Take a deeper dive with preconference courses.

Full-day preconference courses

Monday, October 27: 9am–5pm

• After Effects: Your Designs in Motion

  Motion communicates in a way static design often can’t, and there’s no better place to bring your creative ideas to life than Adobe After Effects. Join Emmy-winning motion designer and Adobe Certified Instructor Kyle Hamrick on a deep dive into the fundamental concepts and techniques of motion in After Effects, where you’ll learn how to create and animate a variety of examples in this hands-on lab. You’ll walk away with tons of effective but accessible techniques you can apply to your brand or your own work right away. This all-day preconference lab will take you from graphic designer to motion designer.

  Kyle will teach you how to:

  • Meaningfully add motion to your existing design skillset
  • Comfortably navigate the After Effects interface, tools, and essential techniques
  • Import and animate layered Photoshop and Illustrator artwork
  • Combine images and video to create compelling multimedia animations
  • Export your animations for multiple formats and use cases

  Note: This course is intended for in-house graphic designers who want to add motion to their toolset.

  Type: PC lab

  Technical Level: Beginner

  Instructor: Kyle Hamrick, motion designer and Adobe Certified Instructor

  Register for After Effects: Your Designs in Motion

• Boost Your Creativity with Advanced Photoshop Tips and Techniques

  Uplevel your Photoshop skills and spend more time being creative. Join Adobe’s principal product designer, Bradee Evans, for an electrifying full-day lab that reveals hidden shortcuts and non-destructive techniques designed to streamline your workflow. Uncover secrets that speed up your process, master precise selections, and harness the secret powers of layer comps — all while engaging in creative masking and compositing projects that make learning a blast. Elevate your skills, boost your productivity, and unlock more time for pure creative expression.

  Some of the techniques we'll cover include:

  • Customizing Photoshop to blend with the way you work
  • Discovering hidden gestures to increase your creative speed
  • Working with creative non-destructive masking techniques and custom brushes
  • Leveraging advanced non-destructive workflows with layer comps and smart objects

  Type: Mac lab

  Technical Level: Advanced

  Instructor: Bradee Evans, principal product designer, Adobe

  Register for Boost Your Creativity with Advanced Photoshop Tips and Techniques

• Unleash Your Video Editing Superpowers: Build a Promotional Video

  Dive into an electrifying post-production adventure with Adobe Certified trainers Karl Soulé and John Knowles. Using exclusive footage from previous Adobe MAX events, and featuring the legendary Russell Brown, you’ll craft a jaw-dropping promotional video centered around his iconic presence throughout the years. Master the full toolbox of Creative Cloud apps to transform Adobe Premiere Pro into your unstoppable editing powerhouse.

  Get ready to:

  • Seamlessly glide between Creative Cloud apps with Adobe Dynamic Link for a lightning-fast workflow
  • Ignite your visuals with stunning compositing and VFX in After Effects
  • Craft bold motion graphics templates to lock in consistent, Russell Brown-inspired branding
  • Supercharge your edits with Photoshop images and Illustrator vectors, perfectly integrated into your timeline
  • Master color management to make your Russell Brown promo pop with vibrant, professional-grade looks
  • Amplify your audio with Adobe Audition for crystal-clear sound and soundscapes
  • Stay organized and unstoppable with Creative Cloud Libraries, Adobe Stock, and Adobe Firefly integration

  Note: This is an intermediate level class for users who have experience using Premiere Pro. Beginning editors should consider our beginner preconference class: Introduction to Premiere Pro: Deep Dive into Video Editing.

  Type: PC lab

  Technical Level: Intermediate

  Instructors:

  • Karl Soulé, Senior Adobe Certified Trainer and senior technical lead for business sales, Adobe
  • John Knowles, Adobe Certified Trainer

  Register for Unleash Your Video Editing Superpowers: Build a Promotional Video

• Design a Logo the DDC Way...in a Day

  The pace of life and work only seems to speed up, and it can be increasingly difficult to make time for ourselves. How about a day to make something for yourself? Spend a day with Aaron Draplin of the Draplin Design Co. and make the logo you’ve always wanted to make … in a day! Learn the finer points of his logo-making process, from inspiration-gathering to sketching to iterations to jumping into Illustrator to bring your logo to life. Aaron will go from student to student, guiding projects along in a relaxed, constructive environment. Learn a mountain of actionable items from the DDC graphic design universe. All skill levels are welcome, but a working knowledge of Illustrator is recommended.

