ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR Adobe Illustrator is a program used to create vector illustrations / graphics (.ai/.eps/.svg). These graphics will then be used for logos, banners, infographics, flyers... in print and digital form. In this tutorial, we will learn how to use Illustrator to create a one-page report.
2 SETTINGS AND WORKSPACE Workspace overview You create and manipulate your documents and files using various elements, such as panels, tools and windows. Any arrangement of these elements is called a workspace. Several preset workspaces are available, or you can customize your own. Tools Menu Control panel Panels Click on the Window menu to open a new panel and drag it to the floating panel to add it in your workspace. Document window Managing panels When the panels display only their name or icon, they are in collapsed mode. To collapse or expand all panel icons in a column, click the double arrow at the top of the dock. Notice how all the docked panels expand to reveal their options. Click the double-arrow icon again to collapse the dock and return the panels to their previous state. To resize panel icons so that you see only the icons (and not the labels), adjust the width of the dock until the text disappears. To display the icon text again, make the dock wider. Panels in collapse mode Panels in expanded mode
3 LAYOUT AND DESIGN Create new document Setting up your document correctly from the start will make your job much easier as you work through your project. This will require some planning. Grid To create a new document, click File > New. This will open the Document Setup dialog box. Here you will be able to set up the correct page size and orientation for your document. Select Print (CMYK / 300ppi) preset profile. Create a new document: A4, CMYK/300ppi, portrait, units: millimeters. A grid will help you to create a proportional structure that gives clarity, order, consistency and harmony to your design. First, you will need to set up the margins. You will activate the rulers in the top menu View > Rulers > Show Rulers. Then click inside the Horizontal ruler on the top and drag a new guide into the artboard. Keeping the guide selected, you will see on the top an X and Y value. We will set up the position of the guide by changing these values. As we are setting the vertical position, we will set the Y value. We want the guide to be 20 mm from the top of the page. Therefore, we need to type 20 in the case and press Enter. Remember that the guide should be selected (highlighted). Repeat the same process to add a ruler in the bottom. As we will set the Y value for this guide, it doesn t matter where you drag the guide the first time. Now we want it to be 20mm from the bottom of the page. As we are working with an A4 (297mm), we need to calculate 297 20 = 277. Put 277mm value in the Y case. We have set up the top and bottom margins (20 mm for both). We will follow the same process for the right and left margins. But this time we will click in the vertical ruler and set the values in the X case (horizontal). Click and drag a guide from the rulers and add the value 20 mm in the X case. The guide should now be 20 mm from the left of the page. Repeat the same process, adding the value 190 (210 20). You should have all the margins set up now. For the grid, you will create another rectangle using the guides of the margins. Remove the fill and stroke of this rectangle by selecting them in the Appearance panel and clicking the Delete icon. Select the rectangle and click on Object > Path > Split Into Grid. Set a grid of three rows with 8 mm gutter and 12 Your document should columns with 4 mm look like this gutter. Check the case Add guides and click OK. Create a grid in a new layer with 12 columns and 3 rows, 4 mm gutter and 20mm margin.
4 Layers Use the Layers panel (Window > Layers) to list, organize and edit the objects in a document. Think of layers as clear folders that contain artwork. If you reshuffle the folders, you change the stacking order of the items in your artwork. You can move items between folders and create subfolders within folders. The Layers panel provides an easy way to select, hide, lock and change the appearance attributes of artwork. A B C D E Show/hide layers Click on the visibility column (A) to show and hide layers. Lock layers Click on the edit column (B) to lock and unlock layers. The locked layers will no longer be selectable and you will see a lock in the layer panel. Create a new layer Click the Create New Layer (C) button in the Layers panel. Change layer name Double-click on the layer to change its name Organizing Click and drag objects (or layers) to organize your project. Select all the objects of the layer with the target column (D). Notice when an object is selected the selection column (E) is hightlighted. To locate the shapes and text you have created in the Layers panel, select the object in the document window and choose Locate Object from the Layers panel menu (the menu is on top right corner of the panel). Your document should look like this Lock the layer where we created the grid and call it Grid. Create a new layer and paste the world globe illustration (files > globe.ai). Select the object Edit > Copy, Edit/Paste (the layer should be selected). Move it to the top-left position (as in the picture) with the selection tool. Make visible the layers corresponding to the Middle East region by clicking in the Visibility toggle icon in the group of layers Africa globe, Asia globe, Americas globe, Europe globe.
