WHAT WE’RE CREATING:
Hello fellow designers! Renee here with a tasty Street Food Festival poster. With autumn just around the corner here in Las Vegas, we’re going to start seeing a lot of food festivals. The resurgence in popularity of street food gives us a great excuse to create a poster that mixes modern and vintage fonts using bright, eye-catching colors. Let’s get started before I get too hungry thinking about it!
Follow along with this tutorial: Download the freebies
This week we have a freebie pack of vector ornaments and extras courtesy of our designers. The source file includes outlined text so you can still follow along if you haven’t downloaded the bundle yet.
Remember, this freebie is just a tiny sample taken from the amazing collection: 22 World Class Quality Fonts (With Web Fonts and Extended Licensing) at just $29 (an incredible 98% Off). This carefully crafted bundle features a wide variety of styles that will take your designs to new heights!
Step 1:
Since this bundle is font oriented, we are going to do the majority of our work in Illustrator. This poster is a great place to start for those still new to Illustrator. However, if you don’t have Illustrator, everything we do is absolutely possible to duplicate in Photoshop.
Open up a new document in Illustrator at 18” x 24”.
Let’s start by creating our background color. I want something bright that reflects the seasons (end of summer/beginning of autumn), so I’m going to use a nice warm yellow with a subtle gradient.
Double click on your fill color and change the CMYK values to 0/25/90/0. Then, in your Swatch palette, click the New Swatch icon and name the new swatch Yellow Light.
Repeat this process to create the darker yellow. Double click on your fill color and change the CMYK values to 0/30/100/10. Click the New Swatch icon in your Swatch palette and name this one Yellow Dark.
Now go to your Gradient palette and drag the Yellow Light swatch onto the big color bar all the way to the left (or double click the far left swatch and select your new color), then do the same with Yellow Dark and drag it to the far right. Set your Gradient type to Radial and your Aspect Ratio to 200%. This will elongate the gradient. Go to your Swatches palette and click the New Swatch icon, then name the new gradient swatch Yellow Gradient.
Select your Rectangle Tool (M) and draw a rectangle that covers the entire artboard. Since we have our yellow gradient swatch selected, the rectangle should automatically fill with the yellow gradient.
In your Layers palette, double click on our current layer and name it Background, then click on the space to the right of the eye icon to lock the layer.
That’s it for our background – nice and simple. Now on to the fun part!
Step 2:
For the next step, we’re going to create our truck logo. I did a quick image search to get a rough idea of the shape we need for our truck.
Make a new layer by clicking on the Create New Layer icon in the Layers palette. Name this layer Artwork and click on it once to select it.
Create a new swatch called Truck Red with the CMYK values 15/100/90/10.
With your Rectangle Tool (M), draw a rectangle at about 10” x 7.25”.
Next, use your Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the bottom right point. Once selected, hold shift and hit your right arrow key on your keyboard several times to move the point to the right and give us our slanted windshield. I hit the right arrow about 10 times. Alternatively, you could select the point and hold shift while dragging to the right.
Now, create a rectangle for the front of the truck. Make it approximately 3.14” high. The width isn’t important as long as it connects to our first rectangle and sticks out about 2” from the right side. Make sure to line the bottom of this rectangle up with the bottom of the first rectangle
We’ll use our Direct Selection Tool (A) again to select the top left point of our new rectangle and move it upwards to create our sloped hood.
Select both pieces and go to your Pathfinder palette. Under Shape Modes, select Unite (the first icon) and we’ve created our solid truck body. Now let’s get some wheels on this thing!
Select your Ellipse Tool (L). Hold shift while drawing to create a perfect circle. Or you can click once on your artboard with the Ellipse Tool selected to bring up the Ellipse dialog box and enter 2.8” for both Width and Height, then click OK.
To duplicate your first circle, hold down opt/alt, click on your circle and press shift, then drag to the right. When you release, you should have a copy of your circle. If this method gives you trouble, you can also copy (cmd/ctrl + c) and paste in place (cmd/ctrl + f), then arrow or drag the new circle to the right.
The silhouette will look a little more obviously like a truck if we can see the full outline of our tires, so we’ll punch out some space for them to rest in.
Select both of the circles we’ve just made and go to Object > Path > Offset Path. When the Offset Path dialog box opens, enter an Offset of 0.2 in and click OK. You should now have two new larger circles.
One of the things that commonly causes frustration for new Illustrator users is when Pathfinder refuses to do what you want it to do. This is usually due to issues with multiple paths. Since we have two paths, but we want them to act together to punch a shape out of our truck body, we’ll need to combine them into a Compound Path to make them act as one shape.
With the two larger circles still selected, press cmd/ctrl + 8 or navigate to Object > Compound Path > Make.
With the circles still selected, select the truck body shape. Go to your Pathfinder palette and in Shape Modes, choose Minus Front. Now we can see our full tire shape.
