Create a Professional Business Background
Beginning the Background
It is always a good idea to have it clear in your mind what color scheme you are going to follow . I often use colourlovers.com to help me in this process. Here is the theme of colors we will follow.
Next we create a simple gradient background within our color scheme.
Creating the Linear Background
Using the Pen Tool (P) draw two lines, which have 1px white strokes, but no Fill.
Go to Object > Blend > Blend Options.
Adjust your Blending Options to a limited number of Specified Steps, something like this.
Go to Object > Blend > Make or (Option/Alt+Ctrl+B).
Create two more lines in the same way using the Pen Tool (P) and using Object > Blend > Make as well.
Since your lines are all placed, now would be a good time to play around with the Points. Click on one side of your original line. Then adjust the Handle and Stroke to get a better effect and curve in the lines. Here is my result, shown below.
Building Up the Elements
Now we need to bring a central element into the design. I pulled up a world map from my library and then Pasted it onto the Artboard. Then I went to Right Click > Arrange> Bring to Front. Feel free to use any image you want for the central figure in the design. If your looking for a similar map, here is a link to a Free Vector Dotted Map.
Choose a Fill color for your map. Be sure to keep your color scheme in mind.
Modifying the Map
Let's modify this map a bit. Go to Effects > Arc. Use the settings below.
After applying the effects, you will get something like this.
Creating Arrows using Brushes
Create some random curved lines using the Pen Tool (P).
Open up your Brush Palette. Then go to Brush Libraries > Arrows Standard.
Select all your new curved lines. Then pick out an Arrow Brush and Apply.
Select each line one by one. Then adjust Stroke and Width until you are satisfied with the outcome. Then go to Object > Expand, in order to expand your lines. Next Fill your lines with a Gradient. Here I used White and Gray colors for the Gradient.
Refining and Balancing
The lines in the background need some more work, so I'll add a few more to give it some depth.
I then add a few more; see the results so far below.
Conclusion
Fill the new lines with the same Gradient color, adjust the transparency if needed. Work with this until you are satisfied with the outcome. The final image is below!
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thanks
Thank you!
MDsign™
April 28th, 2008
thanks
thanks
what
April 29th, 2008
Great!
Wow! :D Maybe i should use it ;)
Markus
April 29th, 2008
Great post! This is all too
Great post! This is all too true that great backgrounds are DEFINITELY a great part of good designs. I often wonder how much work goes into different backgrounds that I see on presentations and websites.
Thanks for highlighting this vital element.
MediaMisfit
April 30th, 2008
A lot
goes into good backgrounds, it is finer details that make everything in good UI.
Avangelist
April 30th, 2008
arrows
Really nice and elegant!
How did you get the tapering at the beginning of the arrows?
keyone
May 3rd, 2008
Beautiful
Blending really adds a nice flare. Thanks!
Mason Sklut
May 5th, 2008
Great tutorial, but i got
Great tutorial, but i got one question.
How you got the arrows looking like the final result. After applying the brush i changed the stroke, but this is making the arrow only bigger (picture 15). The arrowhead looks still stupid and the line isn´t getting smaller to the end.
milot
May 9th, 2008
huh?
Are you only able to blend when the two objects your blending are on different layers? Or only able to draw (with pen tool) two lines that don't interfere with each other as you draw them unless they are on different layers? That's what I'm discovering. I can't get the 'two lines' from interfering with each others placement, unless they are on separate layers. This includes 'blending'. And if it does require all of these elements to be on different layers to make this whole thing work. Why didn't you mention it? It seems like that's the MOST important detail of all in this tutorial that is missing. Should we all be experts of the program before we are able to understand your tutorial? What am I doing wrong?
Anonymous
May 29th, 2008
Excellent !!
Hi designer,
this is excellent tutorial. i like it very much....
Naveen Reddy
June 11th, 2008
AMAZING! WHO KNEW!
AI user for - 15 years... I use it extensively but I've never done this before!
Now that I think of it - blending strokes was something I learned way back in the beginning - and it must have went right over my head - I never thought about it again! You've shown it in a new light!
Thank you for sharing! This is very cool!
Susan
Anonymous
June 11th, 2008
thank you for great post!
thank you for great post!
BogdanLL
September 10th, 2008
Wonderful!
Wonderful!
ManKiller
September 15th, 2008
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
dEspise
September 20th, 2008
Whoa, when you gonna start
Whoa, when you gonna start and get rolling with some pixar animation! :)
golf packages in arizona
September 26th, 2008
These tutorials are
These tutorials are wonderful, but I think they are still for someone who has had some training with Graphic design! Beautiful work though.
Dallas Immigration attorney
September 26th, 2008
easy to follow
I think these tutorials are fantastic - I've learnt so much about Illustrator just from learning to do specific tasks like this.
Jackson Browne
October 14th, 2008
Muitoo Bom
Parabéns pela criatividade.
Ajudou-me muito.
guilherme
October 17th, 2008
thanks for the illustrator
you know what i really admire those people who have artistic designs talent i have a friend whom i think master for that and he even just playing such designs he is very very comfortable with it.. in designing its important to have extra imaginations and skills for the best output! thanks dude for this illustration...
Golf_mania
October 31st, 2008
Photoshop and Illustrator
Wow - didn't know so much was possible with Illustrator - thank you.
Milton Keynes Driving Lessons
November 13th, 2008
wow, great...
when i was in high school.
i took a graphic design class.
and we used illustrator.
and by no means did i learn anything like this.
my teacher was very uneducated i guess.
that was when i kind of walked away from graphic design. but after seeing this, it just looks too hard to stay away from, simply great.
i would love to get my hands on illustrator and try to make something like this, you definitely sparked my interest again.
so thanks.
Cheap Paintings
November 17th, 2008
replay
Thank you very much
Pls, sent me your website
Hakkrrm
November 20th, 2008
This is so cool and easy
Although I am not sure what software are you using in this example, I am assuming this is Adobe Illustrator.
And thanks for the great tutorial.
Before reading this, I always though it was very difficult to create these kind of lines.
Ahsan
December 2nd, 2008
business background
I suck at photoshop but that is the program I am stuck with at this point. I found this tutorial to be helpful though in explaining many of the issues I have had and how to work through them.
Thanks!
Jason | homeimprovementcorner
December 4th, 2008
Okay...
That is a very professional background. If I saw that as a business background that would be a definite turn-on for whatever the person, company, or corporation was trying to accomplish. Easy on the eye and shows great skill.
Discount Emerald Jewelry
December 4th, 2008
Nice
Nice backgroung but im not sure with the arrows.
Alexandre J.
December 9th, 2008
Amazing
Hi,
I've been surfing the web looking for a fresh idea to make a background for a very important presentation I have next week.
When I reached your site, I just said "This is the one!!!"
I've done the background using our country map and with the colors that identify our little company.
Thanks a lot. I'll keep coming back to your blog.
Great Job!
Free Webhost with vpanel
December 18th, 2008
Nice!
Very nicely done! I'm going to do something similar to this on a client's website. Thanks for the post.
Web Design Sussex
January 6th, 2009
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