Design in Adobe XD
- ITU—Adobe Premiere Pro Training
- ITU—Adobe Audition Training
- Udemy—After Effects CC Masters
- LinkedIn Learning—Learning Adobe Creative Cloud
#1: Udemy—Adobe CC Masterclass
The Adobe CC Masterclass from Udemy covers four different Adobe products: Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, and InDesign.
Starting off with Photoshop, the course covers how to set up a dashboard in the program. It introduces students to the basics of navigation and shows them which tools are available. They learn the basics of selections and layers. Next, they master the most vital techniques of photo editing and do hands-on projects to practice them. These include editing a photo, making a thumbnail for YouTube, and creating images for social media.
Moving on to Illustrator, students again learn through hands-on projects. They begin with designing a basic icon. Then they create a logo for a business. The final project for this portion of the course is making an illustrated poster.
For Adobe XD, a critical tool for UX Designers, students start by exploring website design. Next, the course covers how to design a mobile app interface.
The final portion of the course is on InDesign, the layout program used for magazines and other print media. The hands-on project here is designing a cover for a book to be published in print.
Key Information
This course includes 13 hours of on-demand video. Udemy does not provide a projected timeline for completion. There are no prerequisites. The course is available with a $16.58 subscription to the platform, which also includes many other courses. Students can also buy a single course for $124.99.
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This course provides 25 downloadable study resources. Students can access it on mobile or TV in addition to desktop. Students gain an official certificate of completion at the end of the course.
Students said the instructor for this course gave “clear explanations” that made the material “easy to follow.” The on-demand materials “build a great foundation” for beginner students.
#2: ONLC—Adobe Bootcamp
The programs covered in ONLC’s Adobe On-Demand Bootcamp are Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Each portion of the course has a hands-on final project.
The first unit is on Illustrator, starting with instructions on how to choose artwork to adapt and basic techniques for using shapes to build or transform images. Students learn how to edit by combining paths and shapes. Once they have used the drawing tools to build an illustration, they explore how they can use typography and color in making a sign. They also discover tools for creating gradients, blending areas of an image, and making brushstrokes. The final project for the Illustrator section is making t-shirt artwork. Students then learn how they can export their work from Illustrator and integrate the program with other applications from Adobe.
InDesign comes next in the course. Students begin by setting up a document and laying out its pages. They learn how to manipulate objects within a print layout. They also discover typography and text styles. And they explore how to import and modify graphics, create tables, work with styles, and manipulate transparency. This section concludes with learning how to export files for printing or as fillable PDFs for Adobe Acrobat.
The course concludes with Photoshop. It starts with the basic techniques of photo correction such as retouching, cropping, and color correction. Students learn to work with channels, layers, selections, and masks. They also discover vector drawing techniques and how to design typography. And they explore compositing images and editing videos. They then learn how to prepare the files they’ve made for digital publication.
Key Information
There are 15 days of content in this on-demand course. Students must complete it within 180 days. The only prerequisites are basic file management skills. Tuition, due upfront, is $995.
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With this course, students receive the official Adobe workbook, along with supplementary tutorials, videos, and other study materials. They also have access to subject matter experts for 24/7 online support.
Students say that the instructors for this course were “knowledgeable, ” “clear, ” and “patient. The course “far exceeded expectations” for what on-demand training could provide.
#3: CreativeLive—Adobe Photoshop CC Bootcamp
CreativeLive’s Adobe Photoshop CC Bootcamp starts off with an overview of the main workspaces in Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and Adobe Bridge. Students then learn to import raw images. They edit and develop these using tools like adjustment sliders, effects, and the HLS tab. They also discover the many ways the selection tool can help them in their editing progress. And they master using layers and masks for image manipulation. In addition, the course covers editing with elements such as curves, levels, highlights, and shadows.
Next, students discover color in Photoshop. They learn color theory, terms like hue and saturation, and how to use the blend tool and curves for editing color. Then they discover how to retouch photos using a range of possible techniques. The course provides an overview of many other tools, including the brush, eraser, eye dropper, color sampler, crop, frame, brush flow, gradient, blur, shape, and opacity tools. Students also explore editing for less common types of photography such as time-lapse, panoramic, and HDR. And they learn about patterns, blending, and warping as editing tools. They even learn to use the program to create their own custom actions. The course wraps up with a few Photoshop troubleshooting tips and an overview of how to integrate Photoshop and Lightroom.
Key Information
There are 18 hours and 36 minutes of video content included with this class. CreativeLive does not provide an estimate for how long the course will take. There are no prerequisites. Students can buy this single class for $99 or get a $13 monthly subscription to the platform.
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Students say this “in-depth” course “keeps you engaged” and “covers absolutely everything you need to know” about Photoshop. The instructions are “clear” and “concise.”
