Gradients are fun way to quickly add a dash of color to your layouts. I love using them on papers. I really love to use them on titles.

Isn’t that just bright & happy? Who doesn’t need bright & happy these days? Gradients are a very easy to add bright & happy. For those of you without photoshop or elements, or no patience to play with gradient settings… skip on down to pick up the free gradient style & free gradient in JPG. For the rest, let’s take a quick look at how to create & adjust gradients.

For those of you new to the site, today kicks of our… you guessed it! Our LAD: Kite Flying Festival.

  • What is Kite Flying Festival? Quite simply it’s a layout-a-day challenge for April.
  • What makes it spectacular? A prize-a-day. A beautiful mini that will build one spectacular mega! And a special bonus mini for everyone who plays every day.
  • What does that mean?  That means everyone that posts a layout on day one, gets one prize & qualifies. Wash, rinse, repeat every day. It’s only by playing every single day that you will get all the pieces to the spectacular Kite Flying Festival Mega!

I am working in photoshop CC. My font is Oaker Solid. I just need to add my layer style.

  • Click on the layer effects (fx) at the bottom of the layers panel
  • Choose Gradient Overlay

A pop-up box appears.

  • Click on Gradient

You are now in the Gradient Editor.

  • Make Sure your Gradient Type is set to Solid
  • There are two little boxes at either end. These are both sliders and determine the color in the gradient
    note: You can add more of these boxes
  • Click on the left little box
  • The Color box below becomes active
  • Click on the Color box and the Color Picker pops-up
  • I picked color hex #fd8032
  • Click OK
  • The Color Picker box disappears and we return to the Gradient Editor
  • Click on the second little box to change that color
  • The Color Picker tool again pops up
  • I pick color hex #61aabb

This gives us a great two-color gradient, but we want more! We want bright & happy! It’s time to add another little box. How? It’s easy:

  • Move the cursor directly under any spot in the gradient bar
    note: I picked the middle
  • A little hand appears to show where you are
  • Click where the hand is & a third little box appears
  • Now click the little box and the Color Picker pops-up again
  • This time I picked color hex #f92549

I now have a gorgeous tricolor gradient:

I want more. I’m greedy that way. I add a bunch more little boxes & change the colors. I finally wind up with this little beauty:

I click OK. And then I click OK again in the Layer Panel

I’m pretty happy with my gradient. But. I want a little more flare, a little more pizzaz. I again click on the Layer Effects (fx) option at the bottom of the Layer Panel:

  • I change the Style of the Gradient to Diamond

I make minor adjustments to both Angle and Scale. Honestly, I played with these a bit before deciding I like the way my gradient looks on my Title.

Note that the preview is how the entire canvas looks. This is not how the gradient will look on your title. Your title is only a small part of your entire canvas.

My final step is adding a slight drop shadow. Now I’m happy! Now it’s bright & happy!

Here’s the style and JPG file for you to download! Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD