Get the Look American Southwest

Want your design to scream American Southwest, cowboy, or old saloon? Look no further. This is the perfect graphics template for you.

Download the Guides

Download American Southwest Part 1 / Colors and Fonts / 57 kb
Download American Southwest Part 2 / Techniques and Wrap-up / 146 kb

Colors

Western colors are often ‘browned down,’ and look almost toasted. Although many Western colors are very dark, you don’t have to work with a dull palette. Throw in some sunny colors as accents to add some spice — colors that contrast a lot are good for getting that Southwest look. Look to Spanish palettes to spur you on to more ideas (no pun intended!).

Fonts

Western fonts often have rough edges or large serifs, so keep an eye out for those. Some typefaces have an obvious Old West feel, but don’t forget those that say ‘New West.’ Play around with some of the fonts in the template. For example, Spanky’s Bungalow comes with a number of different characters to achieve that ’sign’ look.

Techniques

1. Old, burnt paper

To achieve this look I began by drawing a shape with a few zigzagged edges. I applied an inner glow, using a dark brown, to make the edges look old and burnt. I also applied a very slight texture to add to the old effect, and finished it with a hard-edged drop shadow. Be sure not to use bright white for the paper, as that will make it look too new.

2. Nailed wooden planks

These were very easy to create in Fireworks, and they have that great, Old West look. I began by drawing three fairly simple shapes that nearly fit together. I used the satin fill so that they weren’t solid in color throughout, and applied a very slight confetti texture so that they would look more like a worn piece of wood. I finished the planks with small inner bevels, for depth, and soft drop shadows to make them pop out. For the nails, I simply drew a circle and gave it a radial fill, before adding a small inner bevel to finish them up.

3. Avoid anti-aliased text

This simple effect will give your text an older, rougher look.

4. Old rope

In Fireworks, I drew a shape similar to the one that represents a hurricane on the weather report! A circle with two little tails, you might say. To this I added a soft inner glow and a smooth inner bevel. I simply made many copies of the shape and fit them together into a long line, but don’t forget to experiment with colors and shapes!

5. Carved wood

For this effect, begin with a piece of text or a shape. Fill your object with a color slightly darker than that of the wood that you’re going to ‘carve into’, and make sure that your shape isn’t anti-aliased. To finish the look, apply an inset emboss with the softness set to ‘0′.

If you use a program other than Fireworks, try adding two shadows: a dark inner shadow and a lighter drop shadow, and make sure that the shadows are on opposite ends of your object. If this doesn’t work, consult your favorite tutorial site on how to get an inset embossed look.

6. Zigzags

This is a very popular Western element of design. Think of Spanish rugs or a bag of ‘Tostitos’ chips. Use a variety of colors to spice them up!

7. Cow print

What can I say? It just screams Southwest!

Putting It All Together

I combined most of the techniques here to create a pretty cool Southwestern sign. I put nails in the corners of the old, burnt paper, to make it look like it’s nailed to the wood board. Some little doodles (^) are carved into the wood and the whole thing is hung from a wood plank with rope. To make the holes for the rope, I drew two white circles and gave them an inset emboss. The text was angled to give it a rough look. See what you can come up with!