#4: Skillshare—Adobe InDesign Essentials Training
The Adobe InDesign Essentials Training begins with color manipulation in the program, including creating your own colors for your project, as well as “stealing” colors from a pre-existing file. Students learn how to import, group, ungroup, rotate, and flip images. They discover how to preview their work and how to turn it into a PDF or JPEG file. And they work with transparency, opacity, bleed, and slug. They also create and manipulate a Master Page within the file. The course covers resolution and shadowing at this point.
Students then move on to text manipulation. This portion of the course includes fonts, TypeKit, placeholder text, importing text from Word, text columns, and justification. Students also learn to adjust text settings and paragraph styles. They discover gradients, shapes, and layers. And they create tables, bullet points, tables of contents, and other types of text formatting. The course concludes with making a mockup for a project for the student’s professional portfolio.
Key Information
This course provides 6 hours and 47 minutes of videos. No estimate is given for how long it will take to complete the course. Prerequisites are not necessary. The course is available with a Skillshare subscription, which costs $168 per month.
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Students value the “real, usable projects” they completed in this course. They appreciate that the instructor has “engaging teaching skills” and “really knows his stuff.”
#5: Skillshare—Adobe Illustrator Essentials Training
In Skillshare’s Adobe Illustrator Essentials Training, students begin by learning to draw in the program. They use tools such as the Shape Builder, Curvature Tool, Pen Tool, Pencil Tool, and Brush Tool. They also discover how to manipulate text for a design. And they learn about color, including making their own colors or importing them from another image, as well as how to work with color gradients. The course also covers how to manipulate shapes in the program, with techniques such as cutting a hole in them, distorting or warping them, repeating them in multiple places, and ultimately vectorizing them for use elsewhere. Once they have a completed file, they learn how to export it in various formats, including JPEGs for website use and formats appropriate for printing. The hands-on projects for this course focus on redrawing logos for various businesses using the tools available in Illustrator. This course was recorded some time ago, so the instructor has added several new videos covering updates to the program and how to make the most of them.
Key Information
The course provides 7 hours of video content. No estimate is given for how long it will take to complete the course. Prerequisites are not necessary. The course is available with a Skillshare subscription, which costs $168 per month.
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Students say this course was “an absolute game-changer” for their design careers, due to the “amazing teacher” and “masterpiece” course design. Lessons are “easy to follow” and “well organized” for students to make progress.
#6: CreativeLive—Adobe Lightroom Classic CC
CreativeLive’s Adobe Lightroom Classic CC course starts with an introductory overview of the program’s interface and functions. Students learn to customize Lightroom for the specific purpose of their project. After importing images, they explore how to organize those images through catalogs and file management. They discover how to make adjustments to baseline RAW images for editing purposes. Once they have an edited file, they learn how they can finalize and export it for printing, after adding keywords and other metadata to the saved file. They also explore organizing and locating their saved images by keywords.
The course covers how to fix isolated problems with an image, adjust the image using various techniques, and fine-tune it once the general look one wants is achieved. Then students learn to work with specialized situations like black and white, HDR, panorama, facial recognition, and map visualizing. They discover how to showcase their work in slideshows and books. Next, they learn how to integrate Lightroom with Photoshop. The course wraps up with advanced tips and tricks for Lightroom, as well as some basic troubleshooting techniques.
Key Information
The course contains 24 hours of material. It does not include an estimated completion timeframe. No prerequisites are necessary. Tuition for this course is $199, due upfront.
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Students say that CreativeLive’s instructors are “clear” and “concise.” The “in-depth” course “keeps you engaged” and “covers absolutely everything you need to know” about Lightroom.
#7: Google—Responsive Web Design in Adobe XD
Google’s course on Responsive Web Design in Adobe XD is part of its UX Design Professional Certificate on Coursera. (UX stands for user experience, the primary application of Adobe XD.) Students may want to pursue the entire certificate, but it is not necessary to do so to take this course.
The course is framed around the Design Thinking UX process and its five steps: empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. Students learn to do each of these to create a responsive website using Adobe XD. They start by determining a user base that they can empathize with and identify possible pain points in using the responsive website they are going to design. Students come up with ideas for design solutions, then create UX deliverables for those ideas in Adobe XD. These start with wireframes, which are low-fidelity representations of a user interface that designers can present for feedback. Students next make mockups of their designs, and, ultimately, clickable prototypes of them. The prototypes can be used for user testing, as well as presentation of design to stakeholders and clients. Students will conduct a usability study on their prototype before creating a final design.
Students will also learn how to apply information architecture (IA) to responsive web design in Adobe XD, including sitemaps and other IA deliverables. They will discover ways to reuse common webpage layouts for responsive design purposes. And they will iterate on their designs based on the insights they gather in their research. The course covers how to work with a set design system in Adobe XD. It also addresses professional concerns such as adding a UX project to one’s portfolio, creating a strong UX-focused resume, and applying for entry-level jobs within the field of UX.
