Adobe Illustrator - Make Circular Logos and Icons

1. Make Circular Logos and Icons: Hello. I'm mature for long and welcome to my course. Make circular logos and icons. Each lesson in my new Siris of Adobe Illustrator classes teaches you a small number of techniques on board. Give you the opportunity to learn new skills in the project that you'll design on plenty of practice to ST up your design process. I have worked as an illustrator, Web designer and Web content manager, creating visual products on illustrations for Web platforms, APS and print production. For illustration. I specialize in Big Toe Are to using Don't be illustrator. Abstract graphic symbols are often used as part of logo an icon design in order to convey an idea or concept creative eye catching way. The shapes of these perfect symbols very in it that circular symbols are some of the most commonly used shapes have become one of the more popular trends in logo design. In today's class, you will learn how to make a serious or graphic symbols using a method of rotating the shape around the central point, using a different shape For each lesson, you will learn the techniques to create a Siris of geometric shapes can to place an integrated to create a finished design. The lessons use a similar process throughout to create designs. Help to speed up the design process. Using keyboard shortcuts will become second nature as you work through the lessons. 2. Setting up the Grid: This is a design we are going to make. Over the course of the next few lessons. We will start by getting our documents set up on the grid in place, ready to add the images you will create to speed up some of the design process is later in the course. I will describe keyboard shortcuts you can use if you're not sure about any of them. I've also listed the keyboard shortcuts used in my notes for this course. Start a new document by going to foul New on DSA. Lecter's whipped off 1000 pixels in the height of 1000 pixels color mode. RGB and OK, click on the rectangle tool on drag across the board. Create a fill color by double clicking on the field palette. There. Type in six twos, creating the hexi decimal color for dark gray. Next thing I'd like to show you is about stroke. Wait, I'm going to drag out the line segment. Tool the rest of the palate. Face it next to my document. Now, if I select their spiral tool, for example, click and drag an essential the canvas. Choose a stroke color, which is white Now. If you look at the object, click on it. There, you'll see it's one pixel stroke. Wait when I drag out goes up to 2.916 pixels. So when I'm making the object larger, it scales up, and when it goes smaller, it scales down. It becomes very faint. What I want to do is maintain one picks or throughout, whether it's larger or smaller. So to do this, I go to Illustrator Preferences, General Onda Windows. You go to edit preferences, General, and there you'll see on the bottom and corner here. Scale, strokes and effects. Make sure that's unchecked. Also, if you haven't got pixels in your stroke box, there, go two units on and choose pixels for stroke and click OK, now, if I draw another spiral going to set it to one pixel and then I'm going to enlarge it and you see it remains at one pixel. Whether it's larger or smaller, go to the view menu on down to smart guides on make sure smart guide to turned on. You should see a center to the center of your document. Double click the rectangular grid tool and ensure you have a width and height of 900 pixels , two horizontal dividers and two vertical desired dividers, and then click. OK, move your cursor over the center off a document. Hold on the bulky in windows or option key for Mac and click in the document. Let go of the old key click. OK, you should see a grid in the center of the document with a white stroke. Go to layers palette and look Delia. 3. Polygon Designs: create a new layer in the layers palette and only two. Click and drag out the shapes Tool palette here. Place it next to your document. Select the Pentagon to I am cooking, drag in the space here and then slipped the rotation tool here and place the cursor where you want the center of rotation to be. So hold down the hopes key Quick, the mouse going to choose an angle of 30 degrees. And then, if I preview it, you'll see how the shape moved around central rotation. So I'm going to copy and should see to shapes there. Then I want to repeat the process so I go to object, transform, transform again and ends, and so on. Object transform. Transform again. But I can speed up the process by choosing this shortcut. Command D On. By holding down the command key and tapping the D key, I worked my way around the center of rotation, then choose a selection tool and click and drag to select all the individual shapes that create the main shape and then go to Object Group and that will group all the individual shapes together, making it easier to drag onto the grid and then hold the shift key and click and drag to keep in proportion to the edge of the shape. De. Select your shape by just clicking in the background here with the selectable. Now we're going to repeat the process by drawing another polygon and choosing a different central rotation. But repeat the process. I click the R Key to select the rotate tool than hover the mouse over the anchor point where my center of