How to create symbols in adobe illustrator and What are the benefits of it?

As we all know, Adobe Illustrator is one of the leading vector graphic applications in the world. One can boost their career growth by learning Adobe Illustrator course from any superlative design institute like ADMEC Multimedia Institute so that they can comprehend all the concepts in the perfect way. Although all the tools and panels are important you need to learn the essential ideas of symbols in Adobe Illustrator. So, today I’m going to tell you all about “SYMBOLS” in depth which I’ve learned in my Illustrator course training. 

An Insight to Symbols in Illustrator

A symbol is a character or a mark which we can reuse in any document. For instance, if we create any shape or any pattern, we can use it as a symbol for future use. 

Symbols can be made by using shapes such as star, circle, rectangle, ellipse, triangle etc. Dynamic symbols can be made using drawing tools such as pen tool etc. There are two types of symbols Dynamic symbol and static symbol.

If we create a symbol it is default that the symbol will be saved in the category of dynamic symbol. Illustrator has made it a prior. we can choose if we want to save the symbol into static symbol category.

These symbols can be edited later and you can also change the colour of stroke. We can also rotate it, skew it, resize it etc. we can delete the symbol and move it to another place.

Let see how to create symbols in illustrator 

Step-1 At First go to file menu and click on new or you can just create new file by using short key ctrl+n.

Step-2 Then go to windows panel and select symbols or you can directly use the short key which is shift+ctrl+F11

Step-3 Now A symbol options pallet will be open.

Step-4 Now draw a shape in your artboard.

Step-5 Then drag it to the symbol panel or you can just select the shape and click on create new symbol.

Step-6 Then select any one option weather it is dynamic symbol or static symbol.

Step-7 Now click on OK. You will see that you symbol has been created.

Step-8 Symbol is editable and if you edit it a new symbol will be created in the symbol panel without deleting the older one.

Benefits of Symbols- 

There are a lot of benefits of symbols, which are as follows-

• We can edit the instances of these symbols by using the direct selection tool.

• If we edit a symbol then the master symbol will not change.

• It is easy to create and edit a symbol rather than copy an object from a different file to another one.

• To work with symbols is time-saving.  

• The symbol is editable as well as replaceable.

• All the symbols can be selected in one time by using a short key select + same command.

 Symbol Options-

In symbol options panel there are lot of options such export type, symbol type, enable guides for 9-slice spacing etc. 

You can give a name to your symbol and also decide its type weather it is movie clip or graphic. Movie clip and graphic are tags for flash import. There is no difference between these two symbols in illustrator.

In symbol there is an option which allows you to use guides or directions for 9-slice scaling. We enable this scaling if we want to set the registration point of the symbol.

What is 9- slice scaling?

We use it for scaling the components for movie clip and graphic style. In this 9- slice scaling symbol is divided in to 9 sections with grids. We do not scale the corners of the symbol to maintain its visual ability. We will be able to see the scaling when the isolation mode is on.

We can enable 9-slice scaling by creating a symbol as I have already tod above. Then select scaling which can be movie clip or grid. If you want to scale it then enable this option and open it in isolation mode.

 If we work with symbol instances then we can rotate, move, skew, reflect it as we do with any object we design. 

Symbol instances can be modified and here are giving the steps which as follows-

• At First you need to select the symbol instance.

• Now you have to go for symbol panel.

• Now click on the break link shows in symbol panel where you can edit the artwork.

As similar to modification you can go for enlargement of symbol instances. Here are the steps:

• First of all, select one or more than one symbol instances.

• Then go to object and select expand. A dialogue box will open. 

• Now you can expand it. You can also edit it later.

In the symbol options you have symbol instances replacement settings too. The steps are as follows

• At first select the symbol instances.

• Go to symbol panel and select the replace symbol in the symbol panel menu.

Symbol library

This is the library where we add the created symbols. It is easy to find and use any symbol by using the symbol library. Some default symbol libraries will also be there in the panel.

• Go to windows panel then select symbol libraries or symbol.

• You can any type of library from the symbol panel according to your design.

Adobe Illustrator allows you to create a symbol library. For instance, you are making a design related to Diwali then you can name that library ‘Diwali’ and create a lot of symbols such as- crackers, lights etc. so like this you can use it later for another project.

There are some settings to import symbol library from another document in Adobe Illustrator. Steps are as follows-

• At first, go to windows then select symbol library and then select open library.

• Now, select the file from where you want to import the symbol library. 

• Then click ok to use that library.

Conclusion- 

we saw that how symbols work in illustrator, how can we create the symbols, symbols library, how to edit the symbols, symbol options, we learned about 9- slice spacing, scaling with movie clip and graphics, dynamic and static symbol, benefits of symbols etc. it is easy to work with symbols rather than objects. As we have seen that symbols can be edited any time like we can rotate, skew, reflect, change their colors ay time without damaging or losing the master symbol. We saw that we can also create the symbol libraries which is an easy way to use it for the designs without wasting your time. 

Author: Hi, I Shreya, exploring graphic designing at an innovative level in the form of Graphic Master Plus course from ADMEC. This blog is the part of my Illustrator’s Project issued by Deepak Sir .

Hope you got all the essential facts regarding symbols in Illustrator. So, now go ahead and explore more about Illustrator.