{"id":1022,"date":"2024-09-18T12:59:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T16:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/?page_id=1022"},"modified":"2025-11-18T17:00:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T22:00:46","slug":"adobe-express-get-started-guide","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/adobe-express-get-started-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Adobe Express: Get Started Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Adobe Express: Get Started Guide<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Adobe Express<\/strong> is an online and mobile design app for creating graphics, videos, and web pages. The app follows a “freemium” model where you can access certain basic features for no cost, although logging in with your Smith credentials will provide you the premium, upgraded version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1. Go To Adobe Express<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Visit express.adobe.com<\/a><\/strong> and log in with <\/strong><\/mark>your Smith email<\/mark><\/strong> (including the @smith.edu<\/em>). When prompted, complete your login with your Smith username and password. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to use Adobe Express to create a short video, you can follow along with the Create a Digital Narrative with Adobe Express<\/a><\/strong> instructions. Otherwise, continue on this page to learn about the different ways to make content in Adobe Express, whether that is a zine, poster, social media post, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2. Get Started with a Blank Canvas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Depending on what type of final product you are creating, you can choose from a variety of templates and pre-sized designs. However, sometimes the easiest way to get started is to create a new, blank canvas at exactly the dimensions you need. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To do so, select the Create new “+” <\/strong>button from the upper lefthand side of the home screen, and then choose Custom size<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Then, change the Units<\/strong> to whatever makes sense for your product, and fill in the desired Width<\/strong> and Height<\/strong> accordingly. For example, to create a blank digest size zine page, you would fill in 5.5 in as the width and 8.5 in as the height:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now you’re ready to begin editing! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3. Get Started With the Editing Interface<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rename your project something different than the default title in the upper lefthand corner of the screen. Note that Adobe Express will save your project automatically as you work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Step 4. Add text & Media content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Look to the toolbar on the left-side of the page to add different types of content, including Text<\/strong> and Media<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Text<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Text<\/strong> tool will allow you to browse templated text options, or choose Add your text<\/strong> to create a text box on the page for you to start adding text from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once you have a text box on the page, you can select that text box to edit it and change its properties. With the text box actively selected, the left-side menu will now offer you related text-editing options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

You can change the formatting of your text to ensure that it is readable over the background. Out of the text menu, you can select Effects<\/strong> to change text color<\/strong>, add a drop shadow<\/strong>, or add a shape <\/strong>behind the text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once you have settled on a style for your text, I recommend you copy and paste the text boxes from page to<\/mark><\/strong> page<\/strong><\/mark>, editing each one for content only, to avoid having to re-create the style choices every time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Media <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Media<\/strong> tool can be found under the “+ Add Content<\/strong>” option in the toolbar. There, you can choose between the Photos<\/strong>, Videos<\/strong>, and Audio<\/strong> tabs, which will present libraries of Adobe stock material, as well as an Upload from device<\/strong> option to import your own saved files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Once you upload a media file or select an item from the stock library, it will populate on the slide.

You can then edit\/adjust the properties of each file if you first select the item on the slide. Notice that the left-side menu will update with the related options for that item, while it is actively selected, just like a Text<\/strong> item:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As you add content to your slide, the layers panel <\/strong>to the right side will become useful if you have to re-order or change the stack of the items on your slide. To change the order, click and drag a layer in the panel to the top or bottom of another layer in the panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Step 5. Exporting Your Final Product<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you are ready to export your project, choose the Download<\/strong> option in the upper righthand corner and select the File format<\/strong> works best for your product. PDF would be suitable for a zine, PNG for an image, and MP4 for a video, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adobe Express: Get Started Guide Adobe Express is an online and mobile design app for creating graphics, videos, and web pages. The app follows a “freemium” model where you can access certain basic features for no cost, although logging in with your Smith credentials will provide you the premium, upgraded version. Step 1. Go To […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5090,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1022","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5090"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2536,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1022\/revisions\/2536"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}