Training

I Teach

• HTML & CSS
• JavaScript & GreenSock
• Figma
• Sketch
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe InDesign
• Adobe Illustrator
• Adobe After Effects
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Adobe InCopy
• Design
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• SQL
• Project Management
• Power BI

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I Have Taught

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Teaching Modern, Up-To-Date Skills

Noble Desktop is an Adobe Authorized Training Center in New York City. It was founded over 30 years ago, and I’ve been part of that history for more than 20 years. In addition to being the school’s director, I teach, create courses, and I’m the chief technology guru. I am proud to be part of Noble, because we teach people modern, professional skills in regularly scheduled open enrollment classes, as well as custom training for businesses.

I have trained many companies locally within New York City, and in many states across the United States. I’ve traveled to numerous companies for custom trainings, so feel free to inquire by emailing me at dan(at)danrodney(dot)com.

For more info about classes or a schedule of upcoming classes please visit nobledesktop.com. There you can see examples of what we teach in each class, sign up for free seminars and more. Questions? Email me at dan(at)danrodney(dot)com.

Check Out Noble Desktop

Student Comments

Here are some of the nice comments students have written about me in class evaluations.

1. The remarkable Dan Rodney gave (and gave!) invaluable insights, tips, shortcuts, workarounds, apps, and up-to-the-nanosecond how-tos for more productive designing. Senior Tech Guru, indeed.
   — Jamie Leo
2. This class was extremely beneficial. The instructor was knowledgeable and helpful with any questions we had. Well worth the time and money spent!!
   — Kari Voss, K4 Administrator, McGraw-Hill
3. The guy is a pro.
4. When you’re learning how to code, having a good teacher really matters. Dan Rodney is the best teacher I’ve found thus far. He is incredibly patient yet very energetic, runs the class at a good pace, provides plenty of his own tips and insights to supplement the book and is proactive about researching the latest developments so he can update students on those changes.
   — Elizabeth Woyke, Technology Reporter
5. Thank you! You are a great teacher. When I returned to school 4 weeks ago I was told they wanted me to get Adobe Certified. I had no time to study and would have never passed if it wasn’t for taking your class this summer! I got a 92.5% and couldn’t be happier!
   — Teresa Alessandria De Sapio Diaz, Commercial Arts & Animation Instructor
6. The seminar was truly amazing. I taught for 37 years and can certify that Dan is a superlative educator. I am not exaggerating. He managed to keep large numbers of processes and concepts in the air at once (and on two platforms) so that I could follow everything (and I start in complete ignorance so this is no small feat). Dan also gave us a comprehensive understanding where before I had only pieces, so my general technical knowledge was given a context while he delivered so much that was new to me. I have vivid memories of all that was covered and believe I can implement tomorrow. And, I will certainly avail myself of courses with Noble Desktop. My compliments (and my loyalty). Thanks, again.
   — Bill Roney
7. Thank you SO much for leading the training yesterday. The team found it very helpful with the eBook exercises, tips, and even your personal insights in how to best work within the limitations of Sketch. Our team has already started thinking about future trainings.
   — Associate Creative Director, Merck
8. I freaking love this place [Noble Desktop]. I always feel so inspired after I attend an event here. I am convinced Dan is a robot or alien because he is so damn knowledgeable! I am so lucky we have this place and am appreciative that their classes are affordable and accessible.
   — Carmela S. (review originally posted on Yelp)
9. Thank you, Dan, for an AMAZING class last week! Our designers of all levels found it extremely helpful!
   — Annemarie
10. Dan’s training gave me the ammunition to tame the dragon called Photoshop CC.
    — Michael Troy
11. Just wanted to say thank you for the wonderful InDesign Style seminar. You’re an awesome instructor, as always! I’ll forever be grateful for all the tips and tricks you showed us and the time they would save me.
    — Rieko Yamanaka
12. What a fantastic presentation! Dan Rodney ROCKS.
    — Sally Minker
13. Thanks so much for an a-w-e-s-o-m-e class. Super interesting and a lot of fun.
    — Gene Peterson
14. I just wanted to send a thank you note letting you know how much I enjoyed your Intro to Web Design seminar. My first introduction to web design was this summer where I took a Introduction to Web Design class at the 3rd Ward in Brooklyn. I had a much more valuable learning experience in only 2 hours at your class night and I appreciate it.
    — Michael Gruner