For our last step on the tires, we’ll add smaller circles to act as hubcaps. Select both of your tires. Go to Object > Path > Offset Path and enter -0.75 in. Color these Yellow Light.
Select all of the truck pieces and group them together using cmd/ctrl + g (or Object > Group). With the group selected, open your Align palette. Make sure Align To: is set to Align to Artboard and select the Horizontal Align Center icon under Align Objects.
Our logo copy will use Saltash Grunge. Start by creating a new swatch named Pink with the values 0/90/0/0. Then select your Type Tool (T) and type “Street Food” out at a random size in Saltash Grunge. Position it in the top left corner of the truck body. Use your Transform Control on the bottom right corner of the bounding box, while holding shift to constrain proportions, to enlarge the scale until it is large enough to fill the truck from left to right.
I want to add a whimsical touch by angling the last letter to mimic the angle of the windshield. Use your Text Tool (T) to highlight the D. Open your Character palette (Window > Type > Character) and change the Character Rotation to 4 degrees.
We’re going to repeat this process for the word “Festival”. Use your Type Tool (T) to type “Festival” in Saltash Grunge and make the color Pink. Position it flush with the left side of “Street Food” and just below it. Hold shift and use your Transform Control on the bottom right corner of the bounding box to increase the size until it fills the truck from left to right.
We’ll angle the last letter again. Select the L with your Type Tool and change the Character Rotation to 9 degrees. The L looks like it’s hanging a little low, so set the Baseline Shift (also in the Character palette) to 6.3 pt.
Type the date of “Sept 26” in pink Saltash Grunge, then position in the space between the two tires and enlarge to fill the space while leaving a comfortable amount of room on either side.
To add a little flair to the empty spaces on our truck, let’s add a few simple lines.
We’re going to draw a line from about the left edge of the copy to the wheel well area of the truck. Select your Pen Tool (P) and click once where we want to start our line, then hold shift and click once where we want the line to end. You could also use the Line Segment Tool (/) to create the line by clicking and dragging while holding shift.
With the line selected, go to your Stroke palette and change your Weight to 6 pt. Make your stroke color Pink.
Now we’ll copy this line to create the other three lines. With the original line selected, hold opt/alt and shift while clicking and dragging up to duplicate the line. After releasing, press cmd/ctrl + d twice to Transform Again.
Use your Direct Selection Tool (A) to select the points on the right of the duplicated lines and drag them to the right (or use your right arrow) to mimic the shape of the wheel well.
For added dimension, we’ll also increase the stroke size by 2 points as the lines get closer to the words. The bottom line is 6 pt, so the next line up is 8 pt, then 10 pt, then 12 pt.
Select all four lines. Go to Object > Transform > Reflect. Choose Vertical Axis and click Copy. With the copied lines selected, drag them to roughly the same location on the right side of the truck.
For the final touch on our logo, we’ll add a light beam coming from the headlamp area. Select your Pen Tool (P) and draw a rough shape like the one below by clicking once for each corner, then click back on the first point to close the shape. Change the fill color to 2/40/98/0 so it’s fairly subtle on our yellow background, then send it to the back of this layer by hitting cmd/ctrl + shift + [ (or navigate to Object > Arrange > Send to Back).
Step 3:
Let’s add a few details for extra awesomeness.
We’ll start by creating a couple of guides. One of the easiest ways to do that is to drag them from the Rulers. If your Rulers aren’t already showing around the left and top edges of your artboard, hit cmd/ctrl + r to turn them on. Use your Selection Tool (V) and click in the Ruler to the left of the artboard. Hold your mouse button down while dragging to the right. Line this guide up with the left side of the truck. Repeat the process to drag another guide to the right side of the truck.
Tip: If you can’t see your guides or if they’re getting in the way and you want to turn them off, you can toggle the Guides on and off using cmd/ctrl + ; (semicolon). You can also lock your guides using cmd/ctrl + alt/opt + ; or View > Guides > Lock Guides.
Using the fun flourishes in the Freebies file (from the vector extras file that comes with Nicky Laatz’s Amelia’ Quill Script), fill in the empty spaces around the truck logo. Make sure to stay within the guides and don’t go above the top edge of the truck. Change the color of the flourishes to a bright orange: 0/50/100/0.
Step 4:
Next we’re going to jump into our text section. Honestly, the hardest part here is choosing which one of these fun fonts to use for each item.
For this type of text layout, start by creating separate text pieces in a default font. Using your Type Tool (T), create each of the below lines as a separate piece of text. One way to do this is to use your Type Tool, click on the artboard and type your text. Then, click Esc (to exit text selection mode), then T to go back to your Text Tool and click on your artboard. Type your next line. Then hit Esc, then T, then continue to repeat the process until you have all of your copy.
Fish Tacos
Corn on the Cob
Crepes
Burritos
Gourmet Hot Dogs
Gyros
Kabobs
Fried Ice Cream
Cupcakes
Fish & Chips
Funnel Cakes
Iced Coffee
Hamburgers
Brats
Shave Ice
We’re going to randomly assign fonts and two colors to get a fun mix of styles and sizes while staying inside our guides. The key is really just the order your work in.
