Author: James Manning

I am sure when I first came across this beer image, but I do recall how much I enjoyed the design. The color scheme, the simplicity of the text and the gradient pattern was something that intrigued me. These are the type of images that I store with the intent of recreating at some point.

The first step in creating this is determining which method I would use to create a multi-gradient pattern. There are two primary ways of doing this: use a gradient adjustment layer or use a solid color adjustment layer and apply the gradient to the mask. I chose the latter because it felt like I had more control of the color scheme. Over the top of all of the layers, I added a 50% gray layer and applied some noise. This gave the label some texture.

Once I was done with the label, I downloaded a wine bottle mockup from Envato Elements. Very rarely will I hardly ever create a mockup from scratch. There are so many assets available, it is not an efficient use of time unless I just wanted to practice.

Applying the images to the mockup is just a matter of plugging in the designs in the proper placeholders.

Final Image

The Inspiration

The Background

Let’s talk about design assets. The great thing about today’s designer is that you don’t ever have to start from scratch. I have a subscription and downloaded a slideshow template and just inserted my images. The template in this video directly below took 20-minutes to complete and would have taken longer had I done something with the text.

However, to do this template from ground zero would have taken 8 to 10 hours. However, this template was a MOGRT for Premiere Pro. When it came to the final render, I got error messages. I opened the MOGRT in After Effects and did all of my editings, rendered the composition then went back to Premiere to complete the final edits. The benefit of learning Premiere and After Effects is that when issues with templates arise, you have some knowledge on how to troubleshoot or work around the problem.

Envato Elements Template

Slideshow Created w/No plugins, No templates

This slideshow took 30 minutes to create. The only issue was having to change the frame rate from 29 to 24 in order to get a smooth flip.

The difference between the two videos is in the details. With a template, you get a full complementary of design elements. You simply add in your assets, change the text, and you are ready to go. Rendering templates can be a hassle at times because of frame rates, missing fonts, and at times creators make bloated templates that can cause serious issues when rendering, especially if you do not have a powerful computer with the latest graphic card.