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.
