For your text problems, Write the text somehwere, duplicate that, motion blur it and put it at 0 degrees and i dunno how many pixels, whatever seems good too you, then you duplicate your actual text again (not motion blur) and put a gaussian blur on that 2.0 i would say and bring it to the front, then duplicate the original text again and go to filter - sharpen - sharpen and bring that to front, the most important thing here is the Motion Blur because it sets up people for your text and it doesn't just come out of nowhere, also when your making sigs try to make a corner or a side a bit empty where you can put your text to make it more visible, instead of having effects or brushes running through it, That is what I would do lol.