5 DRAWING AND EDITING Drawing shapes Illustrator offers a large variety of shape tools to create any shape. To create a shape, do one of the following: Select the Shape tool that corresponds to the shape you wish to create. Click and drag on the artboard to create the desired size and proportion of the shape (hold Shift to create a proportional shape). OR Select the Shape tool you wish to use and click on the artboard. This will open a window with the properties of your new shape. Here you can type in specific height, width, number of points on a star, etc. Resize and rotate shapes To resize a shape, do the following: Select the shape using the Selection tool and a bounding box will appear. Drag the corner anchor point to resize it OR Select the shape using the Selection tool and change the Width and Height in the control palette. OR Use the Free Transform tool the same way as the Selection tool. This will allow you to rotate the shape. Direct Selection tool This selects a single anchor point (or path segment) instead of the whole shape. It is used for editing the anchor point of a shape. Click once on a point to select, and hold Shift to select multiple anchor points. Select using the Layer panel The Layer panel lets you select individual or multiple objects quickly and precisely. You can select a single object (even if it s in a group), all objects within a layer and entire groups. Group You can combine several objects into a group so that the objects are treated as a single unit. You can then move or transform a number of objects without affecting their attributes or relative positions. To group different objects together, select all the objects and go to Object > Group (or Ctrl + G). Appearance panel The Appearance panel allows us to set the fill, stroke and opacity of the objects. Click in each menu to access the properties. The object must be selected. Selection and group Selection tool This is used for selecting, moving and resizing a shape. Stroke In the appearance panel you can click in the stroke to see its different properties. You can change the weight, cap, corner, and you can create a dashed line
6 by checking the case. Select the dash and the gap. Only two values is enough, e.g., a 3pt dash/3pt gap. To add an arrow head, select one from the list on the start or end point of the path. If you want to create a dotted line, select Dashed Line and change the dash value to 0pt and add a gap value (different than 0 and bigger than the weight). The Cap has to be set to Round Cap. A Changing colours The fastest way to set the fill and stroke colour is through the left panel (A) under the tools. Double click in the Fill (B) or Stroke (C) panel and set the values in the CMYK (or RGB menu). B Using the Eyedropper tool You can use the Eyedropper tool to copy appearance attributes from one object to another, including character, paragraph, fill and stroke attributes between type objects. C Select the shape you want to change the colour Select the Eyedropper tool. Move the Eyedropper tool to the shape you want to copy the appearance and click. Using the OCHA Swatches tool Swatches are a predefined colour library that we have created for you. Open the swatches library (Window > Swatches). Select the targeted shape. Select the Fill and select one of the OCHA colours in the Swatches. Select the Stroke and select one of the OCHA colours in the Swatches. Create the blue OCHA Swatch. Select the blue OCHA colour in the left menu by double-clicking in the fill square. Add the CMYK values 90,57,0,0. Now go to the Swatches panel on the right (or in the menu Window > Swatches). Click in the icon New Swatch. Chose colour mode CMYK and verify that the values are the good ones (90,57,0,0). Put a name for the colour OCHA blue and click OK.
