It is capable of nearly any typographic treatment Illustrator is capable of, and some that it isn’t.
It is rich with options for your text, which we’ll go over now.
Be warned, that this sectioncontains complicated typographic termsthat you may or may not know.
Font Size:Where you could numerically alter the size of your font.
key in in numbers here or use the pulldown menu for suggested common point sizes.
Leading:Typographic term for the space between lines of paragraph text, set in points.
Kerning:Horizontal spacing between pairs of letters.
Negative numerical values here will close spaces between characters while positive values will add space between letters.
Vertical Scale:A controlled way to stretch and squash typography up and down.
Input numerical values here in percent of the original character height.
Horizontal Scale:A controlled way to stretch and squash typography to the left and right.
Input numerical values here in percent of the original character width.
Baseline Shift:The baseline is the line the text “rests” on.
Text Color:An area where text object color can be adjusted.
Language:Adjusts the language the text is set in, in case non-English characters are needed.
“None” renders letters in hard-edged pixels, while all others use various forms of anti-aliasing.
Using an actual bold font in the “Font Family” or “Font Style” is generally preferable.
Faux Italic:Your current font is artificially slanted to the right, creating a false italic look.
Uppercase:Transforms your key in into all uppercase.
Small Caps:Creates a false small caps by shrinking the point size of your uppercase letters.
All lowercase letters will be replaced with these smaller capitals in your text object.
Superscript:Changes selected text or text object to superscript, as in the case of 28.
Subscript:Changes selected text or text object to subscript, as in the case of C6H12O6.
Underline:Adds a simple underscore underneath your selected text or text object.
Strikethrough:Adds a simple strike through all of your selected text or text object.
Alignment:Sets the alignment of your text object either to Left-Aligned, Center-Aligned, or Right Aligned.
brings up the levels tool to adjust the image of Darwin.
While design is not necessarily simply about arrangement of elements, this simplistic approach will suffice for demonstration purposes.
As the image is blacked, Ctrl choose the Gray channel in your channels panel.
This creates a selection of all the white in the image.
Thanks to HTG reader l3utterfish for bringing this to my attention.
Press
to create new layer.
Edit > Fill to fill the selection in your new layer with white.
to create a new document at your preferred size.
And here is our very tall workspace for the book cover.
Pick a foreground color in the
in your toolbox.
Any color will suffice, although in this demonstration, a dark color is preferable.
Edit > Fill and be certain to set “Use” to “Foreground Color.”
The background is filled with the wine color chosen earlier.
Navigate to your original file, and drag your layer into your new file using the selected Move Tool.
The layer should appear something like this inside the new file.
or go for the jot down tool, Illustrated above to start setting jot down.
Not all fonts are appropriate to the content.
This pixelated font is very bad for this concept.
A more conservative font may honor the content and create a more appropriate look.
With even a few limited font options installed, it can seem overwhelming.
When the right font is found, adjusting it with the Character Panel is a simple matter.
The font size is changed,and the bang out broken into two lines.
When the point size is adjusted, we may run into issues with leading.
When letters collide, readers will be left with legibility and readability issues.
Adjusting leading is the only response.
Increasing the point size of the leading improves the readability of the title.
This may or may not be the case.
New text objects added and adjusted, we can start to access our design as a whole.
We may find we wish to move elements around.
We may also add more elements or subtlety shift text, to keep a consistent line on the page.
Additional elements can also help a design, like this skeleton of Lucy, the famous Australopithecus afarensis.
However, it is often an excellent tool for this sort of graphics work.
Photoshop tips left you confused?
Start at the Beginning!
Check out the previous installments of the How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop.
Image Credit: Darwin by Julia Margaret Cameron, in public domain.
Lucy by Wikipedia user120, made available underCreative Commons.
