Foundation Skills on Adobe Illustrator: Learn Fast!

Your BEST GUIDE to learn Adobe Illustrator to designing your own print-ready marketing materials super fast!

Created byFarabi Shayor MSc

Last updated 4/2017

English

What you'll learn

Understand the basics of Adobe Illustrator
Learn the correct tool to design marketing materials
Perform basic geometric vector art
Create minimal and simple stationary designs, such as. business cards or letterhead
Make designs print-ready to sent off to the printers, no need to depend on templates anymore!

Course content

5 sections • 16 lectures • 1h 47m total length

What We Will Cover3:57
This is a general introduction to the course - Adobe Illustrator, a straightforward guide. My idea is to show you how to use basic tools to create the designs.

I will tell you a little bit about myself, followed by answers to the following questions:

Why should you enrol in a designing course?
Is this course for entrepreneurs?
Why use illustrator?
What are the limitations of this software?
What is covered in this entire course?

I will suggest you to have a notepad, or if you prefer writing, then have pen/paper in front of you to take notes. You can pause wherever necessary to go back to Illustrator and keep practising the techniques. Remember, the more you practice, the better designer you will be in the future!

Additionally, please bear in mind, this is an intensive, time-restricted course, so you will need a little more practice to learn using the tools properly! I hope everyone will enjoy!
Creating Documents And Working With Art-boards3:47
This lecture is all about artboards and using Adobe illustrator to create your artboard.

I will also cover:

What is Artboard in Adobe Illustrator

How to create an artboard in Adobe Illustrator

How to edit artboards

Available artboard profiles

Best profile for designing marketing materials

Covering The Tool Box in Illustrator12:20
In this lecture, I will show you how to use tools to select, create and manipulate objects/shapes/texts in Adobe Illustrator.

The following type of tools are available in Adobe Illustrator:

Selection Tools

Drawing Tools

Type Tools

Painting Tools

Reshaping Tools

Symbol Tools

Graph Tools

Slicing and cutting tools

Moving Tools

However, as this is a basic course, I will be covering in details some of the tools that you will need to learn. A list of different type of tools has been added in the resources folder.

Friends, to make the best out of this course, either take lots of notes, or keep your illustrator open and try to use the tools I’m going to talk about. You can pause anywhere you want, practice, and start again to move onto the next tool.

I will not go into details with all the tools, and only cover just the basic things will need to know at the moment to help you go up and running with illustrator. Some additional information has been added in the resources folder for you to have a look and practice accordingly.

Keep practicing!!
Various Panels And Its Functions13:09
In this lecture, I will discuss:

How to use Zoom Tool in Illustrator
How to use use moving tools such as the Hand Tool in Illustrator
How you can use duplicate technique to copy shapes and objects faster
Using the ruler and guides in Illustrator
Aligning objects and using the align panel in Illustrator
How to use clipping mask
Converting a raster image into a vector image
How to transform objects, arrange objects on your canvas or the Layers panel
And some free transform/scaling techniques

I will quickly brush through the panel and show you the basics of necessary panels you will need to learn about in Illustrator. However, once again I’m reminding you, to make the best out of this course, either take lots of notes, or keep your illustrator open and try to use the tools I’m going to talk about. You can pause anywhere you want, practice, and start again to move onto the next tool. I have added a couple of Illustrator files, have a look and play around with these.
Colour, Guide And Swatches10:02
This lecture will cover two sections:
First section will cover:

Swatches panel in detail
How to use the gradient and transparency panel
Using the eyedropper tool

In the second section I will discuss CMYK and RGB colour modes and colour swatches available in Adobe Illustrator. This section will also cover how printers use CMYK and Pantone colours to produce results. I will talk about the importance of CMYK and Pantone colours in printing world, and why colours are important in the marketing world. Finally I will provide you with a couple of important notes that you need to consider almost every time you create a print-ready design.

By the end of this lecture you will:

Work with different stroke options, create gradient colours and work with the transparency panel
Use eyedropper tool to pick any colour and use it create your own design
Understand the difference between Pantone and CMYK colour swatches
Be abble to choose the right colour swatch before you start designing your logo or print-ready marketing material
Working With Type Tool And Text in Illustrator11:01
Adobe Illustrator Type Tool - Basic Type Tool Tutorial

This lecture discusses the basic functions of the type tools and how you can use different type tools to create your desired text effects.
Creating Various Shapes And Using Pathfinder Tool7:24
This lecture will discuss:
How how to use pathfinder tool in Adobe Illustrator
How to create any type of shapes using both the pathfinder tool and compound path dialogue

Important Thing To Learn – The Pen Tool!6:51
This lecture is a basic introduction to you can use the Pen Tool in Adobe Illustrator.
Section 3 Exercise2:52
This exercise will demonstrate your knowledge on pen tool, text tool, 3D and other techniques you have learned in section 2 and 3.
Export Options And Standards5:20
In this lesson, you will learn how to use Adobe Illustrator to:
Export files for printing
Understand different export settings in export dialogue
How to send files to clients and create a proper print-ready files
What you should know before exporting any files

Creating A Logo7:33
This is lecture is about how you can design a logo in Adobe Illustrator. We will design a logo, together, in a short time.