  Aaron will cover:

  • His logo process from start to finish for you to try out in the moment
  • His DDC top 20 tips, tricks, and techniques to improve Illustrator workflows and execution
  • Practical alignment hacks and color refinements
  • Crucial typographic tips and tricks
  • File setup and handoff efficiencies
  • Tactical, actionable items to improve how you make what you make, backed up by a comprehensive overview PDF
  • A handy guide to use as you apply your workshop learnings to your own design work

  Bonus: Each participant will get a DDC Starter Merch Kit.

  Type: Mac lab

  Technical Level: General audience

  Instructor: Aaron Draplin, founder of Draplin Design Co.

  Register for Design a Logo the DDC Way...in a Day

• Exploring 3D for Graphic Designers with Project Neo (beta)

  Unlock the power of 3D design for branding and identity graphics with Illustrator and Adobe Project Neo (beta). Join veteran MAX presenter Tony Harmer in this full day, hands-on lab and explore Illustrator’s 3D capabilities, then dive into the incredible world of Project Neo, an innovative new web app that lets you quickly create stunning 3D graphics with precise lighting, shadows, and perspective. Learn new ways to create branding graphics using intuitive, fun tools that are a natural extension of your existing design skills.

  Tony will show you how to:

  • Craft compelling logos, illustrations, icons, and typography with eye-catching depth and shading effects while still maintaining your vector shapes
  • Create dimensional shapes in minutes without the complexity of traditional 3D tools
  • Explore intuitive new workflows for both 2D and 3D designs and quickly produce design variations by adjusting perspective, lighting, and materials

  Type: Mac lab

  Technical Level: Intermediate

  Instructor: Tony Harmer, artist, author, and Adobe Community Expert, Design Ninja TV Ltd

  Register for Exploring 3D for Graphic Designers with Project Neo (beta)

• InDesign Secrets: Pro-level Techniques

  This is your chance to explore new techniques to supercharge your InDesign workflows and discover more efficient ways to build high-quality pages fast. Join InDesign guru David Blatner as you deep dive into your favorite page layout app. Whether you’ve been working with InDesign for nine months or nine years (intermediate to advanced users), this full-day hands-on lab will help you take your skills to the next level.

  Explore with David:

  • Automating your document layouts and text formatting
  • AI tools and services that boost your productivity
  • Working with essential scripts and add-ons
  • Managing RGB and CMYK colors and images
  • Importing and cleaning text stories the right way
  • Optimizing your workflow with Photoshop and Illustrator
  • Five essential steps you need to take before printing or exporting a PDF

  Type: Mac lab

  Technical Level: Intermediate to Advanced

  Instructor: David Blatner, President, CreativePro Network

  Register for InDesign Secrets: Pro-level Techniques

• Interactive Photographic Treasure Hunt: Hands-on Photography and Editing

  Embark on an all-day creative treasure hunt of learning camera and editing techniques that professionals use to create eye-catching portfolio-quality images. The day is dedicated to learning by doing, demystifying camera settings, practicing composition skills, appreciating light, and personalizing image editing.

  Join photographers, authors, and educators Katrin Eismann and Seán Duggan, Adobe team members including Chris Ayers, and many Lightroom product experts for this high-energy, on-your-feet preconference lab, photowalk, and treasure hunt that combines in-depth instruction with hands-on practice. Explore each learning island to solve the treasure hunt challenges as you work with models, lighting, creative compositions, and knowledgeable instructors to set you up for success. All you need to bring are your phone and enthusiasm — and perhaps a pirate costume.

