Architecture
Guide's Logo Software Used: CorelDRAW 9, but most any drawing program will do.
This is a logo I made for the Architecture Guide here on About.com to use for her signature. She had mentioned to me that she was trying to create a signature where the "a" in her name was an icon of a house, but she was not having much success in Photoshop. I decided to see what I could come up with and that's how this tutorial came about.
I created this image in CorelDRAW but it's simple enough that it can be done in any basic drawing program. I think it is a perfect example that you can create an attractive logo without using a lot of advanced techniques.
1.) First, I selected a font as my starting point. I didn't have to search long before I found the perfect font, a Corel font, appropriately named Architecture.
2.) Type the text in CorelDRAW as artistic text, set the font to Architecture, then resize it to a size that is comfortable to work with. Since we are working with vectors, the size of the image doesn't matter while you're working on it because it can be exported to any size.
3.)
Next, convert the text to curves. In CorelDRAW, the command
is available from the context sensitive menu that appears when
you right click on the text.
4.)
After converting to curves, right click again and chose Break
Apart. This separates the letters, making each one a separate
object. Now you can click on the "a" and delete it.
5.) Off to the side of your text, draw a small square and a triangle. For the triangle, in CorelDRAW you would use the Polygon Tool set to three sides. Arrange the square and triangle and adjust the proportions to form the shape of a house. Make sure you center align them. Fill them both with black and set the outline to none.
6.)
Select both the shapes, duplicate them and drag the duplicate
off to the side. Select both the shapes again and use the Weld
Tool 
to combine them into one shape.
7.) Next, select the duplicate of the square and size it to represent the front door of our house. Do the same for the triangle... it will be the center portion of the peak on the house. Change the fill color to any contrasting color.
8.)
Put them in position over the house shape, and make sure they
are all center aligned. 
9.)
Select the door and the house shape and choose Trim 
from the property toolbar. Click on the door shape and delete
it. As you can see, the door cuts through the house shape leaving
a hole. Repeat the trim for the top triangle.
10.) Now move the house shape into place where the "a" should be. You may need to play with the sizing and adjust the spacing of the other letters. I used guidelines to align the peak of the roof to the top of the "i" and the base of the house with the baseline of the text. Then I selected the "J" and enlarged it so that it extended below the other letters. I lined the top of the "J" up with the top of the "k".
11.)
Next, select the "J", duplicate it and move the
duplicate off to the side. Rotate the duplicate 270° to turn
it on it's side.
12.)
Draw a rectangle encompassing the end of the J. Then select
the rectangle and the rotated J and click the Trim button.
Delete the rectangle and you are left with a curved line that
will become the "sidewalk" for our house. Place this piece under
the house, aligned to the door of the house. Use guidelines
and adjust the size so that the "sidewalk" lines up
to the bottom of the "J".
13.)
Select the "sidewalk" (our chopped off J), and
use the Shape Tool 
to drag a marquee around the two end nodes to select them. With
the two end nodes selected, use the arrow keys on your keyboard
to extend the "sidewalk" until it lines up with the end of the
"e".
14.) Now you can drag a marquee around all the pieces, group them, and select a suitable fill color. Export the image as a GIF and it's ready for the web.
If you enjoyed this tutorial, why not share it with a friend?
CorelDRAW Tutorials from your Guide
Sue
Chastain
Your Guide to Graphics Software
Questions? Comments? Post to the
Forum!
Back to the Index of Tutorials
Images:
Copyright 1999, S. Chastain, unless otherwise noted.
Screen shots captured with Corel Capture 9. Image conversion
and optimization with Ulead
SmartSaver Pro.