rotation will be. I hold on bulky. Click with the mouse to see the rotate dialog box. This time, I'm going to change the rotation to 20 degrees at a time. So the preview conceit moves round slightly less, and there should be more copies eventually. So ago copy and as before it was object transform transform again, which is the keyboard command. Come on, D speeds up the process. Complete shape. She's a selection tool and then click and drag across the shape, moving on to the grids as before, and you can see how you can create a variety off geometric images using the same shape but varying a center of rotation on number of repetitions 4. Star Rotations: Jesus, start to and click and drag on the canvas. Andi, you can adjust the points on star by pressing the up and down arrows on your keyboard while you drag with the mouse. I'm going to reduce my my start to five points there and then choose of irritation to choose a rotation point. Hold on OK and click with the mouse. I've set my angle to 45 degrees, which should mean, as I should have eight copies or this star as 45 degrees got into 360 degrees of a circle eight times copy and then command D Tuck in the D Key until it's complete. Then I would group all the shapes together by Jews and selection tour or tucking Key, the Goto Object group. Megan experiment with startle the grit and look a few different designs, the next one of them to choose and more complicated star. So I'm cooking and dragging on tapping the up arrow on my keyboard at same time and then go to the rotate. All choose a century rotation. No going to hold on the okey and click with the mouse on and this timer 30 degrees on copy and hold down the command key and then at the same time took the D key to complete the circle Final design. I'm going to do a kind of triangular shape summer to cooking drug on the campus and reduce the number of points pressing the down arrow on my keyboard as I hold the mouse right down to three points. Then she's a century rotation. My take toe. This is where I want with center irritation. So hold on the okey click mango copy and come on T. I go to the selection tool the and then I click and drag across the shape. This is a shape I'm going to choose to add to my design and then goto object group to group all the shapes together. Hold the corner there, hold the shift key down and drag inwards to keep the shape in proportion positioned over the grid. 5. Flower Design: to make the petal shaped, choose the Ellipse tool and cook and drag. Create an oval shape and go to the bank point or which you'll find beneath the pentacle. Click on the anchor point at the top that the boss of the image and go to your selection tour on Click Out of the Image and re selected. Go to your rotation toe Andi. Choose a central irritation about here. Hold on the okey and click. I'm going to change my angle for this 1 to 30 degrees copy and does before press down Command Key and keep pressing deaky until the image is complete. Gertie Selection Tool Andi Select the image, then go to object. Transform, rotate and here I'm going toe. Have the angle to 15 degrees copy To duplicate the image. I'm going to hold down the old key and the shift key whilst holding those two keys down, I cook on drag the bounding books in with the mouse two position second image. Let go of the mouse and then the keys and you'll find an image within the middle and then select all the image Object Greek, and I'll move this image into the grit in position. It 6. Using the Polar Grid Tool: go to the line tool and pull out the pellet from beneath in. Position it on your canvas. Go to the polar griddle and drag this out and you can see I'm not holding down the shift key so I can drag it out of proportion. The reason I say this is because you need to hold the mouse down with one hand. Andi, use the other hand to press he up and down arrows on your keyboard. So if I press the up arrow, you can see how I'm increasing the number of circles and then decreasing the number of circles oppressing the down arrow. I can increase the number of segment dividers by pressing the right arrow on by Reduce the number segments by oppressing the left arrow. Take this down too. Zero Andi. Then hold the shift key and then let go of the mouse to ensure that I have a perfect circle . I go to the selection tool. I'm gonna position this up here and then select my rotation tool. Select. The center of rotation was about here. Hold on the okey and click with the mouse. But this one I'm going to choose an angle of 60 degrees. Copy, and then hold on the command key s before and keep tapping the D key until the image is complete. You just selection tool, select the whole image Object group. I'm gonna hold down the shift key and drag this in a bit to make it a bit smaller. Move ISS onto the grid as before, using my up and down arrows. Position, image. 