Digital Media

Adobe Spark Adds Collaboration for Education Users

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 07/08/19

Adobe has updated Spark, its suite of tools for helping users create visual content. Initially launched in 2016 as an upgrade and rebranding of existing programs, the set of apps for web work enables non-graphics experts to design professional-looking graphics, mix text and images and create animated videos simply and quickly.

The latest release added functionality of benefit for education users. The program, which is free for students and schools, whether K-12 or higher ed, now supports live collaboration through the web. Students and instructors can begin a project and invite others to work on it by adding their email and sending an invitation to make edits. Shared projects appear in a new tab in the project organizer, and edits made to the project will be visible to collaborators.

The feature only exists currently on the desktop or laptop version; mobile doesn't include the capability yet. Also, only one person will be able to open the project at a time for editing.

Adobe noted that it expected to add project commenting; real-time, synchronous co-editing; mobile project sharing; and "support for multiple brands" for users who participate in more than one team.

The new version now comes in multiple languages, including French, Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese. It also includes new text animations and animated stickers in the Apple iOS app and has introduced premium templates for paid members with "bespoke fonts" from leading type creators.