Hi there. In this week’s tutorial I will show you how to create the Mac Finder logo. It all start with a simple rectangle and a curved path. Next, using some Offset Path and Pathfinder options you will create the rest of the shapes. Finally, using several linear gradients along with some thick strokes and basic effects you will create your own Finder logo.
Difficulty: Beginner-Intermediate
Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour
Number of Steps: 15
Create a 700 by 700px document. First, enable the Grid (View > Show Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Next, you’ll need a grid every 5px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides > Grid, enter 5 in the Gridline every box and 1 in the Subdivisions box. You can also open the Info panel (Window > Info) for a live preview with the size and position of your shapes. Do not forget to replace the unit of measurement to pixels from Edit > Preferences > Unit > General. Al these options will significantly increase your work speed.
Pick the Rectangle Tool(M) and create a 420 by 340px shape. For the moment fill it with black and lower its opacity to 30%.
Pick the Pen Tool(P) and draw a path like the one shown in the following image. Take a closer look at the anchor points and the handles. The snap to grid will ease your work. Fill it with none and add a 20pt, black stroke.
Go to the Layers panel and turn off the visibility for the path created in the previous step. Reselect the rectangle, raise its opacity to 100% and replace the black with R=150 G=160 B=197 then make a copy in front (Control + C > Control + F). Select this copy and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -5px Offset and click OK. Fill the resulting shape with R=33 G=59 B=141.
Reselect the two shapes created in the previous step and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. The resulting shape should look like in the second image. Fill it with R=33 G=59 B=141 so that you can distinguish it from the rest of the shapes.
Pick the Pen Tool(P) and draw four vertical paths as shown in the following image. Again, the Snap to Grid will ease your work. Add a 1pt, black stroke for all these paths.
Select the paths created in the previous step along with the shape created in the fifth step and click on the Divide button from the Pathfinder panel. This will create a group with five new shapes. Go to the Layers panel, open this group and delete the large rectangle shape and the top, thin shape. Finally, ungroup (Control + Shift + G) the remaining three shapes.
Reselect the large, blue rectangle and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. Enter a -10px Offset and click OK. Fill the resulting shape with the linear gradient shown in the second image, lower its opacity to 70% and change the blending mode to Overlay.
Once again, select the large, blue shape and make a copy in front (Control + C > Control + F). Pick the Ellipse Tool(L), create a 1000 by 330px shape and place it as shown in the second image. Select this large ellipse along with the fresh copy and click on the Minus Front button from the Pathfinder panel. Fill the resulting shape with the linear gradient shown below, lower its opacity to 70% and Bring it to Front (Shift + Control + ]).
Turn the path created in the third step back to visible, bring it to front (Shift + Control + ]) and duplicate it (Control + C > Control + F). Now, select this copy along with the horizontal, thin shape and the large, blue rectangle and click on the Divide button from the Pathfinder panel. Obviously, this will divide the rectangle and the thin shape into two separate shapes.
Let’s add the final colors for the four thin shapes. Start with the horizontal ones. Select the left one and fill it with R=33 G=59 B=141 then select the right one and fill it with R=123 G=133 B=173. Continue with the vertical, thin shapes. Fill them both with the linear gradient shown below then lower their opacity to 15%.
Select the two shapes that make up the rectangle. Send them to back (Shift + Control + [) then fill them with the linear gradients shown below.
Pick the Rectangle Tool(M) and create two 20 by 50px shape. Fill them with black and place them as shown in the following image.
Pick the Ellipse Tool(L), create a 400 by 220px shape and place it as shown in the following image. Fill it with none, add a 20pt, black stroke then go to Object > Path > Add Anchor Points. Switch to the Direct Selection Tool(A), select the five anchor points highlighted in the second image and hit the Delete button from your keyboard. The resulting path should look like in the third image.
Select all the shapes created so far and group them (Control + G). Select this group and go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow. Enter the data shown below, click OK and you’re done.
Now your work is done. Here is how it should look like.
