Hello everyone this is Chris from Spoon Graphics
bringing you another quick video tutorial for Adobe Illustrator.
I received a great topic suggestion on Twitter recently from Furquan101, who asked if I could
make a guide on creating a folded style logo in the style of Android N or the new Medium
branding, so I've been playing around with a little design to use as part of this walkthrough.
Logo designs are the most versatile when they're made in vector format using programs like
Adobe Illustrator.
It gives the artwork crisp edges that can be scaled to any size without loss of quality.
Logos should also be re-producable in a single colour, like black only, and be able to be
reversed out of a dark background, so they're usable in any real world design situation.
That doesn't mean you can't have some fun making a pretty full colour design though,
so in this tutorial we'll create the primary design, then produce flat and mono versions
for use in specific scenarios.
Usually we would start on paper with some sketches to brainstorm the style of design
that would suit the client or business we're designing for, but since we've already decided
to go for the trendy folded look, we can jump straight into the fun design phase!
I'll be creating a design based on the letter M, but the folded style gives you plenty of
options for various initials, or an abstract ribbon type icon.
Open up Adobe Illustrator and create a new document at any size.
Head to the View menu, then select Hide Artboard to give yourself a large work space to make
use of.
Select the Rectangle tool and draw a tall shape to represent the first piece of the
icon.
Press CMD+C to Copy, then CMD+F to Paste in Front.
Which could also be accessible from the Edit menu.
Grab the Direct Selection tool, then click and drag the lower edge of the duplicated
shape towards the right.
Hold the Shift key to ensure this path moves perfectly horizontally.
Switch to the normal Selection tool and draw a selection across both objects, then go to
Object > Transform > Reflect.
Select the Vertical option and press the Copy button to create a duplicate set flipped for
the opposite side.
Hold Shift and drag the new shapes sideways until the points line up.
You might want to zoom right in, then turn on Outline Mode from the View menu, or the
CMD+Y shortcut to double check the point alignment.
The letter M lends itself to simply duplicating those first two shapes and flipping them,
but you could also build other icons by extending the layout in different directions using straight
or slanted shapes.
Let's bring the design to life with a bit of colour.
Find a nice palette to work with from ColourLovers.com.
I'm using one called Earth.
I usually just take a screenshot and paste it into the document.
Select the first shape, then grab the Eyedropper tool and hold Shift while sampling the purple
colour.
Switch to the stroke setting in the toolbar and clear the default black outline.
Hold the CMD key to toggle back to the selection tool to select the second shape.
Release the CMD key to switch back to the eyedropper, clear out the stroke and sample
the screenshot to give it an orange fill.
Repeat the process until the design has a mixture of purple, orange, green and blue,
or whatever colours you chose for your design.
To really enhance the folded look, we can add some subtle shading to give the design
more depth.
Turn on Smart Guides from under the View menu.
This will make it easy to snap to the existing points and follow the paths.
Select the Pen tool and set up a black fill with no stroke.
Begin by creating a point in the upper left corner between the purple and orange, then
follow the path to the other side of the first shape.
Add a point a little way down the first shape, then close the path back at the starting point.
Reduce the opacity of this black shape to around 30% from the Transparency panel to
tone down its impact, leaving a subtle drop shadow effect that lifts the second piece
higher than the first.
Since this letter M layout is symmetrical, this shadow shape can be copied, pasted, flipped
and positioned on the other side.
Draw another shape down between the two middle colours, this time make it a little thinner.
It also needs to run upwards in the direction of the third shape.
The full colour version of the logo can be enhanced even further with some subtle gradients.
Hold the Shift key while selecting all the main rectangle shapes, then press CMD+C to
Copy and CMD+F to Paste in Front.
Replace the fills of all the shapes with a black to white gradient from the Swatches
panel, then change the blending mode to Soft Light from the Transparency panel.
Currently the stacking order of the shapes has added some unwanted lines where they overlap.
Select the last gradient shape that's over the blue section and use the CMD+[ shortcut
to send the item backwards until this overlap disappears.
Select the orange gradient shape and repeatedly press CMD+[ until the vertical line over this
shape disappears, then do the same with the purple shape.
With the first gradient shape still selected, switch over to the Gradient tool, then drag
line from the top to the bottom to alter the flow direction.
Hold shift to keep this line straight.
Alter the flow of the next shape, this time heading diagonally to allow the gradient to
run parallel with the shape outline.
Once all the gradients have been adjusted, the design has a really vibrant appearance
that will be the primary logo that's used for all on-screen purposes.
Gradients don't always translate well into print, so it's always useful to create a flat
version of your logo designs that can be used at small scales or on printed material.
Draw a selection around the entire design and go to Edit > Copy.
Create a new document in the CMYK colour mode and paste in the graphic.
Select and delete the gradient overlay shapes to transform the design into flat colours.
Any colours outside the CMYK gamut will have automatically been converted to a printable
hue within the CMYK spectrum, but I like to satisfy my OCD by rounding off the figures
to neaten them up.
To avoid any potential printing problems, those shadow graphics should ideally be solid
colours, rather than being a translucent shade of black.
Select them all and turn the opacity back up to 100%.
Eyedrop the fill colour to the same as the nearest shape, then add an extra 40% of black
in the CMYK colour panel, which will replicate the shadow effect but with a solid colour.
Copy and paste the graphic into another new document.
This will be the mono version which will be used for any scenario where it needs to be
reproduced in just a single colour.
Select all the coloured shapes and change them to pure black.
The shading effect can still be somewhat replicated by punching out the shadows from the surrounding
shapes.
Shift and click the first rectangle and its shadow to select them both, then click the
Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel.
Repeat the process for the other shadows, then select all the shapes and click the Unite
button to merge the logo into an easily selectable graphic that can be set in any colour against
any background.
The final result is a cool logo design with a collection of different versions for real
world use.
The full colour RGB version looks great with the gradients and shading effects; the flat
CMYK version will reprint nicely on everything from business cards to exhibition banners;
and the mono version can be applied to any background in any colour.
So I hope you enjoyed this latest tutorial and picked up a few tips.
If you did, be sure to subscribe to the Spoon Graphics YouTube channel for more video tutorials.
Head over to my website at spoon.graphics for more written tutorials, free resources
and design inspiration, otherwise thank you very much for watching, and I'll catch you
all in the next one.