I will fast-forward in some of the places, therefore, make sure you pause wherever necessary, and try to design it by yourself.

The logo's AI file and eps file has been provided in the resources folder.
Business Card6:22
This is lecture is about how you can design a logo in Adobe Illustrator. We will design a business card based on the logo that we worked on in the previous lecture.

I will fast-forward in some of the places, therefore, make sure you pause wherever necessary, and try to design in by yourself.

The business card's AI file has been uploaded in the resources folder.

P.S. All the credentials are made up. The company (Treehouse production), address nor the information are real. These were created only for exercise purposes.

Here's the link to the font used: http://www.dafont.com/roboto.font
How to Use the Variables Panel4:25
Adobe Illustrator - How to use Variables Panel to export business cards.

This tutorial will show how you can export business cards with multiple credentials at the same time.

Note: This is an exercise design created only for you, so neither the company nor the credentials exist! All the data, names and other information are made up.

I have added two other files (CSV and XML) that I used in this lecture.
Here's the link to the converter: http://joaofaraco.com.br/converter/
Section 4 Exercise2:36
This is the exercise lecture for this section.
Other Things You Need To Know4:24
This lecture will cover important aspects you will need consider if you want to design other marketing materials, such flyers, banners, billboards etc. on Adobe Illustrator.

Psychology of Colour for Marketers and Designers5:34
This is the only lecture with a google slides presentation. In this very last lecture, I will discuss:

Why do I really need to know about colour psychology?
Why colour is important in designing a brand
Research findings on the consumer perception on colours of a brand
Real-life facts you will need to consider before start designing a logo or marketing or brand materials
Questions to ask a client or yourself before working on a design

..and a thank you note.

I have added additional files in the resources folder, along with the presentation I created for this lecture.

Requirements

A PC/Mac, laptop and copy of Adobe Illustrator CC or a 30-day trial.

Description

Get the FULL COURSE for £10.99 throughout 2018 - USE JUST2018

Do you -

Want to design your own branded products?
Need to know The BASICS of a powerful graphic design software?
Or interested to learn Adobe Illustrator FAST?

Then you are in the right place!

This course is a straightforward and basic guide to use one of the most powerful software in the field of designing – Adobe Illustrator. My effort is to cut to chase and show you how you can learn the basics of Illustrator in just under 100 minutes!

The course starts with a basic introduction of using various tools and panels available to create a design, whether it’s a logo or a print-ready material such as a flyer. You will then straight go for working on a few exercises with me that will teach you how to create brand stationary.

No script. No reading out of books. More work done with lots of exercises! Designs worth at least £200 are also included in the course.

2000+ students are enrolled from 100+ Countries around the world! With a little practice and creativity, YOU can also join them and use this knowledge to design amazing things. Guaranteed.

After working in the field of designing and marketing a long time, I came across the fact that a lot of entrepreneurs or people who run small businesses do not have the skills to create their design, as learning to use illustrator can be pretty expensive. Therefore, most people rely on templates provided in various stationary printing websites. However, as you progress through the course, you will learn how to use the tools to create minimal and sophisticated designs for a brand. I will also share my experience during the course and show you how to make a design print-ready.

Once you have completed the course, make sure you play around with the tools to sharpen your knowledge. This course will cover basic tools and discuss only fundamental/important functions and techniques that will need to know to set up Illustrator and start running. However, you will need to practice a little more to understand the use of various techniques shown in this course. So, if you open-minded and want to learn a new skill, come join me! By the end of the course, you will be able to create simple and wonderful designs. I hope this course will help a lot of eager talented creative people to learn Adobe Illustrator and use the techniques to show their creativity to the world!

Learn how to use Illustrator effectively and start creating your own beautiful designs!

Who this course is for:

Beginners who want to learn skills required to use Adobe Illustrator
Young people who are interested in learning basics of Illustrator
Marketers or entrepreneurs who want to learn Illustrator to create marketing materials
This course is not for people who have intermediate or sound knowledge of Illustrator, or already using the software on regular basis

Foundation Skills on Adobe Illustrator: Learn Fast!

What you'll learn

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Course content

Introduction2 lectures • 8min

Adobe Illustrator Basic5 lectures • 54min

Basic +3 lectures • 15min

Let’s Straight Jump Into Projects5 lectures • 25min

Conclusion1 lecture • 6min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: