Campus Logos - Intertwined Letters

1. I opened up the PSD file for my campus client and created a set which would hold the layers for my logo. I decided to intertwine the letters "HSU" inside of a circle. Intertwining letters can be a bit confusing the first few times you try it. Let's start with the "H" and "S". I placed each letter on its own layer and arranged them where I thought they should overlay. My document looked like this.

2. I need the top middle of the "H" to go behind the "S". The area shown in hot pink is the portions of the "H" that needs to tuck behind.

3. To achieve this I make a copy of the "H" layer then access the Layer menu > Rasterize > text. The layer is no longer editable text, it is pixels which can be erased. I place this layer above the "S" layer and erase the pink portion shown above. Below is a picture of the H layer with a portion erased. The next picture shows the effect when the letter "S" is turned on.

     

At this point I can turn off the original "H" text layer since it is not needed.

4. Now I type in the letter "U" and determine where the "U" will tuck under the "S". Once again the pink area indicates the area of the "U" which will need to be removed.

5. Again I make a copy of the "U" layer, rasterize the text and erase the extra area. Here is the erased "U" layer and all text layers turned on

     

6. Here is how the logo fits on the opening screen.

7. Now take a look at the layers I used to create the logo.

8. I dragged all these layers over to the mock up for the second level campus page, resized the text and circle and produced a similar logo. I added the words "HEMENWAY STATE UNIVERSITY" to the upper portion of the page. Here is finished second level page with logo.

To view these files as a Photoshop document access the CD > CIS 58.53B Advanced Class > PSD > logo > campus-logo-L1b.psd and campus-2nd-logo-L1b.psd.