Layout 25 - Adaptable Circles Layout
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Coming Soon
This tutorial builds upon the circular shapes established on a previous tutorial except this time we are making it a lot more flexible while still making it look amazing. We’ll start off in Illustrator first and then import to InDesign. These two are honestly best friends and mastering the workflow between these two programs will take your designs to the next level!
Illustrator
Document setup in Illustrator
8.5 x 11 Inches in Portrait Orientation
2 Artboards
We can leave everything else as is.
Once the artboards are created, we want to drag them together using the Artboard Tool (Shift + O)
1. Draw Circles
Select the Ellipse Tool (shortcut: L). Hold Shift to create perfect circles.
Copy circles using Alt + Drag and arrange them into three rows, ensuring they fill the page and overlap slightly.
Duplicate the rows until the entire page is covered. Ensure paths touch each other for clean intersections.
Writing this again for emphasis, you NEED the circles to touch each other for this to work!!
Each Circle should be touching all the other circles adjacent to it. If you have smartsnap on, it’ll do it automatically.
2. Use the Shape Builder Tool to Create Shapes
Activate Shape Builder Tool:
Select all circles, then hit Shift + M to activate the Shape Builder Tool.
Combine Shapes:
Drag the mouse over intersecting areas to create custom shapes.
Note that if you don’t have your circles touching each other this step will not work!
Experiment with different combinations, such as connecting two, three, or more circles to create unique typologies (e.g., triangles, flowers).
Visualize Placement:
Remove fills from shapes to visualize how the layout interacts with images. Adjust shapes to align with the desired composition.
Main idea here is to understand where your image sits amongst all of your circles. In my example, I wanted the subject and her eyes to be fully present in the layout, therefore, I tested out the image in the background first before committing to a design.
3. Prepare and Export Design to InDesign
It’s a good idea to pause where you are at this point and create an InDesign File.
I’ll see you in InDesign :)
InDesign
Document Setup in InDesign:
8.5 x 11 inches, portrait orientation with facing pages.
Pages: 2
Start #: 2
Margins: 0.625 inches
Bleed: 0.125 inches
4. Copy the vector shape from Illustrator (Ctrl+C) and paste it in InDesign (Ctrl+V).
Ungroup the design if needed and break the compound paths:
Select shapes, go to Object > Path > Release Compound Path.
Reassign compound paths for left and right spreads separately.
5. Add and Fit Images
Insert Images:
Drag and drop images into the shapes. Use Right-click > Fitting > Fit Frame Proportionally to align images properly.
Adjust Shape Stroke:
Usually when you create these layouts, the circles come with a fairly thick stroke (outline). Which makes sense, because you need to see them. However, we don’t want them on our picture to keep the clean look.
Turn off stroke by navigating to stroke and selecting “none” as the stroke.
6. Add Text and Finalize Layout
Insert Text:
Use the Type Tool (T) to add text elements like titles or quotes.
Use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to sample colors for cohesive text styling.
Add Text Wrap:
Here I copied two of the circles and made another sub-unit at the bottom left of the page. (See figure to the right)
The idea is that we can fit some quotes or highlighted text in these elements and the text would wrap around it.
This adds interest on the page and connects the left and right pages.
Make sure the new element is selected, then open the Text Wrap panel (Window > Text Wrap) and apply a wrap around object shapes. Adjust margins to ensure text does not overlap.
Highlighted Text:
For emphasis, I created an additional text in in this anchoring element. To have the text ignore the text wrap effect, right click, text > text frame options > ignore text wrap.
Since all of our circular elements also act as picture frames, I dragged an image into the bottom left circle and fit the frame proportionally.
7. Finishing Touches
Add Decorative Elements:
Incorporate small dots or icons using complementary colors to connect the layout visually.
For example, pair dark maroon with a contrasting blue.
Refine and Save:
Review the layout, adjust sizes, and fit images as needed.
Save your work as a PDF or export as needed.
And that’s it! A nice adaptable circular layout that can flex and shift depending what kind of image you are putting in! Let me know how you did on this one and I would love to see your creations.
