Design & Visual
Visual Effects
Textures, filters, and treatments that give visuals character.
Busted
The territory
30 core terms mapped for this field, ranked by how often builders reach for them. Each one is a future entry. Want to bust one? One entry, one file, one pull request.
- drop shadowoffset shadow making an element look raised above its background"shadow under the box" · "make it pop off the page"
- Gaussian blursmoothly softens detail using a Gaussian-weighted pixel average"just blur it" · "soft out-of-focus blur"
- backdrop blurblurs whatever sits behind an element, like frosted glass"blurry see-through panel" · "that iOS translucent bar thing"
- blend modehow one layer's pixels mathematically mix with layers below"make the layers melt together" · "Photoshop multiply thing"
- glow (outer glow / neon)soft luminous halo emitted outward from edges or text"make it neon" · "glowing outline"
- inner shadow (inset)shadow cast inside an element's bounds, reading as recessed"pressed-in look" · "carved into the surface"
- gradient maskelement fades to transparent along a direction"fade out at the bottom" · "soft feathered edge"
- noise textureprocedural speckle/fractal pattern layered for tactile depth"grainy sandpaper look" · "TV static on top"
- film grainfine animated noise overlaid to make digital look analog"that fuzzy static layer" · "make it look filmed not rendered"
- vignettedarkened or lightened frame edges pulling eye to center"dark corners" · "faded edges around a photo"
- duotoneimage mapped to exactly two colors, shadows one, highlights another"two-color photo" · "Spotify poster look"
- color gradingpreset color transform applied uniformly for a mood"movie color look" · "LUT" · "Instagram filter but pro"
- pixelation / mosaicresolution deliberately crushed into visible blocks"big blocky pixels" · "censor squares"
- halftonecontinuous tone rebuilt from dots of varying size"comic book dots" · "newspaper print dots"
- ditheringlimited palette faked via patterned pixel scatter"old-computer pixel gradient" · "crunchy 1-bit look"
- posterizationtones collapsed into few flat bands"posterize" · "flat poster colors" · "banded not smooth"
- threshold (1-bit)image reduced to pure black and white, no midtones"pure black and white photo" · "stencil look"
- chromatic aberrationcolor channels offset at edges, fringing red/cyan"rainbow edge blur" · "lens color fringe"
- bloombright areas bleed glow into surrounding pixels"lights glowing outward" · "overexposed shine"
- glitch effectintentional corruption: torn slices, datamosh, broken signal artifacts"broken TV look" · "hacked screen effect"
- RGB splitcolor channels deliberately offset into visible ghost copies"red and blue ghost copies" · "channel offset"
- CRT emulationscanlines, curvature, and phosphor bleed imitating a tube monitor"scanlines" · "old monitor stripes" · "retro screen effect"
- paper / canvas texture overlayscanned substrate multiplied over flat artwork"make it look printed on paper" · "textured paper background"
- distress / grunge overlayscratches, dust, and eroded edges added for wear"make it look old and scratched" · "worn beat-up texture"
- light leaksoft colored wash bleeding in from a frame edge"orange haze on the corner" · "old film burn"
- lens flarestreaks and orbs from light hitting the lens"sun glare orbs on screen" · "light spots from the camera"
- bevel & embosslight/shadow pair faking raised or stamped relief"3D pressed edge" · "letterpress feel"
- iridescencecolor that shifts with viewing angle, oil-slick like"oil slick colors" · "soap bubble colors"
- holographic effectrainbow foil sheen suggesting a hologram sticker"hologram sticker shine" · "shiny foil rainbow"
- displacement mapone image's brightness pushes another's pixels around"warp it with a texture" · "melty distortion"
Deeper in the field
- halation warm reddish halo around highlights, from film stock
- gooey effect blur-plus-contrast trick fusing shapes into liquid blobs
- god rays (volumetric light) visible shafts of light through haze
- long shadow flat solid shadow extending far at a fixed angle
- noisy gradient gradient with noise dithered in to kill banding
- anamorphic lens flare horizontal blue streak from a widescreen lens
- gradient map replaces luminance ranges with colors from a chosen gradient
- sepia maps an image into warm brown, antique-looking tones
- grayscale removes hue while keeping the image's relative luminance
- color tint uniform hue wash applied while preserving underlying detail
- invert / negative channel values reversed, producing a photographic-negative appearance
- motion blur pixels streaked directionally to imply movement or exposure
- radial blur blur spreading outward or rotationally around a chosen center
- soft focus fine detail diffused while broad shapes and highlights glow
- pixel sorting pixels rearranged by brightness into stretched glitch bands
- turbulence (fractal noise) SVG/shader noise primitive driving clouds, smoke, warp
- Voronoi / cellular texture organic cracked-cell pattern; skin, foam, stained glass
- moiré interference pattern from overlapping repeating grids
- ASCII effect image rebuilt from typed characters by brightness
- crosshatching shading built from layered etched line strokes
- stippling shading built from dot density rather than lines
- solarization tones above a threshold inverted, surreal pseudo-negative
- bleach bypass desaturated, high-contrast, silver-retained film treatment
- screentone manga-style adhesive dot/line pattern for shading
- barrel distortion / fisheye image bulged outward as through a wide lens
- anaglyph red/cyan offset layers producing retro 3D fringing
- liquid distortion / ripple surface warped in waves, often mouse-reactive