Creating the Chapter Label Graphics
The chapter label graphic was inspired by a licence plate expiration tag. It's a subtle design element that goes a long way to visually connect the course design to the course content. We added a subtle, peeling effect to give it the extra touch of realism.
If you're following along, I'm working in Lesson Files > Chapter_03 > Chapter_Label.pptx.
Step 1: Create the label shape
This effect begins with a simple rectangle shape.
- Click Insert > Shape > Rectangle and draw a rectangle on the slide. Sometimes it's easier to work at larger sizes and scale down once your elements are created.
- Click Shape Outline > No Outline to remove the outline
- Click Shape Fill and select orange from the DIYTC colors
- In the Selection Pane, rename the orange rectangle to Label
Step 2: Duplicate the rectangle
Here we'll create the triangle in the top right corner. This will be the basis for our page curl.
- Control-click-drag Label rectangle to make a copy of it
- Fill the new rectangle with an off-white color and position above the Label rectangle
Step 3: Create the page curl effect
Now we want to resize the white shape so that it's about a 1/4 the size of the orange shape.
- Click the bottom left resize handle and drag up to the right. You can resize with any handle but this way keeps the white shape top-right aligned to the orange shape. Resize so the top rectangle resembles a square but don't stress making it too perfect. It doesn't need to be perfect square.
- In the Selection Pane, rename the top shape Corner
- Right-click Corner and select Edit Points
- Right-click the bottom left corner point and select Delete Point. This creates a triangle out of the Corner shape.
- Duplicate the Corner shape by click-dragging it
- In the Selection Pane, rename the shape to Curve
- Change the color of the new shape to a darker gray
- Click-drag Curve's corner points so its side b so is against Corner's side d
- Click-drag the Bezier handles to create the curved shape of the curl. There is no ideal setting here so experiment. The idea is to find the right amount of peel for your shape. The more you drag the Bezier handles the higher the curl effect.
- Double-click Curve and go to Shape Effects > Drop Shadow > Offset Diagonal Bottom Left and use the following settings:
- Click Close to close the Format Shape window
Step 4: Adding text to the label
We're just about finished here. We only need to add some text to our label. Remember, this label will be used throughout the course, but the text will change on each slide to indicate the current step. Therefore, we just need to get one graphic set up the way we like and then duplicate for subsequent steps.
Create the Step numbers:
- Create a text box and type out 00. I used Univers Condensed Bold, but something like Verdana Bold or Impact Bold works just as well.
- Use a larger font size so the text really fills up the label
- Using the Selection Pane, move the numbers 00 below the Corner graphic
- Increase the Transparency of the Corner graphic to somewhere around 30%, to reveal the numbers text below
- Add another block of text and type STEP in all capitals
- Select Type Direction > Rotate all text 270°
- Position and align text as necessary. You can reduce or increase the Label graphic to align with the text.
- Group the text by click-dragging a selection around the graphics and text and pressing Control-G
Creating the remaining step numbers
Now that your label is created, you can duplicate each label and change the text value for each. Create ten step labels plus an Intro label.
In the next lesson we'll begin creating the car graphics. You'll practice several techniques including removing backgrounds and working with drop shadows. See you in the next lesson!