This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Creating a new document
To start, you’ll create a new document for the logo.
Choose File > New.
In the New Document dialog box, change the following options:
A screenshot represents the new document dialog box. The menu at the top contains the options recent, saved, mobile, print, and more templates. The print option is to be selected. The print document templates are shown. Letter template is marked out. The right pane shows the preset details. Close and Create buttons are present at the bottom-right corner of the dialog box.
Click the Print category at the top of the dialog box.
Click the Letter blank document preset, if it isn’t already selected.
You can set up a document for different kinds of output, such as print, web, video, and more, by choosing a category. For example, if you are designing a flyer or poster, you can select the Print category and select a document preset (size). The document will be set with the units in points (most likely), the color mode as CMYK, and the raster effects to High (300 ppi)—all optimal settings for a print document.
On the right side of the dialog box, in the Preset Details area, change the following:
A screenshot represents the preset details. Width, height, orientation, and bleed fields are given. Four fields top, bottom, left, and right are given to change the bleed. The portrait orientation is selected, the name is written as Toucanlogo. The units is set to inches. Artboards is set to 1.
Enter a name for the document in the blank space under Preset Details: AdventureLogo.
The name will become the name of the Illustrator file when you save it later.
Units: Choose Inches from the units menu to the right of the Width field.
Width: Select the Width value, and type 8.
Height: Select the Height value, and type 8.
Orientation: Portrait (
).Artboards: 1 (the default setting).
At the bottom of the Preset Details section on the right side of the dialog box, you will also see Advanced Options and a More Settings button (you may need to scroll to see it). They contain more settings for document creation that you can explore on your own.
Click Create to create a new document.
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Saving your document
With the document open, now you’ll save it locally.
Choose File > Save.
If the Cloud Document dialog box opens, click Save On Your Computer to save the document locally.
A screenshot shows the cloud document dialog box. The features of saving on your computer and on creative cloud are listed. Save on your computer and save to creative cloud buttons are present at the bottom-right corner. Cursor is present over the save on your computer button.
To learn more about cloud documents, see the sidebar “What are cloud documents?” after this section.
In the Save dialog box, set the following options:
Filename: AdventureLogo.ai
Saved in the Lessons > Lesson03 folder.
Leave Adobe Illustrator (ai) chosen from the Format menu (macOS) or Adobe Illustrator (*.AI) chosen from the Save As Type menu (Windows).
Click Save.
Adobe Illustrator (.ai) is called a native format and is your working file. That means it preserves all Illustrator data so you can edit everything later.
In the Illustrator Options dialog box that appears, leave the options at their default settings, and click OK.
The Illustrator Options dialog box is full of options for saving the Illustrator document, from specifying a version for saving to embedding any files that are linked to the document. You usually won’t have to change anything in there.
Choose Window > Workspace > Essentials (if it’s not already selected).
Choose Window > Workspace > Reset Essentials to reset the panels and settings for the Essentials workspace.
Look in the Properties panel on the right.
A screenshot shows the Properties panel. An arrow is pointing to the Document properties near the bottom of the panel.
With nothing selected in the document, you’ll see settings for the document like the units, navigating and editing artboards, showing and hiding useful features like rulers and guides, and much more. The Document Setup button is where you can set options like the document bleed and more. To learn more about bleeds, check out the video at the end of this section.
Choose View > Fit Artboard In Window to ensure that you can see the entire artboard (page).
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What is a bleed? 
To learn about document bleed, check out the video Edit document settings, which you’ll find in the Web Edition. For more information, see the “Web Edition” section of “Getting Started” at the beginning of the book.
What are cloud documents?
Aside from saving your Illustrator documents locally, you can also save them as cloud documents. A cloud document is an Illustrator document that is stored in Adobe Creative Cloud and can be accessed anywhere you sign in to Illustrator.
Here’s how to save as a cloud document and access cloud documents.
After you create a new document or open a document from your hard drive, you save the file as a cloud document by choosing File > Save As.
The first time you do this, you will see a Cloud Document dialog box with options to save as a cloud document or save on your computer.
A screenshot shows the cloud document dialog box. The features of saving on your computer and on creative cloud are listed. Save on your computer and save to creative cloud buttons are present at the bottom-right corner. Cursor is present over the save to creative cloud button.
To save as a cloud document, you would click the Save To Creative Cloud button. You can see it in the previous figure.
If instead of the Cloud Document dialog box you see the Save As dialog box and want to save as a cloud document, you can click the Save Cloud Document button.
A screenshot represents the save as dialog box. The left pane shows some links. Two list boxes are present. The left list box shows the lesson document. Save cloud document button below this list box is encircled.
In the dialog box that appears, you can change the name and click the Save button to save the document to Creative Cloud.
When working on cloud documents, changes are automatically saved, so the document is always up to date.
A screenshot illustrates a save to creative cloud dialog box. Save as field is present at the top. Your files section lists the old files. On your computer button at the bottom-left corner of the dialog box is marked by an arrow mark.
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A screenshot represents the Open dialog box with a circle around the Open Cloud Document button.
Want to open a cloud document? Choose File > Open. In the Open dialog box, click the Open Cloud Document button.
You can then open a cloud document from the dialog box that appears.