Tip of the Week: Scotch Tape FX
This InDesign tip how to create scotch tape FX was sent to Tip of the Week email subscribers on June 22, 2017.

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I was reminded of this FX trickĀ when I saw Guardians of the Galaxy 2, in which finding a piece of scotch tape may be a life or death matter. It also is a follow-up on last week’s tip about Quick and Easy Photo FX.
To create the look of scotch tape, start by creating a rectangle. If you’re trying to gauge the size relative to other objects in your layout, real scotch tape is about .75″ in/2 cm in width.

Fill the rectangle with a tint of 20% black.Ā And in the Effects panel, reduce the opacity to 50%.

Add a tiny drop shadow.

Bonus tip: Save an object style with these settings if you’re going to be “taping” a bunch of stuff.
Then position the rectangle over other objects in the layout. Play with the length and rotation to get the look you want.

This article was last modified on July 25, 2019
This article was first published on June 27, 2017
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