FROM ME THIS WEEK
Healthy glow in and out.
a glass of water.
I have a confession: this week I feel like I am living in two different worlds.
My body is still catching up after crossing time zones, and I am on a diet to make my health a priority. Mentally drained but physically recovering, my skin is starting to glow from clean eating and actual rest.
It is a strange contrast.
I was once obsessed with productivity hacks and career growth. They helped me level up, but at a real cost: anxiety, burnout, you name it. My medical background kept reminding me that glamorous on the outside shouldn't come at the cost of burnout on the inside.
Sharing my work here is what genuinely glows me up now. Speaking of which, let's look at how to create a glowing text effect with gradients.
LEARN DESIGN
Gradient Glowing Text in Figma
Learn how to create a high-end gradient glow effect using Figma and Photopea.
Cover
🎁 Grab your starter file and follow along!
Video Tutorial is linked below.
Step 1 - Setup
Set your background to a dark neutral.
Fill your text with pure white.
Hit 'K' to scale the text up 2x.
Copy text as a PNG.
copy txt element as png
Step 2 – Photopea Prep
Open Photopea and paste your PNG text element.
Add a black color fill layer behind it
‼️Right-click your text layer and "Convert to Smart Object."
turn text element into smart object
Step 3 – Organic Blurring
We want the glow to feel natural.
Go to Filter > Blur Gallery > Field Blur.
Stack points at values of 5, 10, and 20 around the letters.
Duplicate this layer twice.
duplicate the blur layer twice.
Step 4 – The Color Split
Right-click Copy #1 > Blending Options. Uncheck the ""G"" channel.
Right-click Copy #2 > Blending Options. Uncheck ""G"" and ""B.""
Nudge Copy #2 slightly to the right.
uncheck color channel.
Step 5 – Refine the Vibe
double the blur values on the split layers.
Apply Motion Blur and Gaussian Blur.
If you want more drama, use the Warp tool to pull the corners of the glow.
Export the result as a PNG.
warp one of blur layer
Step 6 – Gradient Mapping
Drag that PNG back into Figma and run the Gradient Mapper plugin.
Shuffle through presets
Change the end color stops to your lightest and darkest color as intended
change color in gradient mapper.
Step 7 – Tada!
You just added glamour to your typography without sacrificing readability.
I find this works best for decorative hero headers that need to grab attention the moment the page loads.
Final result
Watch on Youtube
Like and share the video.
Leave a comment if you got any questions!
WHAT’S COMING NEXT
Glowing Cinematic DNA Lines in Figma
Glowing rotating lines’ cover
Next week's tutorial is a viewer request. If you are new here, the video below is a good place to start.
We are taking that rotating DNA graphic and giving it a glow-up. It looks like it involves complex lighting, but it is actually simpler than what we covered today.
If you want your work to feel more premium, you will not want to miss it.
See you then. Happy designing.
Thanks for reading and spending a bit of your day with me.
If you want to keep up with more behind-the-scenes thoughts or small design notes I don’t always send by email, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
Would love to have you there:
See you in the next email.
MengChi