  You’ll learn basic photographic essentials about lens choice, file formats, composition, previsualization, lighting, and how to work with models. Then, we’ll put it all into practice during intensive, small-group photography sessions. Throughout the day, we’ll focus on fashion, portraiture, studio, still life, creative, and editorial photography and video, and practice photographing professional models on location and in the studio. This full-day preconference is packed with essential information to uplevel your photography game — and we’ll have a lot of fun, too!

  You’ll leave with new photography skills as well as insider tips and techniques for editing on the go, including how to:

  • Understand and apply essential photographic principles that will set your work apart
  • Experiment with light, composition, and working with professional models
  • Edit images to make them stand out using Adobe Lightroom on mobile
  • Share photos with clients, family, and friends, and more broadly on social media

  Type: Mobile lab and photowalk — Participants should bring a mobile device with Lightroom on mobile installed.

  Technical Level: Beginner to intermediate

  Instructors:

  • Katrin Eismann, product manager, Learning and Inspiration, Adobe
  • Seán Duggan, photographer and photographic educator, Adobe
  • Chris Ayers, photographer and senior engineering manager, iOS, Adobe

  Register for Interactive Photographic Treasure Hunt: Hands-on Photography and Editing

• Introduction to Premiere Pro: Deep Dive into Video Editing

  Join Adobe Senior Solutions Consultant Chris Hansen for an engaging and insightful session on unlocking the power of Adobe Premiere Pro. This beginner level preconference lab will help you learn the essentials to create high-quality videos that elevate your brand. Discover the art of storytelling through video, master the basics of starting your first project, and walk away with the confidence to make video an integral part of your content strategy.

  You will learn:

  • Mobile/web editing: Learning the tools available so you can shoot and edit wherever you are in the editing process
  • Folder architecture and organization: Best practices for setting up folders and importing media, and why staying organized is key to a smooth editing process
  • Editing essentials: Creating a project; setting up a sequence; and cutting, trimming, and arranging clips for a smooth flow
  • Graphics and effects: Understanding the Essential Graphics panel and using eye-catching titles and overlays
  • Mastering audio for professional sound: Understanding the Essential Sound panel and learning how to reduce noise, enhance clarity, and adjust levels
  • Using powerful AI to edit faster and smarter: Text-Based Editing, caption translation, removing pauses and filler words
  • Extras: Properties panel, the Media Intelligence and Generative Extend features, color management, and more

  Note: This is a beginner level class and assumes you have no experience editing in Premiere Pro. For editors with Premiere Pro experience, we invite you to check out our intermediate preconference class: Unleash Your Video Editing Superpowers: Build a Promotional Video.

  Type: PC lab

  Technical Level: Beginner

  Instructor: Chris Hansen, senior solutions consultant, Adobe

  Register for Introduction to Premiere Pro: Deep Dive into Video Editing

• Multi-App Mastery: Elevate Your Creative Workflow

  Take your creative workflow to the next level by integrating Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Project Neo (beta), Firefly, and Adobe Express. Join Bart Van de Wiele, head of solutions consulting at Adobe, and Rob de Winter, author, trainer, and designer, and learn how to save time, simplify complex tasks, and create stunning designs with powerful tools and AI-enhanced features.

  Master faster ways to build impressive work in Photoshop with Generative Fill, special effects, lighting, and high-quality selections. Explore how Project Neo (beta) and Firefly can help you create quick 3D designs and stunning images. And, you’ll see how Adobe Express makes it easy to add motion and share your work.

  You will learn:

  • How to use Firefly to convert your ideas into amazing images
  • Why Project Neo should be the next tool to add to your daily workflow
  • New and creative Photoshop techniques with (and without) AI
  • Adding animations in Adobe Express and sharing work effortlessly
  • AI-powered selections, videos, effects, and enhancements in Photoshop, Firefly and more

  Type: Mac lab

  Technical Level: Intermediate

  Instructors:

  • Bart Van de Wiele, head of solutions consulting and tech evangelism, Adobe
  • Rob de Winter, Adobe Certified Expert, author, and designer

  Register for Multi-App Mastery: Elevate Your Creative Workflow