+- Hack Forums (https://hackforums.net)
+-- Forum: Tech (https://hackforums.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=444)
+--- Forum: Graphics (https://hackforums.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=156)
+---- Forum: Graphics (https://hackforums.net/forumdisplay.php?fid=6)
+---- Thread: [Tutorial] A Full Guide to Creating Thread Designs (/showthread.php?tid=4569607)
[Tutorial] A Full Guide to Creating Thread Designs - Cap - Dec 4, 2014
[img]http://s10.postimg.org/lpx1k0z55/title.png[/img]
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Things You’ll Need
- Useful Information
- Preparation
- Color Scheme
- Choosing Fonts
- Font Sizes
- Text Placement
- Spacing/Alignment
- Color Scheme
- Creating New Thread Design
- The Startup
- The Design
- The Startup
- The Design Part 2
- Final Notes
Introduction
Thread designs are one of the most high-demand service requests, not to mention everyone has questions on how to start and make their designs high quality. Today, we will be going through proper thread sizes, great fonts to use, font sizes, text placement, alignment, color scheme, features, small modifications to make it top notch, and everything you need to know to successfully create your first professional thread design.
Things You’ll Need
- Photoshop/GIMP or something similar
- Basic experience with Photoshop/GIMP
Useful Information
- Hack Forum’s thread background color is: #333333
- Hack Forum’s safe thread design width: 1150px
- Hack Forum’s max images per post: 15
- Font Download: http://www.dafont.com
* - Cap - Dec 4, 2014
Color Scheme
Thinking of a color scheme is arguably one of the most important factors in making a presentable thread design. You don’t want too much clash, contrast, or something that hurts the eyes. Another factor you need to take into consideration is the purpose of the thread design. For example, is the design for a money making eBook? Or is it for a bot shop? You really need to think of what colors you find appealing and what correlates to your theme. If your money making eBook consists of working with FaceBook, you might want to consider using a blue/gray theme. Work along those lines and that is the largest step!
Example of clashing colors:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Example of non-clashing colors:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Of course there are many other variations, but these are prime examples of what you should and shouldn’t use for theme selection.
Choosing Fonts
The next biggest thing to keep in mind is the font selection. There are a variety of fonts out there, some good and some bad. You’ll need fonts that are smooth and professional, not rough, choppy, or cheesy looking.
You can actually break these fonts down into two categories: Title/Headers and Descriptors/Subheaders. The title/header fonts are usually larger, while descriptors/subheaders are smaller.
Good title/header fonts are:
- Adam.CGPro (Link)
- Old Sans Black (Link)
- Bebas (Link)
- Helvetica Neue (Only available on Mac)
- AlexandriaFLF (Link)
Bad title/header fonts are:
Good descriptor/subheader fonts are:
- Helvetica Neue (Only available on Mac)
- Century Gothic (Link)
- Franklin Gothic (Link)
- Verdana (Pre-Installed)
- Tahoma (Pre-Installed)
Bad descriptor/subheader fonts are:
Above are links to see what the fonts look like AND downloads (for most of them, but some come pre-installed). Of course there are many more fonts out there, but these are just quick examples of what to use and not to use. The general rule of thumb is to pick 2 fonts only. One for the headers and one for the descriptors. Too many font variations look tacky. You want a nice flow to your design.
Font Sizes
Depending on the fonts that you choose, font size can make or break your design. With the title of your thread, you should make the font large, but not too large. For the title, you generally shouldn’t exceed size 50pt, unless you really have to. You also don’t want it too small. You don’t want to go below size 20pt for the title size either, relatively speaking. You want the title to be relatively larger than your header fonts.
The header (title of your section) should be relatively the same size as your subheader (the text under the title). Then the descriptor (under the header) should be smaller than the others. Here is an example that will make much more sense:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
In the previous example, the size of the Title is 50pt, the Subheader is 16pt, the Feature Header is 16pt (bold), and the Descriptor is 10pt.
The font used for the Title was Adam.CG Pro and the subheader, feature header, and descriptor were all Century Gothic. These two flow nice with each other.
Every font size used in your thread should complement each other and flow nicely. You don’t want any outliers. This section will make more sense later in the tutorial.
Text Placement
Text should be placed strategically through the design. There isn’t much to this part of the tutorial, but it is also crucial. You want to do what flows most smoothly, while also being catchy. Maybe for your title, you have that centered, along with the headers. Or maybe keep the title centered and have the headers aligned left. This is completely your preference and do what you think looks best. Here are two examples to help with understanding text placement:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
We are focusing on the Header placement. Each thread design will look better with different variations and how everything is set up. You need to play around with it until it’s presentable.
Spacing/Alignment
This section is pretty self-explanatory. You need your text, font, and every feature to be evenly distributed throughout the design. Believe it or not, people see the smallest alignment differences and once you notice them, you can’t stop staring. The best way to make sure spacing and alignment is correct is using the ruler. This can be seen on Windows by hitting CTRL + R and Command + R on the Mac. You’ll notice in the example that left and top rulers come onto screen. If you click/hold on a part of the ruler and drag over to your design, you will notice a blue line comes out. This is how proper alignment is achieved. You can drag it over to your font, shapes, lines, etc. and see if everything is in line. If not, you can go ahead and move them around! In my example, we want to align the text in the Description and Features headers:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Lets go ahead and grab the ruler on the left side and put it in line with the edge of the D on description:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
From there, we can drag over the Features header to align it together.
