How to make your text match up on the top and bottom of a circular logo.

Okay, say you've created a logo, and you want to spruce it up for some promotional items by putting some circular text in both the upper and lower parts of the ring in the background of the logo. (Above and below where this example says, "COOL LOGO".)

The first thing to do in this situation is to go to the layer your logo is on in the LAYERS PALETTE (WINDOW>LAYERS) and LOCK the layer by clicking in the open space next to the eyeball icon. You will see a lock icon after you do this.

Create a new layer by clicking on the CREATE NEW LAYER icon in the LAYERS PALETTE.

In this new layer, take your ELIPSE TOOL, hold down SHIFT and draw a new circle a little larger than the inner edge of the ring. (I have the stroke on my example so you can see what I am doing. You can leave a stroke too. It will disappear when you add text.)

Now choose your TYPE ON A PATH TOOL (In the hidden menu under the TYPE TOOL.)

Click on the elipse path you have drawn with the TYPE ON A PATH TOOL and enter your text.

TIP: Try setting the ALIGNMENT to ALIGN CENTER to make it easier to get the text centered.


It will look like this in CS or CS2:

In Illustrator 10 or below, you will have to bring up the PARAGRAPH PALETTE to set the alignment. (WINDOW>TYPE>PARAGRAPH):

Use the "I-Beam(s)" you see on the text to move the text into position. (This is a lot trickier in CS and CS2. Try holding down COMMAND(Mac)/CONTROL(PC) before clicking on an I-beam to get it to move.)

How to set another line of text in the same place in the bottom of the ring?

Now, LOCK the previous layer we were working on by clicking next to the eyeball icon.

This should leave only the layer we just created active.


Next, grab the center I-beam and pull it directly down. You will see that this flips the text to the inside of the circle.

Grab the I-beam again and slide it around to the bottom of the circle. (This may take a few tries and a little patience, but stick with it! You can always UNDO and try again.)

Okay, so now the text is centered at the bottom, but it's not in the right place. If we simply move the circle down, it's close, but the curve of the text most likely isn't quite right. (Don't do this step!!! It is only an example!)

So, here's what to do.


Open the CHARACTER PALETTE.

In CS or CS2, click on "Character" in the CONTROL PALETTE (top strip) near the name of the font. The palette should be fully expanded.

In Illustrator 10 or below, go to WINDOW>TYPE>CHARACTER and fully expand the palette by clicking on the double arrows in the CHARACTER PALETTE tab.

What we want to do here is change the BASELINE SHIFT of the text. (Make sure the path the text is on is selected.)

Use the arrows and start going to a negative number until your text is in the right place!

Unlock your layers in the LAYERS PALETTE, GROUP everything together (EDIT>SELECT ALL then OBJECT>GROUP) and you are good to go!

Hope you enjoyed the tip!