How To Create Dashed Coupon Borders In Illustrator

Add a dashed border to a coupon in Adobe Illustrator.

Adding a coupon to a flier or advertisement lets you provide a special discount offer or invite customers to sign up for a contest. Bordering your coupon with a dashed line signals the reader to cut out your offer. Adobe Illustrator CS5 includes easy-to-use settings for customizable dashed borders -- without the need to adjust your line style to make sure your coupon has neat, tidy corners.

Instructions

1. Launch Adobe Illustrator CS5. Choose "Open" from the "File" menu and navigate to the location of the file that contains your coupon. Double-click on the file name or click once on it to select it and then click on the "Open" button.

2. Choose the "Rectangle" tool from the Illustrator toolbox. Click and drag a box to create your coupon border or click once and enter dimensions to create the box at a precise size.

3. Choose the "Selection" tool from the toolbox. Click on the box you just drew to select it if you accidentally deselected it. Make sure the box is sized and positioned correctly. Choose "Transform" from the "Window" menu to open the "Transform" panel if you need to adjust the dimensions or position of the box.

4. Open the "Stroke" panel by choosing "Stroke" from the "Window" menu. Set the weight of the box outline to a high enough value to make your coupon stand out on the page. Start with two points and increase the stroke weight if necessary. Adjust the stroke color by changing the foreground color in the toolbox if the box outline is not the color you want.

5. Set your dash "Cap" options to "Round Cap" if you want rounded corners on your dash segments. To add rounded corners, set your "Corner" options to "Round Join." Set your stroke to align to the center, inside or outside of your box edge by clicking on one of the three "Align Stroke" option icons.

6. Choose "Show Options" from the fly-out menu at the top right corner of the "Stroke" panel to display the "Dashed Line" settings if they're not visible in the panel. Click on the "Dashed Line" checkbox to switch your box border from solid to dashed.

7. Type numbers into at least the first two boxes in the dash sequence fields at the bottom of the "Stroke" panel. The first number you enter specifies the length of your dash segments. The second number you enter specifies the length of the gap between segments. Unless you want your pattern to include multiple dash-segment lengths and varying gaps between them, you don't need to fill in any of the rest of the fields. Illustrator will repeat the values you type in the first two boxes.

8. Click on the "Align Dashes to Corners and Path Ends, Adjusting Length to Fit" icon to allow Adobe Illustrator to shrink or stretch your dash pattern to keep your corners tidy. The icon, which appears all the way to the right of the "Dashed Line" checkbox, isn't labeled; its name shows up as a tool tip if you place your cursor over it.

Tips & Warnings

• If you need multiple small dashed boxes in a row for multiple offers on the same sheet, draw one box that has the dimensions and dash styling you want, then make copies of it to create the other boxes.

References

• Adobe Systems: Using Adobe Illustrator CS5
• "The Adobe Illustrator CS5 Wow! Book"; Sharon Steuer; 2010