15. The Quark to InDesign class was just amazing—Dan is a very talented teacher: quick, enthusiastic, friendly... Covered all the basics and more (including the style sheets, master pages, complex find/replaces). This is the perfect class for the seasoned Quark user who fears InDesign... I was converted by lunchtime the first day. Dan knows Quark inside-out and backwards, and was able compare and contrast the logic of the two programs—a total expert who speaks plainly and succinctly. I’m so impressed, I really want to take more courses at Noble Desktop now.
    — Laura Forde, Freelance Art Director + AIGA Board Member
16. Dan rocks. He knows his stuff really well and he even taught us some Quark stuff we didn’t know! I would highly recommend taking a class with Dan—you’ll feel knowledgeable and well-armed enough to tackle InDesign. Can we take him to work with us? :)
    — Cara Reynoso, Deputy Art Director, Parenting Magazine
17. Dan is a truly GREAT teacher. I’ve had him for Quark, InDesign, and now Illustrator, and he only gets better. Since this class was such a minefield for me, his ability to cut through the material and make it all comprehensible—even straight forward—is all the more impressive. His style is knowledgeable, directed, personable, and totally fresh—not a hint that he’s been through the material dozens of times before. He imparts confidence as well as info. He’s terrific at keeping the class focused and on schedule between exercises and demonstrations. He is also very good at “hearing through” questions—getting to the underlying source of someone’s confusion.
18. The class was terrific and Dan was an EXCELLENT instructor.
19. This was just right... I took another InDesign class at a reputable school and got nothing from it. In 10 minutes at Noble, I felt very comfortable with the software and eager to learn more.
20. I was very impressed by Dan. He not only knew his stuff but his teaching style was very clear and easy to follow. I started learning “new” stuff within the first hour, (“x” key toggles color palette) and by having Dan go over the assignment in front of the class and then doing them myself helped reinforce what was being taught. I only wish you offered more Advanced Photoshop courses as there is so much to learn about the program. I have raved about this course and instructor to my co-workers and they are already talking about taking classes.
21. Obviously knew the program. I liked that he was very confident with PC’s and MAC’s. I’ve taken courses where the teacher only knew one or the other and was frustrating. Really showed that he knew his stuff.
22. I was mesmerized by Dan’s knowledge and his ability to convey it in plain English. He was able to assess and address individual needs during the exercise periods and there was not a single question he couldn’t answer, even when the person asking it didn’t make sense to anyone else in the room...
23. Scott [owner of Noble Desktop], you were great and so was Dan. It was worth $250.00 an hour. [That was for a group training.]
24. Dan, thank you very much! And thanks for a very interesting, useful class. As a nondesigner, I thought either I’d be in way over my head or that the experienced designers would find it too elementary, but you managed to work on both novice and expert levels very effectively.
    — Associate Copy Director, Creative Services, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in Hoboken, NJ
25. Dan was extremely knowledgeable about the topics, was able to answer all questions confidently and was extremely effective at explaining how to complete various tasks with InDesign. I would definitely take another course taught by him.
26. I took the Quark to InDesign class with Dan. He knew his stuff, and it was clear that he knew more than the basics. But he stayed at a level that everyone understood and only went into specifics and more advanced information if people showed an interest and understanding. He never went above or below our heads. He has a good teaching manner.
27. Since Dan has been a book designer, and my needs are all about book design, I could not have had a better instructor. He was patient & polite. Even if you were being an idiot, he would not even infer that you were. On the subject of InDesign, Dan was inspiring. I came in thinking InDesign was a software program annoying but necessary to learn, and left inspired by all the possibilities it has.
28. I’ve had a few classes and lectures with Dan now and he is GREAT! He’s so easy to understand and caused a lot of “Aha!” moments for me (“Aha!!! THAT’S how it works!”) He explains everything so that everyone can understand. He’s enthusiastic and is always willing to answer questions, and answers them very easily. He obviously really knows his stuff. Keep up the good work! Looking forward to yet another class with him!
29. To add to what I said earlier, I would also comment on his patience which had no limit. He was also very intuitive in understanding exactly where everyone was in experience. His ability to keep the entire class moving in the right direction is amazing. There is not anything bad I can say about him or the course.
