design

TLC Creative Services Receives “Best Of” Award

It is small and for local businesses. But not that small of an area, TLC Creative Services is in a small city of 100k, bordered by cities of another 200k. I know there are not a lot of graphic design companies in our area, but we are very proud to receive one of the BEST OF 2015 awards!

2015_Murrieta_Award

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:07:23-07:00March 21st, 2015|Personal|

Design Idea – Group Text Into A Visual Layout

Slide design is usually thought of as making the content professional and visual – which it is. It is also about understanding the message and purpose of the presentation and each slide – something TLC Creative Services enjoys working with clients to uncover. For this slide from a recent project our design team developed a new layout that grouped the paragraphs of text into information chunks, and created a visual styling that coordinates with the clients overall visual branding.

Text-to-visual

This slide is a handout provided to everyone in the training, so large font size was not a primary need. The ability to identify sections of text within the 3 paragraphs was important for the group discussion. Working with the client we identified 5 topics and added subheads to each, then the full text from the provided paragraph. The end result is a slide that would not be ideal if just presented on a screen (too much small text), but a slide that works as a handout and aids the trainers group discussion.

 

– Troy @ TLC

 

By |2016-08-10T09:08:54-07:00February 23rd, 2015|Portfolio, PowerPoint|

Slide Design Idea – Negative Space Text

A very nice design strategy used in print design is creating callouts and bold graphics with text created from the negative space.

Negative Space Text-7

This same style is easily created within PowerPoint for slide design. The above example image was created in PowerPoint 2013 – here is how (thanks to Michelle on the TLC Creative design team for this tutorial).

By using PowerPoint Combine Shapes tools (Combine, Intersect, Fragment, Subtract), the process is pretty easy.

1. Add a shape of your choice – I am using a tall vertical bar.

Negative Space Text-1

2. Add a separate text box with the text of your choice and format as desired – I am using “TLC Creative” in a typography styled stacked layout.

Negative Space Text-2

3. Select both objects – Note: Select the RECTANGLE first.

4. With both objects selected, go to FORMAT >> Merge Shapes >> Combine

Negative Space Text-3

Negative Space Text-4

5. The text is “cut out” of the rectangle. Note: The text is no longer editable as it has been converted to a custom vector shape.

Negativce Space Text-5

6. The shape is editable, like any other shape. All shaping styling options are available: fill color, gradient fill, transparency, bevel, drop shadow and more.

To really see the effects, place an image behind the new shape. A few examples:

Negative Space Text-11Negative Space Text-9NegSpaceText-8

By |2016-08-10T09:09:57-07:00February 16th, 2015|Resource/Misc, Tutorial|

Diabetes Before-and-After Slide

Continuing this month’s theme of Slide Design ideas, this is a before-and-after slide from a project we completed.

Diabetes-before-after

The before is a common slide: title and bullet list as provided by Microsoft’s default template. Our design team reviewed the presentation message and made the recommendation that this list be converted into a 3 column visual layout. The idea is to help the audience group the content to be able to quickly identify the message and focus on the presenter. Ideally, we would like to help the audience further by reducing the amount of text on slide, but for this one the request was to maintain the provided content. The end result, even with the same amount of content, is a much more lively slide designed for the audience.

 

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:10:19-07:00February 11th, 2015|Portfolio, PowerPoint|

Image + PowerPoint Graphic for Complete Slide Message

This is a slide from a recent project that I think is a good demonstration of seamlessly integrating PowerPoint content and graphics with photos. We developed from a script, so no design was done before our design team created the presentation – but I can easily see something like this being the “standard” PowerPoint slide:

CloudData1

Here is the TLC Creative Services slide for the presentation:

Complete Slide Message 2

Here is the development process for the complete slide message:

1. Review script, understand message, outline needed slide content to support message.

2. Research images, or develop image. For this slide we used this stock image:

CloudData3

3. Develop a cloud graphic in PowerPoint to animate and carry the message.

4. Use a combination of PowerPoint shapes and custom shapes that will become our PowerPoint cloud:

CloudData4

5. Turn all of the shapes into a single cloud using the MERGE SHAPES tool:

CloudData5

5. Adjust the color and fill/outline options:

CloudData6

6. Add the text (direct in the cloud shape):

CloudData7

7. Final step is to add an animated entrance effect:

CloudData8

Download the final slide here: CloudData

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:16:06-07:00December 8th, 2014|Personal, Resource/Misc|

Providing More Than Just Slide Beautification

Here is a graphic supplied by the client for a recent presentation design project . Quick – what is wrong?

numbers-1

 

In developing ideas for a new way to show this information we noted the pie chart numbers add up to greater than 100% (108.4%). We let our client know of this and received a great soundbyte “Wow, you guys actually look at the content you are working with!”

Yes, TLC is very picky about the aesthetics (color scheme, alignment, consistency) AND the message.

 

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:19:16-07:00November 10th, 2014|Portfolio, PowerPoint, Resource/Misc|

Slides From Lexus

There are not a lot of slides that can be publicly displayed from the projects TLC designs. Here is a sample of some of the slide designs we created for a recent meeting Lexus had.

Lexus2014-2

All slides were developed at 16×9 and different size letter box bars (black bars top/bottom) were added to adjust the slides to the various LED wall configurations. The green text is notes about the slide (who the presenter was for that slide, which screen it was set to display on, etc.) and are in the non projected section of the slide.

Of course these are also a static image of the slides. For the meeting every slide had dynamic animated entrances which were developed with a combination of slide transitions and animation.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:22:30-07:00October 22nd, 2014|Portfolio|

Write It To Win It, Book Cover

Here is another book cover design project completed by TLC Creative Services. The author, Sean Hinchey, is a really great person and after getting a summary of the book’s message, he let us develop the creative direction from colors and fonts, to accent graphics.

Write-It-Book-Cover

This book is available on Amazon.

39Secrets_2

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:24:54-07:00October 8th, 2014|Portfolio|

Zsa Zsa Book Cover

TLC was contracted by a wonderful gentleman that worked with the famous Zsa Zsa Gabor to develop an elegant book cover for his new book. Metallic text, subtle fabric cover texture, classic silver picture frame, and a gradient to draw the eye down the content. This is a PowerPoint presentation, but a design that presents a story.

Zsa-Zsa-Book-Cover

For TLC Creative Services, another graphic design project, with the added benefit of working with a true character of Hollywood. The book is available on Amazon.

 

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:25:37-07:00October 6th, 2014|Portfolio|

TLC Creative Services – Designer of the Year!

TLC is located in the wonderful Murrieta/Temecula Valley, just north of San Diego. This week, I received notice that TLC Creative Services, Inc. was selected as the Best of Murrieta “Graphic Designer” for 2014! Murrieta is a great town and we have some very talented designers in the area, at least 9 – the TLC team!

Murrieta 2014 Award

This is the 2nd year in a row TLC has received this award, and we are honored.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T09:31:41-07:00September 19th, 2014|Personal, Portfolio|
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