Typographic Design

Lesson overview

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to do the following:

• Use guides to position text in a composition.

• Make a clipping mask from type.

• Merge type with other layers.

• Use layer styles with text.

• Preview typefaces interactively to choose them for a composition.

• Control type and positioning using advanced type palette features.

• Warp a layer around a 3D object.

This lesson will take about an hour to complete. If needed, download the Lesson08.zip file and extract it. As you work on this lesson, you’ll preserve the start files.

About type

Type in Photoshop consists of mathematically defined shapes that describe the letters, numbers, and symbols of a typeface. Many typefaces are available in more than one format, the most common formats being Type 1 or PostScript fonts, TrueType, and OpenType (see page 266).
When you add type to an image in Photoshop, the characters are composed of pixels and have the same resolution as the image file—zooming in on characters shows jagged edges. However, Photoshop preserves the vector-based type outlines and uses them when you scale or resize type, save a PDF or EPS file, or print the image to a PostScript printer. As a result, you can produce type with crisp, resolution-independent edges, apply effects and styles to type, and transform its shape and size.


Getting started
In this lesson, you’ll work on the layout for the label of a bottle of olive oil. You will start from an illustration of a bottle, created in Adobe Illustrator, and then add and stylize type in Photoshop, including wrapping the text to conform to the 3D shape. You will start with a blank label on a layer above the bottle background.
You’ll start the lesson by viewing an image of the final composition.
1 Start Photoshop and then immediately hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS) to restore the default preferences.
2 When prompted, click Yes to confirm that you want to reset preferences, and Close to close the Welcome Screen.
3 Click the Go To Bridge button () in the tool options bar to open Adobe Bridge.
4 In the Favorites panel on the left side of Bridge, click the Lessons favorite, and then double-click the Lesson08 folder in the Content panel.
5 Select the 08End.psd file so that it appears in the center Content panel. Enlarge the panel if necessary to get a good close-up view by dragging the right splitter bar to the right.

This layered composite represents a comp of packaging for a new brand of olive oil. For this lesson, you are a designer creating the comp for the product. The bottle shape was created by another designer in Adobe Illustrator. Your job is to apply the type treatment in Photoshop in preparation to present it to a client for review. All of the type controls you need are available in Photoshop, and you don’t have to switch to another application to complete the project.
7 Select the 08Start.psd file and double-click it to open it in Photoshop.
8 Choose File > Save As, rename the file 08Working.psd, and click Save.

Creating a clipping mask from type

A clipping mask is an object or a group of objects whose shape masks other artwork so that only areas that lie within the shape of the masking object are visible. In effect, you are clipping the artwork to conform to the shape of the object (or mask). In Photoshop, you can create a clipping mask from shapes or letters. In this exercise, you will use letters as a clipping mask to allow an image in another layer to show through the letters.

Adding guides to position type

The 08Working.psd file contains a background layer, which is the bottle, and a Blank Label layer, which will be the foundation for your typography. The Blank Label is the active layer on which you will begin your work. You’ll start by zooming in on your work area and using ruler guides to help position your type.
1 Select the Zoom tool () and drag over the black-and-white portion of the blank label to zoom in to the area and center it in the image window. Repeat until you have a nice close-up view of the area, and enlarge the image window if necessary.

2 Choose View > Rulers to turn on guide rulers along the left and top borders of the image window. Then, drag a vertical guide from the left ruler to the center of the label (3½ inches) and release.

Adding point type

Now you’re ready to actually add type to the composition. Photoshop lets you create horizontal or vertical type anywhere in an image. You can enter point type (a single letter, word, or line) or paragraph type. You will do both in this lesson, starting with point type.
1 Make sure that the Blank Layer is selected in the Layers palette. Then, select the Horizontal Type tool (), and in the tool options bar, do the following:
• Choose a sans serif typeface, such as Myriad Pro, from the Font Family pop-up menu, and choose Bold from the Font Style pop-up menu.
• Type 79 pt into the Size field and press Enter or Return.
• Click the Center text alignment button.

2 Click on the center guide in the white area of the label to set an insertion point, and type OLIO in all caps. Then click the Commit Any Current Edits button () in the tool options bar.

The word “Olio” is added to your label, and it appears in the Layers palette as a new type layer, OLIO. You can edit and manage the type layer as you would any other layer. You can add or change the text, change the orientation of the type, apply anti-aliasing, apply layer styles and transformations, and create masks. You can move, restack, copy, and edit layer options of a type layer as you would for any other layer.
3 Press Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS), and drag the OLIO type to visually center it vertically in the white box.

4 Choose File > Save to save your work so far.