what colour drop shadow on black background

[Fred McLean]

yellow 😕

[Neil Davey]

How about a dark blue or get the customer to go
for white lettering with a deep purple shadow.

Trouble with silver is it can look quite dark/light at certain angles and in different lighting.

[Derek Heron]

thanks guys looking at red or yellow at the minuit will try the blue
and let customer decide

thanks
derek

[Harry Cleary]

Any other colours on the truck?…I also like a mid blue with silver on black. Be careful though as its very easy to ‘dominate’ the silver. Which should never happen with shading.

[Derek Heron]

hi harry the truck(pick up) is all black the graphics are just going on the canopy
been looking at the blues as well
derek

[Peter Dee]

I would use a very dark grey possibly or mat black.

It’s meant to be a shadow effect, not a feature.

[Jill Marie Welsh]

None whatsoever!
Black is too dark for drop shadows unless you could find something blacker than black.
Anything else will just compete with your lettering.
Love…..Jill

[Peter Dee]

Jill, I reckon mat black is blacker than gloss black as the gloss will reflect any lighter image facing it whereas the mat black will always show just black, as of course it’s impossible to get a shadow or reflection from a shadow.

Did that make sense?? 😕

[Gwaredd Steele]

Metallic Charcoal works well in this scenario, or just plain old white can look great if it’s a thin shade with a decent offset relief.

[Phill Fenton]

Rather than applying a shadow effect why not apply a coloured outline instead.

I personally do not like "shadows" that are lighter in colour than the background. I think they look wrong.

[Jill Marie Welsh]

I agree, Phill!
When has anyone seen the sun make something cast a white shadow? Even on snow?
A shadow is merely a secondary element, it should never have more emphasis then the text. (in my opinion)
White lettering on this truck, with a charcoal grey metallic outline might look nice.
Love…..Jill

[Alan Drury]

I use shadows quite alot, and I remember my old gov’nor who taught me brushwork reckoned that a good shadow colour was a combination of the letter and background colour. I can’t say I agreed with him all the time but I think a deep red or dark blue would work well. Although I agree that Jill that the shadow should be a secondary element when it comes to lettering we’re trying to make it attractive as well as easy to read.
Alan D

[Harry Cleary]

This is one of those situations where you have to ask what the customer wants and what the purpose of the sign is. Of course nothing is deeper than black and technically you shouldn’t shade on black….but on the other hand the customer may wish you to take a decorative approach. I have always felt and was trained to be decorative on projects like this. You can be purist and slavish to technicalities, like angle of light, shadow colour, accurate reproduction of fonts but I have never let that get in the way of creating a decorative and aesthetically pleasing result……there is a happy medium. You have to find a set of colours that work together and don’t compete. Some of the best and most decorative signs I have seen are on black. The world of signs would be a boring place if we didn’t do this in my opinion anyway.

[Glenn Sharp]

totally agree Harry…..maybe the term ‘drop shadow’ is wrong in this case with it being on a black background but there are plenty of contrasting or complimentary colours that will provide a result that works well