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I am trying to figure out how to create a logo based on a series of semi-circles within another, with only one end of the most interior semi-circle extended.

This is the original logo I'm trying to recreate (found here):

logo found here https://logopond.com/gallery/detail/201658

I am trying to do this while maintaining a constant and uniform angle/width between all semi-circles. I have managed to create the exterior part, by creating a circle with stroke weight: 9pt and splitting it and rounding the edges, but I am having trouble figuring out a way to approach the interior segment.

exterior part

I have tried using the arc tool with the anchor points of the exterior semi-circles as a reference but cannot seem to get the angles right.

I have also tried creating smaller semi-circles but when it comes to extending one end, I am unsure of how to approach that as well and cannot maintain an even width within the semi-circles.

Beginner at Illustrator, looking for some tips. Any help is very much appreciated.

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  • 3
    Beware of copyright infringement when copying something you find on the internet. If you can't find explicit permission to copy, recreate or use something, you should always assume you can't. If you just want to recreate it as an exercise, that shouldn't be a problem as long as you never distribute it.
    – PieBie ♦
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:30
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    Recreating designs you like is a great learning exercise—but as PieBie said, please don't recreate anything you don't have rights to for anything other than that!
    – Cai
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:50
  • @PieBie thank you for the comment, I guess I should have made clear that I did not intent to copyright and maybe should have gotten permission/gave credit to the creator. My main purpose was to learn more on the approach, since I started playing around with Illustrator, I have found that there are many different ways to achieve the same thing.
    – tdxxxg
    Mar 23, 2016 at 17:31

5 Answers 5

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One thing I would suggest when using geometric shapes to construct something like this is to turn the grid on and snap to the grid. This saves a lot of time worrying about dimensions and lining things up.

A quick remake of the logo:

enter image description here

The specific steps aren't important, as these will be different depending on your desired outcome. Just use shapes and the pen tool to create what you need.

With the grid and snap on this took me about 1 min. It actually took me longer to setup the screenshot. Without the grid it would have taken me a lot longer (still not long—but relatively longer).

A quick color change and rotate and you have:

enter image description here

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  • That's not quite the right shape ;)
    – PixelSnader
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:44
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    I did notice that after I posted. Not important though. The concept is the important part.. this isn't a 'request a tutorial on creating a specific piece of work' kinda place ;)
    – Cai
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:46
  • One could also so this by looking at the negative space
    – joojaa
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:50
  • @CAI Thank you for your help. As you have said, the methodology is more of what I am trying to figure out :)
    – tdxxxg
    Mar 23, 2016 at 17:47
  • @tdxxxg No problem at all. Glad to help
    – Cai
    Mar 23, 2016 at 17:48
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Note: blue are the shapes you keep, purple gets cut away.

Create Concentric Circles

enter image description here

  • make a circle that's 6x6 and one that's 2x2
  • subtract the small one from the large one to make an open circle
  • do the same for 10x10&14x14, and 18x18&22x22
  • put all of the open circles inside eachother, merge in to 1 object

Cut, Copy, Flip

enter image description here

  • subtract half of your circles
  • copy it
  • flip it
  • pretty recognizable now.

Straight down the middle

enter image description here

  • add a box to form (part of) the center-line.
  • subtract a circle from a rectangle (same size, offset by 50%)
  • scale this 'bitten square' and round off your center-line-box.

Put it all together

enter image description here

  • copy the rounded box over to the other side, add a box in the middle
  • merge all objects (and check if everything is snapped together properly)
  • rotate
  • clap your hands, do a dance
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  • There are better ways to round the corner ;)
    – joojaa
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:39
  • @joojaa Which ways? If you mean adding vertices and making a curve, it's hard/impossible to make a proper semicircular corner.
    – PixelSnader
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:41
  • Use strokes with round miters, live rounds, round corners, round any corners etc, and drawing a circle and using shape builder is also less work. Similar amount of work offset in and then out. But yes you can do this no question about it its just a bit non-optimal especially in other than 90 degree corners.
    – joojaa
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:44
  • @joojaa I tend to work with shapes instead of lines and strokes, as it gives more control. Easier to line shapes up to the grid, for example.
    – PixelSnader
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:51
  • Sure, things have their pros and cons its fine if the shape is easily built this way sometimes thickening is nontrivial. Still the round corners is faster.
    – joojaa
    Mar 21, 2016 at 11:52
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Start by looking at the image. Is there something you can simplify when analyzing it? Well first the image is clearly rotated so un-rotate it in your mind. A second simplification is to see that the image consist of 2 circles, the circle has just been cut into half and other half offset to meet the second circle*. (The arc tool in Illustrator is also completely useless so things are easier if you do not use it).

