Which Adobe CC application is right for me?

Armada offers a wide selection of training across pretty much all Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) applications, and for the five key Adobe CC applications – After Effects, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro – we offer regular scheduled (public) courses for both newcomers and existing users.

Many Adobe CC users have an ‘All Apps’ subscription, meaning they’re in the fortunate position of having access to all five applications (amongst others). We’re often asked by such users which application(s) they should use for the work they need to carry out. Here, Lyndsay Mann, takes a look at these five applications and explains a little more on their use.

After Effects

After Effects (Ae) excels at creating amazing motion graphics, complex visual effects (VFX) and animations. Everything from fades, dissolves and explosions to highly complex animations.

Much like Photoshop, After Effects, works in layers, and it provides a huge array of tools, effects and templates for transforming visual content and images. You can intuitively combine multiple video files, edit them and create animations – all in one application.

Because After Effects is used primarily for motion graphics and colour correction, it doesn’t offer many of the advanced features available in Premiere Pro for video editing, post-production work, etc. This is why the two applications are commonly used together for maximum effect.

Our Introduction to After Effects course (2 days) covers all the absolute must-know features of this highly versatile application. Sessions include:

• Creating your first After Effects project
• Animation techniques
• Layer control
• Working with shapes
• Effects
• Type and type animation
• Exporting your compositions.

Our blog post What will I learn if I attend Introduction to After Effects training? demonstrates some of the effects you’ll learn to create.

 Premiere Pro

Premiere Pro (Pr) is Adobe’s industry-standard video editing software. It is used by professionals such as video editors, YouTubers, content creators, marketing teams and TV editors, amongst others.

Premiere Pro transforms your raw footage into stunning video productions for TV, film, social media and so much more. You can add background music and speech, and create multi-screen video playing different clips in the same frame.

Like all Adobe CC apps, Premiere Pro offers a range of panels, each of which serves a different function. In our Introduction to Premiere Pro course (2 days), we cover the key tools available in these panels and we explore how you can switch them on and off, move them around, etc., to create an interface that suits the way you work. We also delve into key topics such as Importing and organising media assets, Editing techniques, Refining the edit, Adding effects and transitions, Audio editing, Titling, Multicam editing – and much more!

 Photoshop

Photoshop (Ps) is undoubtedly Adobe’s most famous application – so much so that in the last decade it’s become the norm to use the word ‘Photoshop’ or ‘Shop’ for short as a verb. But for a long time before it became so widely known – Photoshop has been around for over 35 years now – it was the go-to software for graphic designers and photographers wanting to manipulate and enhance their images or photos.

Photoshop is all about pixels – if it’s got pixels, Photoshop can manipulate it using its vast array of brushes, filters and adjustment layers. Using these tools, and other key features like layers and masks, you can do pretty much anything: retouch photos, create web graphics and marketing material, design social media content, compose images, and much more!

Our Introduction to Photoshop course (2 days) introduces all these must-know features as well as other helpful topics, such as how Photoshop works well with Adobe Bridge and working with type (text).

 Illustrator

Whilst Photoshop is all about pixels, Illustrator is all about vectors. Vector graphics are images comprised of lines, points, curves and shapes. This means they can be scaled up or down without losing clarity or sharpness – necessary for logos, icons and other designs that need to be resized without loss of quality.

Illustrator offers the ability to draw freehand with a variety of digital brushes, pencils and pens, and it provides a range of tools to create geometric shapes. Add in the advanced colour options for creating gradient colour schemes and interesting colour effects, you can see why it is the go-to-application for anyone wanting to create vector designs.

If you’re looking to create your own vector artwork in Illustrator but don’t know where to begin, our Introduction to Illustrator course (2 days) is the ideal starter to get you underway.

 InDesign

InDesign may not be as famous as Photoshop or Illustrator, but it is one of the most widely used applications and an indispensable tool in the publishing world. I was once told that if you stand in front of the magazine section in WH Smith, everything you can see will have been produced in InDesign! But it’s not only used by publishers; it’s used to create magazines, newspapers, books, e-books, digital flyers, e-Newsletters and much more.

In short, InDesign is a professional, versatile, multi-purpose page layout application. You can output to print file, or digital file for viewing on mobile devices and the Web. If you need to create a page layout, think InDesign!

Our Introduction to InDesign course (2 days) teaches the key skills you need, from the basics of setting up a new layout, through to the use of shapes, objects, text, styles, libraries, layers and even the AI features available to improve your efficiency.

Summary

For anyone starting out on their design journey, no matter which of these applications it is you’re looking to learn, our introductory-level Adobe CC courses will get you started, teaching you the fundamental skills to start using them in earnest in design work.

Hosted in-person at all of our eight UK centres (Bromsgrove, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Reading and Sheffield) and in our popular live online format, we have a wide range of dates for you to choose from.

If you’ve already got good basic skills and are looking to expand your knowledge, or take your designs to the next level, we also offer 2-day Intermediate/Advanced level courses for all five applications.