Creating Patterned Shadows in InDesign

The next time your display type needs some extra “pop,” try one of these alternatives to a traditional drop shadow. They’re super easy to make, and the creative possibilities are almost endless.

How to Create a Drop Shadow with Vector Patterns

How many times have you set some display type, and even though you’ve used the perfect font, the design still needs a little something extra to make it eye-grabbing? You might try adding a drop shadow or other transparency effects. But if you want to try something really different, you can make a unique ­patterned drop shadow tailored to your type. Here’s how.

1. Grab some great (and free) vector patterns

Head over to David Blatner’s awesome (and free) vector patterns. Be sure to check out both Volume 1 and Volume 2, for 40 choices in all. They’re all PDFs that you can scale to any size in InDesign without any loss of quality. When you find one you like, simply right-click on the thumbnail and save the PDF to your hard drive.

Just a small sampling of the free vector patterns available here at CreativePro.com!

2. Duplicate the display type and create outlines

With the Selection tool in InDesign, select the text frame containing your display type. Hold the Option/Alt key and choose Type > Create Outlines. This creates a duplicate of the text frame and converts all the text in it to outlines.

3. Place a pattern

Place one of the vector patterns into the text outlines by pressing Command+D/Ctrl+D and then

navigating to the location on your computer where you saved the pattern PDFs.

4. Fill the outlines

Make the pattern stretch to fill the outlines by clicking the Control panel button to Fill Frame Proportionally (or pressing Command+Shift+Option+C/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C).

5. Adjust the appearance of the pattern

Use the Swatches panel to adjust the stroke and/or fill of the outlines to your liking. You can also use the Control panel to change the scale of the pattern to make it larger or smaller. Just be sure you don’t make it so small that it no longer fills all the text outlines.

6. Put the outlines under the original text

Move the outlines under the original text by choosing Object > Arrange > Send to Back.

7. Nudge the outlines into place

With the outlines still selected, use your keyboard arrow keys to nudge them where you want them to be. Hold Shift while you tap an arrow key to move the outlines ten times as far as your normal keyboard increment. Note: If you want to change the color of the pattern objects, you can open the PDFs in Illustrator and edit them as you would any other vector file.

How to Create a Drop Shadow with InDesign Objects

Once you get started with patterned shadows, they might quickly become a regular part of your design repertoire. You can also fill text outlines with patterns you create from regular InDesign objects. Here’s how to quickly make a set of straight lines for a patterned shadow.

1. Duplicate and outline your type

Duplicate your display type, and create outlines as described above.

2. Draw a line

With the Line tool, hold Shift and drag straight down to create a line to the left of your display type. Make sure that the line is taller than the tallest letter in your type.

3. Add a stroke

Use the Control panel to give the line a stroke of 1 pt.

4. Step and Repeat

Choose Edit > Step and Repeat. Make sure that Preview is selected and Create as a grid is deselected in the dialog box. Set the vertical offset to zero. Set a small Horizontal offset as a starting value. Then increase the Repeat Count value until you have enough lines to cover your text. Adjust the horizontal offset and repeat count until you’re satisfied with the spacing of the lines. When you’re happy with what you see, click OK.

5. Group all the lines

With the newly-created lines still selected, Shift-click on the original line to select it too. Then press Command+G/Ctrl+G to group all the lines together.

6. Adjust the lines’ appearance

If desired, use the Stroke and Swatches panels to adjust the look of your lines. Experiment with different stroke styles like Dotted, Dashed, and Wavy.

7. Paste the lines into the text outlines

Place the group of lines into the text outlines by cutting the group to your Clipboard and choosing Edit > Paste Into.

8. Move the outlines into place

Move the outlines underneath the original text, and use your keyboard arrow keys to nudge them into place as described above. There you have it—an alternative (actually an abundance of alternatives) to the regular old drop shadow.