Adobe Course Materials Built on Real-world Projects

Our Professional Portfolio Series helps students master Adobe software and upgrade their skills as new features are continually rolled out. Partnering with instructors and professors nationwide, we’re proud to have helped thousands of students become job-market-ready with fresh, engaging, and interactive learning materials.

Teaching in a Classroom Environment? Educators Click Here! clipboard
INSTRUCTORS: Request a Desk Copy book-icon
STUDENTS/LEARNERS: Learn More & Enter to Win

We Provide Courseware to Build Both Skills and Portfolios

Proven and highly effective, our course materials are designed to enhance learning comprehension, retention, and career marketability. Use our programs to build both skills and portfolios that impress potential employers and customers right out of the gate.

Take a Tour Learn About Our Books



check

The Ultimate Learning Experience

Master practical skills, solve problems, and design creative solutions for real-world projects based on customer specifications.

Tips and Advice Along The Way

Bonus functionality, related tools, and key graphic design concepts are highlighted throughout each book.

Workflow-based Learning

Project goals align with common production workflows to help students step right into a graphic or website design career.

Build a Portfolio While you Learn

Choose coursework that builds technical skills and creative portfolio pieces for real-world client solutions.

Step by Step Lessons

Easy to follow exercises make coursework adaptable for the classroom, the virtual classroom, or a hybrid of both.

Notably Improve Retention

Reviews and summaries let students pause and reflect, while online exams provide immediate grades and feedback.

Tools for Visual Learners

Annotated illustrations, foundation blocks, and screenshots help visual learners identify and retain essential information.

Built-in Videos and Online Tests.

We provide supportive videos and online tests with fill-in-the-blank, multiple choice, and short answer questions.

What Teachers and Students Have to Say About Us:

“Against The Clock provides a solution to guide students toward learning the complexities of Photoshop from assignments that puts them in the role of the professional graphic artist!”
— Dr. John R. Craft
Appalachian State University
“ATC’s contemporary, real-world approach provides students with industry best practices for future career success. ATC provides relevant, consistent, and focused learning for students. The books are the ultimate go-to resource for student learning.”
— Joseph A. Staudenbaur
Dakota State University
“Love the Against The Clock books. They are the most comprehensive books that I have used to teach the Adobe applications. You guys are wonderful to work with!”
— Thomas A. Besgrove
Kansas City Kansas Community College
“This type of book allows the student to better learn and retain the content as it guides, challenges, clarifies, and asks questions. The book has a nice 'real world' feel and is everything a web teacher should look for in a textbook.”
— Frank Traina
Armwood High School
“I have used the Against The Clock textbooks for several years. My students and I enjoy the project-based format as it goes far beyond teaching how to use the tools, and provides a context for when it’s best to use them. In addition to producing great books, the staff at ATC are wonderful.”
— Tracie King
Delgado Community College
“The Against The Clock project-based lessons are ideal for my students to gain hands-on learning experience.”
— Dipu Mistry
Columbus State Community College
“This book is the perfect resource for my students. In a short amount of time they become comfortable with the tools, features and functionality of the software, freeing up additional time so that they can apply their own creativity to new, exciting and real-world projects.”
— Rick Freese
Corporate Trainer
“I did quite a bit of sniffing around for a book and your publication is by far the best I came across to incorporate into my online class. I find the book extremely well organized in content — both technically and conceptually.”
— Jim Pendergast
Western New Mexico University – NM
“I am learning to master Adobe Illustrator while building real-world projects. The focus on project-based learning is what made me choose the Against The Clock book. It is far superior to every other book I have tried.”
— Russell Barrett
Recent Graduate
“I love the Illustrator books. They are good to follow, challenging for the students, and the Portfolio Builders allow them a little freedom while creating and adding to their portfolios.”
— Martin Wolowicz
King George High School, Virginia
“The Against The Clock Graphic Design Portfolio has become an indispensable tool that provides self-motivated students with a map to success using the Adobe Creative Cloud as well as access to a higher level of knowledge which will support their goal of Adobe Certified Associate (ACA).”
— Patrick Maley
Lehigh Career & Technical Institute
“Against the Clock’s books are a great “real life” experience for high school students. Not only do they learn the basics of Photoshop and other Adobe applications, they also learn about the processes that a designer goes through while delivering client solutions.”
— Jay Zaccone
Nashua High School North, New Hampshire
“I have used Against The Clock books for a number of years. I find them to be very helpful in teaching skills in essential Adobe software products like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.”
— Cam Davis
Cedarville University
“The Against The Clock book is a great learning resource. I learned while I created professional looking projects that I was able to add to my portfolio to show potential employers. I’m ready to enter the job market.”
— Danielle Cunningham
Recent Graduate
“The quality of the Against The Clock textbooks are far superior to what we have used for our Graphics Technology course in the past. I’m so glad we switched back.”
— Gabe Grant
Eastern Illinois University
“I feel that student output and quality has increased this year and I feel that it could only be due to the switch to this book.”
— Elizabeth Luna
Wake tech Technical Community College
“After an exhaustive search for a project-based book that provides solid hands-on activities along with good written assignments, I was excited to have found the Against The Clock Professional Portfolio Series. These books are great!”
— Carin Murphy
Des Moines Area Technical College