Key Information
Google estimates that this course will take 42 hours of work to complete. It has no prerequisites, though some students may find it helpful to take some of the other courses in the certificate program, or be familiar with the Design Thinking process generally. The course is included with a Coursera Plus subscription, which costs $59 a month or $399 yearly.
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You can earn a certificate by completing this course that is shareable on LinkedIn and other professional sites.
Students say this course was a “great experience” that “stimulates engagement” through “detailed explanations and lots of examples.”
#8: ITU—Adobe Premiere Pro Training
ITU Online’s Adobe Premiere Pro Training includes two course modules.
The first module begins with a comprehensive tour of the Adobe Premiere Pro interface. Students then learn how to set up a project in the program. They discover how to import media for editing and how to organize that media within Premiere Pro. They then proceed to the basic tools and essential techniques of video editing. They explore the use of clips and markers in the editing process, and they learn how to add transitions between sections of footage. Next, they proceed to the trickier subject of multi camera editing. This module concludes with some more advanced editing techniques.
In the second module, students start off by learning how to put their clips in motion. They edit and mix the audio they have recorded or selected for their project. The course covers adding video effects, the basics of color correction, and a variety of techniques for compositing in Premiere Pro. Students learn how to create graphics that they can superimpose on their footage. Finally, they discover how to export frames, clips, and sequences for use outside the program.
Key Information
This course provides 5 training hours with 19 videos. There is no estimate provided as to how long the course will take to complete. This class is designed for beginners and has no prerequisites, though it can also help experienced video editors brush up on their skills. The cost of this course is $49, though one can do the first week for free. A company can also get a discounted rate by paying for a team to take the course.
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This course includes an online workbook with 60 practice questions to test the knowledge of Adobe Premiere Pro that you will be building.
Students say the teachers for this course are “very helpful” in preparing them for “real-world” applications of the knowledge they acquire in their Adobe studies.
#9: ITU—Adobe Audition Training
Students in ITU’s Adobe Audition Training course start off by familiarizing themselves with the Adobe Audition workspace setup and the most useful shortcuts within the program. They learn to set up and adjust a workspace to suit the needs of a specific project. They discover how to navigate the media browser within the program, keep their imported media organized, and create shortcuts for easy access to the media files they need. Next, they learn how to do waveform editing. This includes making basic adjustments in Audition’s heads-up display, deleting or skipping unwanted sections of imported audio, inserting a portion of silence into an existing audio track, and removing pops in audio using the zero crossing tool. They also explore how to cut, copy, and paste audio phrases using multiple clipboards. The course covers how to merge, loop, and fade sections of audio.
Students learn how to work with amplitude, compression, and gain in their audio. They discover effects such as delay, echo, filter, EQ, modulation, time, pitch, and reverb. And they learn how to reverse, invert, silence, and generate special effects in Audition. They match loudness across different audio files and create audio presets customized to their particular project. Next, they explore audio restoration, including reducing unwanted noises like hisses, crackles, pops, clicks, broadband noises, and hums. They learn both automated and manual removal techniques.
In the next portion of the course, students discover how to use Audition for mastering musical tracks and for creating a sound design that could be used for a theatrical production or art installation. They learn how to record a new file within the program. They also discover how to edit multiple tracks within one project, splicing them together to create their ideal mashup. The course concludes with techniques for clip editing in Audition.
Key Information
The course comes with 7 hours of training in the form of on-demand videos. ITU does not provide an estimate of how much time the course will take to complete. Designed for beginners, this course has no prerequisites. Its cost is $49, although one may obtain a one-week free trial of the program. Companies may also receive a discounted rate if they pay for a team to take this course.
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Students who have completed this course say that “the training quality was great.” They are “so happy” with the course outcome and “highly recommend” it to others.
#10: Udemy—After Effects CC Masters
The After Effects CC Masters course from Udemy begins with how to start a new composition by importing the media you want to edit and placing it on the After Effects timeline. Students learn important tools such as the selection, move, rotation, shape & mask, pen, zoom, pan behind, anchor point, and text tools. They discover how to create shapes, alignments, and colors. They also explore the transformations and properties of layers for editing.
Next, students learn how to animate in After Effects using keyframes. The animation styles they explore include opacity, position, size, and rotation animations. They discover how to use easy ease, motion blur, and the graph editor to enhance their animations. Next, they go deeper into layers and shapes, learning how to use layer styles and shape effects in their editing. They explore how to make layers appear and disappear, group layers together, reverse animations, use freeze frames to manipulate time, and stabilize their footage. This portion of the course has been updated to reflect After Effects’ 2018 and 2019 updates to these features.
