By Dan Antonelli
Posted on Friday, September 6th, 2024
I’m often amazed at certain uses of drop shadows that I see on logos and lettering jobs. So many seem to miss the mark in terms of how shadows are actually supposed to be used as a lettering effect. Rookie mistakes like red lettering with black drop shadows (or vice versa) not only look bad, but they are virtually guaranteed to result in distance legibility issues.
If you understand what the point of drop shadows is, it’s easy to use them correctly. So let’s start there. Once a designer grasps this basic principle, everything else will fall into place.
The primary reason to use a drop shadow is to bring the lettering it’s shading to the forefront. The drop shadow should never be used in an attempt to make the lettering more legible, and it should never have more contrast than the lettering.
How to nail it
There are several easy ways to get your lettering correctly shaded. In general, I’m designing in CMYK so this method is very simple: Just add 10% black to the color of the background the lettering is sitting on. No matter what background color your lettering is on, this formula works 100% of the time.
So if it’s a white background, add 10% black to your lettering and it makes a perfect shadow. If your background is medium blue, add 10% black to your medium blue color.
This has to work—and in “real life” that’s exactly what happens. You can add a little more or a little less black, depending on how dramatic you want the shadow to be as long as the contrast is not greater than the lettering it shades. If you are working on white backgrounds, adding 10% black works fine, as does any combination of colors whose combined CMYK value equals approximately 10%.
When in doubt go grayscale
If you’re unsure as to whether or not shading is working properly, simply convert it to grayscale. If the lettering is hard to read or not coming to the forefront of the viewer’s eye, then your shading is being used incorrectly.
Sometimes people try to use outlines and drop shadows together to make their lettering pop more. This is almost always done at the expense of legibility. If you need to rely on an outline to get the lettering to pop, then the layout probably has fundamental problems. Some people use this effect as a crutch to try to help poor color choices or layout.
Remember that shadows and outlines should serve only to enhance legibility—not make up for a lack of it.
This appeared in the July/August 2011 issue of SignCraft.
Dan Antonelli owns KickCharge Creative (formerly Graphic D-Signs, Inc.) in Washington, New Jersey. His latest book, Building a Big Small Business Brand, joins his Logo Design for Small Business I and II. He can be reached at dan@kickcharge. com. Dan also offers consulting and business coaching services to sign companies. For more information, visit danantonelli.com. On Instagram: @danantonelli_kickcharge.