So finally you get:

  • Draw 2 concentric circles.
  • Split up in half. (Marquee select with Direct selection then ctrl + x and ctrl + f)
  • Offset other half.
  • Join. (Select combined halves and press ctrl+j 2 times)
  • Rotate.
  • Adjust.
  • (Expand and unite, so they are no longer strokes).

Decomposed steps

Image 1: The steps to this logo in reverse order to the visual decomposition

* There is a alternate mental interpretation in that the shape consists of two c shapes connected together:

enter image description here

Image 2: Alternate interpretation split up so its easier to see.

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  • @Zaibis Im demoing your original picture (like most did because your first edit was not showing it). Same thing applies just one more circle. Approach is the same regardless.
    – joojaa
    Mar 21, 2016 at 13:32
  • ah ok, got it. and as i said allready, im fine with it
    – Zaibis
    Mar 21, 2016 at 13:48
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note, this is to recreate the big black shape from the question. not the red/blue logo. I misinterpreted the OP. But I figured i'd leave this answer up for other people/situations.

Make a hollow circle

enter image description here

  • Make two circles
  • Overlap them
  • Cut out the top one from the bottom one with "subtract" function

enter image description here

Cut it in half

  • Add a rectangle
  • Overlap it
  • Cut the rectangle off of the circle, with subtract.

I put my thing down, flip it and reverse it

enter image description here

  • Copy your semicircle
  • flip and move it
  • change the inner color to nothing, and make thick outlines.

Convert to outlines

enter image description here

  • you now have your logo shape
  • but if you resize it, the lines stay the same thickness
  • so convert to outlines before resizing, and it'll scale properly
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  • your answer only got so far as the OP question, take a look at the original logo.
    – Luciano
    Mar 21, 2016 at 9:50
  • @Luciano I dont think its a good idea to recreate the exact logo when we have gone so far. There are some basic steps and now he needs to verify that it works. Leaning that piece as exercise for the OP is a good way to check that he understands something fundamental.
    – joojaa
    Mar 21, 2016 at 10:28
  • @luciano Ah, thanks. I didn't read thoroughly enough I suppose. Will create a new answer.
    – PixelSnader
    Mar 21, 2016 at 10:53
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You probably don’t want to use strokes at all. Just shapes. Strokes are basically an effect. A logo wants to be made out of a single shape object.

A key concept in vector graphics is combining shapes. For example, subtracting smaller shapes from a larger shape to make holes in the larger shape. If you think of the logo you are trying to recreate as having originally been made out of a single circle of paper, you can start by drawing that circle and then creating smaller shapes to subtract from the circle to make the holes you want.

For example, here is a black circle with a gray circle sitting in front of it, with no stroke on either:

circles

… we can Subtract the gray circle from the black circle, and that will leave a hole in the black circle the size of the gray circle:

hole

… so that we now just have a single path object that is a thick circle. You can do a lot more with that than you can with a circle object that has no fill and a very thick stroke.

In the case of the logo you are trying to recreate, you would want to create a sort of a J shape and punch that through a larger shape to get the J-shaped holes that you want. You can make the J shape by combining smaller shapes, such as a rectangle and a circle. To get the cut in the bottom of the J, you can subtract a small circle from it.

So the thought process is one of manipulating paper shapes and cutting holes in them and gluing them together until your result is a single path object that has fills but doesn’t necessarily have strokes.

Also, since the logo you are making has symmetry, you might want to just create half of it, then duplicate and mirror that half and combine it with the opposite half to create your final logo. You can also create it at first so that the symmetry line is vertical, and then in your very final step, rotate it to give it the offset that you want.

This Adobe document might be helpful:

How to combine objects in Illustrator

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