Blog2021-05-06T12:54:43-07:00

Adobe – Which is Better, Subscription or Disc?

The Adobe Creative Suite is the industry standard for design applications: PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, etc. Adobe now provides two purchases options, and determining which is best is based on your needs.

Option 1: Purchase Disc
– The traditional purchase is a serial number, either software download or install disc. This provides a fixed set of applications (depending on which suite is selected). It is OS specific (Windows or Mac) and can be installed on multipled computers (generally two).

TLC Creative has historically purchased the Design Premium suite for its design and show computers. This suite includes:
• Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Acrobat Pro, Bridge, Media Encoder

Option 2: Subscription
Recently, Adobe has starting offering a new subscription option, called Adobe Creative Cloud. It is based on CS6, the newest version of all Adobe apps. It also has the advantage of being turned on and off. So if you need Adobe software for a short time, it can be paid for in monthly increments. It also has the advantage of getting additional tool features added with the automatic web-based updates (so the subscription install of Adobe CS6 Illustrator has a number of additional tools that the disc install does not).

The subscription option is like purchasing the most robust (ie. costly) creative suite, the Master Collectoin. When looking at the year long subscription rate, the subscription is considerably lower cost than purchasing the Master Collection. But not that far from purchasing one of the other CS options. Currently, the Creative Suite includes:
• Photoshop Extended
• Illustrator
• InDesign
• Dreamweaver
• Flash
• Fireworks
• Acrobat X Pro
• Acrobat XI Pro (Not included in any CS)
• Bridge
• Media Encoder
• Lightroom (Not included in any CS)
• Adobe Muse (Not included in any CS)
• Flash Builder
• Edge Tools & Services (Not included in any CS)
• Premiere Pro
• After Effects
• Audition
• SpeedGrade
• Prelude
• Encore

It also includes these services: (Not included with any CS)
• Device and PC Sync
• Cloud Storage
• Business Catalyst
• PhoneGap Build
• TypeKit
• Story Plus
• Digital Publishing Suite

For TLC Creative Services, a major advantage of the disc install version is our show computers can inherit the previous version. So all show computers are very capable computers, just not loaded with the “cutting edge” edition. With the subscription, there is no “old” software available for use on other computers. The subscription is more economical over the course of the year than a direct purchase and allows us to have access to many applications that have not been a part of our standard design process. So for us, it is a combination of Disc and Subscription.

– Troy @ TLC

By |January 9th, 2013|Resource/Misc|

It Takes A Lot to Develop A “Real” PowerPoint Template – This Is The Best Resource Available To Know How To Do It!

“Building PowerPoint Templates – step by step with the experts” is one of the best resources available for anyone that creates PowerPoint templates (based on PPT 2007/2010). Outside of a small group of professional designers, and some of the developers at Microsoft, it would be difficult to find this information condensed into a single place. The authors are good friends, Microsoft MVPs for PowerPoint and two designers that I trust to know the real how-to’s, and why, of developing PowerPoint templates.

It can be found here at Amazon.com.

– Troy @ TLC

By |January 7th, 2013|Resource/Misc|

What I Learned from “Present It So They Get It” – Book Review

I ended the year with some reading and “Present It So They Get It” is on my recommendation list! I was happy to spend some time with the author, Dave Paradi, earlier in the year at The Presentation Summit where he was also a presenter. I learned we have a lot of similar presentation design goals, but Dave is the first to admit he is not a presentation designer. What he brings is the audience perspective, the executive/presenter understanding, and works on crafting the message, both spoken and visual, into a professional package.

The books subtitle, “Create and Deliver Effective PowerPoint Presentations Your Audience Will Understand” reinforces all of this perfectly. Topics cover everything from explaining that PowerPoint (or any presentation software) is not the problem with boring presentations (chapter 1) to detailing what charts and graphs should contain to carry a message to the audience (chapter 14) and lots more.

Read more about it, and Dave Paradi, at his site here.
The book is also available at Amazon.com here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |January 3rd, 2013|Resource/Misc|

Goodbye to 2012 and Christmas Lights

Final day of the year – and it has been a great year! For us here at TLC Creative Services, it has had an overload of projects, lots of new (and repeat) clients, a full year in the new (and larger) office and lots of travel!

Personal life has also been good – lots of family adventures and wonderful Christmas decorations to end the year.

See you in 2013!
– Troy @ TLC

By |December 31st, 2012|Personal|

Merry Christmas Eve with a Free Christmas PowerPoint Template!

At Christmas, the spirit of the season – and a lot of the fun, is giving. TLC Creative Services has this great Holiday themed template for everyone to have and use – FREE!!

Many thanks to TLC Creative Services designer Amber, who developed this template!

Template is developed in PPT 2010 and 16×9 (wide screen) aspect ratio. Download here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |December 24th, 2012|Portfolio, Templates/Assets|
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