Creating Zig-Zag Borders in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator

Want some Zig with that Zag?

Creating zig-zag borders in Photoshop isn't as hard as you would think! Just invite your friendly neighbor Illustrator to join in on the fun and it's super cinchy.

Extra Tip: Sometimes some good ol' Trololol will help make the zig-zag design process even quicker. ;)

Step 1: Create multiple triangle shapes side by side

Load up Illustrator and, using the Polygon Tool, draw a simple triangle in any color of your choice. Simply click once on the artboard and choose 3 sides or begin drawing your polygon shape and use the down arrow on your keyboard to give it less sides.

Copy your shape by holding down the ALT key and dragging your shape to either the left or right. If you have Smart Guides turned on, it will make it easier to line your shape up without much effort.

Now press and hold CTRL + D until you have as many triangles as you want. CTRL + D will duplicate the last step you made in Illustrator. If you don't want your zig-zag to be as pronounced, you can select all of your triangles and shrink them vertically.

Step 2: Copy your zig-zag and paste into Photoshop as a shape

Select all of the triangles in Illustrator and copy them to your clipboard. Pressing CTRL + C is the easiest and quickest way to copy the shape to your clipboard.

Open Photoshop and paste the zig-zag as a Shape. After your shape is pasted, you can even make it into a custom shape and use it over and over again in the future.*

*Custom shapes will be covered in a future tutorial.

Step 3: Create a rectangle shape below the zig-zag shape & align the shapes

Using the Rectangle Tool, draw a rectangle and make sure it is below your zig-zag shape so that you can see it. Select both the rectangle layer and the zig-zag layer and align the bottom of both shapes to each other.

Step 4: Create the desired zig-zag border using a layer mask

Go ahead and hide your zig-zag layer by click on the eye icon and turning it off.

Select the rectangle shape layer. Click the Add Layer Mask icon. You should now see a white box on your rectangle layer. Make sure it's selected.

While your mask is selected, hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and click the vector mask thumbnail (the box next to the words Shape 1 on my example). This will create marching ants in the shape of your zig-zag.

Make sure black is your current background color. Once you have confirmed this, press the Delete key on your keyboard. You may now deselect the zig-zag by pressing CTRL + D or going to Select > Deselect in your menu.

Zig-zags are a growing trend in design right now and can give your design movement. Have fun with it!

Increase Amount of Undos in the History Window in Adobe Photoshop

It may seem like Photoshop has a personal vendetta against you and doesn't want you to be able to utilize the undo like you want. Personally, I quite like having the power to be able to undo infinitely.

Although Photoshop doesn't allow you to undo as many times as you want, you can at least increase the amount of undos you are allotted. Here's how:

Step 1: In your main menu, go to Edit > Preferences > Performance.

Step 2: In the History & Cache section you will see a number. You can increase this number to 1,000 (max).

Increase Font Preview (Sample Text) Size in Adobe Photoshop

Ever bothered by the fact that the sample text next to your font names in Adobe Photoshop are so small that you wonder why they are even there at all? Have no fear, there is a simple way to change the size of the font preview (also known as the sample text) in Photoshop so that you'll never have to squint again. Below is a preview of the final result.

1. Access the preferences

Click on Edit > Preferences > Type.

2. Change the font preview size

Simply select the dropdown box (the default is Medium) and choose the size that best suits you. The final preview I have above showcases the font preview as Huge.