The Screenshot

We’re going to use “Luispro” as our screenshot for our demo. Yes that was a shameless “affiliate” link. Gotta earn somehow right?
So grab a screenshot of your page, scale it to the size that you need. Place it in the center of your canvas, making sure that there is enough padding space around the edges.

Remember, we need space for three pages – so allocate enough. Also, you will need to make your pages the same width and size – this will make your skew transform a lot easier. Don’t forget to create guides on how big your screenshot is.

Skew and Scale

There are mainly two transform options you’d want to do with your page. First “Skew”: Go to Edit > Transform > Skew.

Then mouse over the handles on the right side of your page. Move it upward and downwards and see the page get skewed diagonally. Adjust one side to be about 25 percent shorter than the rest of the page.

Before applying, you want to go back to Edit > Transform > Scale. This time, drag the middle handle to the right – making the page skinnier. We’re talking about 50 percent of it’s original width. Try to match how it looks below:

Double click your image and “Apply“.

Now our page is skewed, drag new guides to where the edges are. These guides will help us replicate the same effect to our remaining pages later on.

Shadow and Depth

Go to your layer window and double click to bring the “Layer Style” window.

Check “Drop Shadow” and adjust the opacity, distance and size – approximately to the image below. It doesn’t have to be exact, just trust your eye and decide how strong the shadows should be.

Also, the settings above will vary depending on how you stack your screenshots. Obviously if it’s top to bottom – the shadow angle will be different.
Now create a seperate layer for your layer styles. On the layers pane – right click on the layer style and click “Create Layer“. This will make the shadow it’s own layer. This allows us to adjust the fill and opacity – even re-size the shadow to show depth.

Now using the “Line” tool, drag a 5 pixel line from the left top most of the page – down to the bottom. Adjust the background color for this line accordingly. What we’re trying to achieve is to give the page a thicker feel. This will make our page look 3 dimensional.

The image below shows the original screenshot – compared to the skewed version. Notice the guides and how they’re positioned.

Now we’re ready to do the rest of the pages.

Repeat Process

I usually like to group my layers so my file is organized properly. In our case, the groups will be page 1, 2 etc. Take another screenshot and do the “skew” and “scale” process again.

Now, if you’ve used your guides properly (and accurately) – you won’t need to do the layer effects and lines for depth all over again. Simply go to your original page and duplicate those layers.

Notice the duplicate layers above for the shadow and the lines? This saves us a lot of time of doing things over, along with making sure the effect stays consistent. Once you’re done – simply nudge your groups over each other – from left to right.

Finished Product

Below is how our pages will look once we’re done. This can be applied as a hero image, carousels or any kind of marketing material.

I’ve uploaded the original PSD file to my box.com account just in case you just want to use it instead of following my tutorial. Simply swap out the screenshots with your own. Have fun designing.

The post Create Stacks of Webpages with a “Skewed” Effect using Photoshop appeared first on Michael Soriano.

Rule #1) Subject and Text Placement

When it comes to deciding where to put the copy and the subject (the main focal point of the photo), I generally keep these 3 scenarios in mind: 1) subject on the left copy on the right, 2) subject on the right, copy on the left or 3) copy in the middle (no subject).

Subject to the Left

Keeps balance within the image. Notice that copy will most likely be left justified in order to look good. Proper alignment and spacing is very important.

Subject to the Right

This also keeps the balanced in your image. The copy can be left or right justified – this really depends on the overall effect. Squinting your eyes to see the visual weight of the image really helps.

No Subject

I call this “no subject” mainly because the focus remains on the text. The entire image in the background can actually be the subject, or it can just be a subtle background. We’ll go over how to fade or blur your background in our tutorial below.
It is important to know that the above scenarios are the most common ones. I’ve seen some hero images that do not conform to the above – but are quite rare.
Now this brings us to our next rule:

Rule #2) Know how to treat Backgrounds

Of course, a good designer already knows how to deal with backgrounds. Rule of thumb: you want to focus less on the background and more on the messaging. In many cases, backgrounds are treated with some kind of blurred filter to reduce the focus.

You also want to contrast the colors of your messaging and call to action buttons against the background in place.

Either way – the rule is: focus on the text. Backgrounds are only for, well – backgrounds.

Rule #3) Always Use High Quality Images

Once again, a no-brainer. But you wouldn’t believe the number of websites that I come across that break this rule. I mean c’mon, this is face of your business. Your portfolio. Your online identity.
Using high quality images is a definite must.

Size down – but Never size Up!

I’ve seen this so many times. A designer grabs a photo from Google, re-sizes the image bigger – to accommodate the slideshow. Now, any idiot knows that blowing up the jpeg degrades the photo. Drastically!

