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I am creating a logo for an NGO and it must contain the letter 'D'. They've required it to be similar to this one:

enter image description here

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How do I go about making the circles follow the 'D'-shaped path? I know how to make it such that the circles are cut off, but my client doesn't want that. Any help is appreciated.

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  • "Making the circles follow [the path]"...what?
    – Yorik
    Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 17:42
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    I know there was a similar question but I can't find it now. Unless possibly through using a script I'm not sure there is any way to do this easily (i.e. without doing it manually) in Photoshop. It would be a lot easier in Illustrator if that is a possibility.
    – Cai
    Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 17:55
  • To @Yorik: I need to make a 'D' out of smaller circles, just like in the picture above.
    – Dasar
    Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 17:56
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    @CAI: probably a "pattern brush" related Q&A
    – Yorik
    Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 18:02
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    @iamcastelli logos should be vector anyway.
    – joojaa
    Commented Mar 24, 2016 at 18:37

1 Answer 1

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Here's what I did. May not be the most graceful approach, but I was able to get most of the way there in a few minutes in Adobe Illustrator.

  1. Create just a simple circle. This will be the basis for your new brush.
  2. With the circle selected, create a new Pattern brush. I'd recommend opening the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes). Click the "new brush" icon in the bottom right.
  3. Create the letter you want to mimic out of your selected type face. Outline the text, and delete all but the outer path. (I chose to go this route instead of applying the stroke to both inner and outer paths. Might take some trial and error here)
  4. Apply your new brush to the remaining stroke. You should see it as circles all smashed up right next to each other. Double click the brush in the Brushes panel and make sure Preview is checked. Expand the spacing until you get the spacing you want. For me 50% looked pretty good.
  5. Now you have one line of circles. Duplicate the path and scale it down. Now you have 2 lines of circles. Repeat this step however many times it takes.
  6. When you're all done making your paths, expand all the strokes to make all the circles editable. You can now delete the single circles you'd like.

If you're really wanting to make a type shape, it might be good to overlay that type character so you make sure you're staying within the bounds of that type shape.

Here's a quick and dirty image of the steps I went through. enter image description here

I hope this sends you down the path to what you're trying to make. An obligatory note, please don't just recreate what is already in logo referenced above. It's a great inspirational piece and a great launching board to some other great ideas. Build upon it and best of luck!

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  • Thank you so much for this very detailed answer. It's exactly what I was looking for. I will try it as soon as I get a hold on a copy of Illustrator. In the meantime, do you think this is doable in Photoshop (CS5) as well?
    – Dasar
    Commented Mar 25, 2016 at 15:13
  • I'm not really sure. Illustrator is my go to for things like this, so I've never spent much time with Photoshop pattern brushes. Were you able to give it a go in Illustrator?
    – johnkeese
    Commented Mar 28, 2016 at 3:26

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