Introduction to Illustrator Part 1

Question 1

What are somethings that graphic designers create in Illustrator?

Answer 1

Brochures, business cards, flyers, catalogs, product illustrations and more

Question 2

What is the most common type of content created in Illustrator?

Answer 2

Logos

Question 3

Describe Raster Files

Answer 3

Raster files use small units of color called pixels to create an image. Photoshop predominantly uses raster.

Question 4

Describe Vector Files

Answer 4

Vectors are mathematical equations which create shapes and strokes. Illustrator predominantly uses vectors. Vectors can be scaled infinitely.

Question 5

What is the application bar?

Answer 5

The bar at the top of the application frame. This bar contains menus.

Question 6

What is a path?

Answer 6

The edge of a shape or line. A path technically has no dimension, so a stroke must be added to make it visible.

Question 7

What is a pixel?

Answer 7

A single dot that makes up a raster image.

Question 8

What is resolution?

Answer 8

A measurement of the number of pixels in a given space - either on a per-inch basis (ppi) or pixel dimensions (such as 1920x1080)

Question 9

Describe render

Answer 9

To convert a non-raster image or effect into a raster image.

Question 10

What is a workspace?

Answer 10

A specific configuration of the Illustrator interface

Question 11

What is the application frame?

Answer 11

The frame that surrounds the Illustrator interface and contains the application bar, document windows, and panels, as well as select zoom and artboard navigation options.

Question 12

What is a panel?

Answer 12

A highly customizable area containing common tools in the interface that can be easily moved, rearranged or resized.

Question 13

What is the document window?

Answer 13

A tabbed window within the application frame that contains the artboards and canvas scratch area.

Question 14

What is the tool panel?

Answer 14

Contains all the tools that you can use in Illustrator. Most icons on the toolbar provide access to a group of hidden tools when you click and hold on the tool’s icon.

Question 15

What is an object in Illustrator?

Answer 15

Any created vector shape in an Illustrator document. An individual object can be selected for editing and is listed on the layers panel as a .

Question 16

What is fill?

Answer 16

Solid color, pattern, or gradient that is applied to the interior of a vector object. The current fill color displays in the Fill square on several panels in Illustrator.

Question 17

What is stroke?

Answer 17

Solid color, pattern, or gradient applied to the edge of a vector object. To make the stroke visible, a weight (width) and color need to be applied to the object. The current stroke color displays in the Stroke square on several panels in Illustrator.

Question 18

What is the pasteboard - also know as the canvas?

Answer 18

The working area within an Illustrator file. Anything outside the bounds of the artboard is considered the canvas and is often used by artists and designers as a “working” area to experiment or store elements that they might need later on during the design process.

Question 19

What is a document color mode?

Answer 19

Determines the color model that Illustrator uses to create the image, such as RGB or CYMK.

Question 20

When creating a new document, what is the category “mobile” used for?

Answer 20

Used for creating artwork intended for mobile devices. Common mobile device sizes are provided to aid you in creating artwork at the correct size and dimensions for various mobile devices. This type of document uses the pixel unit of measurement and the RGB document color mode by default.

Question 21

When creating a new document, what is the category “web” used for?

Answer 21

Used for creating comps and mock-ups for websites. Illustrator is a great prototyping tool for creating the initial design for web pages. Although Illustrator won’t code the web pages for you, it will provide you with some powerful features to assist in the process. This type of document uses the pixel unit of measurement and the RGB color mode by default.

Question 22

When creating a new document, what is the category “print” used for?

Answer 22

Used for creating print-based documents such as logos and other artwork destined for print output and contains common print paper sizes to get you started. This type of document uses points as the unit of measurement and the CMYK color mode by default.

Question 23

When creating a new document, what is the category “print” used for?

Answer 23

Creating a document from this category will provide video-safe areas as guides to ensure that text and graphic elements placed in a video project will not get cut off when displayed on a TV or monitor with older aspect ratios (4:5 vs. 16:9). This type of document uses pixels as the unit of measurement and the RGB color mode by default.

Question 24

When creating a new document, what is the category “art and illustrator” used for?

Answer 24

Used for creating various types of art and illustration documents at various sizes such as a poster. This type of document uses points as the unit of measurement and the RGB color mode by default.

Question 25

What is a bleed?

Answer 25

Bleed is applicable only to print projects in which the design will extend all the way to the edge of the paper.

Question 26

What are process colors?

Answer 26

Colors that are defined as a combination of the four CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) ink colors. Process colors are used when printing artwork to devices that create color using these four inks.

Question 27

What does PPI stand for?

Answer 27

Stands for “pixels per inch.” Higher ppi affords more detail. While vector objects are resolution independent, raster effects and rasterized objects and images need to have a ppi value defined for output.

ppi is specific to screens.