How to Make an Award Ribbon in Illustrator CS2
Adobe Illustrator is one of the leading programs for creating graphic artwork from scratch. Part of the benefit of the program is that users do not need to be professional artists to create even complex pieces. The program offers enough capability for the professional graphic designer, but even novice users can create basic graphics using the shape tools. You can make an award ribbon in Illustrator with just three shapes.
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Instructions
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Shape 1
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1
Open Adobe Illustrator and create a new document by selecting “File > New” from the application menu. Set the document size according to your needs in the “New Document” dialog box or select one of the preset sizes from the Size drop-down menu.
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2
Select the “Star Tool” nested beneath the “Rectangle Tool” in the Tools Panel and click once in your workspace. Set “Radius 1” to “1in” and “Radius 2” to “.85in.” Enter 20 in the “Points” field. Select “Effect > Stylize > Round Corners” and enter “1in” in the “Radius” field. Click “OK.”
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3
Select the “Selection Tool” from the Tools Panel to the left of the workspace and click on your rounded star. Click and drag one of the corner points of the bounding box around the star while holding the “Shift” key to scale the star up or down according to your preference.
Shapes 2 and 3
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4
Select the “Ellipse Tool” nested with the “Star Tool.” Click and drag while holding the “Shift” and “alt” (“option” on a Mac) keys to create a perfect circle that expands from the center. Drag the circle out to a size that fits just inside of the rounded star. Move the circle inside the star using the “Selection Tool.”
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5
Select the “Rectangle Tool” nested with the “Ellipse Tool” in the Tools Panel. Click and drag to create a rectangle to your preferred dimensions for the tails of the ribbon.
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6
Right-click ("Ctrl" and click on a Mac) on the rectangle and select “Transform > Reflect” from the fly-out menu that appears. Select the “Vertical” box under “Axis” and click “Copy.” This creates a copy of your diagonal rectangle that is a mirror image of the original.
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Position the two rectangles so that they overlap a bit on top using the Selection Tool. Click on each rectangle while holding the “Shift” key to select both simultaneously, then select “Object > Group.” Move the rectangle group onto the bottom of the circle so that it looks like tails for the ribbon. Select “Object > Arrange > Send to Back” from the application menu to move the overlapping portion of the tails behind the main portion of the ribbon.
Adding Text and Finishing Up
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8
Select the “Type Tool” from the Tools Panel and click and drag diagonally from top left to bottom right inside the circle to create a text box. Type your ribbon text inside the box. You can adjust the character and font settings in the “Type” Tool Options Panel just above the workspace.
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9
Click on the “Appearance” palette to the right of the workspace. Click on each of your shapes with the “Selection Tool” and adjust the fills, strokes and other properties to your preferences in the palette. Change the fill color of your shapes by clicking on the color swatch to the right of “Fill” in the palette. Change stroke properties by clicking on “Stroke” in the palette. You can also add effects to the shapes by clicking the “fx” icon at the bottom of the palette.
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10
Select “File > Save As” from the application menu. Enter a name for your ribbon file and designate a save location for the file. Click “Save.”
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References
- Photo Credit Ciaran Griffin/Lifesize/Getty Images
