February, 2007
In this lesson I'll cover how to layout an 11 x 17 inch poster with a modern hip look using a pattern, circular text, and font fun. Tutorial Includes project files.
Start with a portrait version of 11 x 17 document making sure that it is set to CMYK. Then click on the arrow on the Swatches palette and choose Select All Unused and throw it into the trashcan.
Under Color select an orange color and set the percentages below. Name the color and click on the Color Type and set the type to Spot Color.
Name the layer and lock it. Create a new layer and name it pattern.
For the pattern create a square and then create two circles and use the Subtract option under Pathfinder to make the two circles one. Create a new color for the square as I showed you above. It's important to keep it spot as it will save money at the printer and they'll think you know what you are doing. Use the Align option to center the circle within the square. Select the square and circle and create a pattern located under Brush.
Use the Line Segment tool at the top of the poster across the entire top and then apply the new brush.
New layer. Create a rectangle and duplicate it. (Alt+Shift and Selection tool, and then Control+D to duplicate.)
Group the rectangles and apply Arc at 38%. Use Expand Appearance to make it permanent.
Apply the orangeade color we built before and then change it's percentage to 80% and apply to the fill and stroke design.
With the Ellipse tool create a circle. Using Myriad Roman 23 pt, I typed the text "I am typing on this path -".
I duplicated it and rotated it then moved the two circles until they dropped off the side of the document.
New layer. In this layer I want to create a word on two lines with no fill and just a stroke. I'm using the font below but you can choose the one you like better if that suits you. I then used the Direct Selection tool to enlarge the type. I had to adjust the leading to make the letters on the bottom butt up against the top letters.
I then moved the word off of the page a little.
I then create a new layer and duplicated the above layer, then moved it to the new layer. I wanted only the T so I deleted the rest of the letters and changed the size. I also wanted it to be filled and not stroked. Again, I dragged it left and moved part of it off of the document edge.
On a new layer above the black circle I created three words in three fonts for interest.
Create a repeating text across the document.
In this text I used Arial Black and increased the tracking to 400.
Here's the result of our efforts, a nicely designed 11 x 17 poster.
NEW FEATURE: Download the original source files from this tutorial in Zip format Here
Copyright (c) 2007, Jacquelin Vanderwood, All Rights Reserved