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5 Creative Cloud apps you need this fall.

Image Source: Cara Scott / Adobe Creative Cloud Identity Project.

Chances are you’re already using Adobe Creative Cloud for lots of professional tasks or learning assignments. This fall, though, take things to the next level in terms of usability, portability, collaboration, and social sharing with these five apps. They’re ideal for today’s on-the-go designers and design students, and all are available with your Creative Cloud subscription.

1. Adobe Photoshop

This is the world’s best imaging and design app — and we don’t say that lightly. Photoshop puts an incredible creative engine at your fingertips so you can create anything from posters to packaging, logos, websites, videos, and app designs. Millions of people around the world use this best-in-class software, including industry-leading designers, novice photographers, and everyone in between.

Photoshop’s tools can do amazing things, and the integrated templates are easy to use, so even beginners can transform photos, execute illustrations, and create phenomenal 3D artwork. What’s more, new features such as brush management and a Curvature Pen tool roll out constantly, and working in the cloud will give you access to all of them instantly.

2. Adobe Illustrator

Illustrator gives you access to a powerful sketchbook with every drawing tool needed to transform shapes and colors into beautiful logos, graphics, and illustrations right at hand. With a focus on vector-based artwork, Illustrator allows you to scale your creations to any size, from a mobile screen to a giant billboard, without losing definition.

If you like to illustrate with type, this app is the best there is — you can add effects, manage styles, and edit individual characters to create your own creative typographies. You can also lasso your creativity by sending ideas and mock-ups into Illustrator from the Adobe Capture, Adobe Sketch, and Adobe Draw apps.

3. Adobe InDesign

You don’t have to be a publishing company to create professional-quality document design. Many publishers use InDesign, and you have access to the exact same tool through Creative Cloud. Any gorgeous document you can dream up you can create with InDesign — posters, books, digital magazines, e-books, interactive PDFs, slideshows, and animations, for starters.

With InDesign, it’s easy to experiment with stylish typography, insert intriguing graphics and engaging images, design tables, and create compelling page layouts. Bring in your on-the-go design ideas from the Capture, Sketch, and Draw apps, then prep it all to print with a few clicks. Seamless integration with Adobe InCopy CC means you can team up with others to simultaneously work on integrating text into layouts.

4. Adobe XD

It’s never been easier to be a web or app designer, though creating truly intuitive, user-inspiring websites is still a rare skill not all designers can claim. Having the right tools to learn this interesting side of the design world is the best place to start if you want to become an in-demand user experience (UX) designer.

Adobe XD includes free UI kits and icon sets as a starting point for your designs. This design and prototyping capability adds an interactive functionality to your static designs, enabling you to preview prototypes, including transitions on iOS and Android devices, and easily share your work with your team via collaborative tools.

5. Project Rush

One of our newest offerings, Project Rush is an all-in-one video app that will make editing and sharing online videos fast and easy. Launching soon, this software features built-in camera functionality that enables you to take pro-quality video on mobile devices, edit it easily, and share directly from the app to social channels.

With simple adjustment and enhancement tools that you can use on the go, Project Rush allows users to create a high-quality and visually appealing narrative wherever you are. The fast and mobile nature of this app can spark creativity and push users to integrate design into the ongoing action of life.

BONUS: Adobe Capture, Sketch, and Draw

Another back-to-school essential? Adobe Capture, Sketch, and Draw, all accessible from the “big three” — Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. With Capture, use your mobile device to capture color themes, patterns, type, brushes, shapes, and more. Then, bring those assets into Adobe mobile and desktop apps including these three, plus XD and Dimension.

Rather draw? With Adobe Photoshop Sketch, create expressive drawings anywhere using your classic go-tos — pencils, pens, markers, and watercolor brushes, for starters. This enables you to get the textures and blending effects you’re looking for, without hitting the paper.

Last up is Adobe Illustrator Draw, perfect for getting those free-form vector designs going, even on your mobile device. With the app, it’s easier than ever to design production-quality art and design anytime, anywhere.

Load up on these back to school extras

Your Creative Cloud subscription also gives you access to Creative Cloud Libraries and other tools that work across all the apps. Libraries lets you access, organize, and share your creative assets among Adobe apps and across devices. Your library items automatically sync as you move from laptop to phone and from Illustrator to InDesign, so you can easily keep track of creative elements no matter where you are in the Creative Cloud.

In case all this wasn’t enough, don’t forget about the Creative Cloud tutorials and other support and inspiration that are available to students. The Behance Student Show allows you to showcase your work and get discovered. The Make It with CC lets you explore what other students are doing with the help of CC, from designing skateboards, to printing caricatures in 3D, to creating stop-motion animation.

To make the grade this year, get familiar with the best of your Adobe Creative Cloud subscription.