If you ever had the chance to create a table in Photoshop you will soon find yourself dabling with a score of tools just to get the job done.

In three routines you can create similar tables styles like the following, with ease.

To get acquainted with the three step routine, please visit a short video demo over at Layers Magazine.

If you ever had the opportunity of creating a table in Photoshop from scratch (multiple boxes, multiple type Layers and so fourth) is a hugh chore and daunting to keep organized.

As demoed:

  1. A simple shape (preferably the Rectangular Shape Tool), intersected by lines: Subtract from Shape.
  2. * Apply type using Type in a Path to the ‘subtracted’ areas.
  3. Apply Blending Style (Layer Effects) to the Shape.

* Type in a Path is a CS and up feature

Time savers:

  1. no need for multiple boxes/shapes
  2. no need for nudging/alignment and combined with Character Panel attributes (like Left, Center, Right) makes positioning a breeze
  3. no need to style individual areas and duplicating the original shape with alternate Styles for variants (see attached download)

[download id=”23″ format=”1″ autop=”false”] : 10 samples in one zipped .psd file.

Once downloaded, unzip and open the .psd file, toggle the visibility of the 10 different Layers for variants.

For each variant scour through the Blending Styles I used for each one – unlimited combinations and opportunities.

Enjoy.