Learn how to add advanced styling techniques to your logo using vector Photoshop. This tutorial guides you through the process of adding and customizing borders, manipulating stroke options, and applying gradients to your design.
Key Insights
- Adding a border to a design can be achieved by using the stroke tool. The thickness and color of the stroke can be adjusted according to your preference. The stroke can be aligned inside, outside, or centered on the edge of the shape.
- Further manipulations to the stroke can be made, such as changing the caps to rounded for a softer look, adjusting corners, and creating a dashed line with a custom ratio for a unique pattern.
- Gradient fill can be applied to elements of your logo for a more dynamic look. Gradient options include linear, radial, angled, reflected, or diamond, and the opacity midpoint can be adjusted to change the transition between colors.
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In this video, we'll be stylizing our logo as well as adding a border. With our Phase 10 Vector Photoshop file open, let's begin.
The first thing we'll want to do is add a border to our trapezoid base. We can do this by adding a stroke. We go to our Options Bar with the Ellipse Tool or any of the Shape Tools selected.
We can select Stroke, and we can choose a color. I'll go to the Color Picker and choose a dark gray color. In addition, if I hover over the vector, I can simply sample this gray and click OK.
I now have a one-pixel stroke around the edge of the trapezoid. Let's click the dropdown next to one pixel and slide it up. I'll leave mine at 35 pixels and hit ENTER.
Next, we have some options for how we can manipulate this stroke. We'll click Stroke Options and choose a dashed stroke. Next, let's go down to More Options, where we have additional controls for how we can modify our stroke.
The first option on the left is how we align our stroke. Currently, it's set to Align Inside*, so the stroke is contained within the shape. If we change it to Outside*, we'll see the stroke moves outside of our shape.
In addition, we can center it so that half of the stroke is outside and half is inside. For mine, I'll choose Outside*. However, you can change yours to whatever you prefer.
Next, we can change our caps by selecting Rounded*. We'll see that the stroke now has rounded edges, or we can choose Square*, and finally Butt*.
I'll change mine to Round*. I like the look of that—it softens the whole logo a bit.
And finally, corners. Corners allow us to make some adjustments as well. If we look at our corners now with Round selected, we'll see that they've been rounded out as opposed to the other two options.
Personally, I prefer Rounded*. However, you can choose whatever you prefer. Finally, we have the ability to change our dashed line pattern.
Currently, we have a 4:2 ratio (4 × 2 gap), and we can modify this as desired. For example, I'll change my dash to 8 × 2, and then we can also create a pattern. If I make it 8 × 2, then 6 × 2, and 4 × 2, we'll see a repeating pattern of 8 × 2,6 × 2, and 4 × 2.
I'll click OK. Looking at this now, I actually want to reduce the stroke size slightly. So I'll change the stroke width in the Options Bar down to a smaller value—I'll leave it at about 20 pixels and hit ENTER.
Feel free to choose whatever pixel and stroke options you prefer. Next, let's continue stylizing our logo. The next way I'll stylize the logo is by adding a gradient to Ellipse 2*, or the center P Circle*.
We can do this by going into the Shape Properties and selecting Fill*. Our third option up top is Gradient*. Once we click Gradient*, it'll automatically apply one for us.
Below, we have options for different gradients, and I like the one that includes a bit of transparency. In addition, we can change the gradient by sliding the toggles around, which will adjust where the gradient is placed. The Opacity Midpoint Diamond refers to the transition between the two, and as we adjust this, we'll see the change in our logo.
We're also able to change it from a Linear to a Radial*, Angled*, Reflected*, or Diamond gradient. Within each, we can also manipulate the angle at which the gradient is set. I'll choose Linear for mine and set the angle so the gradient moves from left to right. I'll also adjust the toggle further so that the gray extends almost to the edge.
I'll then click outside of Artboard 1 and we can see the result. Next, let's add a gradient to Rectangle 1*. We can do this by going to Fill in Properties and selecting Gradient*. As we can see, it currently moves from top to bottom, and I'll select the option with transparency.
We'll then toggle the Opacity Stop to the right and also adjust the Opacity Midpoint upward so that the gradient becomes more visible. Finally, let's change the angle so that it also fades to the right. We can tweak these settings slightly and then hit ENTER.
Let's click outside of Layers and review the result. We now have our P fading to the right with gradients and a custom border. Let's save our work using CTRL+S on the keyboard, and in the next video, we'll be adding text to our logo.
See you there!