Avoid Stock Photos

Okay – this may not be a deal-breaker, but stock photos are so 90’s. How many times have we seen that business woman with a headset and a big smile? Fine if you really must use a stock photo (like I’m doing in this tutorial) – at least choose one that doesn’t look like one.
So enough about rules I say and get down to the nitty gritty.
The photos we’re using is Money Shot and Sun shining through trees from Creative Market. We’re creating a fictional travel banner, so I think these images are good.

Take a look at our subject image. Notice that we’ve selected an image with little or no background at all. This makes it easy to manipulate in Photoshop. The man’s arms are also 100% visible – meaning, it’s easy to use for hero images that need to cover the entire web page.

Using Photoshop’s pen tool, you can easily trace an outline and remove the background from our subject. This will let us add the other image for our background, making the man look like he’s in the woods.

Remember to duplicate the layer – just in case we need to go back to the original.

At this point, you can place your background underneath the select layer – you can also visualize what copy you need to add. Remember our scenarios above on where to place the text? Again, you may need to adjust a little bit depending on the image.
We’re not going into detail on how to style the text or the call to action – this will be totally up to you. Remember that text may have to be done in HTML code – so I won’t cover it in this tutorial.
So as soon as you decide where text goes, let’s blur those spots in the background. Select with the Lasso tool – with a feather of 20%.

I like the “Gaussian Blur” because you can adjust the density of the effect. Feel free to try out the other blur effects. Note that blurring the background gives the text that overlays on top of it a bit more “importance” in visual hierarchy.

Finally, squint your eyes with the text overlay and call to action in place. Ask yourself these questions? Does the image feel “balanced”. Can you read the text clearly? Does the call to action button stand out enough? How about the colors – do they compliment each other? Contrast? Do they work well with the entire page?

Other Considerations

I mentioned that text is ideally handled through code. This is good practice when it comes to SEO. However, some text effects may not be handled as well in code than through an image. So this is one thing you need to consider more important.
Lastly, in today’s responsive world. Your hero image needs to render properly in different devices. This is definitely something to think about. Not only does the text need to move around (it might end up directly on top of the subject), but the subject itself will need to be handled accordingly. So responsive hero images is a topic that we’ll have to revisit.
So take a look at our final product – on an actual web page.

Again, this banner is completely fictional. We just picked a random website and slapped our hero image on top. I think it works well and does the job. I sure would love to click that big red button!
If you like this tutorial, kindly let us know in the comments below:

The post The Ultimate guide on Creating Stunning Hero Images for your web pages appeared first on Michael Soriano.

Step 1 – Create your pattern

Fire up Photoshop and create a new file. The dimensions are 3 pixels wide and 3 pixels tall:

Ctrl + Shift + N to create a new layer – leave it untitled and click okay. Zoom in to the document as close as you can (by pressing Ctrl and + at the same time). Hide the background layer by clicking the “eye” icon from the layers palette:

With the Layer 1 selected, grab the pencil tool – decrease the size to the smallest (1 pixel), set the color to black and click 3 times onto the layer (in a diagonal line). Not to worry about being perfect – it will snap into place:

Go to Edit > Define Pattern. You can name you pattern and close the file without saving. Your pattern should be saved in your options palette.

Step 2 – Set the Background

Create a new file in Photoshop – a good size is 800 pixels wide and 500 pixels height. Add a daub of color to the background layer – I chose #c8bcb2:

To amplify our text effects even more – I like to add some texture on top of our background layer. A new website called Tileables specializes in such textures. I grabbed the “Fabric” pack from the Tileables-Pack-04 collection – open the .psd file from the zip file and drag your desired texture into your file. Decrease the Opacity of this layer to about 20 percent:

Create another layer. Select the paint brush tool – set the pixel size to 600, color to #ffffff, and Opacity to 31 percent. Click on the center of your document.

Step 3 – Create your Text

Using the text tool – type in your title, set the font size to real big (I’m using New Clarendon Font type and its set to 176 pixels, and bold type)

Right click on the layer and duplicate it. Nudge the layer downwards and rasterize it (right click the layer > “Rasterize Type”).

Double click on the rasterized layer and this will bring up the layer style window. Click on the “Pattern Overlay” option and select the pattern that we’ve created from Step 1 (should be the very last swatch).

You should see our layer with our newly applied pattern. The problem is – the original white background bleeds through.

