Neon Design

In this week’s design challenge I learned some tricks to create a neon effect in Adobe Illustrator. Embracing the 80’s vibe, I did an old cell phone illustration. There were a few challenges along the way, but I figured out a solution that worked nicely.

The first thing I did was research old cell phones. I found a decent close up of an old Motorola to use as the basis for the neon graphic. Outlining the phone started off easy, but the buttons became a huge mistake. I initially started by outlining them individually, but quickly found out they were impossible to align correctly in perspective. To solve this, I created a series of perfect squares, grouped them together, and used the free transform tool to angle them all uniformly to the side of the phone.

The other small problem I had was the photo cut off the antenna, so I needed to look for more reference to make sure it visually fit the rest of the design. I did my best to try and keep the same perspective as the original photo.

With the phone done, it was time to make it glow. Duplicating the phone 3 more times, I applied a progressively stronger gaussian blur to each copy. The first 10%, followed by 30% and 60% respectively. Placing the 3 copies on top of each other creates a gradual fade-out of color. In this case, pink. The original copy gets placed on top with a lighter shade of pink to mimic the light source of neon.

To really drive the aesthetic home, I learned how to create a grid in 3d perspective. After creating the initial grid, applying a 3d perspective effect allows you to angle it freely. But the real magic happens after you have applied the angle you want, there is an additional slider to force the perspective further. The slider affects the depth of field. This really helps sell the flat illustration as a 3d object.

Adding the same neon effect to the grid really unified the design. To make the neon really shine, I put it on a darker background so the light pink would glow stronger. Only the lightest color will shine the brightest. If the neon was on a white background, it wouldn’t look bright because the background is lighter than the lightest pink. 

This one was really fun. It makes me think about how much depth can be added to interfaces. If I can explore transitions that look as if they’re physically diving deeper into the phone, I wonder if that could translate an app feeling more physical? Something to look into.