A flier made with Adobe Photoshop.
A one-page flier can be a quick runoff, or it can be designed to look professional. Using Photoshop, you can do either. The better-looking the flier is, the more it will get noticed. Photoshop gives you the tools to make the subject stand out.
Instructions
1. Go to the File menu and select "New." Choose a standard 8.5-inch width and 11-inch height to print to white or colored paper, or card stock. Use a high resolution to get clear, crisp images and text. Six hundred pixels per inch is good, but it will be a big file. Don't go below 200 pixels per inch because the images and text won't look good.
2. Start with an image, a photo if possible. If you're making a flier for a music event, get a photo of the band or performers, scan it if it's not already a digital file and use it as the centerpiece. Open the photo in a separate window from the blank flier you've made. Using the Move tool, click, hold and drag the photo onto the blank document. It will create a new layer that you can move around. If the image is too big or small, or if you want to distort it in some way, go to the Edit menu, then choose "Transform" or "Free Transform." The former has preset actions such as "Skew," "Rotate" and "Scale," while the latter allows you to do whatever you want with the image. When the photo is the way you want it, double-click on it to save the transformation.
3. Try a gradient background. Click on the Background layer in the Layers panel to make it active, then select the Gradient tool in the toolbar. Create the gradient by moving the mouse to the upper left corner of the canvas, then clicking and dragging down to the lower right corner. The gradient will form behind the photo you placed. You can start a gradient from anyplace on the canvas, making sure you have the Background layer selected, and create a variety of them. The options bar at the top of the application includes settings where you can change the style and colors of the gradient.
4. Work on the text by clicking on the Type tool, then clicking anywhere on the canvas and typing in words. Use the options bar to change the font, point size and color of the text. Create a big headline under or over the photo for the grab line, which might be a band name or a well-known venue. Select a font that expresses the tone of the subject matter. For instance, if you're publicizing a thrash metal band, use a jagged, rougher-looking font. If it's a light music group, use a softer font. Each time you click the Type tool and click the mouse somewhere else on the canvas, you will create a new layer. This is useful for moving pieces of text around. If you like the same font and style as a text layer you've already created, right-click on that layer in the Layer panel and select "Duplicate Layer." You can type over the text in the new layer, and move the layer around with the Move tool.
5. Line everything up using the Align command. You can center your elements with this, line them up left or right, or top or bottom. In the Layers panel, shift-click all the layers you want to line up, then go to the Layer menu, select "Align" and choose the alignment method you want from the fly-out menu.
6. Save the file as a Photoshop (.psd) document to retain the layers. This will be a big document, but it allows you to use the same format many times by just changing certain elements and leaving the rest intact. For example, if you're making fliers for your club and will have different bands each week, you can use the same background, same gradient and same font but replace the photo and band name.
7. Go to the Layer menu and choose "Flatten Image" to merge all the layers into one. This reduces the file size.
8. Go to the File menu and choose "Save As" to make a copy of the flier using the TIFF or JPEG format. You can print more easily from this type of file than a PSD file. If you will have the flier printed professionally, save it as a Photoshop PDF and put it on a disk or USB drive for easy transport.
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