Three Simple Elegant Headers Text Effects

This tutorial will explain three different ways to create very simple yet elegant header-style text effects, using only two Layer Layer Style each time.

The Final Result

Tutorial Details

• Software Used : Photoshop
• Version : CS5 Extended
• Time : 5 min. each

Resources

• old paper texture by klimek.
• Brush Pack-Horizontal Dividers by MouritsaDA-Stock.

Effect 1: Drop Shadow and Gradient Overlay

The example used is the current TEXTUTS header. The Background color is #f4f2ed, and the text color is #b95886 but you can use any colors you want.

If you want to add more than one color to the text, you can use the Type Tool to select the characters you want to add a different color to, then click the color box in the Character panel (Window > Character) to choose the color.

Here, the color used is #b4b362.

To achieve the result in the header, I duplicated the text layer first then changed the colors, so that I had two layers, one with the first color and one with the second color, then, I rasterized both layers, and deleted the second half of the layer on the top.

Double click the text layer to apply the following Layer Style.

– Drop Shadow

• Blend Mode : Normal
• Color : Should be a bit lighter than the Background color. In this case, it is White (because the Background is very light).
• Opacity : 100%
• Distance : 2
• Size : 0

The shadow should look more like a “Stroke” rather than an actual shadow, so it shouldn’t be so far from the text, and it shouldn’t be blurry as well.

This should create a subtle elegant effect, giving the text some depth.

You can also go ahead and add a Gradient Overlay:

– Gradient Overlay

• Blend Mode : Soft Light
• Opacity : 20%

And that’s pretty much it, super easy yet a really cool effect.

Effect 2: Drop Shadow and Stroke

The example used is the previous TEXTUTS header (which I’ve got a couple of requests to do a tutorial for 🙂 ). The Background color is #f4f2ed as well, and the text colors are #b95886 and #c8c1b0.

Double click the text layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Drop Shadow

• Color : Should be a couple of shades darker than the Background color, in this cas it is #bfb8ae.
• Distance : 2
• Size : 2

– Stroke

• Size : 1
• Color : Should be a couple of shades lighter than the Background color, in this case it is #ffffff

This effect adds a subtle 3D look to the text.

Effect 3: Drop Shadow and Inner Shadow

For the last effect, we are going to create a very simple vintage looking poster. So set the Foreground color to #b0b19b and the Background color to #8f9078, then create a Radial Gradient from the center of the document to one of the corners.

Place the old paper texture image on top of the Background, resize it if needed, and change its Blend Mode to Soft Light.

Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise, and set the values as shown below:

Create the text using the color #5d5f42. The font used is Lobster and the Size is 100 px.

Double click the text layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Drop Shadow

• Blend Mode : Normal
• Color : Should be a bit lighter than the Background color. In this case, it is #ddd8c2
• Opacity : 100%
• Distance : 2
• Size : 1

(Note that bigger font sizes might need bigger Layer Layer Style’s values.)

– Inner Shadow

• Color : #50513b(a darker shade of the text color)
• Distance : 1
• Size : 1

This adds a very nice depth to the text, making it look like it’s engraved into the Background.

Add a new layer on top of the text layer, and change its Blend Mode to Multiply. Set the Foreground color to #b1a77e, and use the Brush Pack-Horizontal Dividers to add some nice decorations.

Again, double click the layer to apply the following Layer Style:

– Drop Shadow

• Blend Mode : Normal
• Color : #ddd8c2
• Opacity : 100%
• Distance : 2
• Size : 1

(This is basically the same Drop Shadow applied to the text layer.)

– Inner Shadow

• Color : #635b3a(a darker shade of the brush color)
• Distance : 1
• Size : 1

And that’s it! Look how awesome the effect is!

Hope you found the tutorial useful. If you have any more requests please send them through the contact form.