For example, we’ll start with “Fish Tacos” in Cervo Regular, all caps (which can be found in the fly-out menu on the top right of your Character palette), lined up with the left guide. We’ll make this Pink.
Next, position “corn on the cob” to the right of it so it’s approximately the same height. Change the color to 70/15/0/15 and create a new swatch called Teal in your Swatch palette.
Select both pieces of copy and use the Transform Controls on the bounding box to enlarge the size until you’re lined up with the right guide.
We’ll repeat the process with the remaining food items using the settings below.
For the F in Funnel Cakes, open your Glyphs palette (Type > Glyphs). Select Show Alternates for Current Selection and highlight the F. Here, you’ll see some alternate options with additional swashes like the one I chose.
To divide our food section from additional event info, let’s add a row of little trucks. Select the truck from the top of the poster and go to Object > Transform > Scale. In the Transform dialog box, enter 18% next to Uniform and click Copy.
With the small truck selected, go to Object > Transform > Reflect and choose Vertical, then click OK. Having the little trucks face the opposite direction of the big truck will add a sense of balance.
Position the little truck under our last line of copy with the left side flush with our left guide.
With the little truck selected, use cmd/ctrl + shift and drag to the right to copy it. Then press cmd/ctrl + d three times (to Transform Again) for a total of 5 trucks.
Select the last truck and drag it so the right side of it is flush with the right guide. Then select all five trucks and open your Align palette. Under Align To:, choose Align To Selection, then under Distribute Objects, click the Horizontal Distribute Center icon. This positions all of our trucks an equal distance from each other within the confines of our guides.
Under the trucks, we’ll type a line with our Text Tool that says “Plus daily live music & handmade crafts” and change the color to Truck Red.
Select “Plus” and change it to 35.7 pt Exo Soft Regular in all caps. Change “daily live music” to 45.77 pt Fresh Script and “& Handmade Crafts” in Columbia Titling Bold at 30.72 pt. Position this line of copy with the left side flush with the left guide. That leaves a little gap on the right side, but we’re going to add an ornament to further separate this from the style of the food listings.
In the Freebies vector file, select the left-facing hand ornament from Feno Type’s Bonbon Ornaments and paste it into our poster. Position it in line with our last line of copy and with the right side flush with the right guide. Change the color to Truck Red.
Our last line, “Tickets available at Design Cuts $30 per day or $80 for the weekend”, will all be in Cervo Regular, all caps, at 37 pt. Add about 4 extra spaces between Design Cuts and $30 to leave room for an ornament we’ll add in the next step in place of a boring old bullet point.
Using your Text Tool, select the dollar signs and choose SuperScript in the fly-out menu in the top right of the Character palette.
Change the color to Pink and align the right side flush with the right guide.
Copy the right-facing hand ornament from the Freebies vector file and place it into our poster. Position flush with the left guide and line up with our last line of copy. Change the color to Pink.
Next, copy the sunburst ornament from the Freebies file. Place in the poster in the middle of our last line of copy where we added extra spaces. Change the color to pink.
And we’re done!
For my final presentation, I’m going to incorporate a couple of layers of texture to add a subtle paper look. You can add these in Photoshop by copying and pasting your entire poster into a Photoshop file and adding your texture over it. I’ve opted to create them in Illustrator by placing my texture files on a new layer above my artwork and setting them to Multiply at various opacities.
The finished design is a fun, bright piece that really pops off the screen. I hope you had as much fun as I did and picked up a few new tips. Who wants tacos?!
Remember to share your designs on the Facebook page too, as we love being inspired by the way you make these tutorials your own.
I hope this tutorial inspires you to combine the fonts from this wonderful bundle to create designs of your own! Remember to purchase yours for an amazing 98% off before time runs out!
22 World Class Quality Fonts (With Web Fonts and Extended Licensing)
I love these tutorials with the fun designs and the mixture of typography. Also did the Mister Oliver Rabbit tutorial that came out cute.
Hey Jessica,
Thank you so much for your kind words, I am so pleased to hear that you are enjoying Renee & Simon’s tutorials!
Renee has done a fantastic job with this tutorial using a great mixture of font and vector techniques, I’m so glad you found it useful! If you ever wanted to share your designs using these resources we would love to take a look.
Hello Jessica. Thank you for your kind word about the rabbit tutorial! It was really fun to put together for you guys.
That was fun! I am enjoying the new fonts.
Hey James,
Thank you so much for taking the time to get in touch with your kind words, we really appreciate it :)
I’m sure Renee will be absolutely thrilled that you enjoyed her tutorial, she did a really great job with it!
It’s great to hear you are loving your new fonts, thank you so much for your purchase. If there was every anything I could assist you with please do let me know! I am always happy to help.
Thanks James! Ben is correct—I’m thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the tutorial and would love to see what you’ve created with this bundle!