Tutorial for Customization of a Logo Template
This tutorial describes the various techniques used for customization of logo templates, which may be available in various formats such as .psd, .ai, .wmf. The template provider
Template Monster, who provided the sample logo for this tutorial, supplies their logo templates in all the three formats. If you decide to choose another template provider, you must first make sure to first check the logo format(s) supplied.
- Download sample logo archive for practice
In order to practice the tutorial, please download the sample logo. This is a zipped archive that needs to be unzipped with WinZip. If you don't have WinZip, you can download it for free from www.winzip.com.
Unzip sample logo archive
Once unzipped, your downloaded sample_logo directory will contain the following files:
- CORONETC.TTF - a font that is used for the company name
- logo.ai - Adobe Illustrator source file
- logo.wmf - source file that is editable in CorelDRAW and which can also be used for the logo preview
- logo.psd - Adobe Photoshop source file
Installing the required font
Irrespective of which program you prefer for editing your template, you will need to first install the required font in your system. Do this before editing the logo file so that the company name can be customised in this font.
- Select Start»Settings»Control Panel»Fonts to open the required system folder.
- Select File»Install Font to open a browse dialog.
- In the dialog box, locate your downloaded sample_logo folder.
- Click the Select All button and then OK.
- Close the window displaying the ...\WINDOWS\FONTS folder.
- Select tutorial -With the font installed, you may now choose your preferred editor and proceed to the relevant tutorial by choosing from one of the following:
- Using Adobe Illustrator to add your company name
In this step, you will be able to edit the company name and underline it. Editing the slogan is not discussed, since the process of editing is the same as that for the company name. You must be using Adobe Illustrator 9.0 or the newer version to perform editing, as some options may be unavailable in the earlier versions.
- Open the logo.ai file with Illustrator.
- Make sure that the toolbox is visible. If not select Window»Show Tools
- Use the Zoom Tool
 from the toolbox to adjust magnification as required.
- Switch to the Type Tool
 and replace "Company Name" with the actual name of your company or website.
- Use the Selection Tool
 to position the new text properly if the text you typed might happen to be shorter or longer than the sample text.
- Since the letters have been changed, the underline also would require some editing. For this,
- Select a portion of underline with the Direct Selection Tool.
- In case some other element gets selected instead of the underline, send this element to the background with Arrange»Send To Back from context menu.
- Resize the lines by dragging their nodes with the Direct Selection Tool. Holding down the Shift key while dragging allows you to keep the vertical coordinate of a node unchanged, thus keeping the underline horizontal.
- In case you need to remove extra fragments of underline select them and choose Edit»Clear.
- To obtain additional fragments of the same width and colour,
- Copy an existing fragment with Edit»Copy and then select Edit»Paste. A copy will now appear to the upper left of the initial line fragment.
- Drag the copy in place with Selection or the Direct Selection Tool and resize it as described in step 7 above.
- When you have created the appropriate number of fragments of underline and resized them as required you may want to make sure they are all horizontal and level. For this,
- Select all the fragments with the Direct Selection Tool by either drawing a box around the whole underline or shift-clicking each fragment.
- Right-click the selection and choose Average...
- Finally set the radio button to the horizontal position and click OK.
Installing the required font
You should do this before editing the logo file so that the company name can be in this font.
- Select Start»Settings»Control Panel»Fonts to open the needed system folder.
- Select File»Install Font to open a browse dialog.
- In the dialog box, locate your downloaded sample_logo folder.
- Click the Select All button and then OK.
- Close the window displaying the ...\WINDOWS\FONTS folder.
With the font installed, you may now choose your preferred editor and proceed to the relevant tutorial. Please choose one of the following:
Using Adobe Illustrator to add your company name
In this step you will edit the company name and underline it. Editing the slogan is not discussed, since the procedures are exactly the same. It is assumed that you are using Adobe Illustrator 9.0 or later. Some options might be unavailable in earlier versions.
- Open the logo.ai file with Illustrator.
- Make sure that the toolbox is visible. Select Window»Show Tools if it is not.
- Adjust magnification as needed by using the Zoom Tool from the toolbox.
- Switch to the Type Tool and replace "Company Name" with the actual name of your company or website.
- The text you typed might happen to be shorter or longer than sample text. Use the Selection Tool to position the new text properly.
- Since the letters have changed, the underline also needs some editing. Select a portion of underline with the Direct Selection Tool. In case some other element get selected instead of the underline, send this element to the background with Arrange»Send To Back from context menu.
- Resize the lines by dragging their nodes with the Direct Selection Tool. Holding down the Shift key while dragging allows you to keep the vertical coordinate of a node unchanged, thus keeping the underline horizontal.
- In case you need to remove extra fragments of underline select them and choose Edit»Clear.
- To obtain additional fragments of the same width and color, copy an existing fragment with Edit»Copy and then select Edit»Paste. A copy will appear to the upper left of the initial line fragment. Drag the copy in place with Selection or the Direct Selection Tool and resize it as described in step 7 above.
- When you have created the appropriate number of fragments of underline and resized them as required you may want to make sure they are all horizontal and level. Select all the fragments with the Direct Selection Tool by either drawing a box around the whole underline or shift-clicking each fragment. Right-click the selection and choose Average... Then set the radio button to the horizontal position and click OK.
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