Adobe Creative Cloud
Colby faculty and staff have full access to Adobe Creative Cloud (formerly known as Creative Suite). Creative Cloud is a library of apps to develop photo, design, and video projects.
Accessing Adobe Creative Cloud
Download Adobe Creative Cloud on your Colby-issued computer at the link below. Sign in using Okta and the download will begin, which may take 10-20 minutes. Students can access Adobe Cloud on lab computers across campus. For questions, contact Academic ITS.
Adobe Express
While other Adobe apps such as InDesign and Illustrator require prior design knowledge, the newly launched Adobe Express is a layman-friendly alternative and acts similarly to Canva. The Office of Communications supports ongoing usage of Adobe Express and offers pre-designed templates within this space for wider accessibility and ease of use.
Adobe Express is great for collaboration between team members. Because Adobe Express is a cloud-based application, files are auto-saved. Your work can be shared among team members and is available for you on any Colby computer you log into.
Accessing Colby’s Brand Kit, Templates, and Libraries
Colby’s Brand Kit appears universally across all Adobe Creative Cloud apps. Updates made to the brand kit automatically appear, so there’s no need to re-download or worry about using an outdated version.
If using Adobe Express, click the links below to access each Colby Brand Kit. Click the blue Join button in the top right corner to add the kit to your Brands. Then whenever you use the left-hand navigation and select Brands, you will be able to access the brand kits you’ve joined.
Use the appropriate Brand Kit depending on how you plan to use your design, whether for digital-only purposes, like a social media post, or for print, like a brochure.
Within a Brand Kit, you will see a secondary navigation:

Templates
Select Templates to start a project using one of our pre-approved templates. Colby’s Brand Kit can be applied to any design you create in Adobe Express, whether you’re using one of our templates or designing from scratch. Adobe Express also has a large offering of templates for posters, social media, and more. Select Shuffle to switch between different color palettes, or hand select your colors from the Brand Kit.
Fonts
The Colby Brand Kit includes Colby’s standard typeface, Libre Franklin, in a range of weights. These are easy to apply and change in any template or design. Please be sure to change any fonts in non-Colby templates with Colby brand colors and fonts.
Using Libraries
In Adobe Express, navigate to Your Stuff > Libraries. In Adobe InDesign, use the right-hand navigation and select CC Libraries.
Adobe Creative Cloud Libraries are a powerful resource. Libraries allow you to save assets for your specific projects to your Creative Cloud account and give you the option to share them with others in your department.
Libraries are used to supplement Colby Brand Kits and are universal across all Adobe Creative Cloud applications—meaning, a library you create in Adobe Express will also appear in Adobe InDesign. Your Creative Cloud library is an easy way to have your most-used assets available across any Adobe application.
Additional Resources
- Adobe Express User Guide
- Design for prints
- Applying brand colors and fonts
- Working with layers in Adobe Express
- Using Creative Cloud libraries
- How to create Creative Cloud libraries
- Sharing Creative Cloud libraries
- QR code generator
Still having trouble using Adobe Express? Contact the Office of Communications.