Design Blog - week 3

 

This week I wanted to focus on something that sounds simple, but gets complicated real quick: layering in Photoshop. At first, I used to think layering was just about stacking images or type on top of each other, but even since I started with Photoshop journey, to now I’m finally starting to see that it’s more about building order than just piling things together, but actually bringing all your pictures to orchestrate a much deeper picture, and build an actual message is images. Not just cool looking pictures.

    The real key I learned this week is how much layering ties into visual hierarchy. If the hierarchy isn’t right, the layers just become noise. The video I watched broke this down in such a clean way. It showed how organizing your design with clear ways to guide the eye, almost like giving the viewer a map of what matters most. That one tip clicked for me instantly suddenly I wasn’t just placing things randomly, I was actually directing how someone would read my design.                            Another takeaway was the idea of spacing and breathing room. I’ve been guilty of trying to squeeze too much onto one artboard or a storyboard of sorts, but the video reminded me that hierarchy also comes from knowing when to let things breathe. A strong image or bold text doesn’t need five more effects stacked on top sometimes the absence of clutter is what makes a layer stand out.                                                                                                                                                                 And the another big point was about contrast. Layering isn’t only about what’s in front or behind, but how things interact. Playing with contrast whether it’s through scale, color, or even texture is what makes each layer have its own voice. Without that, everything just blends into one flat mess.

    Honestly, this video helped me out a lot, not just with this one project but with how I look at Photoshop as a whole. And it wasn’t just this tutorial  I ended up watching the first video in the series too, along with a bunch of others from this creator’s channel. It’s crazy how much little adjustments can change the whole impact of a design, and layering feels less like a struggle now and more like a tool I actually know how to control, and if you want to give Pixi's videos a try I will link a direct channel link so you can try and learned to master some things as well.

PiXimperfect's Channel: PiXimperfect

And here's the video that I used for today's post: Mastering Layering 


 

Comments

  1. Vettes ViewSeptember 18, 2025 at 6:07 AM

    Hi Alex. I also learned a lot about the spacing and the placing of things to make the eye drift where the most important things can catch the eye. Your post was very informative and brought many more questions to my attention. Getting the right information for the viewer is also very important but where you put it plays a key role in how it is perceived. This post was very informative. Thanks for your perspective.

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