Double click on the layer again to bring up the styles. In “Blending Options” – make sure it’s on “Blend if Gray” and slide the first handle to the right all the way to the middle. This should take care of the white bleed:

By now you should be a master of duplicating layers. Duplicate the original text layer once more, rasterize and fill with #ffffff. Nudge this layer downwards just a couple of pixels. This will give it a more dramatic outline effect:

Step 4 – Embellishments

The word “flyer” – will have an entirely different font type, partnered with a horizontal line with an etched effect. Here’s how that’s done:
For the word “Flyer” I chose Nevis, and made it all capital letters. The font size is 36 pts, color is #000000.
Place the subtext directly in the center of the main heading:

Using the Line Tool, draw a line underneath the main heading (hold the shift key while drawing). Use a 2 pixel line with #000000 fill:

Duplicate that layer and change the fill to #ffffff; then nudge the layer a couple of pixels downwards.

Combine both line layers by selecting them, right click and hit “Merge Layers”. With the selection tool, change the feather to 2 pixels; select over the word “Flyer” with just enough padding – then hit delete:

Conclusion:

And that’s it! Take a look at the screenshot below for the final product. You can download what we’ve just created – but it will contain rasterized text layers. I did this because chances are – you won’t have the fonts that I used. Feel free to leave a comment below.

The post How to Create Diagonal Text Shadows in Photoshop appeared first on Michael Soriano.

Step 1: Set the groundwork

In Photoshop, create a new document, 800 pixels width x 340 pixels height. Add a new guide – 70 percent from the top border of the document:

Add a dark background (I chose #292929), add a text layer and type out your words. The text settings are: 100 pt in size, color #ffffff, and type is “Myriad Pro – Black Italic”. Note that if you don’t have the same font – use something a similar italic, block type font.

Now, delete all the letters in your text layer and duplicate the layer for each letter. What we’re trying to do is have a layer in its own layer like below. Nudge each letter so they’re quite close to each other:

Step 2: Create the Text Effects

Now we’re ready to create the text effects. Double click the first letter and apply the following effects:

Drop Shadow:

Inner Shadow

Gradient Overlay

Add the following colors for the gradient (to do this click the gradient box from above). Move the color handles in the bottom bar to the position indicated. Leave the colors at #000000 and #ffffff.

Step 3: Copy and Paste the Layer Styles

Right click the first letter layer, select “Copy Layer Style”

Go to the next letter layer, right click and select “Paste Layer Style”

Continue doing this process to all the layers.

Step 4: Final Touches

Adjust your letter positioning according to your text content. The point is to just have enough spacing for subtle shadows to appear onto the next letter. I also decided to change the font color to the word “flyer” to #d30000 to match my color schema – choose your own color for yours.
Finally, create a new layer just above the background layer. Using the brush tool with these presets: (choose a really soft tip, adjust to 300 pt, with color #ffffff, opacity level to 24 percent). With just one click – daub right in the center of the document to give it that really soft glow in the background.

Conclusion

There you have it, a simple yet beautiful logo from nothing more than layers of text subtly overlapping each other. Play with the effects to your heart’s desire. You can even adjust the vertical positioning of each letter – just to add a bit more kick. Feel free to Download the PSD file.

The post Create a Simple Logo with Overlapping Text Effects appeared first on Michael Soriano.

The Wrap, Header and Feature Divs

First of all, you will notice that our layout doesn’t really have anything in the header. This is because I’m sure you will use your own logo for your design – so I left that out. Second, is there really is no need for a navigation bar because we’re only building a single page. Although we may include some anchors in this area so we can quickly jump from one section of the page to another. Also important to recognize that most modern websites now have a large “feature” section which packs the main message of the website. This effect is proven to be pretty effective – that’s why we’re applying the same concept to our portfolio site.
In Dreamweaver, create a new HTML page, name it “index.html” and save it.

Create a CSS document – name it “styles.css” and save it in the same location as “index.html”. Link to the stylesheet from index.html by using a link tag:

Now, we create the main DIV – we’ll call this the “wrap”. In this DIV we’ll house almost all of our elements (all but one: the footer – which I’ll explain later). In index.html, enter the code:

Next, we grab the body style of our page. Go to Photoshop and open our mockup. Flatten the image (“Layer” > “Flatten Image”) and grab a piece of background:

Still in Photoshop, press Ctrl + C to copy the selected area, create a new document – and paste (this will be our HTML body background that will span horizontally). Save this file as “body-bg.gif” inside a folder called “images” in our root directory.

