Text on a curve -- what gives?

Before CS, Text-on-a-curve was a popular request that lots of people dinged Adobe for not including it in Photoshop.

But really, isn't text-on-a-curve one of the most useless/amateur techniques possible? I've NEVER needed to use it (even pre-CS), I almost never see it used in professional media (other than on double-sided DVDs and album covers from the 1970s) and I've never seen a design guide or instructional design book that recommends it. I can't imagine scores of designers out there dying to use a feature like this.

So what gives? Why was it requested so often? Is anyone using this feature now? Is this a case of people wanting it just cuz it's a cool little feature and ignoring the actual practical application of it?

Just wondering,

Hanford

I almost never see it used in professional media

You're kidding right?

But really, isn't text-on-a-curve one of the most useless/amateur techniques possible?

Nope.

Is anyone using this feature now?

Yup.

Amateur, I think not. This is used all the time,
especially in logo design. Here is just a few examples.

<http://www.pixar.com/featurefilms/nemo/> - check out the logo <http://www.oldnavy.com/>
<http://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com>
<http://www.kfc.com>
<http://www.starbucks.com/>

I just did an ad for a rug company that imports rugs from around the world, so guess where the countries were placed near the round rug centerpiece.

You're kidding right?

We can only live and hope.

Bob

You're kidding right?

I guess I should have said "I almost never *notice* it in professional media." :)

Thanks for pointing out the examples. The one on the Old Navy is a great example ... the others look more like warps (distortions) and/or non-font wordmarks. I've used warping from time to time but when I think of text (and when I've tested it in CS) I think of it like it is on the KFC page (which IMHO is a good example of what I'm talking about -- looks amateurish to me on that page, sorry if that's anyone's design here,)

But thanks for the good examples too. I guess I'm just not a fan of it, and I didn't notice the better uses.

~Hanford

This is my first visit to the forum and interestingly enough, my visit is sponsored by a "Quick Tour" I saw on the Adobe site regarding Photoshop.

One of the features touted during the short tour is "Text on a path", which quickly buzzes by on the video (without explanation) and shows a curved path being drawn and the text being laid down on the curve of the path. I have Photoshop 7 and I can find nothing related to this feature.

Is anyone familiar with how to put text on a path?

Many thanks,

Jim Ross

jim, you need cs (version 8) to do text on a path.