This course will be retired on January 6, 2020. We recommend "Adobe Illustrator for Web Design" for up-to-date content.
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We'll continue to design assets for our home page by creating our own pie graph. We'll also go over all the other graph types.
Related Links
Types of Graphs
- Column graph
- Stacked Column graph
- Bar graph
- Stacked Bar graph
- Line graph
- Area graph
- Scatter graph
- Pie graph
- Radar graph
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[Deep Dive]
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[Creating Home Page Assets: Graphs with Mat Helme]
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So we have a request to add an accurate graph into the homepage.
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You’re probably thinking we have to get out the ruler and start measuring.
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Not at all. We have the graph tools to do this for us.
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They can get a bit complex though. So pay close attention.
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With our file open, let’s take a look at creating a graph
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for our homepage layout.
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Illustrator offers graph tools.
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Graphs let us communicate statistical information in a visual way.
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You can find these tools in the tools panel
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near the bottom next to the symbolism tools.
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So let’s go ahead and pull all these tools out.
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As you can see, we have 9 different types of graph tools.
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Before we create our graph,
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let’s first understand the different types of graphs Illustrator offers.
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Our first type of graph is the Column Graph,
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which is a graph that has vertical columns of data.
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Next, we have the Stacked Column Graph,
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which is stacked data in vertical columns.
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Next, we have the Bar Graph, which is a graph
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that has horizontal columns of data.
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Then we have the Stacked Bar Graph,
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which has stacked data in horizontal columns.
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After that, we have the Line Graph.
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A Line Graph is a graph of connected information.
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After the Line Graph, we have the Area Graph,
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which allows us to combine the features of
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Line Graph and Stacked Bar Graphs.
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Next, we have the Scattered Graph,
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which is a plotted point graph
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that shows the relationship between two sets of data.
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Our next graph is the Pie Graph,
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which is a circular chart divided into sectors.
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And finally, we have the Radar Graph,
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which is a graphical method of displaying multivariate data
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in the form of two-dimensional chart.
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For our homepage, we’re going to create a Pie Graph,
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but before we do that let’s take a look at the options
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and how to access them for the pie graph
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as well as all the other graphs.
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There are three ways on how to do this.
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The first is by double clicking on the tool
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or by going to Object, Graph, and selecting Type,
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and finally the third way to get to this panel
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is by simply right clicking on the graph itself,
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but since we don’t have one, we can’t do that just yet.
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Also, take note of the shortcut key for the Column Graph,
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which is simply the letter J.
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So when double clicking on the tool,
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we get the popup box that is labeled graph type.
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This mainly deals with the appearance of the graph.
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We’re not going to go through each option.
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We’re simply getting the gist of the graph type options.
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At the top, you can see there’s a drop down that’s faded out.
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This is because we don’t have a graph on the canvass just yet.
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Under the drop down, we have the type option.
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This is where we can toggle between the different types of graphs.
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As you can see here, we have the Column graph, Stacked column graph,
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Bar, Stacked bar, Line, Area, Scattered, Pie,
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which is what we’re going to be using, and Radar.
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And noticed when we click through this, some of the options change.
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And notice in most of these graph types such as the column, stacked column,
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bar, stacked bar, line, area, scattered, all of these have value access
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where we’re able to switch the value between the left side or both sides
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and these all vary between the different types of graphs.
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Below type, we have style with the following options.
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Add drop shadow, which simply adds a drop shadow to our graph.
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Add legend across the top.
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This display the legend horizontally across the top of the graph
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instead of on the right side of the graph.
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First row in front, which controls how the categories
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or clusters of data in a graph overlap
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when the cluster width is greater than 100%.
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Then we have the first column in the front, which places the column bar
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or line that corresponds to the first column of data in the graph data window on top.
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And below type, we have options.
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These options are all different per graph type.
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However, most of the bar and column graphs have the same options.
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They have column width, which is simply the width of the bar or column.
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Cluster width, which is the total space the bar sits in as in seen in this example.
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If the column width is 50% and the cluster width is 100%,
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this means the bar will be 50% of the total cluster center
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with 25% padding on each side.
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Now let’s select the pie graph.
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Here we can see we have the option to where we want to place
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the legend also sort and positioning.
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We’re just going to leave these options to default.
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So let’s go ahead and select OK.
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Now with the pie graph tool selected,
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let’s go ahead and scroll over on the canvas,
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and let’s click, drag, and hold shift and create our pie graph.
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When we release, we also have this pop up. This is where we can input our data.
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At the very top left, where there’s the number one, this is the entry text box.
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This is where we simply input our data for our graph.
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Then we have a cluster of buttons on the right. First, we have import data.
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We can import a text document from something like an excel spreadsheet
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or spreadsheet from google docs.
