Border Text

1. In Photoshop, select File/New, and create a file 100 pixels wide by 60 pixels high. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, create a rectangular selection. From the menu bar Select/ Feather with a radius of 1 pixel. Fill this with a pale violet. Then change the foreground color to a red violet, and select Edit/Stroke, with a Width of 6 pixels, and a Location of Outside. The result will look like the image below:

Hey, I know it doesn't look like much yet, but hang in here. A few more strokes and we're done!

2. Set the foreground color to a pale yellow orange, and select Edit/Stroke,with a Width of 3 pixels, and a Location of Outside. Change the foreground color to violet, and select Edit/Stroke,with a Width of 1 pixels, and a Location of Center. Add text if you like, and your result should look like the example below:

You can create a multitude of effects depending on the choices of colors and the widths of the strokes that you apply.

Create Rainbow Edges for Text

1. In Photoshop, select File/New, and create a file 100 pixels wide by 60 pixels high. Set the foreground color to yellow and create your text. In Photoshop 5, select Layer/Type/Render Layer.

In Photoshop 4,deselect the Preserve Transparency checkbox on the Layers palette, or use the keyboard shortcut.

2. With the type layer selected, from the Layers Palette, select Duplicate Layer. Select the type on the copy layer by Control+clicking on the Layer (Command+clicking on the Mac). You should see the "marching ants" indicating a selection.

3. From the menu bar, Select/Feather with a radius of 1 pixel. Change the foreground color to a red violet, and select Edit/Stroke, with a Width of 6 pixels, and a Location of Outside. Change the foreground color to orange, select Edit/Stroke with a Width of 2 pixels, and a Location of Outside. Change the foreground color to white, and select Edit/Stroke,with a Width of 1 pixels, and a Location of Center.

4. Select Image/Mode/Indexed and save this as a gif file.

Remember, even though this technique is demonstrated with type, you could also use this effect on clip art, line art, or a logo.

What is the typeface used for this graphic? It's called ITC Vinyl, and it's available from ITC or Image Club.