Volkswagen Logo

the Volkswagen Logo

Hi there. In the following tutorial you will learn to create the Volkswagen logo. You’ll only need some simple circles, gradients, strokes and some basic effects. You might face some problems with the letter shapes but the grid and the snap to grid will simplify your work.
Difficulty: Intermediate
Estimated Completion Time: 45 minutes
Number of Steps: 8

This is what you’ll be creating:

Step 01

Create a 700 by 700px document. Turn on the Grid (View > Grid) and the Snap to Grid (View > Snap to Grid). Now, you need a grid every 5px. Go to Edit > Preferences > Guides & Grid, enter “5″ in the “Gridline every :” box and “1″ in the “Subdivisions” box. All these options wil ease your work. Select the Ellipse Tool(L), click on the Artboard and create a 640by640px shape. Select this shape, go to Object > Path > Offset Path, enter -15px in the “Offset” box and hit enter. Select the resulting shape, go again to Object > Path > Offset Path, enter -40px in the “Offset” box and hit enter. Select the resulting shape, once again go to Object > Path > Offset Path, enter -45px in the “Offset” box and hit enter. Select the resulting shape, one more time go to Object > Path > Offset Path, enter -5px in the “Offset” box and hit enter. Now, you should have five circles.

Step 02

Pick the Type Tool and add the “V” and “W” letters. Use the Regular Arial Black font with a size of 320px. Select these two letters and go to Object > Expand. Leave approximately 15px between these two shapes. Select both shapes, click on the Horizontal Align Center button (from the Align pallete) then group them. Select this group along with the smallest circle, pick the Selection Tool(V), click on the border of the circle (it should get emphasized) then click on the Horizontal Align Center and on the Vertical Align Center buttons from the Align panel.

Step 03

Now, the letters. You’ll have to play a little with anchor points of these shapes. Select the Direct Selection Tool (A) and move the anchor points until your shapes look like the yellow ones shown below. Take a closer look at the grid to understand the exact positioning of each anchor point. The Snap to Grid will ease your work.

Step 04

Select all five circles and click on the Divide button from the Pathfinder panel. Keep only the five shapes shown in image #2. I filled them with some random colors so that you can distinguish them easier. Name them from 1 to 5. Select shape #3 and the letter shapes then click on the Unite button from the Pathfinder panel. Bring the resulting shape in front and name it “VW”.

Step 05

Fill “VW” with the radial gradient shown below image #1 and add a 3px Aligned to Inside stroke (R=246 G=246 B=247). Add a new fill for this shape (from the flyout menu of the Appearance panel) and use the linear gradient shown in image #2. Reselect this shapes and add the Drop Shadow (Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow) effect shown below image #3.

Step 06

Select shape #5 and fill it with the gradient shown in image #1. Next, add a new fill and use the gradient shown below image #2.

Step 07

Fill shapes #4 and #2 with the radial gradients shown below.

Step 08

Send shape #1 in the back. Fill it with the radial gradient shown below #1 and add a 2px Aligned to outside stroke (R=133 G=137 B=141). Reselect this shape and add the Drop Shadow effect shown below image #2. Finally, for the background, select the Rectangle Tool(M), create a 700x700px square, move it in the back and fill it with the radial gradient shown below image #3.

Final

Now your work is done. Here is how it should look like.