Introduction

This article runs through a brief background on Adobe and how the main apps of Adobe software help graphic design users by explaining what each one does, and why you might need it.
Graphic design online training varies from institution to institution, but all good course providers will have an established reputation.

Testimonials:

Another indicator is the percentage of graduates that secure jobs after completing their course. As a benchmark do not be shy to ask the college or school you are researching how many students find work and how long it took. Blue Sky Graphic from March 2019-December 2019 confirms that 79% of their intake were candidates that found work within 3 months of the course completion.

What is Adobe?

The Adobe Creative Cloud or Adobe CC, as it is commonly abbreviated to, is a bit like the metaphorical grandfather of a traditional nucleus family having the ultimate authority, wisdom and history across the family of graphic design. Older versions of Adobe include CS2, CS3, CS4, CS5, CS5.5, CS6 and CS7 too.

Adobe Creative Cloud is, therefore, the latest version (2020) and is described as a set of user services and computing applications enabling its users who usually pay to access an advanced collection of software typically for purpose of graphic design, web design and development, photography manipulations as well as video editing.

The software includes

  • Photoshop®, Used for image reading and manipulation, photo retouching,
    graphic design, web and app prototyping.
  • Illustrator®, Used for vectors graphic and designing Illustration.
  • InDesign®, Used for print and desktop publishing
  • Adobe XD, Used for web and app prototyping mostly.
  • Adobe Spark ®, Used for creating graphics, web pages and short videos.
  • Flash® Professional, Used for animation.
  • Flash Builder®,
  • Dreamweaver®, Used for creating websites without learning how to code.
  • Fireworks®, Used for computer protection.
  • Adobe Premiere® Pro, Used for video production and editing.
  • After Effects® , Used for visual effects, compositing and motion graphics.
  • Adobe Lightroom®, Used for image organisation and image editing.

Historically there have been many versions of Adobe suite, but if you want to use a fully supported version of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (minimum software prerequisite for graphic designers) users will now require the latest version called Adobe Creative Cloud.
The CC also gives users 20-100 gigabytes of online storage space for syncing and sharing online files which are advantageous to those working in remote locations and from home.

Adobe’s CC subscription software is unique in the way that it is set up because it is cloud-based meaning users can access and share files and images through cloud storage and their local device. Creative Cloud is a series of desktop products that users download and install onto their local device or computer, and it works just like usual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTwbvDtYSOs

It is different to SaaS-based software (software as a service) which are web-based applications (hosted on the licensed provider servers and accessed only online). The biggest difference is that users can share and access files online via the Creative Cloud.

Not only has Adobe sets the standard for the industry and has almost entirely substituted the stand-alone products that Adobe used to sell via CD-ROM or download. Now the creative suite is available exclusively as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud which is available via an online subscription.

Why is knowing Adobe important?

Adobe is extremely important because whether you are a photographer, illustrator, marketing professional graphic designer, web designer, or movie production.
Adobe CC contains most of the tools required by many media, advertising and digital professions that consider it the industry standard. According to Prototypr “ Adobe earned a revenue of 4.8 billion last year” which may evoke to any reader just how important players Adobe are in the field of graphic design.

So, what is an Adobe Graphic Design Course exactly?

Graphic design online training courses varies from institution to institution, but all good course providers will have an established reputation. Another indicator is the percentage of graduates that secure jobs after completing their course.
As a benchmark do not be shy to ask the college or school you are researching how many students find work and how long it took.

Blue Sky Graphic (Mar 2019-Dec 19) confirms that 79% of their intake were candidates that found work within 3 months of the course completion.  It is also worth checking the institutions credentials, testimonials and unbiased reviews found on third party website such as Trust Pilot such as Blue Sky Graphics own Trust pilot review.

An Adobe graphic design course is one that utilises and applies Adobe  software and follows a comprehensive and structured syllabus. The beginning of the course should be explanatory and introduce those enroled onto it about the importance of recognising good design as the starting place for creating professional, attractive work.

Our course starts with a module that covers a brief history overview and modern application related to design concerning working with colleagues and clients, as well as important technical, and design-related information. It looks at the ubiquitous world of graphic design to establish a vocabulary of successful design and to find inspiration for our student’s own projects.

A typical syllabus can be found on our website but will essentially look something like this:

1. Understanding the importance of working with grids, transparency, insight of negative space, and using appropriate margins in graphic design. Exploration of fonts, colours, and images palette of elements, type, colour, images and borders, bars, and backgrounds. Type terminology; creating a font palette; typographic techniques, Introduction to the colour wheel; creating a colour palette.

 

2. Implement common visual design tips such as sublimation, tension, contrast,and repetition. Explore the strategy of composition. How to create beautiful backgrounds, using images as backgrounds and use white space; using transparency; presentation design. How to use shapes in your design to create infographics or add visual interest.

 

3. Typography in graphic design and learning the art of manipulating the visual form of language to enhance and influence its meaning. It’s an essential area of skill and understanding for graphic designers and it is important to consider the pragmatic concerns involved in selecting and combining type. Typography predates modern graphic design by around 500 years- typefaces, both as physical artefacts and as works of design. There is an abundance with theoretical rules, conventions, and mysterious terminology that is used industry-wide today (think Helvetica, Ariel and DengXian). It is good to learn and understand where they came from and why they look the way they do.

What to expect from taking a graphic design course?

You should expect to cover the history of graphic design, uncover what graphic designers do and review the design process.
You should expect to learn elements of design and the design principles of balance, alignment, proximity, space, repetition and contrast. In addition, you should know key basic concepts of how to apply the design principles to the projects, and software needed to product course projects.

Adobe graphic design courses in summary

Hopefully, you find this article of interest and if you are going to take away something from this remember that designers all stated from where you might be today.

Adobe graphic design courses will no doubt help you and you might do well, but do not bealarmed if the tutor gives you negative feedback. Graphic designers don’t work in a vacuum. Their work will be judged by others, usually, clients and this feedback judgement should be considered constructively and in their stride. Our tutors at Blue Sky Graphics take both teacher and client role to prepare for you the real world. Learning the software may be a huge learning curve especially since Adobe and its powerful software are every designer’s best friends. The products are so powerful that the creatives — even the Sketch users — just cannot live without them.

We wish you the very best of luck and remember too that a graphic designer is a visual storyteller, a person who pairs words with images and typography to best convey information to an audience.

Great design arouses emotion and presents the news of the day with clarity and the proper tone. Graphic design is not just about aesthetics and ‘making it look fabulous,’ it’s also about layout, organisation, content and reader analysis- all these things you will learn in an Adobe graphic design course.

Should you wish to enrol on one of Blue Sky Graphics courses such as the Graphic Design Course please get in touch and someone from our super-friendly enrolment the team will be in touch to help.

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