At this point, the course becomes more hands-on, as students participate in projects like animating text, designing a weather app, and creating an animated logo. They learn how to design their own flat animation scene and how to use the repeater shape to animate a fireworks design. They also discover green screen editing techniques, including removing a green screen from footage, replacing a background, and adding motion to a still image or background photo created with a green screen. Then they move on to 3D, including 3D compositions and animating in 3D. The course concludes with a brief introduction to the rotoscoping tool.
Key Information
This course includes 27.5 hours of on-demand video. Udemy does not provide an estimate of how long it will take to complete. There are no prerequisites for the class. Students can get a Udemy subscription for $16.58 per month, or they can buy the single class for $119.99.
More Details
This course includes 14 relevant proprietary articles and 18 downloadable study resources. Students may access the course on mobile or TV as well as desktop. They receive a certificate of completion for the course.
Students say this “amazing” course was “very clear” and “comprehensive” in what it covered. It was “well-paced” and made them “feel confident” in their abilities coming out of the course.
#11: LinkedIn Learning—Learning Adobe Creative Cloud
For those wanting a general introduction to how they can use Adobe’s Creative Cloud suite of apps, Learning Adobe Creative Cloud will provide the overview they need. The course covers how to sign up for, install, and set up Creative Cloud, as well as how to do application updates and work in previous versions of the CC apps.
Students learn how to upload, download, and organize their CC files within the different applications. They discover how to use the apps for collaborative editing with version control. They also explore how to create and use a CC library, including adding objects, colors, color themes, and text styles. They learn how to use and save objects, organize assets, and add files within the library function. And they collaborate on the web using CC libraries as well.
The course covers various CC services such as Adobe Fonts, Adobe Stock, and Adobe Color. Students also use Adobe Capture to save materials, type, shapes, colors, looks, patterns, and brushes for their projects. The course concludes with how to use Adobe Creative Cloud mobile app.
Key Information
The course includes 4 hours of on-demand materials. No time estimate for completion is provided. It is designed for beginners, so there are no prerequisites. LinkedIn Learning is $19.99 a month after a one-month free trial.
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Students say the instructor for this course is “articulate and thorough.” The course uses student time efficiently and provides “practical examples” of each technique it teaches.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an On-demand Adobe Class Worth It?
A particular student’s learning style will determine how valuable they will find an on-demand Adobe course to be. On-demand classes are best suited for students who are disciplined self-starters. If you can keep yourself on track without an external structure prompting you to make progress, on-demand materials could be a good fit for your studies. They are especially advantageous for people in this category who also have an especially busy schedule, as on-demand study doesn’t require them to be available at any specific time. However, some students find on-demand study lacking because they need the deadlines and overall set structure provided by a formally organized course. Also, whatever the student’s learning style may be, on-demand classes have the disadvantage of lacking real-time access to an expert in the field. This means that students won’t be able to get clarification, feedback, or guidance during their learning process, which can sometimes hinder a student’s progress even if they are highly motivated.
What Will I Need for an On-demand Adobe Class?
A computer with an internet connection is necessary for on-demand study. You will also need access to whichever Adobe software you are studying. While most Adobe software offer a free initial trial, you will eventually need to subscribe either to that particular software or—if you anticipate using more Adobe products in the future—a subscription to the whole Creative Cloud, which offers over 20 design applications.
Can I Learn Adobe On-demand for Free?
It is definitely possible to use free resources like online tutorials or YouTube videos to teach yourself some fundamental skills in various Adobe programs. However, if you are looking to learn an Adobe product for professional purposes, free materials are unlikely to be sufficient for what you need. Also, while most Adobe products will offer a free trial, you will need to get a paid subscription to your product of choice eventually if you want to continue using it. In sum, you can get started on your studies using resources available for free, but your progress will be limited until you invest some funds in studying Adobe.
Is It Better to Learn Adobe in a Live or Self-paced Class?
Live online and on-demand Adobe training each have their unique benefits. Many students find live classes more engaging because of their interactive nature. The advantage of real-time access to an instructor is that you can get expert feedback on your work, ask questions as they come up during your work, and potentially receive career guidance after the course is complete. Learning live online also has the benefit that you can build connections with peers who are pursuing the same journey you are. Also, when you take a live online class, it provides you with specific deadlines and a set structure for your learning process, which some students find helpful in organizing their time as they pursue their study of Adobe.
The most important advantages of on-demand learning are that it is both flexible and affordable. Students who are extremely busy might find that studying on-demand is a good fit for them, as its self-paced nature doesn’t require them to be available at any particular time. And those who cannot currently make a substantial investment in their study of Adobe may find on-demand learning is a good way to get started. However, students who choose the on-demand option will not receive real-time clarification, feedback, and guidance from an expert in the field. It is also sometimes the case that even good on-demand materials are out of date, particularly if a product has had significant updates since the materials were created.