Unexpected Body Swap - A Design Experiment

More of an experiment than a cap.

Before I put this cap up for you to see in a larger format, I want to talk about it a bit.

I wasn't planning on anything like this.  I was still searching for some images to use in a cap for smitty.  When I saw this image, I almost skipped right by it.  It's not that it's bad, it just doesn't give me that 'smitty' feel.  But the layout of the image kept me coming back.  It was perfectly designed for text to go into the lower right hand corner.  Here is what I had in mind:

VERSION !

Nothing really fancy or new, just a good layout.  But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it was even better... I could add the text 'into' the photo like I did for "Interactive Art".  The problem is that the text wouldn't quite fit as easily.   I still gave it a try and finally had to give up as I just coudln't make the text fit into the space I had.

VERSION 2

I really do like the way this text wold be.  But to do this type of manipulation on the text requires me to make in un editable.  You can see where the text flows off the page on the right hand side.  if I could edit the text, I could just end the line near the edge of the photo... but I to do that I would have to determine where those line breaks would go BEFORE distorting it into this form.  It just felt like a lot of work for little reward.

But instead of giving it up, I wanted to try a third option.  I couldn't really fit the text at the angle I wanted, but that's not ts say that I couldn't fit it and make it look like it was lying down on the counter.  This too required me to make the text un editable, but it wouldn't require changing the layout.

VERSION 3

I don't think it has the same immersive feeling as the 2nd example, but it is better than the first example.  Thankfully the text naturally had the last line a little shorter than the previous lines, otherwise I would have had to make it either smaller (and harder to read), or overlay the cutting board (and therefore feel less 'in' the photo).

I should also say that this story was meant as filler.  I put maybe 3 minutes into the story.  So don't judge the story itself.  But I'm curious which cap looks best.  For the purposes of this, assume that the text wasn't cut off in the 2nd example.  Does it look best?  Or am I simply chasing my tail, and the first one (the 'standard' design) look best?

Lemme know what you think!


**EDIT**

Versions based on Anne Oni Mouse's comment:

VERSION 4

VERSION 5

Version based on Kyra's comment:

VERSION 6

**ANOTHER EDIT**

VERSION 7

All thanks for this version has to go to Anne Oni Mouse.  The problem I was having was in Photoshop you can only transform text using the free transform tool (make it bigger, smaller, or rotated), or skew (move the individual sides, but keeping them paralell to each other).  You cannot use the 'distort' or 'perspective' tools. These let you alter each individual point on a text box.

If you look, what I'm after is making the text have the same perspective as the counter top.  The text closer to the reader should be bigger. So merely rotating the text (what I did in versions 4 and 6) wouldn't give the same effect.

Now the skew tool CAN work, but it won't rotate the text.  But after reading what Anne Oni Mouse suggested, I realize she was exactly right.  Rotate the background to give me an edge of the counter to line up to, then I can 'skew' the other sides of the text box to give it that distorted perspective look!  All I have to do then is rotate the background and the text together back to background's original alignment.

And the result is... well in all honesty its hard to read.  The perspective differences is just a bit too much to keep the text that legible.  BUT.... I now have it written down how to do this.  This 'cap' was nothing more than a design experiment, so in the fugure when I want this effect but forget how, I can always come back here and read up on it!

Thank you both to Anne Oni Mouse and Kyra!  You were both a big help!

**AND ANOTHER EDIT**

Here is what Dee was talking about:

I did a quick job of this, and you can see it in the guy's leg as that area had to be cloned.  Tilting the image and leaving it tilted isn't exactly what I would look for.  I think its a little distracting having the background off kilter.  And it didn't really help with the text.  The perspective is still hard to read, and as you can see in the 'straight' text version, I had to cut the last few words, and have the text overlay her just a bit as well.

But still, thank you Dee.  It didn't occur to me to tilt the image first.