All Photoshop tutorials here are written for Photoshop CS using Mac OSX. Keyboard shortcuts may be different depending on your machine, and instructions may vary based on which version of Photoshop you run. To view larger images, ctrl- or right-click on the image and open it in a new window.

Tutorial~

Easy banner with white text and lightly textured blue/white background. This is a modification of the banner I made for the Uni High Gargoyle site.

Colors you will need~
White, black, and single color. White and black can be reversed throughout entirety (set text Glows to Screen blend mode in steps 2 + 3), and choice of color is single use.

Making the background~

1. Make a long, narrow canvas (I used 600x150px at 100 dpi).
2. Choose the color you want the banner to be (I chose a medium turquoise-grey, #3D95B8)
3. Select Edit>Fill... and use your Foreground Color with the Normal blending mode. Click OK.
   
4. Select All (cmd- or ctrl-A)
5. Choose Select>Transform Selection. Grab one of the corner handlebars (the little squares), and while holding Shift and Option, drag it in towards the center (I shrank it so there was about half an inch on either side). Press Return/Enter.
   
6. Fill the rectangle with white, and then Deselect (cmd- or ctrl-D).
   
7. Choose Filter>Gaussian Blur... (this is an incredibly handy filter), and set it fairly high - 30px worked well on my 100 dpi document (how much you blur it depends on your taste and the dpi of your canvas).
   
8. Choose Filter>Noise>Add Noise... and set it for 5%, Gaussian, and check the box for Monochromatic.
   
9. Go back to the Gaussian Blur dialogue box and set it for about 1.25 pixels this time, which will blur the noise enough so it's subtler but not so much that it disappears.
   

Adding the text~

1. Add some white text, and make it so it touches (or preferably runs over a teeny bit) the top, bottom, and left sides.
2. At the bottom of the Layers palette, there is an f in a circle; click this and select Outer Glow. This brings up the Layer Style dialogue box. Set the Outer Glow settings to Multiply blend mode, 70% Opacity, black, size 7.
   
3. Click on Inner Glow in the left column. Set the Inner Glow to Multiply, 40% Opacity, black, size 3.
   

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