- Screenshot (Click to View)
The ruler is key to aligning everything. Make sure everything is lined up and you will be good to go.
Now the spacing part can also be fixed using the rulers as well. How this works is you will take out a few rulers and line them up with the numbers indicated on the actual ruler. In this example, we will be using ‘Your Title’. We want this to be evenly distributed on both halves of the design. We will take out 4 ruler lines. Two will go on both edges of the whole thread design, while the other two are on the edge of ‘Your Title’. As you can see, the blue ruler lines line up and indicate where they point to on the ruler. The far left ruler line is on the 0 marker, while the second line in is 3 7/8ths in. The third line is at the 7 5/8th in. mark, while the final line is at the 11 1/2 in. mark. The space on both sides are equally distributed with a 3 7/8th in. space between the edge of the text and the edge of the thread design.
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Use the rulers to your advantage by creating proper alignment and spacing for EACH item on your design.
Now that we have an understanding of the main portions of a thread design, lets actually create one!
* - Cap - Dec 4, 2014
Creating New Thread Design
The Startup:
To start, open up your program, I’m currently using Photoshop CS6. Go to File -> New. In the new window that opens up, go ahead and fill in your information. Note, the safe thread design width is 1150px. Anything larger will cause the thread to stretch, causing it to look unprofessional. You need to decide whether you want the thread design to be about the same size as the actual thread or if you want it smaller. I’m making it the approximate size of the actual thread. It’s always good to have the height be pretty long to start, this way you can get all of the information you need and then trim off what you don’t want. So for height, I’m choosing 3464px. Make the background transparent as well. For everything else in the window, set it up like this:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Go ahead and click OK.
You will then have a brand new window opened.
Color Scheme:
For this example, we are going to design a thread for our “Money Making eBook”. The two main colors that we will be utilizing are: #f25a5a (soft red) and #313030 (dark gray). The reason for the color selection is simply because they flow nicely with one another. Remember to choose wisely based on what you are designing!
The Design:
1.
- Using the paint bucket tool, lets set the only layer on our design to #ffffff.
- Screenshot (Click to View)
2.
- Now, lets use the Rectangle Shape Tool and create a shape a little lower from the top of the design (using the color #313030):
- Screenshot (Click to View)
This is used to separate the header and the next section.
3.
- We are going to write our Title of the product now. We are going to use the font Shree Devanagari 714 with the color of #f85757, a size of 25.12pt, and left alignment. We are putting the title in the upper left, white section.
NOTE - there is no subheader for this one. I thought it would look better without it; use your own judgement.- Screenshot (Click to View)
Using the rulers, as taught before, everything is evenly distributed!
4.
- Lets create the description section of our design now. We will be alternating sections between white, light gray, dark gray, and soft red. So this section is dark gray (#313030). The header of this section is called “Description”, we will be using Tamil Sangam MN at the size of 14pt, with a center-alignment, Bold Italic font style, and the color of: #ffffff. By default, the font style of Tamil Sangam MN doesn’t have a bold/italic combo; only a bold. To add italic to it as well, we need to go to the Character Panel. To get to the Character Panel, highlight your text and towards the upper-center/right of the screen, you should see a little tab image:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Once you click that button, a window should pop open. In the window, towards the bottom, select the italicized ’T’:- Screenshot (Click to View)
Now your image should look like this:- Screenshot (Click to View)
Once again, make sure it is evenly distributed using the rulers.
5.
- Now we are actually going to add our description. Using Tamil Sangam MN font with a size of 10pt, regular font style, and color #ffffff, we are going to input our description.
- Screenshot (Click to View)
6.
- The next section will be our features. For this section, we are using just the plain white background (#ffffff) right underneath the description. Using the same font, font size, and font style as the Description section, we are going to add our Features (except using a font color of #777777).
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Using the Custom Shape Tool, we will create “Checks” next to each feature. Remember to align everything up using rulers! Here is what it should roughly look like:- Screenshot (Click to View)
The font used is the Tamil Sangam MN with a size of 10pt, regular font style, and the color #777777. The color of the checkmarks are #f25a5a.
* - Cap - Dec 4, 2014
The Design Part 2
7.
- Now we have a features section done! We are going to create a ‘Does Not Include’ section (which you see on pretty much every sales thread). Underneath the features section, using the Rectangle Shape Tool, we are creating a new shape, using the color of #e8e6e6.
It’s time to create our header name, which will be ‘Does Not Include’. We are using the exact same font as the ‘Features’ section; Tamil Sangam MN, size 14pt, font style bold/italic, and color #777777. Here is what it should look like:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
This is a very simple and plain section. Feel free to spice it up, but sometimes plain is better. Add everything that is NOT included in this eBook. Example:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
8.