30. Instructor (Dan) was very good. Thorough, careful, energetic, and—most importantly—knowledgeable about the possibilities and limits of both programs. Liked the teaching style—watching Dan present, then working on a task—because it was a clearer, cleaner way to learn the program. Also, I’m breastfeeding and Dan found me a place to pump while I was there, which made my attendance possible (though I still had to cut out early on Friday for nursing reasons—sorry! But he provided so much good instruction up to that point, that I felt I’d gotten a good head start).
31. The instructor (Dan) was personable, and knowledgeable, and answered all of our questions. His presentation of InDesign made it easy to understand and very appealing!
32. Dan was great. The class was very informative and interesting. I feel very confident in using InDesign after taking the class—it was definitely worth it! I would recommend this class to anyone who wants to learn InDesign quickly.
33. I thought Dan was very articulate and thorough and careful to see that his students were following along. I would highly recommend his as an instructor to other students.
34. Dan was very good and honest about the program’s capabilities. Everything he taught made sense right away. Very clear.
35. Clear, concise, well-organized, patient and pleasant. The kind of guy you’d want your daughter to marry if she were a programmer.
36. I also thought Dan was a great instructor. He was concise and easy to understand. He was also quite knowledgeable about InDesign and was able to answer all questions without hesitation.
37. He was really exactly right on... And he dealt with the few stupid questions he got as if they weren’t stupid (which is a difficult thing to do sometimes!)
38. Great! Would recommend highly.
39. I thought he was great. He seemed to really know his stuff and had absolutely no problem answering questions. He seemed really enthusiastic about the program and teaching us about it.
40. A great instructor who knows how to balance the right amount of technical know-how with a little humor mixed in to put the student at ease.
41. Dan is an excellent teacher. Not only he knows his subject in depth but he also communicates it in a detailed, clear and understandable way.
42. He was extremely knowledgeable and unflappable—could answer questions of all types with clarity and never made me feel stupid, despite a few silly questions I had! He was very articulate and easy to listen to.
43. Very personable and respectful, he never made a negative comment.
44. Very knowledgeable, communicated well, was on top of the material & knew how to impart it.
45. Dan was attentive and responsive to our needs. He’s the real deal.
46. The timing and the instruction was perfect for me—Dan assumed the attendees knew nothing and that was exactly what I knew when I arrived. I knew a lot more when I left.
47. Dan’s a great teacher, he has the voice quality/personality and patience necessary to do his job.
48. Dan was excellent. I guess the only criticism that I have is that there was sometimes a bit too much time spent on some students questions that I felt was a bit unnecessary. Of course catering to such a diverse group of personalities is difficult and so I understand the need to make people feel that they are not only being listened to, but also getting their “moneys worth.”
49. Dan is excellent. I will be coming back for more classes.
50. I thought it was a great intro to Illustrator class. Dan seems to be the best teacher from all the classes I’ve taken.
51. I thought he was awesome. Friendly and knowledgeable.
52. Dan was professional in all matters! Truly a delight to have taken the class with him. I had heard about him and was hoping that he would be teaching the class!
53. The class was excellent—learned a lot. The instructor was excellent—very informative and thorough with each question and with each exercise. Every exercise was explained to the fullest before we began each one.
54. The instructor was very easy to follow along with and took a good amount of time explaining and answering question. I can not say anything bad about him and his teaching method. I finished the class feeling a lot more educated on Photoshop. Thank You.
55. Dan is a very knowledgeable instructor who presented the course material in an easy to understand manner, and shared his expertise willingly.
56. Dan is great. He obviously knows everything. His style is nice, he’s very patient, but doesn’t go too slow.
57. He is logical, is easy to follow, never bored me, didn’t miss a beat, didn’t use verbal pauses, was patient, very knowledgeable.I think he’s a great asset for Noble.
58. Dan was very patient in answering all the questions I had. Very good teacher.
59. For me, Dan made me feel comfortable.
60. He knows his stuff, and he uses it in the printing industry—for me that is essential.
61. Dan is a superb teacher, he knows his material inside out, and the course is terrific. Everyone in the class seemed interested and enthusiastic. There was a general mood that we were all learning A LOT of useful, productive stuff and having a good time while doing it. I know that an instructor has much to do with creating such a mood, so it only underscores how good Dan is at what he does.
