How to Add Text in Adobe Illustrator (Tutorial & Tips)

Adding text in Illustrator is super easy. Simply click the T, type or paste, style it, then you can create either infographics, logos, or anything you want.

Text is a MUST tool for graphic designers. Believe me, 99.9% of the time you have to work with text in Adobe Illustrator for your design work. Obviously, for posters, logos, brochures, and even on your portfolio, the balance between text and graphics is so important.

You’d probably seen a lot of text logos such as the famous Facebook and Google. They both start from text. So yeah, if you wish to be a brand designer, start playing with text right now.

In this article, I’m going to show you two quick and easy ways to add text in illustrator. You’ll also learn some text formatting tips.

Ready? Take note.

The Type tool

You will use the Type tool (shortcut T) from the tool panel in Illustrator to add text.

2 Ways to Add Text in Illustrator

There are two easy ways to add text for either a short name or longer information. Of course, you can only use one way or another, but it’s always good to know both for different cases and avoid unnecessary troubles.

The biggest difference is resizing the text, which you’ll see later in this article.

Note: Screenshots are taken from Mac. The Windows version can be slightly different.

Method 1: Add Short Text

This is probably the easiest way to add text. Simply click and type. You’ll see.

Step 1: Select the Type tool on the tool panel or hit shortcut T on your keyboard.

Step 2: Click on your Artboard. You’ll see some random text selected.

Step 3: Double click on the text to delete and type in your text. In this case, I type my name June.

For logos, names, or any short text, I would really this method, it’s fast and easy for scaling. Remember to hold the Shift key when you scale to keep the same shape.

Done! Keep reading to see how I format the text to make it look nicer.

Method 2: Add Paragraphs of Text

When you want to add longer text, it can get a bit more complicated. But don’t worry, you’ll find useful tips which will make your life easier. First, let’s add the text in Illustrator.

Step 1: Obviously, select the Type tool.

Step 2: Click and drag to create a text box. You will see some random text.

Step 3: Double click (or Command A) to select all and hit delete.

Step 4: Copy and paste the text you need.

Unlike the method above, here you CANNOT scale the text size by dragging the text box. You can only change the size of the text box.

Note: when you see a small red plus like this, it means that the text doesn’t fit in the text box anymore, so you have to enlarge the text box.

To change the size of the font, you’ll do the traditional way. I’ll explain now.

Formating Text (Quick Guide)

If you don’t have the Character panel set up in the Properties panel yet, you should.

You can change the font style, font size, tracing, leading, kerning in the Character panel. If you have a long text, you can choose the paragraph style as well.

I have made a couple of formatting. How does it look?

To change type cases, you can go to Type > Change Case and choose the one you need. Especially for sentence cases, changing it one-by-one can be very time-consuming.

Here, I change my name to Title Case.

Useful Tips

Choosing a good font is important, but in most cases, don’t use more than three fonts in a design, It can look quite messy. And remember, always add some spacing to your text, it will make a difference.

Conclusion

Now you have learned two ways to add text in Illustrator. Type tool is super easy to use but you must always pay attention to details. Remember when to use which. You will make something great.

Have fun styling!

How do you manipulate text in Illustrator?

How do you manipulate text in Illustrator?

Text manipulation in Illustrator is a powerful tool that can be used to create text effects, modify text size and positioning, and change text colors. There are several ways to accomplish these tasks, and each has its own benefits and drawbacks.

1. Use the Text Tools Panel

The Text Tools Panel is located in the Text Section of the Illustrator toolbar. This panel contains a variety of tools that can be used to manipulate text.

The most common tools are the Text Tool ( ), the Eyedropper Tool ( ), and the Text Box ( ).

The Text Tool allows you to type text, select text, or paste text. The Eyedropper Tool allows you to sample text from a document or object.

The Text Box allows you to enter text into a specific location.

2. Use the Type Tool

The Type Tool is located in the Type Section of the Illustrator toolbar. This tool allows you to type text using a keyboard or the Illustrator drawing tools.

3. Use the Selection Tools

The Selection Tools are located in the Selection Section of the Illustrator toolbar. The Selection Tools allow you to select text and objects.

PRO TIP: Manipulating text in Illustrator can be tricky and may result in unexpected results if you are not careful. Be sure to backup your work often and save your original text file somewhere safe before you begin manipulating the text in Illustrator.

4. Use the Text Formatting Tools

The Text Formatting Tools are located in the Text Section of the Illustrator toolbar. The Text Formatting Tools allow you to modify the appearance of text.

5. Use the Alignment Tools

The Alignment Tools are located in the Alignment Section of the Illustrator toolbar. The Alignment Tools allow you to align text within a document or object.

6. Use the Pathfinder

The Pathfinder is located in the Pathfinder Section of the Illustrator toolbar. The Pathfinder allows you to move and resize text, objects, and layers.

7. Use the Glyphs Panel

The Glyphs Panel is located in the Glyphs Section of the Illustrator toolbar. The Glyphs Panel contains a variety of tools that can be used to create and modify glyphs.

Designing Presentation & Research Posters with Illustrator

Create a New Textbox: Select the Type Tool from the Toolbox, draw a box on the screen, then type in the box. Use the Character or Paragraph choices in the Options Bar or the Type menu. Add existing text from a file: Get on the Black Pointer Tool then go to the File menu and select Place and choose your text file. If the placed text looks strange, try this: Select the text box or shape with the Selection Tool Click on the Character Panel link in the Options Bar and set the font sizes to any value you like. Set the leading to Auto – this should fix the overlap problem.

Edit Your Text:

To change all of the text in a text box or shape: Use the Selection Tool (the black arrow) to do the below steps. If you want to affect only certain words or characters, use the Type Tool:

Select the text Use the choices in the Options Bar to set font, size, etc. For more specificity, click on the Character Panel or Paragraph Panel links in the Options Bar or use the Type menu

To change the color of the letters (the fill color), use the solid color square in the Options Bar. To change the outline color (stroke), use the color square with the white square in the middle.

To change the fill or the stroke of the text box itself:

Choose the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow) from the Toolbox. Click and release once on a corner handle of the text box itself – the Options Bar should change from Type (as shown in the screen shot above) to Anchor Point. Change the stroke and fill as described in the Working With Color section.

To move a text box, use the Selection Tool (black arrow) to click and drag it to its new location.

To resize a text box, drag the “handles” with the Selection Tool – hold down the Shift key to keep it proportionate.

Remember that fonts used in an Illustrator document can only be displayed and printed correctly when the viewer has those fonts installed on their computer. If working on more than one computer, you may have to carry font files along with your Illustrator file.