This tutorial describes techniques used for customization of logo templates, which may be available in various formats: .psd, .ai, .wmf. Template Monster, who provided the sample logo for this tutorial, supply their logo templates in all three formats. If you are choosing another template provider, you should make sure you first check the logo format(s) supplied.

Please download the sample logo to practice on. This is a zipped archive that needs to be unzipped with WinZip. If you don't have WinZip, you can get it free from www.winzip.com. Once unzipped, your downloaded sample_logo directory will contain the following files:

• CORONETC.TTF - a font that is used for the company name
• logo.ai - Adobe Illustrator source file
• logo.wmf - source file that is editable in CorelDRAW (can also be used for preview)
• logo.psd - Photoshop source file
Adobe

Irrespective of which program you prefer for editing your template, first you will need to install the required font in your system.



Installing the required font

You should do this before editing the logo file so that the company name can be in this font.

1. Select Start»Settings»Control Panel»Fonts to open the needed system folder.
   
2. Select File»Install Font to open a browse dialog.
   
3. In the dialog box, locate your downloaded sample_logo folder.
   
4. Click the Select All button and then OK.
   
5. Close the window displaying the ...\WINDOWS\FONTS folder.
   

With the font installed, you may now choose your preferred editor and proceed to the relevant tutorial. Please choose one of the following:

» Customizing in Adobe Illustrator
» Customizing in CorelDRAW
» Customizing in Adobe Photoshop



Using Adobe Illustrator to add your company name

In this step you will edit the company name and underline it. Editing the slogan is not discussed, since the procedures are exactly the same. It is assumed that you are using Adobe Illustrator 9.0 or later. Some options might be unavailable in earlier versions.

1. Open the logo.ai file with Illustrator.
   
   
2. Make sure that the toolbox is visible. Select Window»Show Tools if it is not.
   
   
3. Adjust magnification as needed by using the Zoom Tool from the toolbox.
   
   
4. Switch to the Type Tool and replace "Company Name" with the actual name of your company or website.
   
   
5. The text you typed might happen to be shorter or longer than sample text. Use the Selection Tool to position the new text properly.
   
   
6. Since the letters have changed, the underline also needs some editing. Select a portion of underline with the Direct Selection Tool. In case some other element get selected instead of the underline, send this element to the background with Arrange»Send To Back from context menu.
   
   
7. Resize the lines by dragging their nodes with the Direct Selection Tool. Holding down the Shift key while dragging allows you to keep the vertical coordinate of a node unchanged, thus keeping the underline horizontal.
   
   
8. In case you need to remove extra fragments of underline select them and choose Edit»Clear.
   
   
9. To obtain additional fragments of the same width and color, copy an existing fragment with Edit»Copy and then select Edit»Paste. A copy will appear to the upper left of the initial line fragment. Drag the copy in place with Selection or the Direct Selection Tool and resize it as described in step 7 above.
   
   
10. When you have created the appropriate number of fragments of underline and resized them as required you may want to make sure they are all horizontal and level. Select all the fragments with the Direct Selection Tool by either drawing a box around the whole underline or shift-clicking each fragment. Right-click the selection and choose Average... Then set the radio button to the horizontal position and click OK.

Using CorelDRAW to add your company name

In this step you will edit the company name and underline it. Editing the slogan is not discussed, since the procedures are exactly the same. It is assumed that you are using Corel Draw 10 or later. Some options might be unavailable in earlier versions.

1. Open the logo.wmf file with CorelDRAW.
   
   
2. Make sure that the toolbox is visible. To make it visible right-click the menu bar and select Toolbox.
   
   
3. Adjust the magnification as needed by using the Zoom Tool .
   
   
4. Switch to the Text Tool and replace "Company Name" with the actual name of your company.
   
   
5. The text you typed might happen to be shorter or longer than the sample text. Use the Pick Tool to position the new text properly.
   
   
6. Since the letters have changed, the underline also needs some editing. Select a portion of the underline with the Pick Tool and drag the handles in order to resize the line fragments.
   
   
7. In case you need to remove extra fragments of underline select them with the Pick Tool and choose Edit»Delete.
   
   
8. To obtain additional fragments of the same width and color, copy an existing fragment with Edit»Copy and then select Edit»Paste. A copy will appear just above the initial line fragment. Drag the copy in place with the Pick Tool. Press down Ctrl+Shift after you start dragging in order to keep the vertical coordinate unchanged, thus keeping the line horizontal. Resize the copied fragment as described in step 6 above.
   
   
9. When you have created the appropriate number of fragments of underline and resized them as required you may want to make sure they are all leveled horizontally. Select all the fragments with the Pick Tool by either drawing a box around the whole underline or shift-clicking each fragment. Select Arrange»Align and Distribute, set the Center checkbox to "from the left" and click OK.
   

There is of course much more to CorelDRAW than this. Corel provides offline and online tutorials available through Help»CorelTUTOR. This is an excellent place to start improving your skills in order to make your logo really unique.



Using Adobe Photoshop to add your company name

In this step you will edit the company name and underline. Editing the slogan is not discussed, since the procedures are exactly the same. It is assumed that you are using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 or later. Some options might be unavailable in earlier versions.

1. Open the logo.psd file with Photoshop.
   
   
2. Make sure that the toolbox and tool options bar are visible. If not, select Window»Tools and Window»Options respectively to display them.
   
   
3. The image might appear too big or too small. To adjust magnification select the Zoom Tool from the toolbox. The options bar changes to reflect your zooming options. Turn on the Resize Windows To Fit checkbox and click the Actual Pixels button.
   
   
4. Make sure that the Layers Tab is visible. If it is not, select Windows»Layers to display it.
   
   
5. Select the Move Tool and right-click "Company Name.Com". In the drop-down menu of layer names choose "Company Name.Com". This layer will get selected in the Layers Tab. You may think of layers as transparent films with images and text placed on them. You can edit the contents of films independently, change the order in which they are stacked, and lots of other things.
   
   
6. To make sure that you selected the correct layer, try making it invisible for a while by clicking an eye icon from the left of the layer name in the Layers Tab. The text should disappear. Click again to restore it.
   
   
7. Switch to the Type Tool and replace "Company Name.Com" with the actual name of your company.
   
   
8. The text that you typed might happen to be shorter or longer than the sample text. Use the Move Tool to position the new text properly.
   
   
9. Since the letters have changed, the underline also needs some editing. Make the layer that contains the underline active (similar to substep 5). Use the Pencil Tool and Eraser Tool to edit the underline. Width for the Pencil Tool is set in the Options toolbar. You can display the Color Picker dialog by clicking a colored box in the bottom of the Tools bar. You may want to enlarge the image with the Zoom Tool to facilitate editing.
   
   

We hope that you found this tutorial helpful. If you have any suggestions that might help us to improve it, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Last modified: Sunday, 11-Jul-2004 08:24:13 EDT. Print this page.



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