62. Again, I felt fortunate to be taught by Dan. He communicated himself clearly and answered a question fully, kindly, and with patience.I was actually impressed by his clarity. He made a big program very approachable, enjoyable, and interesting.
63. Dan is well equipped for teaching. He is engaging and professional. His delivery is smooth, clear, and easy to understand.
64. Dan did an excellent job. He knows his stuff and it showed.
65. I can’t say enough about how great I thought Dan was as an instructor. Precise, professional, well-informed, and excellent at explaining the program. Also really helpful answering questions.
66. Dan was very good at explaining everything. When I asked him specific textile related questions he always went out of his way to answer them, even when he wasn’t sure of how it would be done. He always tried to figure it out to explain to me.
67. Loved learning from Dan. A great teacher.
68. Knew Quark very well and communicated real-life applications. Dan is not only book-smart, he is job smart.
69. I think that Dan was great. He showed tremendous interest in each of the individuals and exhibited great patience. He was also willing to give practical advise, which was greatly appreciated.
70. Dan was very knowledgeable about Adobe InDesign.... which obviously is needed when instructing a course. It’s great that he knew shortcuts, gave out websites to get “FREE” downloads and also wrote his own scripts and placed on his website for us to download.He found the speed of our class and adjusted perfectly to either how fast/slow we went. I’m just sorry we left a few hours early to beat the snowstorm and still be able to get out NYC. Thanks for the great class, Dan!!!
71. Dan was excellent. His knowledge of InDesign was impressive. He did a great job fielding questions. I really liked Dan’s teaching style. He had a great sense of humor and made the course exciting. He did an exceptional job fielding all the questions, and the class had a nice flow to it each day.
72. Dan’s a God. I never felt rushed or lost. Dan was patient and worked through all questions fired at him. On those rare occasions when a question’s answer didn’t readily come to him or he wasn’t sure what the inquisitor was asking, he took the time to work through the problem. No one was left behind, and yet, there was never a sense that the class was getting bogged down and had to rush to finish the assignments.
73. Dan was a wonderful instructor, with great communication skills. He was patient and took the time to answer ALL our questions!
74. Dan was extremely helpful to everyone and definitely knew his stuff. It was refreshing to go to a class where the trainer was able to communicate to those at all levels.
75. Excellent instructor, very engaging, very clear and precise about what we/he was doing. Tried to explain things in a very intuitive way... gave some great analogies on how to think about working with Photoshop.
76. He was very straight and to the point and explained the steps very well, giving examples when necessary. I also liked that he sometimes showed what would happen if we missed a step or did something wrong. He would show what it would look like which is good so that I can recognize it when it happens and know how to correct it. I also liked his approach of showing the lesson and then having us do it.
77. Dan was terrific. Great sense of humor, very good people skills, and really responded to class questions. It was fun watching him in action.
78. Dan really enjoys what he does and that ensured that the class was also enjoying themselves and getting excited about InDesign.
79. Seems to work very well with all levels of students.
80. Dan was groovy. I haven’t any complaints about his teaching style or his obvious knowledge of Photoshop. He’s also very helpful when asked.
81. Dan was really great—I never felt like he was going too fast or talking over my head—he is very good at explaining a complicated thing at an easy-to-understand level.
82. Exceptional! He was able to keep the whole classes attention by being very outgoing. Which I believe is very important due to the fact that it could potentially be a very long and boring class to learn. Plus everyone in the class felt the same way!! He made sure you understood everything clearly and wouldn’t continue unless you had a full understanding.You definitely get your moneys worth! And Noble Desktop has hired a great instructor with an extensive knowledge of computers!
83. I thought Dan had great passion for Web Design, and teaching. He had high energy, kept a pace in the class that kept me interested. He was very open to questions, repeating answers until I got it, and sharing his enthusiasm.
84. Dan is totally attentive to each student’s questions and was sensitive to everyone’s level. He is very informative and enthusiastic about InDesign. It was a great experience for me.
85. Dan is very articulate. He communicated the lessons with ease. He is also very knowledgeable about the course work and he is able to answer every question. He is very nice and extremely willing to help.
86. Dan was great he spoke well. and understanding him was easy. If you did not understand a certain part he would and could break it down so that you would.
