- [Instructor] It's a commonly used graphic device
to substitute a word or letters
or a part of a letter in a logo with a symbol.
We've all seen the famous I Love New York logo.
This technique works best
if the word is a common one,
or the letter is a simple shape.
Avoid substituting the first
or last letter of a word,
which is likely to cause the word
to be read without the picture.
And keep the image simple.
Let's see some examples.
For the first example,
I've substituted the O
with this target symbol.
This is just a custom shape
that I found in Photoshop.
And we've seen numerous examples, I'm sure,
where the A in the word Star
is substituted with a star.
A less obvious letter to substitute,
but, in this case, it works,
having a hook instead of a J.
And keep in mind that you won't
necessarily need to substitute the whole letter.
In the second example here,
it is just the dot of the I
that is substituted with the fire symbol.
So let's create one ourselves.
I want to replace the A with a leaf.
I'm going to switch over to Photoshop.
And I just find it convenient
to use Photoshop for its custom shapes
in examples like this.
But, of course, don't limit yourself;
there is a world of vector shapes out there.
I'm going to come to my custom shape tool
and I have loaded the Nature shapes,
and in these are several leaves,
and I'm going to choose the one
that is most A-like in its profile;
it's going to be this one.
I'll hold down the Shift key and draw that.
And then I'll switch to my
path selection tool here.
Command or Control+C to copy that.
Come back to Illustrator and paste it
as a compound shape.
I'll now have to apply
a fill color to it.
Let's just move that out of the way for a moment.
I'll select my type,
come to the Type menu,
Create Outlines.
Then, with my direct selection tool,
I'll select the A, and delete it.
I'll come and select my leaf,
put it roughly in position,
press my E key to access my free transform.
And so that I can transform this from its center point,
I'll hold down my Option or Alt key.
And so that I keep it proportional,
I'll also hold down the Shift key.
And then I'll just reposition that,
scale it a little bit more.
And even though that doesn't look
particularly like an A,
it's obvious what the intent is,
and there's little chance
that the word will be misread.