Simple, Trendy Logo Design in Illustrator

This awesome logo design in Adobe Illustrator is extremely easy and catchy.

It’s very iconic and branding for just about anything you slap this style on. So check it out… try it out.

Here’s the techniques and tools we’ll be using:
- Create Outlines
- Linear Gradient
- Rounded Rectangles
- Send to Back
- Divide Objects Below
- Transparency

Estimated Time: 15 minutes

First off, let’s get your artboard set up! In this tutorial, we’re running on CMYK Color Mode.

Let’s grab our font (I’m using this cool font called “SF Sports Night NS Upright” on 180 pt. font size, but you may use whatever font you wish.) Type down anything you want, I’m starting this with a number because it looks pretty cool!

Now create some outlines so we can do a ton of stuff to the font.

Now it should look like a bunch of tiny Smurfs rock climbing all over your text.

Now, double-click on your font to enter it’s editing mode. This allows you to select only certain parts of the text and edit it accordingly. Here, I’ve put a linear dark-gray gradient with a -90 degree direction. Notice I left the “3″ untouched… we’ll get it on the next step… no font character left behind!

Only selecting the “3″, apply an extremely light gradient the same way as the other one. (I used a white-to-lightest gray gradient). Comparable to a slightly toasted marshmallow.

Now, hit your rounded rectangle shape in the tool bar and click in an open area on your artboard. We’re going to make this 200 x 200 pixels with 40 pixel corners. (You’re more than welcome to put a Starbucks on all 40 corners as well, but they’re probably already there… coffee joke!)

Let’s do a red gradient on it and then send it to the back… that sounds so harsh.

Then position our cool round box offset behind the “3″. So now the “3″ pops out like a cooked turkey.

So now we’re going to jazz it up a bit. Draw a white rectangle (just big enough to cover half of the logo) and then using the Arc Tool, draw a curved line across it.

Divide Objects Below! This karate chops it in half, so we’ll just discard the bottom portion as we’ll only be using the top.

Position it over the entire logo (adjust according to your likings).

Now set the white piece to a transparency of only 10%. This makes it look like it’s been through a car wash with that expensive option with wax and all that good stuff.

Oh yeah! Also, don’t forget to put a cheesy tagline below it (this fills out the logo to give it a finished look).

Good Luck!
Aaron

Shmoggo
Design&Print