Next is we apply some fixin’s to our CSS:

The above code tells everything to reset to 0 padding and 0 margin. It also applies the body background to the image we just created, repeat it horizontally and apply the color #f3f2ed everywhere else. View your file in the browser, you should have something like below:

Now remember we created the main div? That is just sitting in somewhere in the page. Let’s apply some standard measurements to it and align it so it settles perfectly in the middle of our browser.
Note that in the beginning of this tutorial – I was going to use the 960.gs framework, but feel as though I’m cheating because the tutorial calls for “from scratch”. So I decided, I’m not using the framework and code everything by hand, hence – “from scratch”.
Add this code to your style.css:

This centers our wrap in the middle of the page, as well as set the default 960 pixels width. The background color and the minimum height properties are added temporarily so we can tell from the browser what we’re working with. Refresh your page and you should have something like below:

Go back to index.html and add the header div inside the wrap div:

Back to our style.css – add this piece of code:

Refresh your browser – and you can see where our header sits nicely on top. The background color again is temporary.

Next is our feature div. Create a new div tag in your index.html with the id of “feature”, place in between the “feature” divs. Add two paragraph tags inside with your own text. In my case – I’m using the default Lorem latin filler text:

Notice the first paragraph tag has an id of “slogan”. This is because this is the primary text that we are going to style with an image. We are treating it as regular text for SEO purposes.
Go back to your mock up in Photoshop and press “Step Backward” (ctrl + z + alt) several times until you get the fully layered version once again. Make sure the guides are showing – select the feature section like below:

In your layers panel, make sure you hide all the layers that shouldn’t be shown. This includes all the background layers and text elements. The only layer that should remain is the large feature image and the borders and glow to the left. Select the feature area and hit crop (“image” > “crop”). Save this as “feature.png” inside our images folder. This will be our feature div background image:

Now in our styles.css – add the following code:

Go back to your mockup and click “Step Backward” (“Edit” > “Step Backward”) to uncrop. Unhide the slogan layer and select it according to the guides. Crop once again and save this as “slogan.png”.

Now add this code to your styles.css:

The above code styles the two paragraph tags inside the feature div. The first one with a background image, and the next one as plain text. Now when search engines crawl our page – it still thinks both are plain text – which is a good thing.

I’ve also taken out the color property in our wrap div to see how our feature looks like. Another thing to remember is that since our feature sits in its own div – it will be easy to add a slideshow or something to that effect as replacement.
Now that our wrap, header and feature is in place, we’re ready to move to the next sections: Testimonials and Previous Work:

Testimonials and Previous Work Sections

If the feature section is our hard hitter – a testimonials area is our “counter punch”. Testimonials are a sure fire way of telling our viewers: “we’re good – read what others are saying about me!”. Also another proven way of increasing business, it is also the reason why we’re putting testimonials right below our feature section. Ready to continue coding? Let’s keep going.
In our index.html, add the code for our testimonials. Place this directly below our feature div:

Of course, you substitute real testimonials and authors in its place. Notice the “first” and “last” additional classes to the columns – we need this to fix our margins in our css. Next, go back to Photoshop and go backwards again so you get back to the original uncropped file. Select the Testimonials title all the way to the rightmost guide. Crop and save as “testimonials-title.jpg” inside our images folder.

Inside styles.css, append the below code:

This code adds the background image that we just created to the main testimonials div. It also adds proper styling to the columns inside the div, and fixes to the margins so it remains inside our imaginary grid.
The optional “more” tab
The more tab is only necessary if you have more than 3 columns of testimonials that you would like to show. The point is just show 3 columns at first, and by clicking the “more” tab – more testimonial columns will slide below – most likely to be achieved by jQuery (I haven’t gotten there yet – remember – I’m writing this tutorial as I go!).
To add a more tab – add this code to your HMTL, right underneath the last column div:

Note that we used a class for our div instead of an id. This is because this div can actually be reused in another section of our page.
Go back to your Photoshop file – click “Step Backwards” to the uncropped version – select the section that shows the “more testimonials” border and button according to your guides. Remember to hide the text layer over the button.

Crop and save this as “more-bg.jpg” inside the images folder. Add the code below to your .css file:

For the “Previous Work” section – it’s pretty much the same process as testimonials. The difference is – we are actually using an unordered list instead of div columns. Add the following code inside your HTML:

The thumbnail sizes are going to be 200 pixels width by152 pixels height. My sample code contains dummy thumbnails along with temporary images for the bigger image. We are incorporating a light box effect in the final product so users do not actually leave the page when viewing your gallery. Notice the addition of the “more” tab – which is again, purely optional.
For the “Previous Work” title – you do the same exact process in Photoshop as you did previously in the Testimonials title. Save this image in the images folder – name it: “previous-work-title.jpg”.

Now we add some styling to the list items, thumbnails and the entire div section:

I also created a couple of thumbnail image backgrounds for the active and hover states. Again this is purely optional and I won’t go over in this tutorial.
Now refresh your page in your browser. You should have something like the image below. It is also good practice to start viewing your page in different browsers. This way – you can start fixing bugs this early in the development process. Next stop is the footer.

