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Adding & Manipulating Type in Illustrator

Lesson 9 from: Basics of Adobe CC: Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign

Jason Hoppe

Adding & Manipulating Type in Illustrator

Lesson 9 from: Basics of Adobe CC: Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign

Jason Hoppe

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Lesson Info

9. Adding & Manipulating Type in Illustrator

Lesson Info

Adding & Manipulating Type in Illustrator

So, speaking of type and text, we can do a lot of text manipulation in here. I'm just gonna turn off my graphic layer, go to my type layer here, and type in Illustrator works great, it's not meant to do lots and lots and lots of type. I'm not gonna do a brochure with 30 paragraphs in here. It's not really what Illustrator is used for. If I wanna do some type manipulation, do an infographic, you know, with two, three, four lines of copy, or a headline, that's what it's used for. Now, text in Illustrator is quite easy, but unlike other applications, the type tool works a little differently in Illustrator, and with Type Tool, we've got tons of different type tools, because each type tool does something different. Standard type tool shortcut is simply t, and I can grab my type tool. There's two different ways I can set type. I can take my type tool and I can simply click and set some type, right there. And that's what's called point type. I can then select all my type, go to my control bar...

, choose a point size. I can go and choose a font if I want to, as well. There's my type. When I take my type tool and I click on the page, it's called point type because I click on that page, point right there, and I go from that point on. If I keep typing, it will type forever and ever and ever, all the way off the end of application, into never-never land. And a lot of times, when I'm building an infographic, I just wanna click and type some type. If I would like to go in and do anything with this type, I can take my type tool, I can double click or highlight the type, and edit that type. If I wanna do more than a simple headline, or a few words, I can use my type tool, and instead of just clicking, I can actually click and drag and create a text container in which I can type copy in. There's advantages to this, and there's advantages to point type. So this is what's called paragraph type. I took my type tool, I clicked and dragged, and I actually defined an area in which my type went in, so there's my copy. Here it is. So, this actually has a container in which the type exists. This just sits in its own little world. The advantage of using paragraph type is if I take it with my, and I select it with my selection tool, and I change my bounding box or my container, my type reflows, which is what I would expect. This is great, if I'm doing a paragraph's worth of copy, and I wanna make it wider or narrower to fit my layout, I can use this. If I use point type, it looks like it has a box around it, and you're like, "Yay, it's all good," you grab a hold of it, and then you get squishy type. People are like, "Why does it do that?" Because point type, you literally click and you go. Don't have to draw a container, it's fast and easy, but there's a trade-off. The trade-off is, it's not in a container, so if I try to resize it, that's what I get. Trick to this, if you ever wanna resize something and keep everything in proportion, I can resize this. The trick is, hold down your shift key when you do it. When you hold down your shift key, shift constrains. When we're drawing, it constrains to draw perfect circles, square, straight line, but it also works when I'm scaling or resizing anything, holding the shift key will also allow me to keep everything constrained. So, point type, that's great, but the drawback is, if I resize it, it can definitely squish it out of proportion. Don't like that. But, it's a trade-off. If I have a lot of copy, then I can go in here, and I can reflow this any way that I want to. It's great. There you have it. I'm sure some people are like, "I never knew why it did that." Well, that's what it is. If you wanna convert one to another, it's quite easy. If I have my paragraph, and I would like to turn it into point type, this little lollipop sticking off the side, if I double click on that lollipop, it's now point type, which means when I scale the container, everything gets all squishy. If I would like to turn this point type into paragraph type, so it reflows with my container, I double click on the lollipop on the side there, and now, when I do my container, it's going to allow me to resize my copy. I know, amazing, right? Yes, I did it just for you. So, with type, one of the great features is, I can go in and select my type, and I'm not sure of all the fonts that I have in my document. So, I go to my font drop down menu, and it shows me all these great fonts here, but you know, I don't wanna keep clicking on something and saying, "Oh, that's not what I want." So what I'm gonna do is I'm going to go, and I'm gonna put my cursor up in my font menu. I've got my type selected with my type tool, and instead of going through each and every one and clicking on the drop down menu, put my cursor up in there, and I'm gonna use my up or down arrow, and I'm gonna walk through my entire font list. And, because I have my type selected, using my up or down arrow, I can go through and I can see what type I like, what I have, and it's like, "Oh, okay, "that's the type that I want." It's a really great feature, doesn't matter if it's point type or paragraph type, as long as you go in, select your copy, put your cursor in there, up or down arrows, walks you right through super fast, because, like every good client, I'll know it when I see it. Can't tell you what it is, and this is a great way to do it. So there it is, you can set your type face. That's true in Photoshop and InDesign, as well as Illustrator, great stuff. Other basic type setting features that we have in Illustrator, I can go and select all my copy here, with my type tool, I have my character formatting control up in the control bar, I can click on that. Size, font, style, leading, kerning, tracking, stretchy type, don't stretch type. All caps, lowercase, caps, such, everything right there for me. I also have my paragraph formatting right off to the right here, which allows me to do centered, right justified, text as well, be able to go in and do first line indent for paragraph formatting, as well, left indent, right indent, as well. Basic stuff. If I'd like to go in, and I'd like to change the color of my type, simple. I can select my type, go over to my fill, or my stroke, and I can go in, and I can add a fill to my type right there. If I wanna make it look interesting, I can go in and I can add a stroke to it, as well, and I can put a stroke around that, and that allows me to put a stroke on my type, as well. Yeah, doesn't always look good, but just wanna let you know that's an option right there. So, fill and stroke around a shape, I can also do the same thing around type, as well. Not picky with it. Got a question over there? Yeah, Jason, we have some questions about shapes and type coming in. So, first one was, "Will Jason show us how to type around an object?" Were you gonna do that at some point? Oh, absolutely. I figured you would be. Totally, yep. And the other one was, "I'm still learning a lot about Illustrator, but is there a way to cut text or a shape out of another shape?" Absolutely, and we're gonna show you the pathfinder tool, because that is of the utmost importance. Fantastic.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Color in InDesign
InDesign Basics
InDesign Images and links
Photoshop Basics Shortcuts
Photoshop Color Correction
Photoshop Layers
Photoshop Selections Basics
Photoshop Terminology
Shapes Paths Guides InDesign
Type in InDesign
Illustrator Shortcuts
Shapes & Pathfinder in Illustrator
Photoshop Assets
Illustrator Assets
InDesign Assets
Infographic

