Design with bold headlines and clean body text

Add headlines or paragraphs, pick expressive fonts, and format type to suit your layout.

Published December 18, 2025

00:01

Introduction

In Illustrator, it's easy to be creative using text.

Maybe you want to create a bold headline for a flyer, or create some expressive text for brand assets, or create some custom type.

In this video, you'll explore how to add text and start exploring text formatting.

We've got a social ad here, and we need to add text in some different places.

You can see a final version on the right.

Let's add the date text to start.

00:25

Adding point text and resizing text objects

Select the Type Tool over in the Toolbar, and then click above the circle to add a bit of placeholder text.

You can just start typing to replace it.

The text will just continue on in a straight line forever.

To change the size of the text, I know it's really small, you can switch to the Selection Tool.

Here's a tip: Press the Escape key as a shortcut to select it.

Now drag a corner of the text box and you can change the size, but make sure you press the Shift key as you're dragging, so it doesn't stretch the text.

Release the mouse, then the key.

Let's add some other text.

We need to add some details to the social ad.

You want to add this text in a little different way.

If you want to zoom in here, you can with the Zoom Tool.

With the Type Tool selected,

01:12

Creating and managing area text boxes

this time drag to make a box about this big.

You can now type to replace what's in there.

Add a line of text, and you can type this or whatever you want, we'll add some more text in just a little bit here.

Press Escape to select the Selection Tool and then drag a corner to resize the box.

Notice that the text doesn't actually change in size.

It just wraps in different ways.

And if you make the box too small, you'll see a little red plus down here.

That just means that it won't fit, you got to make the box bigger.

Why don't you change the font size in the Contextual Task Bar down here?

I'll make it about this big.

Let's format all of the text we've got in different ways.

The date over here needs to be on another line.

So, to insert the cursor, double-click right in front of 18.

That actually selects the Type Tool and inserts the cursor.

Then press Return or Enter to make a paragraph.

There are tons of text formatting options in Illustrator,

02:08

Formatting text size, alignment, and spacing

and you can see a lot more over here in the Properties panel on the right.

To change the size of the date text, select the text by double-clicking, then change the font size.

You can type it in or choose it.

I'll type it in, so I can make it much bigger.

Then press Return or Enter.

Now, there's other formatting we need to apply, and we want to apply it to all the text.

So, you can select the text box, press the Escape key and you'll select the Selection Tool in the text box.

To align this text to center, you can do that in the Properties panel.

The vertical spacing between the words here needs to change, so you can adjust the leading over here.

I'll pick a size to start, and then use the arrows, and I tend to press the Shift key and click the arrows up or down to change it by 10.

Let's get even more creative.

02:57

Choosing and managing fonts with Adobe Fonts

I know you want to change the font.

In the Taskbar, click to see the Fonts list.

The list you see with fonts selected up here are the fonts in your machine.

If you want to see more, you can select Find More and you can wade through the tons of Adobe fonts you get access to.

Once you find one, you can add it by clicking the little Cloud over here.

If you want to filter your fonts, you can also do that right up here.

To see the Adobe Fonts you added, you can click this Show Added Fonts here and look through the list.

I'm actually using a font called Sofia Pro Black.

Finally, you can drag the text into place.

To make the text a little more readable,

03:44

Styling text with color, bullets, and glyph alternates

you can change the text Fill color here in the Taskbar.

I'll select white.

Lastly, we want to make the text over here a bullet list.

So, select the text box, and over in the Properties panel, you can simply click the Bullets option.

If you want to change the bullet in the appearance, you can click the arrow to the right of the button.

Let's add a few more lines of text to that text box.

Double-click at the end of the text here to select the Type Tool and insert the cursor.

Press Return, and add a few more paragraphs of text, pressing Return at the end of each.

And you can see that each now has a bullet.

Why don't you practice by adding the heading words you see up here?

With the Type Tool selected, you can click, type one of the words, change the formatting, make it bigger, pick a different font, and in this case, I actually added an Adobe Font called Fabiola Script.

You can then copy and paste that text box a few times and drag them into place and eventually come to this.

Here's a quick bonus for you: Some fonts include hidden goodies called Glyph Alternates.

You have a good chance of finding these in fonts with Pro in the name.

It just so happens that Fabiola Script has them.

If you select the F in Farm, for instance, with the Type Tool, you can see some alternates that you can try out.

This is just the tip of the creative iceberg when it comes to text in Illustrator.

If ever there was an app to get creative with text, this is it.

So, have some fun, explore some more of the formatting, try out some different text in here and see what you come up with.

What you’ll learn

Add headlines and paragraph text

Click to add a bold headline or drag a box to create flowing paragraph text. Move, resize, and type directly on the canvas.

Choose fonts and adjust formatting

Pick fonts from the Adobe Fonts Library to match your design’s vibe. Then adjust size, alignment, and spacing to create a polished look and a clear visual hierarchy.

Format text for structure and style

Apply bold, italics, bullet points, and number lists to organize your message. Bonus tip: Some fonts include hidden glyph alternates — especially those labeled “Pro.” Select a character to reveal your options.

Instruction by: Brian Wood

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