Aged Type Effect in Photoshop (w/Ps Action)

Sep 14

Photoshop, Photoshop Actions, Tools & Tips

While working on the poster for DIT Fest last week I managed to create an impressive text effect that I will likely reuse for awhile. It’s very subtle and does not look like a filter. I’m simply adding a slightly aged, worn, or screen-printed look to any typeface. You can even apply this effect to any solid color shape or vector graphic for a hand-made screen-printed look—all done in Photoshop.

Create your type as you normally would
Rasterize the type
Add noise, around 25%. Be sure the check the ‘Monochromatic’ checkbox.
Adjust the Input Levels, bring the black level up to about 70
Run a very slight Gaussian Blur on your type – like 1 or 2 px
Run Smart Sharpen to remove the blur but keep some of the organic distressing / softening that occurs. Like 200% for the amount and about 15 for the radius.
Adjust Levels again – bring black up to about 50 and white down to 69.

Or just download the Aged Text Effect Photoshop Action (28480) and never have to remember how to do it again.

See example images:

Go Media is a creative agency based in Cleveland, Ohio. Besides the GoMediaZine, we also work for clients and sell stock artwork and design files on the Arsenal.

aged, design tip, distressed, download, effect, freebie, graphic design, hand-made, Photoshop, Photoshop action, screenprint, screenprinting, style, technique, typography, weathered, worn

This post was written by:

Jeff Finley - who has written 229 posts on GoMediaZine.

I'm an artist and designer with a fondness for branding and building movements. I'm a partner at Go Media and founder of Weapons of Mass Creation. I'm also happily married and play drums for Parachute Journalists. Follow me on twitter

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http://colorburned.com/ Colorburned

Pretty cool action. Downloaded and added to my arsenal!
kriscruser

Nice timesaver. Thank you!
http://www.oneoftwenty.com/ nickhealy

thanks! this will definitely come in handy. Plus, that poster came out sweet!
http://twitter.com/badrobotbrain Matt Bryant

Very sweet, thanks.
http://coghillcartooning.com George Coghill

Nice tip Jeff, and the Photoshop action makes it even better!
joe

Nice, seems a bit similar to Cameron Moll's Wicked Worn effect.
http://www.cameronmoll.com/archives/000024.html

Definitely easier to remember though. :)
http://www.digitalartquirks.com/ Donna

What a cool effect. Thanks so much for the action.
infectedrobot

very cool tutorial, but i think this can be done with some grunge brushes.
http://www.jannegylling.fi Janne Gylling

I agree. Brushes and mask would be easier and you don´t have to convert text.
http://www.zoombits.co.uk/bluetooth/ bluetooth speakers

Really cool tutorial I am agree with this and simply agree with this.
Anyways thanks for the intelligent post.
http://simonh.toile-libre.org Simon H.

Nice one. But there are many ways to do that :-) A little layer mask on the text layer, some grunge brushes…
richn

you might like this, not cheap, but impressive
http://www.misterretro.com/permanent_press_filt…

By the way, whats the font used for the very top image (aged type with the ps logo)?
http://coghillcartooning.com George Coghill

Although if you want to use this as an action, the grunge brush method won't work.
infectedrobot

yeah, thats right, but if you are using brushes you dont need to use the action.
i think there is more control using brushes and you can add a lot of diferent details in the illustration.

just my opinion
http://coghillcartooning.com George Coghill

Agreed, but in this case for lots of body text (per Jeff's design example), I'd go with Jeff's automated approach. For something more detailed or larger/prominent, hand-crafted with grunge brushes would give a more polished-looking effect.
http://coghillcartooning.com George Coghill

The header image font is Rockwell Standard, probably bold or extra bold.
infectedrobot

yeah, i agree with that.

even do if you have a cool brush in high res, one click and you are done.

anyway, this method is very cool
richn

ah thanks had forgotten about that one!
vailancio

Dame useful. Thanks
Heeectooor

When I apply this action on a brown colored text, it gets all noisy and illegible. Must it be applyed only to black text or otherwise it looks awful?
http://www.gomedia.us jeff_finley

Yeah, if it only works well on black text, you can just change the color later.
http://www.gomedia.us jeff_finley

Sure, grunge brushes are one way to distress type, but sometimes it looks too “brushy” if you know what I mean. This effect is more uniform and anonymous. Certain grunge brushes call too much attention to themselves. I think it's best to use a combination of a global aging technique like this and spot distressing with grunge brushes or textures.
infectedrobot

yes, you are totally right, some brushes are too famous, i is that what you mean, probably the best way to do it is using your own brushes. i think this method is really cool to distress all the illustration at once and then use some stuff, so i agree with you,
but also i think that it depends on what brushes you use.

even do as i said before, this technique is really cool
Ken Turner

As a Ps beginner, not sure I understand what you mean by adjust Input Levels. Clarify, please? Thanks.
mike_r

hey, Ken! Go to Mode > Adjustment > levels. thats the inputs levels. this is a cool way to distress some type, never thought of doing it this way.
http://coghillcartooning.com George Coghill

@mike_r – thanks for clarifying that for Ken.
Shawn_C

Really great Jeff! Thanks!
http://www.hdonweb.com/ Ivan Mišić

Great share Jeff
http://twitter.com/DefunktShirts Defunkt Shirts

Awesome work. And thank you!
Ken Turner

Thanks for the info. Very helpful.
http://www.piranhaprinting.co.uk/ johny

its the best … great work
http://www.ps-actions.com/ Alexander

I published this action at http://www.ps-actions.com
http://www.armgardtdesign.com/ lawoman

Nice action, very quick and easy.
http://photoshopvip.net/ sean

wow, it's nice action, i would have it, but download link is missing…
can you guys fix it up, please??
http://www.crearecommunications.co.uk/ Jamie Allsop

Thanks for the tutorial, this looks very quick and easy to do.
etty

Pretty cool action. Downloaded and added to my arsenal!
dizi izle
etty

Pretty cool action. Downloaded and added to my arsenal!
dizi izle
Matt

Thanks for this nice work!
dizi izle
Sandy_in_MD

Cool effect – thanks for creating and sharing the action to achieve this look!
http://www.clippingimages.com/ Clippingimages

superb share…nice action and the tutorial…
http://twitter.com/download60s download60s

thanks.. find more best tutorials here http://download60s.com
Photoshop tutorial, from beginner to advanced. Including Photoshop text effect tutorials, photo manipulation tutorials, give you joomla templates,joomla extensions,wordPress theme,web templates,
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thanks.. find more best tutorials here http://download60s.com
You have good tutorials and i had post it on my website. http://download60s.com
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001710756630 David Emery

Hi – does anybody have a working link for this action? Neither of the links above seem to work! Thanks
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001710756630 David Emery

Hi – does anybody have a working link for this action? Neither of the links above seem to work! Thanks
http://www.facebook.com/people/John-Cole/1338956299 John Cole

nice and useful…thx
http://www.facebook.com/medestruit Adam Merkison

Yeah, but if you’re doing mass amounts of text, that’d take far longer than an automated approach.
http://www.heroictuts.com HeroicTuts

Tried it and Liked it ! Thanks for the action.
Anonymous

This works great for me. I’ve been trying to get this “hastily screen-printed poster” look for a while with only limited success. Try throwing a subtle “render clouds” effect into the action if you’re looking to get a a little more randomness to the grain.