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Next to that we have transpose row and column.
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If you accidentally enter graph data backwards,
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that would be in rows instead of columns or vice versa.
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Click the transpose button to switch the columns and rows of data.
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Next to that we have switch x and y.
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This is for the scattered graphs, and on the right of that we have cell style.
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This is where you can enter a value between 0 and 10
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in the number of decimals for the text box.
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On the right of that we have revert, which is simply an undo button.
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And finally all the way to the right we have apply,
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which simply renders out our data to the graph,
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and below all of these options, we have our cells.
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The cells are comprised of rows and columns.
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Each graph has its own layout of data sets.
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We’re going to cover the pie graph.
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If you ever need a reference of other graphs,
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simply type in the search bar Graph tool
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all the way to the top right in the applications bar,
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the reference, the proper format.
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This search button will simply open up your default browser
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and go to Adobe’s help section.
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Per pie charts, we place all of our labels in the first column
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then all of the data below the labels.
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For our example, let’s create three labels.
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The first label will be desktop,
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our second label will be mobile,
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and our third label will be tablet.
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Then in the second column, let’s input the data
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For our pie chart, we’re going to use percentage,
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but we don’t need to use the percent symbol.
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We’re simply going to use the numbers.
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So say for desktop we’ll put 70 as in 70 percent, mobile we’ll put 20 percent,
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and tablet we’ll put 10 percent.
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Now as you can see in our graph, we don’t have any changes.
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Well that’s because we haven’t hit the apply button yet.
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So let’s go ahead and hit the apply button,
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and there we have an accurate representation of
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desktop, mobile, and tablet at 70%, 20%, and 10%
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and on the right you can see we have our legend,
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which simply indicates desktop in black,
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mobile in the lighter gray,
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and tablet in the darker gray--perfect.
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Now let’s close the data panel,
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and now let’s right click on the graph, and let’s select type,
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and with our pie graph selected,
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let’s select add legend across the top,
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select OK,
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and now you can see our legend is across the top of our graph.
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Now let’s open the type panel again by right clicking, selecting type.
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And again, this can also be done by going to object,
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graph, and then selecting type.
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So let’s go ahead and take off the add legend across top
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and in the options below where it says legend and it says standard legend,
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which we’ll place it on the right side.
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Let’s select legends in wedges and select OK,
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and now you can see the legend is inside of the wedges of the pie graph.
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And say if we wanted to change the character to a font called omness medium,
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we can select it and then we can actually increase the font size
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and we can left align it or keep it centered.
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Also, we’re able to change the color by simply double clicking on the text,
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we’re able to change the color.
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Now for my homepage, I don’t want any legends at all.
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I just want a simple presentation of a graph.
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So I’m going to hide my legend information.
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I can do this by right clicking on the graph going to type.
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In the legend drop down, select no legend, and then select OK,
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and now we simply just have our graph.
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Now with the graph selected, you’ll notice there’s no bounding box,
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and I’m unable to resize it.
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So let’s try our transform tool. Well, that doesn’t work either.
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So how do I resize this graph?
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With my selection tool selected,
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I can simply go to object, transform, and select scale.
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Select preview, so I can view the size change,
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and say if I want to drop the size down, say 20%
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with uniform selected, I’ll bring it down to 80% then select OK.
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We would do the same thing if we want to move, rotate,
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reflect, or share our graph.
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So let’s go ahead and reflect it
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and what this will do is visually pull the eye in
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into the right as we read left to right on our homepage.
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So vertical 90 degrees. Select OK. Perfect.
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So now let’s move this in to our homepage
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where it’s truly understand your target market.
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So again by this darker color being on the left and bottom,
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it visually pulls your eye into the page.
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Now if we want to change the colors,
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we can simply use the direct selection tool to alter each piece.
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So when we select the direct selection tool of the graph,
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we’re then able to change the fill color in stroke color.
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Now for our graph, I’m going ahead and get rid of
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all these stroke colors and just leave the fill.
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Also with the direct selection tool and we select a certain wedge.,
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we can also use the eye drop tool to get a specific color
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already on the screen.
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And say if something were to change
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like say if I wanted to drop our desktop information down to say 60%
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and bump our mobile up to say 30,
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I can simply right click on the graph, go to data,
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make the changes, select apply,
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and you can see our graph changes automatically,
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and this comes in handy whenever we want to just change information.
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Say if we’re creating something for a client and something changes.
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If we didn’t make this by hand,
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we don’t’ have to actually get out our measuring tool
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and measure the specific distance.
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We can simply use the graph tool
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and then change the data inside the data panel
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and apply it to our graph.
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And that’s how you use the graph tools in Adobe Illustrator.
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