Hello everyone this is Chris from Spoon Graphics
back with another video tutorial for Adobe Illustrator.
Today I'm going to share some tips and techniques for creating vintage badge logos. This popular
design style is based on the way brand identities were created in previous centuries, with hand-lettered
layouts that clearly described the company, unlike modern logo designs of today that are
condensed into a simple icon graphic.
I'll show you how Illustrator's vector tools can help you create interesting vintage-style
logos, combining text effects and shapes to build the layout.
My artwork will be based on a fictional 19th century denim workwear brand called Hamiltons,
similar to the early days of Levis or Carhartt, but this vintage style has become popular
for all kinds of logos, packaging and T-shirt designs.
With vintage style designs relying so heavily on wording rather than imagery, it's important
to use fonts that authentically replicate old hand-lettering.
I'm using the Milkstore collection of fonts by my friends at Heritage Type Co. This all-in-one
kit not only includes 5 fonts with an authentic hand-crafted look that perfectly complement
each other, it also provides 18 ready-made logo templates, over 30 vector graphics, and
a series of textures to add the finishing touch to your work.
It contains everything you need to create vintage style logos, badges, labels, packaging
or title designs with a hand-crafted vibe. I’ve teamed up with Heritage Type Co. to
offer Spoon Graphics subscribers 20% off. Follow the link in the description and use
the code SPOONER-MILK-20 during checkout to secure the best price around!
To create your vintage badge logo, create a new document in Adobe Illustrator. The artboard
can be any size. I prefer to then go to View > Hide Artboard to give myself plenty of space
to work with.
Begin laying out the name of your brand with the Type tool. The Milkstore font collection
contains 5 perfectly-pairing typefaces. Number one is a lovely brush script. Each font is
also supplied in Clean, Rough, and Textured variants. Use the basic Clean version, then
stick around until the end and I'll show you an easy way to add extra roughness and texturing
effects separately.
These pro-grade fonts are also packed full of alternate and stylistic characters, place
the cursor at the end of the word, then open the Glyphs panel.
Test out the various swooshes and swashes to find an underline that suits your wording.
This single piece of text already looks like hand lettering rather than being typed out
using a font.
To further customise the text, click the little Envelope Distort icon in the top toolbar.
Choose the Rise option and set the Bend value to 20%.
Use the Type tool to add some additional text to the logo layout, this time use one of the
other font styles.
Set the center paragraph style and adjust the character size and line-height values
to set up the text, then make any necessary kerning adjustments by placing the cursor
and using the left and right keyboard keys while holding ALT to adjust the individual
letter spacing.
Add an Arc effect to this text using the same 20% Bend.
Align the two text elements up centrally.
Add more text elements, this time using a different font. This collection makes it easy
to match font styles without needing to find or buy additional styles!
This time, let's decorate the text with a shape element. Draw a rectangle to surround
the text, then right click and choose Arrange > Send to Back to place it underneath the
text.
Change the text to white to make it visible against the black rectangle.
Select both elements and align then up. The comma in this wording offsets the vertical
alignment slightly, so it's nudged into place optically.
Envelope Distort effects can still be added to combinations of text and shapes even though
the icon is no longer there. Instead go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make with Warp.
This time use the Flag effect.
Add more text elsewhere on the artboard. We'll fit this wording inside a diamond shape, so
draw a square, then rotate it by 45 degrees.
Go to Object > Transform > Scale, check Non-Uniform and enter 300% for the Horizontal value.
Place the diamond on top of the text, then go to Object > Envelope Distort > Make with
Top Object, but notice how the text is being warped out of shape too much?
Undo the effect, then make a copy of the diamond shape to save it for later.
Use the rectangle tool to draw a straight edge covering the point of the diamond. ALT-drag
a copy to the other side, then Shift-Click to select them both and make a Compound Path
via the right click menu.
Add the diamond to the selection and centre the shapes up, then click the Minus Front
button from the pathfinder panel to punch out the shapes, leaving two straight edges
on either side of the diamond.
Repeat the Envelope Distort effect and notice the text fits perfectly into the shape.
Go to Edit > Paste in Back to replace the original diamond shape we copied to the clipboard.
Currently the text is black on black, so right click and choose Isolate Selected Group to
adjust the original text element. Give it a white fill.
Exit back out to the top layer by clicking the arrow icon in the top left corner of the
screen.
