Choosing the correct font color, size, and style is critical for every project. Fonts also are one of the most important aspects of any design. Aside from the font style, you may make it bold, underlined, or italic. So, whether you choose a simple or eye-catching typeface is entirely dependent on your needs.
My name is Aly, I am a graphic designer with over five years of experience in Adobe Illustrator, and in today’s article, I will show you how to edit a font in Adobe Illustrator including changing the font, size, color, and spacing.
Using the Character Panel
If you want to work with text in Illustrator, the Character panel is one of the most important tools. It allows access to more exact text settings in addition to the standard font, size, and style properties.
To access the character panel, you may use the keyboard shortcut Control + T (Command + T for Mac users) or go to the overhead menu Window > Type > Character.
At the top of the character panel, you will see the font option with a dropdown button. This is where you can find all of your fonts whether they are from Adobe, or you have downloaded them separately.
The default font is Myriad Pro, but if you wish to change your font, simply select your text and select a font from the dropdown bar.
If the font has different character styles, you can change them in the Character panel as well.
Underneath that option, you will see a large and small letter “T”. Here’s where you change the font size.
Below the font size, is Kerning. Kerning is the separation of individual letters or characters. Here you can decide on a size that is similar to what we learned about font size, kerning size works the same way.
Although it differs differently from the Auto option, optical kerning is likewise a built-in automated kerning option. The amount of space between characters is determined by the letter forms.
When mixing letters from different fonts or when a typeface has little to no built-in kerning, optical kerning works effectively.
When feasible, manually kern your documents because this gives you the most control. However, one would typically only apply manual kerning to small blocks of text like business cards, headlines, and display material.
For Japanese typography, Illustrator’s Metrics – Roman Only option was included in the CS4 release. Only Roman glyphs and other rotating characters in the vertical text are added with this option’s kerning.
The half-width Katakana and Latin characters, such as Basic Latin or Latin Extended, are essentially supported.
Select the text you want to modify before switching to optical kerning. Click on the Kerning drop-down menu located under the Characters palette (Window Type Character). Select Optical.
On the right-hand side of the character panel, you will find the Leading. Leading refers to the vertical gap between type lines. Leading is measured from one line’s baseline to the baseline of the line above it. This works the same way as font size and kerning.
Tracking is below leading. A block of text can be tightened or loosened using tracking. This determines how spaced out or close you would like the individual letters together.
That’s pretty much it about all the setting options you can find on the Character panel.
Final Thoughts
Learning how to edit fonts in illustrator is pretty simple! When working with fonts it’s important to know how each option in the character panel works. You can significantly change your fonts for the better when you understand the character panel.
Any questions about editing fonts in Adobe Illustrator? Leave a comment and let me know.
