Placing text on a Path

When designing signs, you’ll likely run into times when you need to make text follow along a path of some sort. The path might be a simple ogee curve, an oval or ellipse, or a more complex shape like a spiral, octagon or star. Here’s a quick look at how that’s done in two of the more popular design programs: Adobe Illustrator and Corel Draw.

I believe the tools and steps shown here should be available in most reasonably current versions of the programs. You should find similar utilities in dedicated sign design programs like Gerber Omega, SignLab and FlexiSign.

Adobe Illustrator In Adobe Illustrator, all you have to do is select the Type on Path tool in the Text tool fly-out menu, then click on an existing path. The text will be generated from that insertion point based on using your current Justification settings: Left, Center or Right. Once entered, text can be “slid” along the path by holding the cursor over either of the beginning/end vertical bars or the center bar, then clicking and dragging.