• Basic Tutorials - Adobe Illustrator

    5) Add Text to Your Design

    Adding a line of text

    This videos shows how to add a line of text to your Illustrator projects:

     
    What you learned: Adding a line of text 
    • With the Type tool selected in the Tools panel, click to add new placeholder text to the document. This placeholder text is called point type. With the placeholder text selected by default, type to replace it.
    • Select the Selection tool in the Tools panel. You will see a box around the text. This is called a text object. Drag a corner of the text object to change the size of the text inside.
    • Drag the text to reposition it.

     Adding paragraphs of text

    Watch below to learn how to add paragraphs of text to your designs:

     
    What you learned: Adding a paragraph of text
    • With the Type tool selected, drag in the Document window to add new placeholder text to the document. This placeholder text is called area type. With the placeholder text selected by default, type to replace it. You can place (File > Place) text documents (RTF, Word, TXT, and so on) in a text object.
    • Drag a corner of the text object to scale the text object and wrap the text within. Text that doesn’t fit in the text object is called overset text and is indicated by a red plus in the lower-right corner of the frame.
    • Reposition the text object with the Selection tool.

     Formating text

    Explore text formatting such as Adobe fonts and font size in the video below:

     
    What you learned: Formating text
    • Select the Type tool and insert the cursor in text. Drag across the text to select it.
    • In the Properties panel to the right of the document, change text formatting such as font family and font size.
    • When selecting a font in the Font Family menu, click Find More to see a list of Adobe fonts. Find a font in the list and click Activate to sync that Adobe font with your computer. To see the synced fonts, click Show Activated Fonts.
    • Change the color of text by selecting the text, clicking the fill color in the Properties panel to the right of the document, and choosing a color.

     Place text on or inside a path

    In this video, learn how to add text along a path:

     
    What you learned: Place text along a path
    • With the Type tool selected, press Alt (Windows) and click the edge of a path to add text.
    • Drag across the text to select it. In the Properties panel to the right of the document, change text formatting options like fill color, font, and font size.
    • Select the Selection tool and move the pointer off a corner of the text object and drag to rotate.

     Re-shaping text

    Re-shape text in creative ways using outlines and the Direct Selection tool. Watch in the video below:

     
    What you learned: Re-shape text
    • Select the Selection tool and click to select a text object.
    • Choose Type > Create Outlines to convert the text to editable paths.
    • Click the Ungroup button in the Properties panel to be able to move the letters independently.
    • With the Selection tool, drag each letter separately.
    • Select the Direct Selection tool and drag across part of a letter to select anchor points.
    • Drag one of the selected anchor points to move all selected anchor points and re-shape a letter.