Guides / Neon & glow
How to make neon text in Illustrator
Neon is a rounded stroke on a dark background with a coloured glow. Give the text a pale rounded stroke, no fill, then add Effect › Stylize › Outer Glow in the neon colour. For a tube look, use two strokes. JuicyType builds it with Strokes plus a feathered Shadow as the glow.
JuicyType Strokes · screen recording goes hereSkip to JuicyType ↓
The manual way, in Illustrator
- Set a dark artboard. Select the text and pick a rounded font.
- In Window › Appearance set Fill to None and add a stroke, 3–6 pt, Round Cap and Round Join, in a pale tint of the neon colour.
- Add a second thinner stroke above it in white for the hot core.
- Apply Effect › Stylize › Outer Glow to the object: Screen mode, the neon colour, blur 10–20 px.
Outer Glow is a raster effect and softens on export; raise Document Raster Effects resolution for print.
Steps drafted from Illustrator's documentation; to be checked in Illustrator 2025–2026 before launch.
Or, with JuicyType
3 effects in JuicyType
Strokes give the tube, Shadow with no offset and a wide feather gives a glow that stays vector.
JuicyType≡
Strokes✓
Shadow✓
Highlight✓
Keep live text●
Apply
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Common questions
Why does my glow look pixelated?
It is a raster effect at screen resolution. Set Effect › Document Raster Effects Settings to 300 ppi, or use the vector feather.