87. Dan was an excellent instructor. He is knowledgeable, informative, patient, articulate, and loves what he does. His easy-going style makes for an excellent learning environment. Dan never talked down to students, nor over our heads, and he took his time to answer anyone’s questions.
88. I could tell that he really loves his job.
89. Dan’s teaching style and in-depth knowledge of both the software and the publishing industry combined for a great learning experience; things which I have always found intimidating and confusing suddenly seemed childishly simple. He was patient with stupid questions and often went beyond the nuts and bolts answer to a question to explain a related solution or give helpful background to a topic.
90. Really good communicator, patient and no BS/digressions.
91. Dan didn’t suck.
92. He was very thorough, and yet didn’t take too long on any particular topic, and communicated with great effectiveness. He also went the extra mile to attempt to answer my questions (and found answers to most of them—which given the way I am with my questions—that’s quite a compliment).
93. Dan is a GEM... a very congenial guy and a natural teacher who has excellent people skills! He projects a sense of confidence and “you can do this” as he talks, and he’s knowledgeable and enthusiastic about his subject. (Quark does some very cool things!)He doesn’t talk too fast or too softly or too slow. He makes good eye contact among all the students and isn’t thrown off track if someone asks a question during his presentation. I appreciated that he essentially previewed each exercise by going through the major tasks on the overhead projector, which made it easier when we had to read it through in the workbook.
94. I’m sure that as we were doing exercises, I raised my hand and asked for more help than anybody else, but Dan never made me feel like “the slow child” or that I was taking up too much of his time. He always came over with a smile on his face. I was sitting next to a young speedster who did all the exercises very easily and—as the oldest person in the class—that made me feel a little frustrated with myself. But Dan was very encouraging and supportive, and pointed out a few times that a weird screen message or whatever was not because of something I had done, but “just Quark being quirky”.
95. Dan’s fantastic. This is the second class I’ve had with him, and he clearly knows his stuff. He breaks everything down into manageable steps that everyone can follow. I appreciated that he shared some of his real-world experience with the class. He gave individual attention when needed and was able to answer all of our questions expertly.
96. I thought Dan was phenomenal. He knew his stuff well, and communicated perfectly. He was patient and thorough. His enthusiasm and know-how about design shows through to his lecturing. He shared some real-life experiences to further explain WHY to do things—not only explainHOW to do things. He answered all questions from me and the other students thoroughly. It was clear that he liked design, liked what he was teaching,and best of all, liked teaching. After class ended, it was no surprise to me that many of the students were repeat customers.
97. Everyone loves Dan as an instructor, including me. Consider this my request to be in Dan’s Illustrator class come November!
98. I thought Dan did a great job of balancing the off-topic questions that would arise during class with the exercises at hand. He managed to cover both with a lot of patience and insight, while remaining focused.
99. Dan is very knowledgeable with all things web design and had help me figure out uses for CSS that I’ve never thought were possible (rollovers with css, very cool).
100. Dan totally outdid himself this time. Not only was his excitement about the product’s capabilities infectious, he appeared to thoroughly enjoy sharing the wonders of InDesign with everyone in the class. I actually couldn’t wait to get back to work to start my first project!
101. I don’t remember ever feeling this level of confidence with a new application after using it for just a few days.
102. Dan was terrific; we may want to bring him to D.C. for a week sometime early next year as we make the transition to InDesign in our newsroom.
103. Dan was very nice & I particularly liked the fact that he never talked over my head. Everything was very clear and relevant and I was not bored once (which is more than I can say for most of the classes I’ve taken in my life). I also liked the teaching style of explaining the details of a function and then practicing with an exercise. I particularly liked the fact that Dan knew Quark as well as InDesign,so those of us making the transition from one to the other could ask specific questions about how to do Quarky things in InDesign—and he knew the answer.
104. Dan was an awesome instructor. Everything that he said was clear and concise. I can not imagine it being taught any better. Thank you!
105. Dan was engaging. I thought he was a very good teacher that communicated well.
