New Year Creating a New Typeface in Illustrator

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New Year Creating a NewTypeface in Illustrator by abduzeedo | Dec 29, 2008

• abduzeedo's blog

When I created the very first version of

Abduzeedo I did a simple logo because I didn't have much time

back in 2006, I wanted the blog up and running as faster as

possible. However after a few months I decided that it would be

cool to have a nice and unique logo, but without using any

symbol. That's why I chose to create a font instead of using an

existing one and with Adobe Illustrator new anchor point

features this task is much easier.

Now that we celebrate the 2nd anniversary of Abduzeedo, and the new year

that's about to begin we want to share with you how the new Abduzeedo logo

will look like.

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a nice typeface using Illustrator CS4

and its new, and very useful, features for editing anchor points.

Step 1

Open Illustrator and create a new document. Select the Rectangle Tool (M)

and create a square. To do that just hold SHIFT while using the Rectangle

Tool.

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Step 2

Select the square you have just created and go to Effect>Stylize>Round

Corners. Use 8pt for the Radius, but if you want to make your typeface more

rounded just use a higher value.



Step 3

Duplicate the rounded square. You can do that by moving the object holding

ALT. Also hold SHIFT to keep the same vertical alignment. Make sure you

have the Smart Guides enable too, this way you can see the X and Y values

and the alignment guides as well.



Step 4

Now select the the 2 objects and go to Object>Expand Appearance. That will

transform the object allowing you to edit the points with the Direct Selection

Tool (A).



Step 5

Now the best part will begin, editing the points and create the characters. Let's

start with the numbers to create the 2009. As you have already created thenumber 8, to create the 9 is easy. With the Direct Selection Tool (A) delete

one of the round corners (1), in this case the one going up. After that still with

the Direct Selection Tool, select the point (2) and move it down to close the

object.



Step 6

One of the very useful new features in Illustrator CS4 is the Anchor Point Tool

Bar. You can Join points, convert the anchor points to corner or smooth, andone of the great additions, align the points. Then witht the Direct Selection

Tool (A) just create the other numbers by deleting or duplicating corners.

Step 7

With the number 0, create a line that crosses the number. Use the Line

Segment Tool (\) to do that.



Step 8

To create the number 2, just duplicate the 9 and then go to the Transform box.

At the very top left corner click on the icon to open more options. Then choose

Flip Horizontal. Again with the Direct Selection Tool (A) just delete the

marked segment and you will have the number 2.



Step 9

As the numbers are all lines, you can make them thicker by just increasing thevalue of the Stroke.



Step 10

To create the other characters, in this case I will do the Abduzeedo word, you

will only need to duplicate a number and with the Direct Selection Tool, delete

some segments. Here to create the B and D I used the number nine, flipped it

vertically and horizontaly, and then delete some rounded corners.



Step 11

The A was a bit tricky but it's the same process, deleting corners. Use the

Smart Guides to keep the alignement and also the Anchor Point Tool Bar to join

points.



Step 12

For the other characters repeat the previous steps, you can try different shapes

for some characters, like the E, you could just flip the A vertically and

horizontally to create the E, but I thought it would be better make it a bit

different, then I used the Z for reference.



Step 13



If you want to transfor your characters from just lines to shapes, select all

characters and go to Object>Expand. Make sure that Fill and Stroke are

selected and press OK. That way what was line become shape.

Step 14

With the shapes you can apply gradients to them, and the new gradient tool in

the CS4 version of Illustrator has improved a lot. Now you can change opacities

of colors, like we could do in Flash.



Step 15

The whole process is really fun, you can try lots of different variations for each

character and see which one is the best for you. The only problem is that you

might get some doubts when choosing the final version, like happened to me.

That's why I'd like to ask you which one of these 3 version you think it's the best

for the new Abduzeedo logo.



Conclusion

The new version of Illustrator, the CS4 has improved a lot when editing anchor

points, now you can align them, make the smooth or corner much easier. The

whole idea behind this tutorial was playing with basic shapes to create a nice

typeface, and as I've received lots of emails asking me what's the name of the

font I used for the Abduzeedo logo, it was a custom font I did using the same

process.

Also, I wish you all a great New Year, and that in 2009 we can improve our

design skills even more by sharing our knowledge.



Video Tutorial

New Year New Typeface New Logo from fabio sasso on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/2652337

http://vimeo.com/abduzeedo

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http://vimeo.com/2652337

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New Year Creating a New Typeface in Illustrator

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