A gradient effect can be achieved by simply using the gradient tool in illustrator. But when you want add a little bit of fun along with depth and detailing in your designing, create separate objects and add color in them. This logo is detailed yet vibrant. The change in color is gradual and can be seen clearly. You can add shadow if you like to enhance this overlapping gradient letter logo style. You may find additional inspiration by searching on Vlemonn.
Let’s get started
Step 1
First, we create a new document (cmd+N or ctrl+N) in Adobe Illustrator with an artboard size of 800 x 600px
Step 2
Now use Type Tool (T) to add Capital letter V. Use any standard font, I used Arial. Then right click on the text and select the Create Outline option. This option converts text into an object.
Step 3
Select the object and let’s create some offset. Go to Object > Path > Offset Path > 20 px. Now select the inner V and delete it.
The only purpose of this step is to make the letter look a little thicker. There are different options like scaling and using a different font.
Step 4
Now just select the letter and copy and paste it above it self. Remember that the distance from both, the bottom and left should be equal. Repeat this step for 20 more times as shown below.
Alternatively, you can use the blend tool and add 20 steps in between but I preferred to work with my ctrl +c and ctrl + v.
Once the number of V’s is achieved, just copy one more and place it above the original one. Then select the entire 20 and create a group (cmd+G or ctrl+G) and with the last V we just created selected create clip mask (cmd+7 or ctrl+7) as shown below.
Step 5
We’re now going to generate our color palette.
First select your colors for light and shadows. Draw squares with fills of the colors you’re going to use for the different parts of the design. I've picked five colors, vary from light blue to dark purple.
Step 6
Now to create our entire color palette consisting of 20 different shades of colors, we will use the Edit Colors. First click on the light color and then on the darker color and have three or four boxes between them selected.
Then go to Edit > Edit Colors > Blend Horizontally. Now you can use the colors and add them to the Swatch panel by selecting them and clicking on the New Color Group button.
Step 7
The last step is to simply fill each V with a different gradient color. Start from the bottom and choose the lightest shade of blue and increase the intensity of the color as you move upwards.
To select each V, you’ll need to double click the clip masked V.
Conclusion
Our overlapping gradient logo is complete! You can achieve similar effect with the help of blend tool, so do check out my tutorial on How to use Blend Tool. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. If you do follow this tutorial and create your own logo, please post it in the comments so we can see your result. Thankyou fellow designers!
Please go and check out my portfolio on Shutterstock guys!
Charu Jain Portfolio
