Best Photoshop Text Effects: Glitch, Retro, 3D and More

Text effects allow you to add extra features to text, including background colors, adding a blur, outlining the text, or introducing shadowing. The text effects you choose will make or break any creative project: seamlessly bringing together the artwork or dominating to the point of total distraction. The latest trends we’ve seen cropping up in Photoshop text effects have been dramatic, classic, playful, and so 2000s they’re cool again. Think bubble text and glowing stickers, and TV show logos like the neon glow of Stranger Things or the dripping green slime of Goosebumps. 

Here we’ve rounded up 10 great text effects to get you started, including retro designs with an 80s twist, gold text effects inspired by the biggest color trend of the year, and a comic classic to power up your projects.

To try your hand at creating your own text effects, head over to the Envato blog for How to Add Effects to Text: Best Photoshop Tutorials – where they’re beginner friendly options. If you’re thinking of honing some new skills or refreshing some existing ones, take a look at the top 100 Adobe Illustrator Text Effect Tutorials on Envato Tuts+. 

Whether you’re looking to experiment or you simply want some fresh inspiration, there are plenty of assets out there to help you become a pro at layer effects and brushes, and equip yourself with the creative toolkit you need to create bespoke text effects for your next project. But without further ado, it’s time to jump into the best text effects on Envato Elements:

This vibrant text effect is ideal for your power projects – think high impact and high social media traction. Glitch Text Effects by pixelbuddha_graphic includes 10 glitch effects, making the most of smart layers, which also means they’re super simple to use.

We’ve been seeing a design trend toward cyberpunk and vaporwave everywhere in 2020, if you needed any further reason to embrace the collection of 10 retro-futuristic text effects included in 80’s Retro Text Effects by IndWorks. Wacky, saturated, and reminiscent of Miami sunsets and dystopian fiction, this style is perfect for posters, billboards, event invites and promotional collateral.

With all types of knitted artwork making a comeback this year thanks to lockdown activities, it’s a good time to embrace the ugly Christmas jumper quirky-cool look. I ♥ Sweaters – Smart Knitted Effect by slid is sweet and playful, with a realistic look thanks to super high resolution and details.

Taking a different spin on retro, Vintage Retro Text Effects by designercow features 14 vintage retro styles that will take you back in time with clean, blocky lettering. These styles lend themselves to classic sportswear or high quality, no fuss retail products – like leatherwear.

The distressed texture featured in the collection of 30 varieties in Vintage Comic Creator by JRChild have been sampled from genuine comic books – giving them their authentic look. Easy to scale and edit, they can be used for any comic book-themed or -inspired design work, from posters and flyers to merchandise. Handily, this package also includes a guide on how to load, apply and edit the effects.

For the classic retro feel, 80s Retro Text Effect by artimasa_studio takes glowing perspective grids and abstract sunset aesthetics and does them well. A homage to ‘80s consumerism, these effects are great for retail and entertainment.

Simple but effective, the 6 designs included in 3D text effects by Easybrandz2 let the 3D effect take centre stage and pair back all other design elements, making them super versatile and ready to be applied to just about any project.

Perennially popular, a wood effect can be applied to a range of text ideas to enhance marketing and promotional materials. The styles in Wood Text Effects by EvathemeMarket are especially applicable to food and drink (think barbecues, aged cheese, oaky wine or smokey whiskey vibes), or in any project you’re looking to lend a sustainable or outdoor feel to. This package comes with 8 files, all fully editable and easy to use.

Featuring 10 different styles, the glamorous 3D Gold Text Effects by Sko4 can be added in a big way or a small way to just about any project. Depending on what you work it with, these effects can feel equally sleek and regal, or dripping with blingy decadence.

Evoking nostalgia for the golden era of Hollywood movies, and with it feelings of romance, crime and film noir aesthetic, text reminiscent of old cinema can make a bold statement in your projects. For this, Old Movie Title – Text Effect No 2 of 6 by ShinyPixel is one to keep in your creative toolkit.

If you’ve been inspired by this taster of what’s out there for text effects and are looking for more options, take a look at Best Resources of 2020: Photoshop Text Effects and Layer Styles. To look holistically at what you need for projects and the assets that are going to be most handy for you, head over to Envato Elements to subscribe and start browsing.

And to keep up-to-date with the latest design trends and more, don’t forget to subscribe to the Envato YouTube channel.

Like the feature image used in this blog post? Our design team created it using items from designercow, artimasa_studio and Sko4 on Envato Elements.