The Footer

Let’s go back to our Photoshop file – you may have to go back in history a couple of times to get you to the uncropped, fully layered version. Another thing to remember is NOT to save your original mock up file. This file is to stay in its original form – we are just cropping, hiding layers as we go to get the parts we want. But in the whole, this mockup .psd file remains in its original state. Select the footer area – starting from the guide a few pixels above the dark brown area.

Once selected – crop the selection – but don’t save as of yet; we’re going to save a couple of images from this selection – one is the footer wrap, the other is the actual footer background.

Once cropped, select the first 20 pixels from the left and crop once again. Save this file as “footer-wrap.gif” inside our images folder. Now go back to the Photoshop file and step backwards a couple of times to bring us to entire cropped footer image. Hide the layer group named “form”, as well as all the text layers in the footer area.

Save this file as “footer.jpg” in the images folder. Unhide the text layer that says “Hire Me for Professional Work”, and hide all the background layers so you get full transparency. Select the text area using the rectangular marquee tool and crop. Save this file as “slogan2.png” in our images folder.

Now hit “Step Backward” (ctrl + alt + z) a couple of times to get to the uncropped footer image and unhide the “form” group of layers. Make sure you hide all the layers inside the form – all we need is the rounded container that embodies the form. Select this area, crop and save this file as “form-bg.png” in our images folder.

Finally, unhide the button text, shape and glow. Create guides that surround the button image and select accordingly. Crop and save as “submit.png” in our images folder.

Now go back to our index.html, add the following code right underneath the entire wrap div.

The above code sets up all the content in the footer. This includes the two paragraphs on the left side and the contact form. Note that the form is still static. We will be converting this into a working form once we convert this to PHP.
Next up, is to style the contact form. Add the following code to your styles.css:

The above code sets up our footer wrap to span the entire width of the page with its own background image repeating horizontally. Now you understand why we excluded this from the main wrap div? The rest of the code applies the styling to the footer and contact form – tied to the images we created in the previous steps.

Finally, we add the final touches to the two paragraph tags on the left side. Add this code to your styles.css:


That concludes are HTML and CSS tutorial on our single page portfolio. Remember, we still have the scripting side to do – which is handled by PHP and jQuery, which we’ll cover in the next series. Click Here to see the DEMO Version of what we just created. The source code is also available to download – which includes all the files covered in this tutorial.

The post Create a Single Page Portfolio from Scratch – Part 2: HTML and CSS appeared first on Michael Soriano.

The Output

Below is a preview of what we’re building. The aim is to have a mock up that is fully layered, so we can optimize for the purpose of SEO and page performance. Ready to get started – Let’s begin:

Part 1 – The Fold

We’re going to design the page from the top to bottom. The fold is first part of a web page can see – without having to scroll downwards. In our case, this includes the header and the big red feature bar:

If you aren’t familiar with 960.gs – it’s a CSS framework that follows the standard 960 pixels page width rule. Download the photoshop template and check out the guides – we are building the page following the 960 grid rules:

Create a new layer – this will be the fold layer. Select the full page width, with approximately 380 pixels in height. Fill it with a solid color – in my case I chose a bright red #730701:

Create another layer for the header bar, select the full page width and 48 pixels in height. Fill this with another solid color – in my case, #bcbcbc for light grey.

Where the header bar and the fold meet, we want to add an “etched” effect. We achieve this by using 2 lines using the “line” tool. Create 2 horizontal lines at 1 pixel each (make sure you hold the “Shift” key) as you drag it across the page. Nudge one line so that they sit just on top of one another. The rule is to use a lighter shade for one line, and a darker for the other (it is important that you play with the colors, and zoom out and test if the etched look is achieved). Add a subtle gradient fill for the header bar as well.

The next step is to add a large feature image. This sits on top of all the layers to give it that 3D effect. Place in at almost half the 960 pixel page width, overlapping some part of the header and pass below the fold. Include the effects as shown:

Immediately to the left of the feature image, add your large slogan text. This is to be your attention grabbing statement, and is important to be the most prominent. I chose Rockwell at size 36 pixels, with -50 tracking. Also add the following text effects:

• Drop shadow – Normal blend mode – #000, 90 degrees angle, 1px distance, 0 spread and 1px in size
• Inner Shadow – Normal blend mode – #FFF, 90 degrees angle, 1px distance, 0 choke and 0px size
• Gradient Overlay – use default settings, reduce opacity to 34% and 90 degrees in angle

Add a gradient effect to the background layer named the fold. The rule is to use a slightly lighter color than the existing background as one color, and the same background color as the secondary color. Fill by pressing the shift key and releasing simultaneously.

