As a graphic designer, designing quotes is expected to be a large part of your profession.
Quotes have always been an integral part of any content creation. They can take a moderately appealing piece to a highly engaging one.
But what can work even better than a quote in a text form? That’s right – a quote aesthetically designed to go with the flow and tone of the content. From social media uploads to media accessory for a blog to necessary elements in a brochure – a well-designed quote can take things to the next level.
That is why they are so much in demand. And that is also why, as a designer, one needs to know the basics of designing a quote.
In this article, you will learn all about designing quotes. The software you need to have for this is Adobe Photoshop CC, which is something every designer worth their salt should have on their devices anyway.
Now let’s get started.
Table of Contents
How To Design A Basic Quote
In this segment, you will learn to design a basic quote with a simple and minimalistic design. Before you get started, you obviously have to get your hands on the quote you want to use and a picture of the person who has said or written it.
For this article, we can go with a quote from the famous English novelist, Jane Austen.
“It isn’t what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” ― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility.
Step 1:
Select the drawing tool from the toolbar on the left-hand side according to the outline you want for your quote. If you want to make it look like a speech balloon, choose the Ellipse Tool to draw an elliptical outline.
(Source : Google Images)
If you want to go for a more easy-going style, simply go with the Rectangle Tool or the Rounded Rectangle Tool for softer edges. In case you want any other shape for your outline that does not thereby default, you can use the Custom Shape Tool to make whatever design you want.
Step 2:
For the sake of simplicity, we will go with the Rounded Rectangle Tool for this article. You can keep the radius of the shape small, around 3-5 px for a small to medium quote like the one we have chosen, and more if it is a long paragraph.
Draw the shape of the outline on your canvas. For our quote, dimensions of 450 x 200 should be more than enough.
Step 3:
(Source : Google Images)
Next up, give your shape its outline with the ‘Stroke’ option from the ‘Layer Style’ menu. Choose ‘Size’ of the stroke – keep it at 1 px for a regular-sized outline, more if you want a thicker border.
You can change the ‘Position’ from outside to inside. Outside will give you a bigger corner space, and inside will shorten the area by a bit. Lower the opacity from 100% if you want the quote box to be transparent.
Change the color of the design next. For the simplest touch, you can just go with white or an off-white hue. But since your background is also white, it will not show up. So, you will have to change the background color to something slightly darker.
You can keep the background a light shade of grey if you are going for a monotone look. Alternatively, a slightly tinted opaque red or blue will not look bad either.
Step 4:
Next, add any shapes to the box you want that will make it look more like a speech box. In the case of a speech balloon, you would want to draw a tail out of it, towards the picture or name of the author, to which we will come later.
In the case of the box we were drawing, you can create a little arrow coming down from it. Ideally, you can use the Pen Tool for making any of these shapes.
There is a hack for making the small arrow protruding from the rectangular box. Use the Rectangular Tool to draw a smaller box along the edge of your quote box and then use the ‘Transform’ option to rotate it 45 degrees.
This will be turning your life shape into a regular path, but that should not make a lot of difference.
Step 5:
(Source : Google Images)
Paste the quote inside the box using the Type Tool. Change the font style, size, and color accordingly. Keep in mind; your font conveys the tone of the content the quote will be used for. For our chosen quote, something like Helvetica or Book Antiqua should look good.
Step 6:
Now, we will paste the picture and the name of the author inside the canvas. We have found a nice picture of Miss Austen from the internet, and the next step will be to paste it underneath the quote box.
If you do not like the usual square or rectangular sized photos available, you can always turn it into an elliptical or circle. Use the Ellipse Tool to create the shape and get the photo inside the circle. Change up the layer positions to make the edges of the photo disappear.
Once again, use the ‘Stroke’ option to border the frame. This time, you can use a slightly bigger pixel size to give it a bolder outline. Resize the photo if it looks too big or too small inside the circle.
Using the ‘Layer Style,’ you can also add options like ‘Drop Shadow’ to give it a 3D look. Enter the angle at which you would want the shadow, the size of the shadow, and the opacity to bring a perfect, slightly embossed look.
Step 7:
Now all that remains is to write the name of the author. Use the Type Tool once again and write the name of the author – ‘Jane Austen’ in this case. Write ‘author’ underneath to explain the identity of the person – ‘entrepreneur,’ ‘politician,’ ‘actor,’ ‘philosopher’ – depending on who your quoter is.
Change the font style, size, and color once again to bring the perfect look.
How To Design A Paper Quote
To give a paper look to a quote, all you need to do is to make your quote box look like a real-life paper. You can always use handmade paper templates if you have the presets. However, there is a simple way to go that way without all that trouble.
Create your quote box following the steps of the basic quote. Add all the formatting and layer styles that you need to, including a ‘Drop Shadow’ on the box itself to give it an edgier look. Paste the quote and format the typography as well.
(Source : Google Images)
Next, use the Line Tool to draw a horizontal line across the quote box and stoke it with a color of your choice. Keep it dark, or you can make it red or blue if you want to give it the look of a children’s notebook.
Duplicate the layer of the line enough times to cover the length of the quote box and place the lines evenly spaced so that it looks like a paper from a ruled copy.
You can use one of the layers and turn it around into a vertical shape to make the left-side margin of the paper.
Nudge up or down your text to line it up with the rules of the paper you just created. You can keep the pixels of the text height and that of the distance between two lines the same for best results.
Remember to put the name of the person who said the quote underneath the quote. You can keep the name in a different font style or reduce the opacity of the text to give it a different look.
The same goes for the quotation marks you use for the quote. Remember, all this formatting is meant to make the thing more appealing and aesthetic.
How To Design A Photo Quote
For a photo quote, paste the image you want to use for the quote box first. Resize the photo to fit your canvas on all sides.
Images from the free stock websites online are often quite huge and at least 2000 px or more. Zoom out all the way to make the resizing process quicker.
Paste the quote you want to use next. Bring the text layer above the picture layer for the texts to be visible.
It is time for the formatting now. You can desaturate the background picture from the ‘Image Adjustments’ menu. Choose a color and set the option to ‘Overlay.’ If the tint is too bright, you can reduce the opacity of the shade.
Experiment and have fun with all your Adobe Photoshop options to bring the look you want for your photo quote.
This style works great on Instagram and other visual mediums, including Facebook ads.
To End
As a designer, it is always your discretion what typography to use. But if you are working for a client, you will have to keep their needs and requirements in mind – sometimes going against your better judgment.
There’s a lot more to design than just quotes, in fact a complete branding package for social media, offline business, and more will require countless pieces of design – learn more about our scope of service to see everything that we can help with.