7. Spiral Designs: for this shape, I'm going to be using the spiral Tuell and a zoom in on the point going to go to window go right down to the stroke palette. Here, Andi, I'm going to choose around it. Cap to the end there. So you should see around it into the spiral. And I'm going to see Matt Skin. And I'm gonna choose a center of rotation roundabout here the send. So hold down the okin click on going to use one angle of 20 degrees and copy. And as before we repeat the last action until the image is complete, hold on the slick toe. Select all of it. Gonna make a bit smaller Object quick. Well, that's one type of imagery. Also, try this one, create a new spiral. And then she was a very total and click just off centre, possibly about here. Trends degrees again. And then copy guarded 18 there because there's 18 twenties and 360 and then I slept the whole image. So I'm gonna choose this Wong's. It's slightly different to my other symmetries. Then go to object group juice inside a little on drug over onto the grid 8. Rotating a Rectangle: Nick shape is really easy to make. So I thought I placed a bit more emphasis on keyboard commands just as a recap. So if you go over to the rectangle tool, which is the M key in drag in your documents really have a long, slim shake. Then you can adjust the corners by dragging the men like that and choose your rotation tool . Oh, select a center of rotation around about here, so hold on the bulky and click with your mouse, and I'm going to choose our angle off 20 degrees and copy and then pull down the command key. I'm Presti. To repeat the action around the center, select all the objects. Go to Command G, which is object group. Grab the edge of the bounding box, hold down the shift key and reduce the size of the object. I'm going to drag the object over to the grids and position the shape 9. Composite Shape: for the next one. I'm going to make a composite shape using the rectangle tool, so press the key em to select rectangle. Thank you can drag your canvas along slim shape and then draw a square at the top by holding down the shift key and dragging with mouse Andi. If you select it, you'll see these small circles. If you dragged him in, keep dragon mint make circle. And with this selection key, they river circle over the rectangle, select both of them and a line, or is onto the line center to learn him up properly. Now go to go to Appellate called Pathfinders ago. Window past finder. It should see an option called Unite. Now these two shapes have to be selected and then click on Unite. It makes a two shapes into one. Choose a center of rotation, which in this case is here. So click the R key for rotate hotel. Okay, click with my mouse, and then I'm going to her stick. Stick with the angle of 20 degrees and copy and then command E holding down the command key and tapping D until the shape is complete, Use a selection tool by pressing the key V. You can drag across all the shapes there, group them by going, holding down the command key and pressing G at the same time. On position your mouse over the edge of the bounding box, hold down the shift key and drag inwards to make a bit smaller. Keep in in proportion and then drag in shape over to the grid and positioning it in place. 10. Circles Design: for the final shape. I've drawn a series of circles of different sizes on I group them all together. So the next thing I have to do is to select the image on. Then Presti are key to let the rotate tool Jesus interpretation round about here. Hold on the okey and click with the mouse on. For this rotation, I've chosen 45 degree angle and copy. Hold on the command key and keep pressing the deaky until the shape is complete with your selection tool, select or the image and hold on the command key. M Press G. Alternatively, go to Object group. I'm going to grab the edge of the bounding box, hold down the shift key on drag the image in words to make it a little bit smaller. I don't drag over to the grid as before and place it in the final square. Notice all the shapes a little bit too close together, a little bit too near the edge off the boxes. So what? I'm going to do it. Scale them down a bit. To do this, I choose the first shape Onda. Then choose the scale tool. Double click it and you'll see in a dialogue box, you've got an option off our percentage reduction or increase which every for, um for the shape. So for this one, I'm going to choose a scale off 90% Andi preview that it's a little bit big, I think so. Probably 85% in this case. And if I click in both the other boxes, they automatically update Andi. I click OK, now. The quickest way to adjust all the other shapes is to select mold and then goto object. Transform, transform each on there. We have a dialogue box where there's a horizontal vertical scale than going to select 85% as before to scale the objects. Sounds like Okay, now you'll see the old objects on, and all the images are placed correctly within the grid For the next lesson, I'm going to look at how to add color to the object, so I hope you join me in that 11. Add colour with the Live Paint Bucket Tool: in this session, I'm going to be looking at how to add colors, toothy images. So I zoomed in on the flower image, and then I'm going to select it with my selection tool. And then if I go to a lot of fill color. So, for example, Blue, you'll see that it feels all the segments in the image because we grouped together earlier in the course. What I'm going to be looking at next is how to are different colors to eat off the different segments within the shape. So I'm going to go back to that Andi. Then leave the object selected and go over to the live paint bucket. All this will be found under the shape. Build a total drag out the palette. There you can see it. Yeah, live paint bucket. Click on that. And then as I move the mouse, you'll see segment it