An excellent way to see how geometric shapes come into play while creating a logo is by doing a logo as an exercise. If you look at various logos such as Microsoft (uses squares), Toyota (ovals) and YouTube (rounded rectangle and a triangle), geometric shapes are essential to know.
Re-Create the Microsoft Logo
In this tutorial exercise, we will be placing the Microsoft logo and using the geometric shapes, and the eyedropper to sample colours from the image in Illustrator to recreate the Microsoft logo.
Step by Step Process
Let’s create a new document. Any size is excellent. If we have to, we can always resize the logo using the Free Transform Tool – Command T (Mac) or Control T (PC) to fit the logo on the artboard.
Now, we will place the Microsoft logo on our artboard. File – Place or Command Shift (Mac) /Control Shift P (PC) – Locate the logo. It this stage, it doesn’t matter if you want to link or embed the image, as we are planning to delete this in the end. So you can pick either one.
Free Transform
If the logo is too big or too small, go ahead and do a Free Transform. Resize it to the artboard. But make sure you hold the Shift before you grab one of the corners of the image. You genuinely do not want to distort an image. Resize the logo using the Free Transform Tool Command T (Mac) or Control T (PC).
Draw the Shapes
Select the geometric tool and select the rectangle tool. Drag and Hold the shift key a perfect square on the first coloured box. Since we changed the fill colour to none and have just the stroke colour, you should be able to see precisely how the square shapes to the Microsoft logo.
We could do a few things in duplicating the square.
- Copy and paste and move to the next stop
- Draw another box
- Double click with the rectangle box to get the dialogue box and enter the same dimensions
- Or hold down option command to duplicate
I am going to choose the keyboard shortcut. So, I am going to hold down the option to duplicate it to the other side.
Adding to your Selection
Once done, I am going to select both boxes. I am going to hold the Shift key and allows me to add to my selection and choose the second box. Once I have both boxes selected, the keyboard shortcut again, and drag to the last two spots.
You can deselect at this stage. So, click off all items selected. I choose to click on my artboard that there is nothing there to select. Or, you can use the keyboard shortcut Command Shift A (Mac) or Control Shift A (PC).
Select the eyedropper tool or I as a keyboard shortcut. Now, with the Selection Tool (black arrow), select the first box, in this case, the outline where the red box will be. Hold the Shift key and click on the red box. Your outline box should now be filled with the red colour picture box.
Sample Colour from the Shapes
Now, with the Selection Tool (black arrow), select the second box, in this case, the outline where the green box will be. Hold the Shift key and click on the green box. Your outline box should now be filled with the green colour picture box.
Do this for the rest of the two boxes. Once done, locate the Microsoft logo image and delete it. Select the newly created logo or Command-A (Mac) or Control-A (PC) to select all and group it Command-G (Mac) or Control-G (PC). You have just re-created the Microsoft logo!
Watch our video tutorial: