How to Customize Fonts in Illustrator
Finding a typeface that suits your needs for a design project you're creating in Adobe Illustrator can take hours of searching through reference guides, typeface samples and font-merchant websites. Even when you finally select a typeface family, you may find it's not quite what you expected when you install and start using it. Perhaps you didn't test the specific character combination you need to set, or maybe you simply want to adjust a few letter forms. Stay in Adobe Illustrator to make the changes that will yield your ideal typeface.
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Instructions
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Blend Method
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Activate the "Type" tool and click on an unused area near the top of your artboard to create a point type object. Type the word or phrase you want to customize.
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Open the "Window" menu and choose "Character" to bring up the Character panel if it isn't already visible. Switch to the "Selection" tool. Click on your type object to select it, then set its typeface, style, size, horizontal and vertical scale in the Character panel.
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Hold down the "Alt" key on Windows or the "Option" key on a Mac, and drag to create a copy of your object close to the bottom of your artboard. Assign a different typeface to your duplicate type object.
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Hold down the "Shift" key and click on each of your type objects to select both. Activate the "Blend" tool, then click on your first type object. Click on your second type object to complete the Blend process. Adobe Illustrator builds intermediate steps between the two type objects, transitioning from one style to the other.
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Look through your blend steps to see if any of the combinations provide the customized type you want. If the blend doesn't provide pleasing results, use the "Direct Selection" tool to select either the starting or the ending step, and change its typeface in the Character panel. Adobe Illustrator automatically alters the blend steps accordingly.
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Open the "Object" menu and choose "Expand" to turn the blend steps into vector objects. Examine each of the steps and choose one whose altered letter forms you like.
Outline-Editing Method
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7
Activate the "Type" tool and click on an unused area near the top of your artboard to create a point type object. Type the word or phrase you want to customize.
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8
Open the "Window" menu and choose "Character" to bring up the Character panel if it isn't already visible. Switch to the "Selection" tool. Click on your type object to select it, then set its typeface, style, size, horizontal and vertical scale in the Character panel.
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Open the "Type" menu and choose "Create Outlines" to turn your live type into a vector object. Switch to the "Direct Selection" tool. Select and reshape individual portions of your letter forms.
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Experiment with Adobe Illustrator's nested distortion tools -- Warp, Twirl, Pucker, Bloat, Crystallize and Wrinkle -- to see if gentle application of any of these powerful features produces modifications you like. Open the "Effect" menu, scroll down to the "Stylize" section in its top section of vector effects and choose "Round Corners." Apply gradually increasing amounts of the effect until you either reach a pleasing setting or rule it out as an option. Continue editing your letter forms until you reach a pleasing result.
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Tips & Warnings
Convert the live type at one end of a blend to outlines, then alter its letter forms to produce even more variations in the blend-step results.
Blends between script typefaces almost always fail to offer satisfactory results because of the irregular nature of script letter forms.
The "Selection" tool selects an entire blend object. The "Direct Selection" tool can activate the starting or ending type object by itself.
Use the "Scissors" tool to remove chunks of a letter form, such as individual serifs, "I" dots or "T" crosses.
Check the license granted you by the typeface foundry that created the type you're using. Make sure your license includes the right to alter the typeface in this manner without paying an additional fee.
References
Resources
- The Adobe Illustrator CS5 Wow! Book; Sharon Steuer
- Real World Adobe Illustrator CS5; Mordy Golding
- Adobe Illustrator CS5 Bible; Ted Alspach
- Illustrator CS5 for Windows and Macintosh Visual QuickStart Guide; Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas
- Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium All-in-One for Dummies; Jennifer Smith, et al.
- Photo Credit John Foxx/Stockbyte/Getty Images
