When I first started working with the Adobe design programme, Illustrator (or AI), I’ve got to admit that I was a bit intimidated. I mean, I’m not an illustrator! Who did I think I was daring to open such a fancy-sounding piece of software.
Luckily, I grew up with a graphic designer mother, who didn’t waste any time dragging me into the family business, which included getting up close and personal with all of the Adobe tools.
Now, I’m never out of it and the irony is, that I actually use it for type manipulation and logo design far more than I use it for creating original illustrations.
That’s where Illustrator really shines – it’s the best tool you can find when it comes to creating beautifully crisp, scaleable vector shapes for use as logos and in print.
Yes, you can create a type-based logo in Photoshop but it’s more complicated and it’s easy to accidentally change the nature of the a layer and remove the vector properties in Photoshop.
So if you’re thinking of designing your own logo (and you absolutely should), then think about downloading a trial version of Illustrator. Using it is easier than you think.
If you prefer to learn by watching, skip to the end to find the full tutorial video.
Artboards
Let’s get started with Artboards.
Open a new document in AI and you get to choose your document dimensions. Hit ok and you’ll be looking at your first Artboard. It’s a fancy name for your workspace or page.
You can have as many artboards in a project as you like and you can stack them side by side or in a vertical column which is super handy if you are lining up a lot of the same thing, like business cards.
Get familiar with the Artboards tool and panel. Once activated, it allows you to resize your artboard on the fly or set exact dimensions. The Artboard panel is also your friend. Use it to duplicate dartboards or select them for deletion. Return to normal mode by selecting the pointer tool.
Your Workspace and Toolbar
It’s easy to lose some of the floating toolbars and panels in Illustrator when you’re working on a complicated design, so it’s good to choose or get familiar with the default setups so that you can easily reset them when you can’t find something any more.
In Illustrator, you have two main tool areas. The Toolbar, generally found on the left, contains all of your selector tools, from type tools and shapes to the pen and line tools.
On the right, you’ll usually find the Workspace panel, containing detailed settings which you can apply to the things you create with the Tools on the left. eg. Create a shape using the Shape Tool and then fill it with a gradient using the Gradient Panel on the right.
You can easily build your own toolbars and layout panels and save your own personal workspace which you can return to again and again. You can even flip between workspaces, using the the top right dropdown menu, depending on the job you are doing.
If you like things simple. Go to Window > Toolbars and choose Classic, to give you a slim anchored toolbar on the left with all the essentials as well as commonly used tools across the top frame.
My own workspace is a mix of the standard Printing & Proofing workspace with all of the typography tools added to the right hand panel.
Shapes and Type
Most Illustrator posts begin with a basic shape or basic type box.
Right click on the Shapes tool and you’ll see a range of shapes you can create, from basic circles to polygons and stars. Choose your preferred shape and click anywhere on the artboard to place it. If it’s a multi-choice shape, like a star, the first click will give you your options for number of points, etc, and the second click will place the shape.
Use the Type tool in the same way. Click to paste some basic type and style it using the workspace tools at the top or on the right. Use the right-hand Character and Paragraph tools to adjust letter-spacing and line-height.
Right-clicking on the Type Tool will reveal other type options, like the Type On A Path Tool. Try clicking on a circle shape with the Type Path Tool to create a circle of text. Neat, right?
Paths, Anchors and Curves
Once you’ve created your type and shapes, you can edit lines and shapes easily with several of the most fun Illustrator tools.
All shapes are made up of Paths and on those paths, you’ll find Anchor points. You can reveal the paths and anchors by clicking on the Direct Selection Tool. Double click on an anchor to drag the anchor and modify your shape.
Right-click on the Pen Tool to reveal the Anchor Point controls. You can use these to add and delete points and control the anchor handles to manipulate the curves of any path.
In order to manipulate type, you’ll first need to convert your type to outline either by right-clicking and choosing Convert To Outlines or using the Type menu in the top Illustrator bar.
The Pathfinder Tool
Finally, let’s explore the Pathfinder Tool. This is often the last step in preparing a finished design element for export. For example, if you’ve been manipulating type, this allows you to combine all of the letters into one vector shape.
The pathfinder allows you to merge several vector items, subtract overlapping parts of vectors and cut out vector shapes from another vector.
You can find it in your right-hand Workspace panel. Create some basic shapes and explore what the Pathfinder can do.
Video Tutorial
I’ve combined all of the areas covered above into a comprehensive tutorial video, which you’ll find below.
Illustrator is a fun programme and you’ll quickly learn where to find the tools you need.
I used illustrator all the time. The only issue now though is that with the new pricing structure on Adobe I just can’t justify the cost.