hovers over is highlighted. I'm going to choose a color in this case yellow, and then I can just hover over the segment on click with a mouse on the segment. Fills of color could change to another color example play in that I consume in even further . She's another color de Select could also experiment with perhaps taking out stroke image. Looks like that you can also experiment with stroke. So to do this, I'm going to select the object with the selection tool and then increase a stroke weight in the stroke palette on. Then I'm going to other dashed line, and then I could even add around a corner, which creates quite an interesting effect. You could also add a background to the individual squares. So to do this I'm going to go to the layers palette, which in the first session we set up is layer one and layer to I want to be named those two grid on to stubble. Click on and at shape there, so I'm going to lock the shape layer and then go onto the grid layer on, select the rectangle, tool two books and click and drag across the image. And then I'm going Teoh, choose. I'm gonna give it. Adopt grey backgrounds. I'm going to take out the stroke. What you might find but slipped out of the image is sometimes a shape can overlap the grid , So what you need to do is to make sure the grid is the front most object. So do this. I've selected the grid object. Arrange bring to front and but do you select that you'll see that the background is sitting behind a grid. 12. Create an icon & save for web: now this is a grid I created earlier to give you an idea of just a few effects that you can make with the shapes that you have created. And what we're going to look at in this session is how to use one of shapes as an icon or logo in a Web project. Go to your window menu on open up the line palette and also the layers palette now in your layers palette. Ensure the grid is locked on. The shape is unlocked. Andi that you are on the shape layer in the line palette. Go toothy options, show options, and you'll see an option of a line to now in this. Make sure that align to our board is checked and we're ready to start this lesson. So what we're going to do is turn this icon here and make it ready for exporting to a Web project. So to do this, I'm going to go to the up portal. Click on your portal, an Anglican dragon. Your document doesn't matter what size, Then double click it again. Bring up the options for the art board, and I'm going to call my art board icon and I'm going to give it away. It's off 400 pixels by 400 pixels or whichever size you want your icon to bay and then click. OK, then go to the selection tool. Thank leak out of the art board, and your screen should look something like this. So going to select the icon with a selection tool? Hold down the old key and then you'll see two little arrowheads appear. Keep holding down the okay, pulled down with the mouse and click and drag the icon over to my new art board and then hold the edge of the bounding box. Hold on Oki on the shift key to both center and keep your icon in proportion as you drag out to the edge of the outboard. If you go to your align palette that you set up earlier on, you set it to align toe outboard so you're going to align horizontal line center to our board and then vertical line center toe outboard, and you should find your icon is centered within your upward next, going to export the image to the Web in early versions off illustrator such as this one, you find fall safer whip. So in this session I'm going to demonstrate how to use safer Web. And in the next session, I'll be looking at new ways off savings for the Web buyer safer screams so say, for whip or for later versions of Adobe Illustrator, Go to file Export Safer Web, and then you'll have a dialogue box that looks something like this looking at the file formats here, I'm have options of Gift, Jay Peak or PNG. I'm going to go for a PNG 24 primarily because this supports transparency on the widest range of colors. On the image side is already 400 by 400 pixels, and then I click save. 13. Rotate around object + export to screens: in this session, I'll be looking at how to make four icons by rotating and objects around a shape and then saving for screens using the latest version of Adobe Illustrator. Start a new document by going to foul New and I'm going to set up floorboards and they're all going to be 400 pixels square color motives are GP on screen, 72 pp. I then create, and there you see four outboard set up all at once, ready to use for the fore icons I want to create. Select all of your art boards by going to the up portal and then holding down the shift key . Click on the other three are boards and then double click the art board, too. On Chek Show Center marks, I click outside of the four outboards you'll see across hair in the middle, off each our board for the first show I'm going to make. I've zoomed in on the first outboard, and I've set up the fill to black and stroke to none. So I go to the Ellipse tour in my shapes palette on position, the mouse over the center off the outboard, and then I hold on the bulky and then the shift key and then click and drag with the mouse to create a perfect circle. When I go to the selection tool on, then hotel the okey and then click and drag upwards. Position the second circle above the first and hold down the shift key and it keeps