Freelance Graphic Designer London

How to distress or shatter type in Illustrator

This is a good tip if you ever want to change type to invoke a mood. I wanted to give a bit of text a feeling of electricity and this is what I did.

First of all, in Illustrator, you must convert your type to outlines. Remember, after you have done this you can’t edit what’s written, so you better make sure you have spelled it correctly! To do this go Type > Create Outlines with it selected, or Cmd/ctrl-shift-O. Easy!

Next you need to draw diagonal lines across the text. Draw your first one at the top either with the Line Segment Tool(\) or the Pen Tool (P) and then, with the Selection Tool (V) and option held down, drag the whole line down to create your second line. Further lines can be draw with equal space in between by going Object > Transform > Transform Again, or Cmd/ctrl-D. (You may want to make you diagonal lines uneven for a more distressed effect, I just showed you this way because Illustrator’s Transform Again feature is incredibly cool!)

Now the clever part. With everything selected, type outlines and diagonal lines, click Divide in the Pathfinder palette.

Now, with the Direct Selection Tool (A), move the sections around until you’ve created something you’re happy with.