Project Photoshop: Customizing Photoshop Course

Editorial Take

Adobe Photoshop is a powerhouse for creatives, but its default setup doesn’t suit everyone. Dave Cross’s 'Project Photoshop: Customizing Photoshop' bridges that gap by teaching users how to tailor the software to their personal workflow. With a stellar 4.8 Udemy rating, this course delivers concise, actionable training perfect for beginners and seasoned users alike.

Standout Strengths

• Expert-Led Clarity: Dave Cross brings years of Photoshop education experience, making complex settings feel intuitive. His pacing and explanations ensure no learner gets left behind, regardless of prior knowledge.
• Immediate Workflow Impact: The course teaches changes that yield instant productivity gains. Adjusting preferences and interface settings helps users work faster from day one, reducing frustration and errors.
• Comprehensive Preset Training: The 44-minute Presets module dives deep into saving brushes, actions, and styles. This reduces repetitive tasks, a major win for designers managing multiple projects.
• Keyboard Shortcut Mastery: Custom shortcuts are taught with real-world relevance. Learning to assign keys for frequent tools cuts down mouse dependency and accelerates editing significantly.
• Beginner-Friendly Structure: Despite covering advanced customization, the course remains accessible. Step-by-step guidance ensures users build confidence without feeling overwhelmed by Photoshop’s complexity.
• Lifetime Access Value: With lifetime access, learners can revisit sections as Photoshop updates. This future-proofs the training, making it a long-term asset for creative professionals.

Honest Limitations

• Limited Automation Coverage: The course skips scripting and advanced automation features. Users seeking to integrate JavaScript or batch processing won’t find those topics covered, limiting scalability for power users.
• No Exercise Files: Learners must follow along without downloadable assets. This may slow down practice for visual learners who benefit from hands-on file manipulation during tutorials.
• Interface Focus Only: While customization is the goal, the course doesn’t address third-party plugin integration. Users hoping to sync with tools like Capture One or Bridge may need supplemental resources.
• Short Total Runtime: At under two hours, some may expect more depth. While efficient, the brevity means topics like color settings or performance tweaks are only briefly mentioned.

How to Get the Most Out of It

• Study cadence: Complete one module per day with hands-on replication. This spaced repetition helps cement settings into muscle memory and improves retention.
• Parallel project: Apply customizations to an active design project. Real-time implementation reinforces learning and reveals which settings are most useful.
• Note-taking: Document each preference change made during the course. A personalized checklist ensures quick reconfiguration if settings are reset.
• Community: Join Photoshop forums or Reddit threads to share custom presets. Engaging with others expands your toolkit beyond what’s taught in the course.
• Practice: Spend 10 minutes daily testing new shortcuts. Repetition builds speed and confidence, turning customization into second nature.
• Consistency: Revisit the course every few months. As skills grow, new customization opportunities may become apparent, enhancing long-term workflow.

Supplementary Resources

• Book: 'Photoshop CC Bible' by Lisa DaNae Dayley offers deeper dives into tools and settings. It complements this course’s customization focus with broader feature coverage.
• Tool: Use Adobe Color for creating custom swatch libraries. Integrating these into Photoshop enhances preset usability and color consistency across projects.
• Follow-up: Explore 'Photoshop Automation: Actions & Scripts' for advanced users. It builds on this course by teaching time-saving automation beyond presets.
• Reference: Adobe’s official Photoshop guide provides updated documentation. It’s useful for verifying settings as new versions of the software are released.

Common Pitfalls

• Pitfall: Over-customizing too early can lead to confusion. Stick to essential changes first—like workspace layout and toolbars—before diving into niche menu edits.
• Pitfall: Ignoring preset backups may result in data loss. Always export your preset collections regularly to avoid losing hours of configuration work.
• Pitfall: Relying solely on defaults limits efficiency. Many users never explore customization; this course fixes that gap but requires active implementation.

Time & Money ROI

• Time: At under two hours, the course offers high efficiency. The time investment pays back quickly through faster editing and reduced frustration.
• Cost-to-value: Priced as a paid course, it delivers professional-grade training. The skills gained justify the cost, especially for freelancers billing hourly.
• Certificate: The Certificate of Completion adds credibility to portfolios. While not accredited, it demonstrates initiative in skill enhancement.
• Alternative: Free YouTube tutorials lack structure. This course’s organized approach saves time versus piecing together fragmented online content.

Editorial Verdict

‘Project Photoshop: Customizing Photoshop’ stands out as a focused, high-impact course that solves a universal pain point: inefficient workflows due to poor software setup. Dave Cross doesn’t teach Photoshop from scratch—he elevates the experience for those already using it. By focusing on preferences, presets, and shortcuts, he empowers learners to reduce clicks, minimize errors, and personalize their environment. These small changes compound into major productivity gains over time, especially for professionals handling repetitive tasks like photo retouching or batch editing.

The course’s strength lies in its precision. It doesn’t wander into unrelated features or advanced effects. Instead, every minute serves the central goal: customization. The inclusion of the Preset Manager and wrap-up ensures learners leave with a complete system, not just isolated tips. While advanced users might desire deeper automation content, the core offering is robust and immediately applicable. For under two hours of effort, the return on time and investment is exceptional. We recommend this course to any Photoshop user who’s ever felt slowed down by the default interface—it’s a small course with a big impact.