7 Pen tool The Pen tool is one of the most difficult tools to use properly but also one of the most powerful. It allows you to create any kind of shape. To draw objects: Select the Pen tool. Click once to add the first anchor point. Move your mouse to the next position and click again to create the second point. The two anchor points will be connected together. Continue doing this to create the desired shape. Create a rectangle (two columns wide) and place it on the top-right corner of the page (inside the margins). With the object selected, add a fill colour in the left panel by double-clicking on the filled square and setting CMYK 0,65,90,0. Click OK and do the same for the Stroke in the other square. Now open the appearance panel (keep the object selected) and click on the stroke. In the dialog, set a 2pt stroke. Go back to the Appearance panel by clicking on it. Click on the drop-down menu close to the Fill and open the Opacity dialog. Set a 30 per cent opacity. Your document should look like this Add Anchor Point tool Allows you to add anchor points to an existing object. To add anchor points: Select the Add Anchor Point tool. Click on the path where you want to add the anchor point. Delete Anchor Point tool Allows you to delete anchor points to an existing object. To delete anchor points: Select the Delete Anchor Point tool. Click on the anchor point you want to delete. Convert anchor point tool Allows you to change anchor points from straight to smooth. To convert anchor points: Select the Convert Anchor Point tool (or the Pen tool and hold ALT). Click on the anchor point you want to convert. Tips: Shift-click to constrain the angle of the segment to a multiple of 45. Click and drag to put out the handles to create a smooth anchor point. It allows you to create curved lines or shapes. Press Enter to complete a line segment.
8 Create two arrows with the Pen tool (see picture): For the straight one: Click in the artboard to create each point (3 points) holding shift to make 90º angles. Change the line to a dashed line: Select the line, open the stroke panel and select Dashed Line. Use 3pt for dash and 2pt for gap. Add arrowhead: In the stroke panel, select an arrow style. For the curved one: Position the Pen tool where you want the segment to begin, and click to define the first anchor point and drag it. Click again where you want the segment to end and drag in a direction opposite to the previous direction line. Then release the mouse button. Continue until it has a shape similar to the one in the picture. If you are not happy with the shape, you can always adjust the path segments with the Direct Selection tool. Select a solid stroke of 1px in the Appearance > Stroke panel. Add arrowhead: In the stroke panel, select an arrow style. Set up the colours: Select both arrows and go to the colour panel on the left. Double click and add these CMYK values: 90,57,0,0. Your document should look like this Copy and paste Adobe Illustrator provides different ways to paste objects: Edit > Paste (Ctrl + V) pastes the object into the centre of the active window. It does not duplicate the object in the exact same place. Edit > Paste In Front (Ctrl + F) pastes the object directly in front of the selected object. It duplicates the object in the exact same place Direct selection tool, click on the anchor and move it to the top, holding Shift. Select the final shape with the Selection tool. Double click in the fill colour in the left panel and add these CMYK values: 90, 57, 0, 0. Practise copy-paste/copy-paste in front: Create a shape. Select it. Edit > Copy/Edit > Paste/ Edit > Paste in front. Create a drop of water: Click on the Ellipse tool. Create a perfect circle by clicking and dragging on the artboard holding Shift. With the Pen tool, click on the top point holding ALT (Convert anchor points tool). The anchor will become straight instead of rounded. Now with the
9 Align and distribute Aligning objects You can align elements to the left, right or centre and on their vertical or horizontal axis. To align objects: Open the Align panel (Window > Align) or Align options visible in the Control panel (on the top) when objects are selected. Select the objects you want to align. Choose one of the alignment options. Distributing objects You can distribute elements evenly to the left, right or centre and on their vertical or horizontal axis. You can distribute objects by specific spacing on their vertical or horizontal axis. To distribute objects: Open the Align panel (Window > Align) or Align options visible in the Control panel (on the top) when objects are selected. Choose one of the distribution options. To distribute spacing: Open the Align panel (Window > Align) or Align options visible in the Control