Type Tool in Adobe Illustrator

The Adobe Type Tool is a powerful feature in Adobe Illustrator that empowers you to create and manipulate text with precision and creativity. With a range of options and settings, the Type Tool allows you to craft captivating typography that communicates your message effectively.

As one of the essential Illustrator tools, the Type Tool offers versatility and flexibility in handling text. It enables you to input and edit text directly on your artwork, making it convenient to add headlines, body text, captions, or any other textual elements to your designs.

With the Type Tool in Illustrator, you have control over various aspects of your typography. You can select from a wide array of fonts, adjust font sizes, and apply different styles such as bold, italic, or underline to create a unique typographic expression. Additionally, you can fine-tune letter and line spacing, ensuring optimal legibility and visual harmony.

Illustrator also provides specialized variations of the Type Tool to cater to specific needs. The Area Type Tool, for example, allows you to create text within a defined shape or area, making it ideal for creating labels, badges, or text boxes. The Vertical Type Tool enables you to input vertical text, which is particularly useful for certain languages or design styles.

Another noteworthy feature is the Touch Type Tool in Illustrator, which allows you to individually manipulate characters within a text block. This level of control enables you to adjust letterforms, rotate or scale individual characters, and create unique typographic arrangements.

The Adobe Type Tool, along with its variations, empowers you to elevate your typography game in Illustrator. Experiment with different fonts, styles, and layouts to achieve the desired visual impact. Whether you’re working on logos, posters, or any other design project, the Type Tool gives you the freedom to create captivating and expressive text that stands out.

The Adobe Type Tool in Illustrator provides a wide range of options and functionalities to enhance your typography. By exploring its features and experimenting with different settings, you can unleash your creativity and craft visually appealing text that complements your designs seamlessly.

Type Tool in Illustrator is an essential tool while designing a logo, poster, or brochure. This tool helps in adding text to your design/artwork.

In the previous, tutorial you have learned to draw using different tools but in today’s tutorial, you will learn to type or add text to the artwork.

Table of Contents

• 1 Typing a text
• 2 Typing inside a shape
• 3 Typing on a path
• 4 Vertical Typing
• 5 Vertical Typing on a path
• 6 Touch Type Tool
• 7 Author

Typing a text

To type a text in the Illustrator we will use the Type Tool which is in the Tool Panel. Click on Type Tool and the cursor will change to a text box. T is the shortcut key for Type Tool.

Select the Type Tool and double-click on the artboard. The typing box will be activated. Now you can type your text in the text box. You can even change the color, font, and size of your text.

After selecting Type Tool, click on the artboard and along with left click-drag the cursor to form a rectangle. Release and a paragraph text box will be created. This is used in writing text in paragraph form.

Typing inside a shape

In Typography, with the help of Type Tool and other sub tools, you can create an amazing artwork of text. There is a tool in Type Tool called Area Type Tool. This tool is used when you want to fill a shape with text.

Draw a shape of your choice, select the shape, and right-click on Type Tool. From there select Area Type Tool and click on the path of the shape. The shape will be filled with text. You can change the font and size of the text to fit it properly inside the shape.

You can even fill text of your own choice inside the shape. For that, before selecting the Area Type Tool, copy the text and then select the tool and click on the path of the shape.

Typing on a path

You can fill a shape with text with Area Type Tool and with the help of another tool, you can give the shape a text outline.

Draw a shape and select it. Now right click on Type Tool and select Type on a Path Tool. Click on the path of the shape and the typing cursor will appear above the path. Now type your text and give it style by changing the font style, font type, font size, and color.

Vertical Typing

By default, we have horizontal typing in the illustrator but it can be changed to vertical typing with the help of the Vertical Type Tool.

It works the same as Type Tool but the difference is that in Type Tool you have horizontal typing and with this tool, you can do vertical typing. (See the below image)

Vertical Typing on a path

To type vertically on a path we use Vertical Type on a Path Tool. This tool works the same as Type on a Path Tool. The difference is of the axis. In Type on a Path Tool typed text is horizontal whereas in this tool the text typed is vertical.

Vertical Typing Inside a Shape

Vertical Area Type Tool helps in typing text within a shape vertically. The process of using this tool is the same as Area Type Tool but there is a difference in the result of these tools. Compare the below image with the image given in Area Type Tool and you will understand the difference.

Touch Type Tool

This tool is very useful is you want to make changes in a particular letter while designing the logo or creating the artwork.

Select Touch Type Tool by right click on the Type Tool and then click on the letter/character whose attributes you want to modify. By clicking on the letter it will get selected and now you can modify its size, color, and style.

In the below image you can see how the letter I have been changed with the help of the Touch Type Tool.

Practice the above tools and create an artwork of text.

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