Welcome to Meng Design — where I share digestible tutorials that help product designers build stronger design skills and achieve results with modern tools.
Design doesn’t have to be intimidating.
This week we dive into something fancy → Pixel Stretching Effect
LEARN DESIGN
Dose this Pixel Stretching effect need a plugin? Nope. You can do it in under 1 minute. 👇
Pixel Stretching Effect cover
🎁 Grab your starter file and follow along!
Video Tutorial is linked below.
Step 1 - Pick a photo
Drop your portrait image into a frame.
Tip: I like using Lummi plugin, but any photo works.
Drop a imagery into your frame.
Step 2 – Change image fill setting
Change the image fill mode.
👉 Normally we use “Fill.”
But the secret sauce here is “Crop.”
Change image fill mode to “Crop”
Step 3 – Cropping setup
Duplicate your image.
Top layer → crop where the stretch will start.
Back layer → crop it down to just 1 pixel wide.
Cropping the back of image to 1px wide.
Step 4 – Stretching magic
Zoom in, grab that edge…
and STRETCH it.
Grab the edge and stretch it out.
Step 5 – Tada!
Instant pixel stretching effect. 🎉
Final results
Watch on Youtube
Like and share the video.
Leave a comment if you got any questions!
LIFE UPDATES
Branding and Content break
Hey friends,
This past month I’ve been diving deep into building my personal brand. It turns out branding has two sides: strategy and visual identity.
Strategy is the soul-searching part: values, mission, positioning, story, tagline, vision, audience, tone of voice, and more.
Visual identity is the fun part: logos, colors, fonts, photography, layouts, editing styles—and yes, even textures or sounds if it fits.
Not every brand needs the full checklist. It really depends on where and how people come across you. But one thing is clear: strategy always comes first.
That’s the part I’ve been spending most of my time on—finding the right words and messages that truly capture who I am as a brand. The design side is where it brings me joy: Translating that vision visually. I’m almost done with the visual updates, so soon you’ll start noticing new touches across my profiles.
I’ll also be taking another short break. You’ve probably noticed I take breaks pretty often—and that’s because I’m a one-person team. I wear all the hats, and I want to wear them well. A lot of my time is spent learning, testing, and documenting so I can eventually share a process that’s both useful and real.
I also try to keep this content free for you. To do that, I sometimes step aside to take on client projects—it helps me sustain these passion projects.
If you’ve found value in these emails, the best way to support me is simple: reply to this email, drop me a DM on social, or leave a comment on my YouTube channel. Every little message helps keep this going.
Thanks for being here—it means a lot.
See you soon,
MengChi
Thanks for reading!
If the design tips saved you time or gave you an idea, share this email to a friend who’d love it too. They can join here for free!
New here? Subscribe to get next week’s design shortcut
P.S. Got a design problem you’d like me to cover? Just hit reply — I read every message.