Gradients and drop shadows in Publish by Zaweba

Flat colour is clean and dependable, but now and then a page wants a bit of depth. A banner that shades from one colour to another, a photo that seems to sit just above the page, a panel lifted off the background: gradients and drop shadows give you that, and Publish by Zaweba has both.

Gradient fills use two colours at any angle. Drop shadows can go on shapes, pictures and text boxes. Shadows are hard edged, and there are no blurred shadows or glows, which is a deliberate choice that keeps exported PDFs vector.

Two-colour gradients

A gradient blends from one colour to another across a fill. With two colours and a free choice of angle, you can make a sky that fades from deep blue at the top to pale at the bottom, a banner that runs from the club colour to a lighter version of it, or a diagonal sweep across a poster background.

The most effective gradients are subtle. Two shades of the same colour look rich and calm. Two very different colours, such as red to green, look loud and can make text on top hard to read. If you put text over a gradient, check that it is readable at both ends.

Using document colours for the two ends of a gradient keeps it tied to the rest of the publication, so it follows if a named colour changes.

Drop shadows

A drop shadow is a copy of an object's outline, offset a little and set behind it. It makes the object look as though it is sitting just above the page. On a photo it gives a printed snapshot feel; on a panel of text it lifts the panel away from a busy background; on a shape it adds weight.

Shadows follow picture shapes, so a round photo gets a round shadow. Text boxes can have shadows as well, which suits a panel of key details over a picture.

Why the shadows are hard edged

Many apps offer soft, blurred shadows and glows. They look appealing on screen, but behind the scenes a blur usually has to be turned into a picture when the page is exported. That can make a PDF heavier and can show up as a slightly different, sometimes blocky patch in print.

Publish keeps shadows hard edged so that the PDF stays vector. A vector shadow is described as a shape, not as pixels, so it stays crisp at any size and prints exactly as drawn. For a print shop job, that is a sensible trade. The look is closer to classic print design: clean, offset shadows rather than misty halos.

Knowing that helps you design with it. Keep shadows small and close to the object, often in a darker or slightly transparent version of a document colour rather than pure black. A small offset looks tidy; a large one starts to look like a deliberate retro effect, which can be exactly what you want for a party flyer or a themed poster.

Using them with restraint

Both effects are at their best in small doses. One gradient banner per page, or a shadow on the main photo only, gives depth without clutter. A page where every object has a shadow loses the sense that any one of them is lifted.

Think about where the page will end up. Printed on a home printer, a subtle gradient may show slight bands; a print shop usually renders it more smoothly. Look at your PDF on screen and, for important jobs, print a test page before running off hundreds.

Gradients and hard shadows in Publish by Zaweba give pages depth while keeping the PDF crisp, which is exactly the balance a print job needs.