Add another 2 horizontal lines right underneath the slogan text. *Use the rule as described in the previous line tools used in the header and the fold separation. Add a smaller set of text – I used Arial with 14 pixels in size, #FFFFFF color.

To complete the fold – we add a glow effect to the bottom area where the borders separate the large text and the small text. Select a small area (shown below), grab the brush tool, select white for the color, increase the brush radius (shown below) – reduce the opacity all the way to 12 percent and daub a quick light stroke.

Part 2 – Below the Fold

Below the fold technically includes everything under the fold. But for the sake of this tutorial – it includes all BUT the footer section. The reason is – this will be the only part that will need to grow. If there was additional content to be made – it will be inside this section. The fold and the footer remain static in height.

We start by creating a new layer. With the selection tool, select everything below the red feature section below. Fill this selection with #f3f2ed using the paint bucket tool. *Note that the large image layer should be placed on top of all the other layers.

We then create a new horizontal guide. This guide should be right below our feature image (allow a few pixels extra for the added shadow effect). This guide’s main purpose is to know where we will slice our divs (which I will cover once we start coding) and where our gradient ends. Grab the selection tool once more and start from where the red area ends – down to the new guide. Using the gradient tool, select #e1decf primary color and #f3f2ed and fill with a straight line (hold shift).

We then add that same “etched” look where the two layers meet. The same technique is used – create two lines with one darker and one lighter. In this case the upper line has #670600 fill and the second #faf9f3.

Next step is to create the sub heading. With the type tool, choose the Rockwell font at 24 pixels in #292929 color and type the word “TESTIMONIALS”. Directly to the left of the text – I imported the “users_two_48” icon from WeFunction and scaled the image down to 60 percent and desaturize (Ctrl + U, slide the saturation all the way to the left). Add two horizontal 1 pixel lines (#e5e5e2 and #FFFFFF) directly underneath (by this point of the tutorial, I’m going to assume you have this technique down already).
*Tip – Create a group called “sub headings” and add all the above elements in it. We will be duplicating this sub heading in following sections.

Directly below the Testimonial subheading – we create 3 text boxes with some dummy text. I used Verdana at 14 pt, 20 pt leading. Make sure you allow enough padding and margin around each surrounding box. Align according to the grid. Note that this part of the design acts only as a marker. We will use actual text for these boxes.

Duplicate the two horizontal lines from the sub headings section. Move these 2 lines right below the 3 text boxes that you have created. Create a new layer, select 124 pixels (width) x 25 pixels (height) and fill with #FFFFFF with the paint bucket tool. Move this layer right below the two horizontal lines. Using the text tool, use 10 pt Verdana, color # 6b6b6b and type the words “more testimonials” – move this directly on top of the new layer we’ve just created. This acts as end marker for the testimonials section with a button that displays more testimonials.
*Tip – create a new group for the above elements and name it “end marker”.

Next, we add a “Previous Work” section. Remember that we created a group called “sub headings” a little while back? Duplicate this group and name it “sub headings 2”. Using the down cursor in your keyboard, move the new group approximately 560 pixels downwards. Change the text to say “PREVIOUS WORK” and use another icon, scale it down and desaturate.

An image gallery will showcase our portfolio’s “Previous Work” section. Similar to the testimonials area, we are dropping some dummy thumbnails in our photoshop file, just for mock purposes. We are going to span 4 thumbnails across at 210 pixels each in width. Make sure the thumbnails align to the grid, taking 3 columns each with enough paddings in between each other. Add the following effects for each thumbnail: Drop Shadow (settings shown in below screenshot) and an inside stroke of 6 pixels and #FFFFFF fill color.

To complete the “Below the Fold” section – we create an end marker for the “Previous Work” area. Duplicate the group “end marker” and name it “end marker 2”. Move this newly created group approximately 380 pixels downwards. Change the text in the button to say “more previous work”. Our next quest is the Footer. Keep going!

Part 3 – The Footer

And now we come to the final piece of the design process – the Footer. I enjoy designing footers because they represent completion; they’re also the most overlooked section of a page that I feel that it deserves the same attention as the other parts.

The height of the footer is approximately 375 pixels. If you haven’t already done so – extend your canvas size to an additional 375 pixels – but be sure to click the anchor all the way to the top.

Create 3 new horizontal guides: first is where the “Below the Fold” background ends, then approximately 35 pixels below, and third – another 30 pixels down (this is where the footer background layer starts). Make a selection from the first guide to the next one down, make sure you’re on the “Below the fold” background layer, and do a gradient fill: primary color #e3e0d2, secondary #f3f2ed. Next, create a new layer for the footer background and add a gradient fill: primary color is #361f01 and secondary #493215. Do 80 percent for the primary fill. Finally, create 3 horizontal lines with the line tool at 1 pixel each with the following fills (in the following order): #ffffff, #000000 and #624825. Line them according the last guide you’ve created (see below).