Ratings and Reviews

user 1398976626171314
 

Such an important overview that clarifies and simplifies each piece of software and its role in achieving a beautiful and organized end result. Love Jason's brilliant and funny style and I appreciate his going into the "whys" of the software design evolution so it's not just memorizing methods but truly understanding what you can do even with a eye to the future changes. Fascinating, fun and empowering! My first Creative Live purchase!

Renee Hamilton
 

Enjoying this class immensely. Havent used illustrator properly for a while but this class is refreshing my memory. Its so awesome and it makes illustrator seem so easy! Wow wow wow! Thank you Jason and Creative live

Corrine Radergraham
 

WOW!! Jason is a very engaging instructor. It's obvious that he knows the programs inside and out. He imparts a tremendous amount of excellent material in a very short time, he makes sense and he is well-spoken with a sense of humor and he doesn't get lost in the materials and have to bungle his way out, very well prepared. I've been using PS and IA for the past several years on and off and currently have 6 on my computer but looking at going to CC in the near future. Even with that experience, he provided tips and tricks for both that were very enlightening in using them more productively. I'm not so familiar with ID and I now feel that I have a working knowledge of all three programs. I've taken Adobe classes taught by other instructors and found them rather boring to drag myself through. Jason is not boring in the least! So if you aren't familiar with these programs or are even curious about them and want an excellent overview, I totally recommend that you take this class. You will definitely not be sorry and will get your money's worth. I took this when it was offered on air free of charge. The only down of taking it free is that there are downloadable materials that are only available by purchase which sound excellent and I would like to have them, but I want to take one of Jason's other classes and can't justify the expense of this class only for the downloads, because I am familiar with the programs and would be unlikely to actually watch the class again, and there is his interactive pdf class that I am really looking forward to......5 stars and all thumbs up for Jason's instruction!

Student Work

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