Photoshop for Funeral Directors: Memorial Folders – The Subtle Logo

Normal Logo

You need to leave your mark on every folder, but you do not want it to have more prominence than the deceased. This tutorial will go through the steps of how to leave your mark – your brand – subtly. The three options that we will review today are:

The Foggy Logo

The Precise Logo

The Invisible Embossed Logo

The choice of which logo type you want to use will depend on other elements of the memorial folder, so it is advisable to try all of these effects, even customize them to your liking and then stick with 2 to 3 of them for consistency.

Want to Be More Progressive?

Use your URL (your domain name – www.YourFuneralChapel.com) instead of your logo. Using your URL has a three-fold benefit:

• Letting attendees know that you have a web presence
• Letting them know how to find your website
• Still promoting your brand identity

Nowadays, even people who do not use the Internet understand what “.com” means so why not take advantage of letting 50 – 500 people know how to find out where they can find everything they could want to know about your funeral home.

The Initial Steps

The first steps are the same whether using your graphic logo or typing out your domain name.

1. Open the “Memorial Folder 2 Up Template.psd”
2. Place your brand identity near the bottom of the Outside Back quadrant
• Logo: Open your logo file, copy it and paste it in your Memorial Folder Template, then size it and place in the desired location
• URL Text: Select the Horizontal Type tool (Shift + T), drag a text box and type your domain name using a font similar to your logo and select Black as the text colour
3. Name this Layer Brand Identity : Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options (Right-click over desired layer in the Layer Pallet and click on Blending Options)
4. For all three of these styles you need to change the main Blending Options. This is accomplished by clicking on the top box in the left column titled Blending Options: Default (immediately above the Drop Shadow box)
• Change the Advanced Blending, Fill Opacity to 0% (from 100%)

The Foggy Logo

1. Select the Brand Identity layer in the Layer Pallet
2. Go to Blending Options

• Note: This style will use Drop Shadow, Inner Glow, & Color Overlay

Drop Shadow: change the default settings to:

· Opacity: 35%

· Distance: 20 px

· Spread: 15%

· Size: 55 px

Inner Glow: change the default settings to (see graphic):

· Opacity: 100%

· Color Palette: White

· Choke: 25%

· Size: 50 px

Color Overlay: change the default settings to:

· Blend Mode: Normal

· Color Pallet: Black

· Opacity: 100%

The Precise Logo

1. Go to Blending Options

• Note: The Inner Glow, & Color Overlay settings are the same as the Foggy Logo, only the Drop Shadow settings change

Drop Shadow: change the default settings to:

· Opacity: 35%

· Distance: 10 px

· Spread: 5%

· Size: 10 px

The Invisible Logo

This style of logo works best when you have a colour image that covers the entire panel.

1. Go to Blending Options

Bevel and Emboss (not the sub categories of Contour or Texture): change the default settings to:

· Style: Outer Bevel

· Depth: 500%

· Size: 5 px

· Soften: 15 px

2. Optional: If due to the background image your logo cannot be seen, try adding a very fine outline (Stroke)

Stroke: change the default settings to:

· Size: 1 px

· Position: Outside

· Opacity: 50%

· Fill Type: Color

· Color: Black (or other desired color)

As with the Polaroid Effect tutorial, you should experiment with the various calibrations in the Blending Options to achieve your desired results. Once you have the styles that you like, you can save them by opening the Blending Options and click the New Style… button. Give this new style a name and check off both Include Layer Effects and Include Layer Blending Options. It should then appear at the bottom of your Styles pallet (Menu Bar > Window > Styles).

Remember, Memorial Folders are keepsakes for all who attend your services and although you cannot have it look like an advertisement for your funeral home, this subtle approach will let them know where the it came from.

You can download the working Photoshop (.psd) file named: “Your_Funeral_Chapel_logo.psd” by going to www.funeralfuturist.com > Resources > Tutorials

Note: If you have not used Photoshop for creating memorial folder before, please see the first tutorial, Memorial Folders – The Basics. It can be downloaded at:

www.funeralfuturist.com > Resources > Tutorials