Duplicate the text layer for the slogan (The Fold), change the content to say “Hire me for professional work”, drag downwards to the footer, and place on the left half of the footer area. Add another text area, use Verdana, 12px #ffffff, enter some dummy text, and place directly below the large text.

On the right half of the footer, we’re placing a rounded rectangle for the background of the contact form. Using the Rounded Rectangle tool – create a rectangle, center between 6 columns in the grid. Add a drop shadow and stroke effect as shown below:

Create a new layer and make 3 rectangles inside the rounded rectangle we’ve just created. These will act as the form fields. Note that these are just as markers which will not really be used in the output. We’re using real form fields in the code. Fill these rectangles with #ffffff using the paint bucket tool.

What’s a contact form without a pretty submit button? Using the rounded rectangle tool – create a button and add an inner shadow (66 percent opacity) and a 1px inner stroke – #85827e. Add the text “Submit” on top of this button using “Rockwell” at 14px.

Finally, remember I said the footer should have the same detail as the other parts of the page? We’re going to add a nice glow in the background which will highlight our large text and the contact form. Select the footer background with the selection tool. Next, pick a soft round brush at 500 pixels, select color #ffffff and decrease the opacity of the brush to 10 percent. Center the brush horizontally and halfway above the footer – click once and Voila – instant glow in the background!

And there you have it. We’ve just created a full page mockup in Photoshop. Next will be coding the HMTL and CSS – so stay tuned!
You can download the .psd from this link

The post Create a Single Page Portfolio from Scratch – Part 1: Photoshop Mockup appeared first on Michael Soriano.

Part 1: The Key

Using the Rounded Rectangle tool, Create a new shape of a square, with fill color #2c2c2c

Using the Add Anchor Point, add new anchors at both lower corners of the shape. Drag these new anchor points upwards to form a nice edge.

Apply a Gradient Overlay on the shape. Adjust the settings as shown below or you can choose your own gradiation.

Duplicate the layer you just created and Ctrl + T to transform. Transform it to about 90% less than the original size. Make sure you constrain the proportions.

Apply a new layer style – Stroke, with fill type as gradient, size of 3 and the rest of the settings like shown below:

Using the rounded rectangle tool and the ellipse tool, create two more shapes. The rounded rectangle will have a fill color of #ffffff, the ellipse with fill color #2c2c2c. Apply the same layer styles to both – stroke with gradient fill. Play around with the gradients and try to match the outer shapes:

Next is the shaft of the key. With the Pen Tool, start outlining the jagged edges of the key shaft. You can use a real key as a guide. I used two shapes for the shaft – one for the main, the other for the underlying teeth behind the main shaft. I also used the line tool to draw a line on top of the main shaft.

Again, apply some layer styles to the two main shapes. First is a stroke with gradient fill type – reduce the size of the stroke line to 1 and adjust the gradient colors. Do the same thing for the teeth.

The final result should be something like below. We now move on to the car alarm part.

Part 2: The Car Alarm

Hide all the layers you’ve done so far so you won’t get distracted. Starting again with the rounded rectangle tool, create a new shape – slightly bigger than our key head before. Make the radius to 50 pixels for a more rounded look. Go to “Edit” > “Transform” > “Perspective” and drag the upper handles closer to each other.

Again, apply layer styles to the new shape: An angled gradient overlay with the setting below, as well as a thick stroke with gradient fill type – again play with the shades.

The first shape should look like something like below. Note that when playing with gradient fills – there’s no exact way to do it. You just have to follow what looks right with your eye considering the light, shadows etc.

Next is to add two more shapes using the ellipse tool. One is for the keyhole which is smaller, the other for the button. Both will have stroke styles with gradient fill types. By now you should know how to play with this effect. Remember that the keyhole is to have a fill of white – or whatever background color you have, and the button is a darker red, also filled with a gradient:

And we’re done with the car alarm part. Next part is pretty easy – the key rings.

Part 3: The Rings

Start with the ellipse tool, create an oval shape (size it according to the key and the alarm). Apply layer style stroke of 1 pixel, with type gradient fill. Adjust the gradient accordingly varying colors from light grey to dark.

Duplicate the first ring twice. The duplicate rings should have a Fill (not Opacity) of 60 percent each. Adjust the angle of the gradients of each layer stroke to go in different directions. Again, its up to your judgment what looks best. You’re trying to achieve the illusion of aluminum texture with the shines.