it in a straight line and let go with your mouths and then the keys. Then hold the edge of the bounding books on hold on the okey and drag inwards. To make the top circle bit smaller. Press the shift key to keep a circle in proportion. Go with your mouse and then go to the rotate all our position your cursor over the center of the circle. Hold on OK and click to see the rotation dollar box going to choose an angle or 45 degrees for this example, a copy and then hold down the command key and keep tapping D until the shape is complete. But the second example, I'm going to choose thestreet our shape and in cooking drag outwards from the centre. My document, then go to the type tool, then click and drag in the documents this I'm going to type in the word logo and then going to drag in the bounding box. Andi also select the star and in the airline palette, ensure that aligned to our board is selected and then go to horrid onto a line center and D Select your objects and just select the type. Select the rotation tool and then position your cursor over the center off the art board. Hold on Oki and click with the mouse to see the rotate dialogue box. For this example, I'm going to choose 60 degrees and copy the type around the center of the image. My third example is very easy to do. It's similar to the 1st 1 Go to the Ellipse Tool and hover over the center of the art board and click and drag at words a circle and then copy this as before on drug upwards. Then drag the top of the nips up to make a kind of oval shape. Go toothy anchor Point Tal, which you'll find under the pentacle and then clicked. He center off the oval there de select the petal shape now and then selected again. Select the rotate tool and hover your mouse over the center of the art board. Hold on the okey and click with the mouse to see the rotate Dialogue books and this example is going to be 45 degrees and should be about right and copy. Then hold on the command key and keep tapping D to complete the shape for the final shape I'm going to create and I So I go to the Ellipse Tool and create a circle in the middle of the art borders before I'm going to give it a black fill. Then I'm going to go to edit copy. Just come on, see and edit paced in front, which is command F, and I'm going to change the color off it to a white Phil and then go back to the selection tool and cooking drag in words with mouse to see right circle on top of a black circle. I'm then going to go to the line tool. Andi, you can drag down towards the circle and I'm going to give it a stroke, so it's gonna be a black stroke off approximately 2 to 3 pixels and then with the rotate tool, I hope over the middle off the art board. Hold on bulky and click. See the rotate dialog box, which I've set to an angle off five degrees your copy and then hold on the command key and the D key to see the image complete. The next stage is to go to the A little again position over the center of the art board. They can drag out what does before a circle. Now I go to the selection tool and reduce select all. My image was getting quite large. Now reduce it downwards, then go to the Ellipse, stole and go to the center of my heart board. You can drag out words is holding down the L key to drag out from the center. I can keep dragging horizontally to make the I a wider shape. Go to the anchor point, being pecan points each end of the ellipse and then de select your object. And obviously you could adjust the stroke. Wait, too, adjust the image to your preference. Now we're going to export our boards by going too far, export on export for screens and you can see that sober web is still available in this version. Anyway, click on export for screens, and you can see two of the outboard checked. But that's because the range of 1 to 2 has been selected. If I want to select all of them, just check that box there. Or I could select the full document to include all the icons on one art board. I'm going to export the images on individual outboards to this far here, there's an option of scaling up the image. This will produce your art board at the same scale as you created it on you can. Also, you have options to scale up the image, which is quite useful when you're creating icons for use on websites that might be seen on retina screens. There's the foul former as before, but you can also see that two other four months have been added SPG and PdF, which quite often demanded by currents on when you chose in a format that you want, you can save your outboard 14. The Project: your project for this class is to make one or more of these icons or a new design of your own, using the rotation tool and to color it using the live paint bucket tool than to post the resulting image in the class project. I hope that you have enjoyed this class and learn something about creating icons with the rotation tool on remembered some of the keyboard shortcuts. I have also posted the keyboard shortcuts used in the notes for the course. If you have any questions, please let me know, and I will provide a response as soon as possible. Please follow me to hear about my forthcoming courses as soon as they appear on skill share . And if you enjoyed the course and think others would enjoy it, too, it would be great if you could give it a thumbs up. I'm Rachel for long and thank you for watching make circular logos and icons