*** From the Archives ***

This article is from March 17, 2014, and is no longer current.

Spring Training: Learn New Design Skills Free Online

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I just got back from a trip to Phoenix, Arizona where I was consulting on a new type of digital publication. While there, providing training in the Spring to my client’s team, I took in a spring training MLB baseball game. On the plane home I was struck by the correlation between the two types of spring training. I invite you to follow my lead and renew your energy and passion for your creative profession. Nurture new skills to flower options in new fields. Update and reinforce your existing knowledge or dive into something completely new, online (and mostly for free) with the following resources.

lynda.com

Get 7 days of unlimited access to lynda.com free! That’s a full week—168 hours—free reign in the vast library to learn anything within hundreds of topics ranging from 2D and 3D drawing and animation through Web design and Web development. When the free 7-day trial is up, you can continue learning with an unlimited access membership for as little as $21 per month—a sum worth paying for the ever-expanding library of great knowledge available.

YouTube

Wait! Don’t skip this section! True, YouTube is a barely regulated barnyard of videos ranging from the fantastic to the feculent. If you know where to look (hint: this list!), you can discover gems of good, active sources of design and design business education created by genuine authorities in the field. Check out and perhaps subscribe to the below channels—the diamonds in the dung, if you will—to learn something new, participate in ongoing discussions, and learn—guano-free.

A.J. Wood

Jan Kabili

Pariah Burke

Richard Harrington

Tom Green

Adobe TV

Obviously centering around Adobe tools and technologies, Adobe TV is a free video training Website with a growing selection of video tutorials. Most are task-specific or discuss new features in each version of Adobe’s products, though there are quite few workflow-related videos as well.

Pariah S. Burke is the author of many books and articles that empower, inform, and connect creative professionals.
  • CaroleB55 says:

    The computer based training options (while free) have never been very helpful for me. I like to have a live instructor where I am able to ask specific questions and actually work through project files. That being said I just wanted to recommend ThinkB!G https://thinkbiglearnsmart.com as I took live online courses that were just two days on Photoshop and InDesign. They were excellent! Just wanted to pass along the information if anyone else prefers a live instructor.  

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