Adobe Products Cheat Sheet: here’s what they all do and how to get them
Adobe, the dojo behind the creativity of almost all all types of creatives. From visual designers, FX artists, User interface designers et cetera. You don’t even have to be a creative to benefit from adobe products, such as Adobe Spark which you can use to make slide decks with an edge. Anyone that ‘just wants to make cool shit’ can find a home in any of the products in the creative package.
The Adobe creative suit is the one stop shop for all the creative tools you need. At a price obviously, as is the nature of any business venture. However, the goal of this article is just to discuss the product, not the pricing, or on cheaper alternatives.
The creative suit can be a maze, with over 10 equally amazing products that run on Mac and Windows computers. While different, the products have similar functionalities, you can read about that here.
Here is a list of the most common products and what you need to know about them to pick the right tool for your creative work.
- Adobe Photoshop (.psd)
Adobe describes Photoshop as an: Editing and compositing for photos, web and mobile app designs, 3D artwork, videos, etc.
It is one of the pioneering software in the photo editing space and quickly became the industry standard.
With an array of tools wider than life, it is the most popular of its competition such as GIMP and Gravit.
2. Adobe After Effects(.mp4, .gif, others)
Adobe After Effects is described as software to: Create motion graphics and visual effects for film, TV, video, and web.
It’s also really popular over its competition.
You can use it to add some fun effects to your animations, or to add visual effects and make your videos look more Hollywood.
NB: most heavily edited Hollywood films go for the insanely expensive Foundry Nuke due to features such as native OpenEXR support and a full 3D environment.
3. Adobe Illustrator (.ai)
Illustrator was built to help users create beautiful vector art and illustrations.
You can use it to design logos, vector graphics, cartoons and fonts for using in its sister product Photoshop.
It’s not a free product, unlike some of its competitors, e.g Inkscape, however it boasts of a wider array of features and interoperability with other products in the creative suit.
4. Adobe XD (.xd)
This is the Adobe product I use almost daily at my job as a UI/UX designer.
XD lets you design, prototype and share user experiences without having to change apps.
It is a relatively newer addition to the creative suit, and comes at no cost to the user. Adobe XD really turned up the heat on paid alternatives such as Sketch for Mac and InVision, by providing similar features on one platform, for absolutely nothing.
5. Adobe Animate
You can use Adobe Animate to create 2D animations and other multimedia.
You can use it to design vector graphics and animation for TV programs, online video, websites, web applications, rich internet applications, and video games.
This is a really handy tool if you’re trying to make an intro video for your you tube channel. It is widely used, and so there are a lot of learning materials. It’s learning curve is bearable according to most users.
6. Adobe Spark (.mp4)
This is another of Adobe’s free offerings.
It is an integrated suite of media creation applications for the mobile and web.
You can use it to make a killer slide deck for a business presentation, or a nice slideshow complete with Taylor Swift background music for your daughter’s 15th birthday party.
7. Adobe InDesign
This software lets the designer create posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, books and e-book covers.
One of its perks is that it allows you to work from the comfort of your desktop, or while on the move.
If your pocket will not allow you to enjoy this $20 a month service, you can try Microsoft Publisher… or settle for a free template from Canva.
8. Others: Adobe — Premiere Rush and Pro, Light Room and Light Room Classic, Dimension, Dream Weaver and Stock
Premiere Rush and Pro: These products let you create and share online videos anywhere. Edit media in its native format and create productions for film, TV, and web.
Light Room and Light Room Classic: These products are used to edit, organise, store and share photos from anywhere. Desktop-focused photo editing.
Dimension: Creates photo-realistic 3D images for branding, product shots and package design.
Dream Weaver: This is a design and development tool to make modern, responsive websites.
Stock: Adobe Stock makes it easy to search and licence millions of high-quality assets inside your Creative Cloud apps.
9. Behance
Behance is an online design portfolio website managed by Adobe.
It lets you upload screen grabs of your work, as well as little videos of your design process, or the interactivity.
It is really handy when you’re trying to get design work, or just to receive critique from other members of the design community.
You can also share your work on other designer community platforms such as Dribble and DeviantArt.
So, with that in mind, what’s your Adobe weapon of choice?
Note: I have not received any form of payment to promote any of the products listed herein.