106. Dan seemed to be very knowledgeable in Quark. He was attentive to our needs and was most approachable. He had a pleasant attitude that made us comfortable enough to talk about things that we did not understand. Usually one wonders if the instructor will be so full of himself that he makes it difficult for people to speak up about things they find hard to grasp. With Dan, it was the opposite—one respected his knowledge of the program and yet felt comfortable asking him questions, without wondering about whether he would make anyone look stupid for doing so.
107. I thought Dan did a good job of communicating his expertise without condescending or anything. He also did a really good job of giving concrete examples from his own work and tell stories about how he figured certain things out (by accident in some cases.)
108. I can’t imagine anyone could have a complaint about Dan unless they were way too thick or way too smart to be in this kind of class situation. In our class we had a great variety of background and I’m betting everyone enjoyed it and learned a lot.
109. I thought Dan did a great job. It was very obvious that he knows the software well, and he made an effort to include different examples for the type of work the students will be doing.
110. Dan went the extra mile to help us. If we had a question that he didn’t know the answer to (which was rare), he would look it up and get back to us. For instance, he spent quite a bit of time finding out about sharing InDesign’s custom dictionary. He also did some research (beyond the class itinerary) to answer some specific questions my colleague and I had about InDesign tagged text.
111. Dan knew the material inside and out, and would also point out various alternatives and short cuts. Also, would frequently check in with us to get feedback on material covered, and answer questions to ensure everyone was on track.
112. I have nothing bad to say about Dan. I thought Dan was cool and he knows his stuff pretty well. I had dredged to attend a 3-day classroom training, thinking how am I going to survive 3 full days of learning? But Dan was an excellent instructor, the training was not boring, the time went so fast... Keep up the good work, Dan!
113. I thought the class was excellent. I really enjoyed being there and learning the program. Dan was great. He was really easy to follow and seemed enthusiastic about teaching it to us. He was also always available for questions and really explained things thoroughly. I also think the exercises we were given were well crafted. I liked the “watch, then do” method of teaching. I have never taken a computer class before, so I have no idea if that’s the norm. But it worked for me! I also think that having extra exercises in the back of the book is a good idea, especially since students work at different paces. You are never bored and waiting for people to finish. You get a sense that you can keep learning and keep practicing as much as you’d like.
114. I thought Dan was a great instructor, he really knew his stuff. He got into the program in very great detail and I like to have detail, I think it helps to know what your able to do with the program even if you may not use all of its functions.
115. Dan was a great and thorough teacher. Taught us a lot of advanced techniques. Great teacher, great class.
116. There was no bad. If we have a choice, we’d like to have Dan back. I’m sure all your instructors are good, but we KNOWDan is good.
117. Dan ably demonstrated his thorough knowledge of JavaScript. His clear, engaging explanations, combined with his patience and insight,helped me learn a subject I was somewhat apprehensive about. His pacing and his method of building on concepts were perfect. He’s an excellent instructor.
118. Again, he presented a great format and was very interested in us achieving JavaScript skills throughout the 2 days. What I didn’t mention before is that he also kept the class interesting, after the first day, I was very much looking forward to our second day.
119. This is my second class with Noble (I think the first was maybe 5 years ago, but I’ve remembered how thorough the classes cover each program, so I knew this is where I should take this class, even if it meant having to cut out of the office an hour early to schlep into the city by NJ Transit to get to class). I’ve been wanting to learn Illustrator for a long time now and I’m glad I could finally fit this class into my schedule. I feel so empowered now! Dan was a great instructor, who knew his stuff and was able to answer questions well.
120. I thought Dan was excellent. He was very informative. Although, majority of the students in the class had web design experiences, Dan’s teaching style made me feel very comfortable and at ease. He was patient and took him time to answer all questions that were asked. Dan made himself accessible during and after class. So overall, I was impressed.
121. As I stated before, I think that Dan is an excellent teacher, he was very attentive to the students, and communicated well to each person in the class on their level.
122. He knows his material, transmits it clearly, allowing students to feel free to ask questions, while creating a comfortable atmosphere. It was a pleasure.
123. He was great, very knowledgeable, nice guy, answered all my questions.