- We are close to finishing our design! The next section we are working on is the ‘Packages & Payment’. Underneath our previous section, go ahead and make another rectangle using the Rectangle Shape Tool with a color of #313030 (dark gray).
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Using the same font as we have been, except changing it to white (#ffffff), add the title of the section: ‘Packages & Pricing’.
- Screenshot (Click to View)
We are going to add a little spice to our packages now. Using the Rectangle Shape Tool again, go ahead and make a rectangle; color doesn’t matter right now because we will be using a gradient overlay. Once you have your rectangle, right click on the layer and go to Blending Options. Go down to Gradient Overlay and set the settings as so:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
The left side of the gradient has a color of: #f64b4b and the right gradient has a color of: #f25a5a. Click OK. Using the font Tamil Sangam MN, with a size of 12pt, font style bold, and a color of #ffffff, add your package name. Here is what you should have so far:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Duplicate the rectangle layer and open up the gradient feature again. Change the left end of the gradient to: #454444 and the right to: #636363. Using the Tamil Sangam font again, change the font size to 10pt, font style bold, and the color to: #f85757; from there put your first feature on there as follows:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
For each feature you have, add another box until you have enough. After all of your features are added, make one more empty box, a little bigger than the others. For the gradient overlay, change the far left to: #393939 and the right to: #454444. Here’s what you should have:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
This is where the pricing will go. Same font as before, except change the size to 21.72pt and the color of: #3fec4f (light green). Now, for each different package, you can duplicate the previous layers and just change the pricing. Example:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Oh, and of course, align everything!
9.
- For the second to last section, we are putting our contact info. Lets make this section a lighter red (#f25a5a).
- Screenshot (Click to View)
For this section, we ARE NOT putting a header (it just looked better in my opinion, but of course you can add one). Since Omniscient just implemented XMPP, we are going to add it to our contact info, along with a PM logo. First off, go to Google and get an XMPP logo. You can put it right in Photoshop and add it. Alongside that, we can add a mail shape using the Custom Shape Tool. Once we add them, we can put our info next to it. Here is an example:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Once you have put in everything you wanted, we have one last section!
10.
- The final section is to put in the author credits. Underneath our contact section, using the dark gray color (#313030), add a thin box at the bottom. Inside that box, you can put something along the lines of ‘Thread Designed by Author. All Rights Reserved’. Like so:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Remember how we made the thread extremely larger earlier just in case we had a lot of information? Well, we are going to trim it down now since we didn’t use all of it. Go to your very first layer and hit CTRL + T or Command + T. Drag from the bottom up until you reach your credits. You should see a bunch of checkers underneath your design:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Now go to Image -> Trim and change the settings as follows:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
If all has gone right, your thread design should have been shortened and finished! Just make sure everything is lined up! Here is what we should have finished with:
- Screenshot (Click to View)
Final Notes
As you can see, the title area is pretty blank. If you have any logos or anything for your thread design, that would be a great place to add it. Spice it up however you want and just keep practicing! Don’t get discouraged because Photoshop is tricky at first. Remember to choose complementing color themes, smooth fonts, and proper spacing/alignment, and you are on the right track.
If you have any questions at all, please ask and I’ll do my best to answer them!
* - ๖ۣۜGolden Freddy - Dec 4, 2014
Thanks for the HQ tutorial! 🤝
* - Lockheed - Dec 4, 2014
Love it. Looks like I need to find cs6 for my Mac now :p
* - Radar7 - Dec 4, 2014
Terrific tutorial! Thanks for the contribution
* - Cap - Dec 4, 2014
(Dec 4, 2014 08:23 PM)Creatiionz Wrote: Thanks for the HQ tutorial! 🤝Thank you for your kind words!
(Dec 4, 2014 08:32 PM)Lockheed Wrote: Love it. Looks like I need to find cs6 for my Mac now :pYou can do this any Photoshop :)
(Dec 4, 2014 08:32 PM)Radar7 Wrote: Terrific tutorial! Thanks for the contributionThank you very much!
* - DontRep4Rep - Dec 5, 2014
Very detailed thread you must of put a lot of time in this thanks for this much appreciated.
* - ocherries - Dec 5, 2014
Thank you for this guide man, very HQ.
* - DS7X - Dec 5, 2014
thanks for this, much appreciated. great work
* - Cap - Dec 5, 2014
(Dec 5, 2014 12:29 PM)Pinkponyprancer Wrote: Very detailed thread you must of put a lot of time in this thanks for this much appreciated.
I did spend a lot of time creating it. Thank you for the acknowledgement.
(Dec 5, 2014 03:19 PM)ocherries Wrote: Thank you for this guide man, very HQ.
Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you like it!
* - phybeя Jr. - Dec 6, 2014
This is nice. Not sure why someone rated it 1 star. Thanks.
* - Cap - Dec 7, 2014
(Dec 6, 2014 08:55 PM)phybeя Jr. Wrote: This is nice. Not sure why someone rated it 1 star. Thanks.
You are very welcome, and thank you!
* - Ordium - Dec 10, 2014
Very HQ tut with lots of images and explanations. Nicely done, op!