Want to try your hand at building a social media bot? In this free seminar, we'll lay the foundation for creating a Twitter bot. Whether you want to create a bot that sends personalized messages, posts useful hyperlinks, or keeps your followers up-to-date with your company's latest press releases, this class is a must.

In this seminar, you'll gain a foundational understanding of how to interact with Twitter and similar social media platforms via the Python programming language.

"Will Python replace Excel?" is a question being asked in finance, marketing, and other industries. Only time will tell us the answer, but Python's ease of use, efficiency at scale, and rich ecosystem are all great reasons to make the switch. Join this free seminar to see how you can use Python to stay ahead of the curve.

We'll begin with the very basics of Python to start you on the right track in your journey.

Get started with SQL in this free class. SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming language designed for managing data in a relational database. Learn what SQL is, why it's so popular, and why you should learn it.

You’ll learn about which industries use SQL, and why SQL is so widely used among data scientists and data engineers. You'll also see examples of the types of things you can do with SQL, learn about databases and why we need them, and more!

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Continue learning in our comprehensive SQL and data science classes (Live Online or in New York City):
SQL Bootcamp
Data Science Certificate
Data Science Classes

In this free class you’ll learn what motion graphics are and the difference between Premiere Pro and After Effects. Do you need to be a graphic designer to do motion graphics? Do you need to know how to draw? What are the job opportunities in this field? These questions and more will be answered.

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Continue learning in our comprehensive motion graphics classes (attend Live Online or in New York City):
Motion Graphics Certificate
Video Editing & Motion Graphics Classes
Premiere Pro Classes
After Effects Classes

In this free class you’ll learn the basics of After Effects so you can get started with video editing. Adobe After Effects is a powerful tool for motion graphics and visual effects. It can be used on its own to create stand-alone videos and animations or integrated into video editing programs like Premiere Pro.

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Continue learning in our comprehensive After Effects classes (attend Live Online or in New York City):
After Effects Classes
Video Editing & Motion Graphics Classes
Motion Graphics Certificate

In this free class you’ll learn the basics of Premiere Pro so you can get started with video editing. Adobe Premiere Pro is a video editing application that lets you combine video, music, voice overs, graphics, sound FX and more to create compelling videos. Video continues to gain in popularity on social media apps, in ads, and through sites like YouTube and Vimeo, making video editing one of the most in-demand skills you can have.

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Continue learning in our comprehensive Premiere Pro classes (attend Live Online or in New York City):
Premiere Pro Classes
Video Editing & Motion Graphics Classes
Motion Graphics Certificate

In this free class we’ll cover the basics of InDesign so you can get started using it to create ads, books, magazines, and more! InDesign is the industry standard page layout app, primary focused on print design. InDesign is used to create ads, books, magazines, and much more. In this free class we’ll get you up and running with the fundamentals of InDesign. We’ll create some layouts from scratch showing you how to work with graphics, text, and how to output your design by printing or creating a PDF.

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Continue learning in our comprehensive InDesign classes (attend Live Online or in New York City):
InDesign Classes
Graphic Design Certificate

In this seminar you'll learn the basics of Illustrator so you can get started using it to create graphics for logos, icons, and more! Adobe Illustrator can be insanely useful for creating graphics for web, print, signage, or anything! Unfortunately it’s not very intuitive for beginners to learn. In this seminar we’ll show you the fundamentals of Illustrator in a way that makes them approachable for someone who’s just getting started. Experience with another Adobe graphics app will help, but is not required.

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Continue to learn more in our comprehensive Illustrator classes (attend Live Online or in New York City):
Illustrator Classes
Graphic Design Certificate

In this free class stream we’ll cover the basics of Photoshop so you can get started using it for photo editing or design. You’ll learn what kinds of things you can do with Photoshop, get a live tutorial of using the app so you can get started using Photoshop for photo retouching, or to create graphics for web, social media, print, and more.

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Continue learning in our comprehensive Photoshop classes (attend Live Online or in New York City):
Photoshop Classes
Photo Retouching Certificate
Graphic Design Certificate

When designing digital products such as websites and apps. there are many apps to choose from. Which one is right for you? In this article we’ll talk about Adobe XD, Sketch, Figma, and Adobe Photoshop.

Adobe XD

XD is the newest of these apps, and Adobe is putting a lot of effort into developing it quickly. Updates are released every 1–2 months, and XD has come a long way since the first beta versions.

XD aims to be the all-in-one solution for UX/UI design from wireframes to visual design, visual prototyping, voice prototyping, animation, and more. Despite XD being a relatively young app, it has some features (such as voice prototyping and repeat grid) that are not found in its competitors. While it is more advanced in some ways, it does lack some essential features. For example, there is no color management so on Display P3 monitors (like iMacs and Mac laptops use) the colors are not accurate, you can’t add multiple fills/strokes, and text styles are merely a find/change for formatting, just to name a few. Not having true styles severely limits their use because you’ll accidentally change things you didn’t intend to. There are no graphic/object styles, and exporting features are poorly implemented. Keep in mind that each app in this list has pros and cons, so none of them are perfect (Sketch and Figma also have their own set of limitations with styles for example).

Because XD came later to the game, it can open up Sketch, Photoshop, and Illustrator files and convert them into fully editable XD files. This makes it easier to switch to XD from those other apps. Being an Adobe app, it also integrates better, allowing you to edit photos in Photoshop and send an XD file to After Effects (if you need something beyond the animations you can create within XD).

XD has gained enough features that designers and companies are now starting to use it. Especially on small projects, some of the missing/poorly implemented features won't be much of an issue. However on larger projects, those limitations might become a bigger issue. Adobe has been rapidly fixing things and adding features, so we’re seeing more and more people choosing Adobe XD.

Overall XD is quick and easy to use. We like the integrated design approach Adobe is going for, and we look forward to seeing XD continue to improve. It’s especially strong in UX design, prototyping, and animation when compared to the other apps.

You can use XD for free to see if you like it. The free version of XD gives you the full app, but with some limitations such as only one shared link (for prototypes and design specs) and no ability to save local files. If you need any of the premium features (such as multiple shared links or the ability to work with local files), you can get XD for $9.99/month (USD) or XD with all the CC apps for $52.99 (USD).

Learn more in our Adobe XD classes.