Adobe Illustrator is a great graphic design program if you want to create editable vector graphics. Vector graphics can be scaled without losing detail, so illustrations and typography look just as good on billboards and business cards.
Let’s say you’re creating a circular symbol or logo and you want to insert text through the circle. For better legibility, you need to flip the text below the circle to the opposite side of the outline. This Illustrator tutorial shows you how to rotate text the same way in Illustrator so that the text doesn’t scroll.
How to make paths display text in Illustrator
Whether you’re using Adobe Illustrator CC or an older version of Illustrator, the path is one line (or more!) or curves. The path can be opened or closed, depending on whether the endpoints are blocked.
Start with a simple circuit design. Draw a circular path and use the writing tool to write your text along the path. Finally, rotate some of the text so that it is on the bottom right of the circle.
- Select the Ellipse Tool.
- Hold Shift and draw a circle on the canvas. Hold down the Shift key to make the ellipse you are drawing a perfect circle. As you add text, the stroke or fill color disappears.
- Select the Type On Path tool from the Type Tool pop-up menu.
- Select Format > Paragraph > Center from the Window menu to center the text you want to type. Mac users can use Option + Command + T.
- With the Text on Path tool selected, click over the circle you created in step 2. Illustrator adds lorem ipsum text parallel to the base of the circle.
- Select the font size and icon size on the icon panel icons tab, or choose Window > Icon > Icon to display the icon panel.
- Place the desired text above the circle.
- Three dots (also called alignment brackets) will appear next to the text. Use this handle to move the text to the desired location.
- Then copy what you have and repeat. Select the circle using the Direct Select tool in the Toolbox and Edit > Copy or use the Ctrl + C keyboard shortcut.
- Then place the finished copy on the art board. To do this, select Edit > Paste On. Depending on the font used, two copies of the text in the path may make the text slightly darker. The easiest way to make sure you have two copies of your text is to check the Layers panel. You should see two text entries. If you wish, you can rename it to indicate that it is a future copy.
- Turn off the visibility of the bottom layer in the Layers panel.
- Select the Insert tool, select the existing text, and type a new text. This will bring it below the plane of the circle.
- Now the most interesting. Select Type > Path Type > Path Type to open the Path Options dialog box. Select Rainbow as the Text Effect and select Ascending from the Align to Path drop-down list. Also, check the Invert box and click the OK button. (Check the Zoom In Preview box.)
Selecting the starting point for the prominent Align to Path option aligns the text once in the path. Ascender places the text outside the circle. Descendants receive text from the circles. Finally, the center places the text directly in the middle of the path.
- Click outside the text to remove it, then use the handle again to adjust the distance and move the text along the line at the bottom of the window.
- Then re-enable the visibility of the top text layer.
How to add and rotate text to a path in Adobe Illustrator.
Insert the icon into your design.
An easy way to add an extra element or two to your design in Adobe Illustrator is to insert an element from the Symbols panel. Follow the steps below to add an icon to your design.
- Choose Window > Icons to display the Icons panel.
- Use the Symbol Libraries drop-down menu to see a list of all the libraries installed on your computer. Select one of these to launch a panel where you can navigate to each symbol library using the navigation arrows.
- When you find an icon you want to use, drag and drop it into your design.
- Use the selection tool to resize the icon to fit your design.
