Illustrator CC Typography

From logo design to illus­tra­tion, from posters to sig­nage, from brochures to menus, your text is meant to be read, to con­vey a mes­sage. It can’t do that if it isn’t leg­i­ble, read­able, and well-styled. Making it so is the art of typog­ra­phy. In Illustrator CC Typography Pariah Burke will teach you all the skills you’ll need to cre­ate and style beau­ti­ful, per­fect typog­ra­phy in all your Illustrator draw­ings and doc­u­ments. You will learn not only the hows, but also the whys and whens, so that you will end the course not only with the skills to set per­fect type, but also the con­fi­dence and under­stand­ing to make the right type­set­ting deci­sions again and again, in every one of your designs.

You will learn all about Illustrator’s pre­ci­sion type con­trols and the ways to use them to cre­ate intricately-styled short type objects and high­ly read­able, per­fect­ly adjust­ed para­graphs of text. This course explains the meth­ods and rules for set­ting and per­fect­ing typog­ra­phy in Illustrator, from sin­gle words and glyphs used in logo designs, illus­tra­tions, and posters to com­plete thread­ed sto­ries that span mul­ti­ple art­boards in brochures, menus, and more.

You will learn for­mat­ting text and work­ing with styles; metic­u­lous adjust­ment of kern­ing, track­ing, scal­ing, shift­ing base­lines, and more; using dif­fer­ent numer­al and alpha­bet­ic styles with­in their cor­rect con­texts; expert short­cuts and tricks for work­ing most effi­cient­ly with type-related pan­els and fields; insert­ing spe­cial char­ac­ters and con­tex­tu­al and styl­is­tic alter­nates; work­ing with Asian and Indic type, and; pro­duc­ing beau­ti­ful­ly set type that the view­ers of your designs will want to read.

Watch Excerpts From the Course

Course Contents

Working with Type in Illustrator

  1. Changing Type Formatting in Four Places
  2. Changing Type Preferences
  3. Using Type Control Keyboard Shortcuts
  4. Previewing and Choosing Fonts
  5. Defining Legibility Versus Readability
  6. Defining the Word “Glyph”
  7. Showing Hidden Characters
  8. Replacing Missing or Undesired Fonts
  9. Adding Fonts from Typekit
  10. Installing Fonts on MacOS
  11. Installing Fonts on Windows
  12. Installing Fonts Only for Illustrator
  13. Finding Substituted Glyphs
  14. Handling Legacy Text
  15. Understanding Anti-Aliasing Methods

Working with Short Text

  1. Choosing Point Type Versus Area Type
  2. Creating and Converting to Point Type
  3. Converting between point and area
  4. Using Multiple Type Objects
  5. Putting Type on a Path
  6. Setting Type Above and Below a Circle
  7. Making Path Type Part of the Scene
  8. Adjusting Type on a Path Options
  9. Converting Type to Editable Paths
  10. Putting Objects Inside Type Shapes
  11. Altering Type Shape Without Converting to Outlines

Working with Paragraphs of Text

  1. Creating Area Type Objects
  2. Filling and Insetting Area Type Objects
  3. Aligning Text
  4. Indenting and Spacing Paragraphs
  5. Dividing Text into Columns and Rows
  6. Creating Non-Rectangular Text Areas
  7. Wrapping Text Around Objects
  8. Working with Text Across Multiple Objects
  9. Threading and Unthreading Text Objects
  10. Automatically Sizing Area Type Objects
  11. Checking Spelling and Other Errors
  12. Using Multi-Lingual Text
  13. Hyphenating and Setting No Break
  14. Understanding Paragraph Composition
  15. Precisely Controlling Composition
  16. Using the Tabs Panel
  17. Setting Tabs and Tab Leaders
  18. Importing Text from Microsoft Word

Adjusting Type

  1. Using Type Sizing Tricks
  2. Understanding Leading’s Role in Readability
  3. Setting Leading for Readability
  4. Shifting the Baseline
  5. Understanding Kerning and Tracking Basics
  6. Kerning Automatically
  7. Kerning Manually
  8. Tracking In and Out
  9. Scaling Horizontally and Vertically
  10. Rotating Characters
  11. Using the Touch Type Tool
  12. Fitting More Text Than Should Fit

Perfecting Typography

  1. Understanding the Timing of Typography
  2. Changing Case
  3. Using Small Caps
  4. Using Small Caps Correctly
  5. Understanding Why Typography Was Confined
  6. Utilizing Different Styles of Numerals
  7. Building Fractions That Fit
  8. Adding Ordinals That Fit
  9. Using Ligatures and Discretionary Ligatures
  10. Using Glyph Alternates
  11. Using Hyphens and Dashes Properly
  12. Adding Other Common Symbols and Special Characters
  13. Perfecting Punctuation and Sentence Endings

Working with Styles

  1. Selecting Between Graphic, Paragraph, and Character Styles
  2. Creating and Using Paragraph Styles
  3. Creating and Using Character Styles
  4. Creating and Using Graphic Styles for Text
  5. Redefining and Overriding Styles
  6. Editing the Default Type Styles
  7. Working with Styles Effectively
  8. Wrapping Up Modules 1 through 6

Working with Asian and Indic Type

  1. Using Middle Eastern & South Asian Composers
  2. Revealing East Asian Type Options
  3. Orienting Horizontal and Vertical Type
  4. [was Choosing Asian OpenType Font Attributes]
  5. Adjusting Leading and Indentation
  6. Composing with Mojikumi Sets
  7. Breaking and Wrapping with Kinsoku
  8. Tuning Inter-Glyph Harmony
  9. Including Roman Type and Numbers
  10. Using Warichu
  11. Aligning Characters with Mojisoroe
  12. Applying Finishing Type Touches
  13. Creating Composite Fonts
  14. Wrapping-Up