Increase the border around the text by adding a black stroke to the diamond shape. Set the
alignment to the outside, then adjust the size to suit.
A little star graphic makes a nice detail. Set it up with a white fill and no stroke,
then move it into place.
ALT-drag a copy to the other side and group them. Hold Shift to add the diamond to the
selection, then give it an extra click to make it the Key Object so it doesn't move
out of place.
Align the shapes up so they sit perfectly centrally.
Group all the objects that make up this piece of text, then scale and position it within
the logo layout.
Vintage logos can be layouts of text, or contained within outlining shapes. Let's make this design
a circular badge by drawing a circle around the design, overlapping each end of the script
slightly.
Line up the circle horizontally using an existing object, but eyeball it into place vertically.
Give this circle and black stroke with an appropriate weight.
Find the Scissors tool, then snip the path and delete the unwanted portions that overlap
the script text.
Draw another circle that's slightly larger. Clear its stroke, leaving an invisible path.
Select the Type on a Path tool and click to type around the circle.
Add some more wording to the design in one of the Milkstore fonts.
Centre it up at the top by dragging the little alignment widget with the Direct Selection
tool.
Altering a font's tracking value to space out the letters is a great way to fill up
the available area, without having to make the actual text size too big.
Copy and Paste in Front a duplicate of this type on a path shape, then edit the wording.
Rotate the circle by 180 degrees to place the text on the bottom, then adjust the alignment
handle with the Direct Selection tool to place the text the right way up.
While the text is now readable, it's sat to the inside of the path. An easy fix is to
adjust the Baseline Shift value to offset it to the outside of the path.
Draw another circle to outline the design. A trick to line it up centrally is to turn
on Outline mode from the View menu, or the CMD+Y shortcut. ALT-Drag the shape from the
centre point, then turn off outline mode.
Copy and paste this outlining circle to add another slightly larger border, this time
with a much broader stroke.
As one last finishing touch, add another star graphic to fill out any empty space. This
portion of the layout is part of the type on a path area, so rotate the star to follow
the circular outline.
Select the Rotate tool, then turn on Outline mode. Click the centre point, then ALT-Drag
a duplicate star. The pivot point will follow the rotation to keep the star lined up perfectly.
Use the CMD+D shortcut, or CTRL+D on Windows to repeat the step one more time to create
three stars.
Select all three, then go to Object > Transform > Reflect. Hit copy to generate a flipped
set for the other side.
Make any adjustments to the logo layout, then draw a selection across everything and drag
a duplicate to one side. We'll keep a live backup, but process the duplicate to permanently
apply all the effects and turn it into a completely vector outline.
To prevent the original objects from being selected, go to Object > Lock Selection, then
turn back on the View Artboards option so they design is seen against the grey backdrop.
Draw a selection around the duplicate, then go to Object > Expand Appearance, followed
by Object > Expand to apply all the envelope distort effects and convert the text and strokes
to outlines.
Ungroup the objects, then select a black-filled element. Go to Select > Same > Fill Color.
Merge all these shapes into one outline by clicking the Unite option in the Pathfinder
panel. Also turn it into a Compound Path under the Object > Compound Path > Make menu. This
is required for an upcoming step to ensure the Pathfinder tool works correctly.
Right click and choose Arrange > Send to Back to make the white elements visible, then repeat
the process for these objects... Select Same Fill Color, Unite, Make a Compound Path.
Add the black objects to the selection along with the white objects, then click the Minus
Front button in the Pathfinder panel to punch out the shapes, leaving a continuous outline.
There's an easy way to add some cool texturing effects to your vintage logo. That's by downloading
my FREE Ink Stamp Texturizer from Spoon Graphics by following the link in the description.
Double click the Smart Object layer and paste in your logo to replace the placeholder. Save
and close the PSB to find your logo processed with cool ink bleed and texturing effects.
You can change the colour if necessary, or play with the texture options to find the
best spread of details.
If you want to learn how to create these effects yourself, check out my video titled How to
Create a Distressed Letterpress Print Effect in Photoshop
The final result is a vintage logo with a neat layout of text elements, all contained
within a circular outline to create a badge-style brand design.
The Milkstore font collection made font pairing easy with the 5 expertly designed typefaces
included in one kit, then with the help of a few of Illustrator's tools and effects,
it's all combined into an authentic looking vintage logo design.