panel (on the top) when objects are selected. Set the spacing value. Choose one of the distribution options. and click in Align to > Selection. Then Distribute horizontally to the centre. Select all the drops and create a group: Object > Group. Then select the ground and move it down holding Alt and Shift. A new group will be created. Select both groups and click on the Align window to open the panel. Select the Align to Key object at the bottom right of the dialog. Click on the group on the top to define it as the key object. Notice how the group is highlighted. Set 5 mm at Distribute spacing camp at the bottom and click on the first button on the bottom Distributing Vertical Space. The second group will be positioned 5 mm down from the first group. Select all the elements. Move and duplicate them by doing the same process, but this time drag them to the bottom. Change the colour for the last three drops for this value CMYK: 0, 0, 0, 20. For this you need to enter in the isolation mode: Double click on the drop you want to change. Now you can select the elements individually. You are inside the group. Hold Shift to select several elements. Create a similar four-column composition with the human icon from the OCHA icons family. Tips: Objects can also be aligned to the Artboard. In the Align panel, change the Align To option. For align and distribute, you can set a key object by clicking on it again (a thicker blue outline will appear). All the alignment or distribution options will use this object as the origin. Duplicate the drops and create 10 drops distributed in two rows. The composition should have a width of four columns: Move the first drop to the beginning of a column. Click IT and drag to the drop, holding Alt and Shift to duplicate it horizontally. Select the new drop created and press Ctrl D (re-do action) three times. Drag the last drop to the fourth column. Select all the shapes ALT SHFIT Your document should look like this
10 TEXT Creating text There are various options to create text. Text at a point Select the Type tool, click on the artboard and type your text. The two blocks of text on the bottom should have a width of five columns: Avenir Next Regular, 11pt font size and 15pt leading for the main text / Avenir Next Bold 15pt, autoleading for the intro. Text in a box Select the Type tool, click and drag diagonally on the artboard and type your text. Text in an area Draw a shape. Select the Type tool, click anywhere on the object s path (the outline of the shape, not inside) and type your text. Text on a path Draw a shape or a line. Select the Type on a path tool, click anywhere on the object s path (the outline of the shape, not inside) and type your text. Formatting text Change the font by using the Character panel (Window > Type > Character) or directly on the Control panel on top. Add text to the design: Copy the text you find in the folder files > placeholder-text.doc Set the title as a Text at a point: Avenir Next Bold 40pt. The rest of the text will be in a text box. Select the Text Type tool and create a box for the text. The main text should be a 7-column text block: Avenir Next Regular, 11pt font size and 15pt leading for the main text / Avenir Next DemiBold for the introduction Your document should look like this
11 IMAGES Place images To place an image, click on File > Place and select and image from a folder. The image will be linked to the Illustrator file but will not be a part of it, making the file size smaller. The image file should be located in the same folder and not be deleted, otherwise the images will appear as missing link. Embed images For embedding images, you can open a picture with Illustrator and simply copy and paste in the artboard. The image is now a part of the.ai file. This will increase the size of the file, but you don t need to keep the image in a specific folder. Clipping mask Unfortunately, Adobe Illustrator does not have a crop tool. A clipping mask is an object whose shape masks other artwork so that only areas that lie within the shape are visible in effect, clipping the artwork to the shape of the mask. The concept is quite complicated for a beginner, but it is useful to understand, especially if you would like to export a map from ArcGIS and customize later in Adobe Illustrator. The process of creating a clipping mask is explained in the exercise below. Your document should look like this Embed the project image. Create a 12-column rectangle that fits the whole middle row and put it on the top of the image. Resize the image to make it fit well with the rectangle (hold Shift to preserve the ratio). Select both elements and click in Object > Clipping Mask > Make. Make sure that the rectangle is on top of the image in order to clip.
