How to Intertwine Text and Vector Elements in Adobe Illustrator

I secretly love creating tutorials that appear more difficult than they actually are. This week’s tutorial is exactly that, but also perfect for beginners with a really cool outcome. In this tutorial, we intertwine text and vector elements to draw attention to our messaging and make it visually striking at the same time. Read on for all the details!

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How to Intertwine Text and Vector Elements in Adobe Illustrator

Mentioned in this tutorial:

• Miss Magnolia font
• 100+ Vector Leaves and Flourishes

Color Builds

Dark navy/grey (RGB): 53/66/66
Seafoam (RGB): 162/186/126

Here are some extra tips associated with this tutorial, in case you need to reference it again in the future!

• Choose a font with good readability – the bolder, or thicker strokes, the better.
• Convert your text to outlines so it’s a shape vs. editable text. With it selected, go type > create outlines. With it still selected, using your pathfinder palette (window > pathfinder), hit the ‘unite’ icon. Now all of your letters will be merged together and your entire word will be considered one continuous shape.
• Place your vector element on top of your word, being aware of proportions. To place the vector element behind your word, with it selected, right click > arrange > send to back.
• Select both the vector element and your word and hit the ‘divide’ icon in you pathfinder palette.
• Recolor different segments as desired, using the eyedropper (keyboard shortcut ‘i’).
• Begin selecting similarly colored shape segments that are next to each other. Hold shift, and click to select more than one at a time. With those shapes selected, hit the ‘unite’ icon in your pathfinder palette. Continue throughout your entire word and vector element to create a clean file.
• Double check your clean up work by entering outline mode. Hit cmnd + y (mac) or ctrl + y (pc) to see the outline of your shapes. To exit, hit cmnd (or ctrl) + y.
• Done!

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