From these three shapes – you want to duplicate them into another group. Click Ctrl – T to transform about 80 percent smaller than the first group.

And that is the final step for the rings. Next section is combining all the elements together.

Part 4: Combining Them Together

The easiest way to work with what we have so far is to rasterize the shapes into more manageable sections. Rasterizing means to flatten the shape for a different kind of editing. It is good practice to always keep your layers grouped and organized – in my case, I’ve grouped them into three sections: key, alarm and rings. To rasterize – I select one group, duplicate it and from that group I merge layers. Once its merged – the key group is going to be just a key layer, the alarm group – an alarm layer and so forth. DO NOT rasterize the original group! Its good practice to keep the vector shapes intact just in case you want to change something.

So after merging each of the groups – we should now have four layers: key, alarm and the two rings.

First rotate the key a few degrees clockwise. Put the bigger ring on top of the key layer. Using the ellipse marquee tool, select the inner section of the rings and start erasing the area where the key is supposed to be visible.

Do the same thing for the ring layer. You can use any selection tool that you’re comfortable with using: Lasso, Magic Wand – I use the pen tool because it’s more precise and have more control.

Finally, add some shadows in the places there should be shadows. I do not know of an efficient way to do this but to use the brush tool. Using the built in Photoshop shadow or glow effects apply it in the entire layer – leaving you with having to separate the layer, then erasing – this may be suitable for larger surface areas – but for our purpose, just dab a few brush spots – play with the brush types, opacity and strength, and you should have a pretty decent effect:

Do the same to the rest of the layers. You will be using a combination of rotating, erasing and painting to achieve the interlocking illusion as in a real set of keys. It is important to pay attention where the light, the shines and the shadows are supposed to be. Also, keep in mind – you may rotate your layers, but DO NOT – I repeat DO NOT resize them. Resizing rasterized layers result in extreme loss of quality. If ever you need to resize say the key image – you will have to go back to your vector layers for that. The interlocking rings, key and alarm should look something like this:

And there you have it. You’ve just created a key with car alarm entirely in Photoshop. You may download the psd file from this link.

The post How to Create Car Keys in Photoshop appeared first on Michael Soriano.

Part 1 – Creating the Image

In Photoshop, create a new image 432 pixels by 78 pixels. Add a title for your bar, and four icons of your subscription options. In our case, we’re using an RSS feed icon, Twitter, Email and Facebook. *Icons are from WeFunction Collection. Line them up and space them evenly.

Add guides that divide each button. Also be sure to add a guide right on the top of the document. Lock the guides in place – you will need these dimensions when creating the CSS.

Multiply the canvas height by two. Make sure you click the button that keeps the canvas flushed to the bottom

Select all existing layers and create a duplicate set. Merge all the layers in that set to create a single layer which we’ll use for the hover effect of the links.

Nudge the new layer upwards – make sure it’s lined up exactly as the bottom layers. To create a hover effect – I desaturate the layer all the way to the max – making it a grayscale layer.

Make sure you hide the background layer and save the image as a .png.

Part 2 – The HTML

We’re going to need a single div and an unordered list of links to render the sprites. Make sure to add an id for each anchor tag. This is how we’ll match the image through our stylesheet.

Of course you have to replace the # with your links. Note that the first list item is not a link. This is just a placeholder for the title “Keep Updated” title.

Part 3 – The CSS

The first selector (#subscribe-div) can contain general properties of your bar. This includes overall padding, margins or positioning. The second selector (#subscribe-div ul#subsc li) – lets the browser know to display list items horizontally. The third (#subscribe-div ul#subsc li a) – calls our .png image.


This styles our list item bar-title with the “Keep Updated” leftmost section of our .png image – hence the position of 0 0 (means coordinates of 0 and 0). Next is styling the normal state of the links:

The above code reflects the normal state of the buttons in our list. The only properties applied are width and background position. To get the width of each button, you have to go back to your .psd (remember applying the guides in the beginning of the tutorial). Note that not all the buttons are identical in size, thus varying in widths. To get the background position, always remember: the first value is the left coordinate and the next value is top. Since we already know that our title is 156 pixels, we know our first button (rss) is going to have a background position of -156px.

Next is the hover state.

Notice I just copied the code for the normal state and re-pasted it. The only difference is the use of anchor pseudo class :hover is appended to the “a” selector, and the top value of background position is now 78 pixels. This is because we want the .png image to shift 78 pixels downward, once the mouse is hovered over each link.
The only thing left to do is to indent the text of the links. This is done in the #subscribe-div ul#subsc li a selector (text-indent:-9999px;).
And that’s it. We have finished creating a subscribe bar from an image in Photoshop, HTML and finally adding some styles with CSS. You can download the source code from here.

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