12 SAVING Save Save your Illustrator document in AI format. Go to File > Save. Save as PDF Save your Illustrator document in AI or another format, such as PDF. Go to File > Save As and select the format you want. Adobe PDF presets: For printing use High Quality Print. For mailing or web use Smallest File Size. Note that in the High Quality Print profile, invisible l ayers will magically reappear when an Illustrator PDF is loaded in certain non-adobe products (for example, the Mac PDF reader Preview). To avoid this issue, deselect Preserve Illustrator Editing Capability and Create Acrobat Layers from top-level Layers in the Save Adobe PDF dialog. Save for Web & Devices Use this option if you want to save your document as an image, such as JPG or PNG (for social networks such as Facebook or Twitter, for example). Go to File > Save for Web & Devices, and select the format, size and quality you want. JPEG at 100 per cent quality and PNG-24 are probably the profiles that you will use the most. For PNG, you can check the transparency option in case you want to have a transparent background. Save your exercise in Ilustrator format.ai
13 EXTRA USEFUL TRICKS Artboard The artboard is the physical extent of your document. Resize artboard Click the Artboard tool and resize your document using the handlers or by changing the width and height in the control panel. Multiple artboards You can have more than one artboard, which is really useful for a document that has more than one page. Click the Artboard tool and click New Artboard in the control panel. Mouse over your document and click to place the new artboard, or click the New Artboard icon in the Artboard panel at the right. Transparency Move and duplicate Repeat action Move an object holding ALT to duplicate it. Any change in the position or size of an object can be replicated on another object by selecting it immediately after the action and pressing Crtl D. Shape Builder To create complex shapes you can use the Shape Builder tool. Create two shapes and put one over the other (see picture below). Select both shapes and select the Shape Builder tool. Notice that when you mouse You can change the transparency of any object. Open the transparency panel (Window > Transparency) and change the Opacity percentage: 100% opaque - 0% transparent. Transform each When you want to resize several objects at the same time without changing their position (e.g., in a map with circles representing some data), you can use the Transform Each function. Select all the elements (not in a group) > right click > Transform Each > Change proportionally the horizontal and vertical scale. (See transform-each.ai). over the shapes, the different parts of the shape will be highlighted. Click with the Shape Builder tool to create new shapes or hold ALT to delete shapes. Create a two-colour drop:. Draw a rectangle and put it exactly in the middle of a drop (see picture). Use View > Snap to point to be
14 more accurate. Select both objects and select the Shape Builder tool. With both elements selected, click in the half drop highlighted on the right. Now, holding ALT, click on the rest of the rectangle to delete it. Now you have two different shapes, two half drops. Set CMYK 0,0,0,20 colour for the right one. Select same To select elements with common properties, select the object and click on the menu Select > Same > One of the properties (Appearance, Fill & Stroke ). Text outlines We can easily transform text in vectors. This could be useful for two reasons: Some professional printers need it. To align elements in a more accurate way. Usually, text-bounding boxes doesn t fit the size of the element 100 per cent. By outlining the text, you will notice how the bounding box will be exactly the width and height of the object. Select the Text tool and click anywhere in the artboard. Type the words 15M EVERY YEAR (Avenir Next Bold 15pt). Select the Selection tool and click on the text. Go to the menu Type > Create Outlines. Notice how the text is now an object. Its behaviour will no longer be as a text element, so you can no longer edit the text. Create a rectangle 1pt CMYK 95, 57,0,0 Stroke, without fill. and put it around the text. Align it to the vertical and horizontal centre of the text. To do that, you should select both objects (Text outlined and rectangle and click on Align to Key object (on the top menu). Then select the key object (the text outlined) and click on Horizontal Align Center and Vertical Align Center. Put the element in the bottom right of the page. You can create a group of both objects to make it easier to move them. Follow the same process for one of the human icons.
15 Some basic shortcuts: Space bar (holding) Hand tool V Selection tool A Direct Selection tool I Eyedropper tool E Transform tool T Type tool Ctrl + or - zoom in/out Ctrl + S save Ctrl + Z undo Ctrl + C copy Ctrl + V paste Ctrl + F paste in front Your document should look like this Add the credits (credits.doc), logo and 2 vertical lines to separate content (see picture). Save it as a PDF High Quality print (File > Save As > High Quality Print).
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