Ever stretched a pattern in Illustrator and wondered why it looks distorted—or why it won’t move with your shape? Learn how to precisely align, scale, and reposition pattern fills using the Transform Patterns option and the tilde (~) key shortcut. Perfect for designers who want more control and cleaner results.
Smartwool Postcard – Design Composition in Illustrator
Recreate the bold Smartwool “CHASE WOAH” postcard in Adobe Illustrator. This step-by-step tutorial covers Pathfinder cuts, text-to-shape techniques, embedding images, clipping masks, and exporting a print-ready PDF. A perfect copycat exercise to sharpen your print design skills while learning Illustrator essentials.
Creating a Logo Inspired by Alan Fletcher’s V&A Design: A Step-by-Step Guide
In this Illustrator-based tutorial, we’re taking a closer look at an iconic piece of design history: the logo designed by Alan Fletcher for the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in 1989. Not only is this logo visually striking, but it’s also a masterclass in typography, iteration, and creative problem-solving. Today, I’ll show you how to analyze it and even create a “copycat” version to learn...
Recreating the typographic grid posters for Moderna Museet
Recreate the iconic 1962 Moderna Museet poster in Adobe Illustrator. Learn clipping masks, grids, and kerning in this hands-on typography tutorial inspired by modernist design.
Mastering Envelope Distort in Illustrator: From Pringles to Harley-Davidson
Copycat Design Series Have you ever wondered how designers bend and warp text perfectly into custom shapes—like the Pringles logo’s bowtie? In Illustrator, it feels like magic when you see it happen with just one click. But here’s the catch: not every logo plays so nicely. Take the Harley-Davidson badge, for example. The word MOTOR across the top isn’t something Illustrator can nail with a single...
Recreating the Interlocking L and A for Dodgers Logo
In this installment of the CopyCat Design Series, we’re diving into the iconic LA Dodgers interlocking monogram logo. By studying and rebuilding this design in Adobe Illustrator, we’ll practice typography basics, anchor point editing, and interlocking letterforms—skills you can apply to your own monograms and logotypes. A Brief History of the LA Dodgers Logo The Dodgers’ “LA” monogram is one of...
Recreating the Olympic Rings in Adobe Illustrator: A Step-by-Step Guide
In this post from our Copycat Design Series, we’ll walk through how to recreate one of the most iconic logos of all time: the Olympic rings. Along the way, we’ll dig into the history, explore the official brand guidelines, and learn some Illustrator techniques that you can apply to any design project. Table of ContentsWatch then read (Video Tutorial)Understanding the DesignHow to Analyze and...
Scaling in Illustrator?
When you scale your Artboard or object in Adobe Illustrator, don't forget that you can scale by different reference points, nine to be exact! Here's how.
Illustrator created SVGs: view the code and more
I recently created a video about including SVGs on your Squarespace website. A YouTube viewer commented and asked, "By chance, do you know how to find the code of a personal design created in Adobe Illustrator?"
The answer, is "Yes. Yes, I do, and here's how." Thank you for asking, Morgan.
So here, we go. Watch or read how below.
How do I copy styles / appearance in Illustrator?
Here are 6 ways to do it. As frequent users of Adobe products know first-hand, each Adobe program has similarities AND lots of differences AND there's many ways to accomplish each task. The copying of styles (fx) is one such difference.