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Here is a variant re-creation of a popular movie poster...any guess which one??  Create a new document (File: New) with these dimensions.

Now use the rectangular marquee tool and make a selection like this. With red as your foreground color (and a new layer created) fill the selection with red.

Now go to Select: Modify: Contract and choose 15 pixels. This will keep the selection in proportion while shrinking it down.

Now Edit: Cut and you have a rectangular frame left over.

Now use a blocky font like IMPACT. You are going to have to do a lot of special modifications here so make sure you have the Character palette available (which you can choose from Window menu). With red as the foreground color, start typing your text.

You can edit text separately within the text layer by selecting type within the text edit field but in this case I’m going to Edit: Cut and Paste some type out of there and put it on its own layer for a little more control....ok by now you've probably guessed which movie.

Now we’re going to create a layer mask on the red frame layer. In this case I’ve made a copy just in case I make other adjustments to it I have an original. With layer masks, you can turn them on or off if you want. We are going to create the splotchy, weathered effect. Do this by choosing a course brush from the brush palette or options bar. This is an example where we’ll want to use different shades of grey instead of just pure black.  To fully understand everything make sure you get my Discover Photoshop: Total Package.

What you will do (on the layer mask) is go ahead and “dab” onto the layer to let the brush hide some pixels in its own special way. This creates the weathered effect, so just go around the layer and thoughtfully balance out your dabbing so it doesn’t look too deliberate (even though it is), making some parts more weathered (by using darker grey or black) than other, less ‘weathered’ areas.

Make some copies of your text layers. Create a layer set for organizational purposes by clicking on the layer set ‘folder’ at the bottom of the layers palette and dragging the original ‘text editable’ layers into it. Right click on each of the layers (one of each, copy or not doesn’t matter) and choose Rasterize Layer. This will create the vectorized text into bitmap essentially, so you can now treat it like a normal layer.

Add a layer mask and duplicate the same effect that you have just done with the weathered frame. Do this with each layer, the paintbrush ‘dab’masking.

Remember to use different shades of grey. The closer to white you are when masking, the more the original pixels will show up so there will only be a lighter ‘hiding’ effect.

To keep a copy of the original layers themselves in a file is always a priority so you can come back later and edit. Now go to Image: Duplicate to create an exact replica of your .psd document. Now go to the Layer menu and Flatten Image. This will merge the layers together into one layer. Now that you now have a simple layer of your mini-design you can now drag that layer into another document.

Choose Edit: Transform: Rotate and tilt it at an angle. This just seems like an intuitive thing to do anyways in this case as a graphic designer. It brings more “stature” to its role as an important part of the overall design.

Now get the magic wand tool and select the white outside area of the layer. Right click and choose Similar and then Edit: Cut. Using this logo and creating it with a white background means that we’ll probably have to cut it out (the white) if we put it on any kind of background (imagine what it would look like on a black background because you just want the red logo and the red frame now the white background).

So I purposely looked for a white background photograph which would just make for a nice clean fit for the logo/title (also being influenced by the “movie of a similar name” vhs packaging).

We want a nice, clean crisp image and this photo has kind of a dirty laundry white so lets easily fix that by going to create Levels adjustment layer and bring up the light by dragging the white slider to the left. Whammo! This is the powerful of Photoshop at work.

Now just create some complementary text...Minion works well for movie-style typography.

Note the pure, clean whiteness of the design with the logo fitting in perfectly...it’s important to get rid of that dingy background because now it looks like a real bus stop advertisement. Move over Forrest Gump! Photoshop Designer’s are on the loose.  If you're interested in real-world graphic design that people get PAID for then check out my new Madison Avenue Ad Design Secrets.