{"course":{"slug":"vector-and-print","title":"Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print","level":"beginner","track":"create"},"lesson":{"slug":"build-marks-from-shapes","title":"Most good logos are circles and rectangles cut into each other","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/build-marks-from-shapes","position":10,"of":73,"minutes":9,"answer":"Assemble marks from exact primitives and cut them with booleans, duplicate before every boolean because it is destructive, and remember a hole that fills solid is a fill-rule problem, not a stacking one.","keyIdea":"Assemble marks from exact primitives and cut them with booleans, duplicate before every boolean because it is destructive, and remember a hole that fills solid is a fill-rule problem, not a stacking one."},"body":{"format":"markdown","text":"## Stop drawing logos freehand\n\nWatch a beginner build a mark and they open a blank canvas and start clicking with the pen tool. Watch someone who does this for a living and they draw a circle, draw a rectangle, align them, and cut one out of the other. The pen tool comes out for the parts nothing else can make.\n\nThere is a practical reason. A circle drawn with the ellipse tool is mathematically a circle. A circle drawn by hand with the pen tool is four slightly wrong curves, and at 6 metres or in a 16-pixel favicon, \"slightly wrong\" is what people see without being able to say why. Primitives are exact for free.\n\n## The five boolean operations\n\nSelect two or more objects and combine them:\n\n- **Union** (Weld in CorelDRAW) fuses them into one outline.\n- **Difference** (Minus Front, Trim) removes the top shape from the one beneath.\n- **Intersection** keeps only the overlap.\n- **Exclusion** (Exclude, XOR) keeps everything except the overlap.\n- **Division** (Divide, Break Apart) cuts the shapes into separate pieces along every intersection, which is the one people forget and the one that does the most work.\n\nWhere they live:\n\n- **Inkscape**: the Path menu, and they are keyboard-driven, which makes them fast. Union **Ctrl++**, Difference **Ctrl+-**, Intersection **Ctrl+\\***, Exclusion **Ctrl+^**, Division **Ctrl+/**.\n- **Illustrator**: the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder), and the Shape Builder tool, **Shift+M**: drag across regions to merge them, hold **Alt** and drag to delete a region. Shape Builder is the fastest way to work and worth the hour it takes to get used to.\n- **CorelDRAW**: select two objects and Weld, Trim and Intersect appear on the property bar; the fuller set is in the Shaping docker. **Boundary** creates a new outline around a selection, which is useful for making a knockout behind a group.\n\n## Build something concrete\n\nA wifi mark. Four concentric circles, all centred. Convert the outer three to rings by subtracting a smaller copy of each. Draw a rectangle covering the lower half and rotate it to a wedge; select all and use Division, then delete everything outside the wedge. Add a dot. That is the mark, and it is exact, because every element started life as a mathematically perfect circle.\n\nA play button. Circle, plus a triangle made from a three-point polygon, then Difference. Ten seconds.\n\nAlignment does the rest of the work. Learn one thing per program: Illustrator's **align to key object**: click one selected object again to make it the anchor, then align everything to it. Inkscape's Align & Distribute dialog has a \"Relative to\" dropdown; set it to \"Last selected\". CorelDRAW aligns with **C** for centre-horizontally and **E** for centre-vertically, and **P** centres on the page.\n\n## Booleans are destructive, and that costs people work\n\nUnion throws away the originals. Difference throws away the cutter. There is no going back after you save and close.\n\n- Duplicate first. Keep an untouched copy on a locked layer named `source`. This costs nothing and saves an afternoon.\n- Illustrator will make a **compound shape** instead of a flattened path if you **Alt-click** a Pathfinder button; the components stay editable inside it until you press Expand.\n- Affinity Designer holds **Alt** while clicking a boolean to keep the operation live, and it is better than the alternatives here: you can move the cutter afterwards and watch the result update.\n- Inkscape has no live boolean. Duplicate first, or you are relying on undo.\n\n## The bug everyone hits: the hole that will not appear\n\nYou make a ring by combining a big circle and a small one, and it previews as a solid disc.\n\nThe cause is the **fill rule**. A shape with more than one subpath needs a rule for deciding which regions count as inside. **Non-zero winding** counts a region as filled when the subpaths around it wind in the same direction, so two circles drawn the same way both count as inside and you get a disc. **Even-odd** counts crossings, so the inner region is outside again and you get a hole.\n\nTwo fixes, both one click:\n\n- Reverse the direction of the inner path. Inkscape: Path > Reverse, **Shift+R**. Illustrator: the Reverse Path Direction button in the Attributes panel. CorelDRAW: with a compound path, use the Shape tool and reverse the subpath.\n- Or set the object to even-odd fill. Inkscape's Fill & Stroke dialog has the two buttons next to the fill type; Illustrator's Attributes panel has \"Even-Odd Fill Rule\"; in SVG it is literally `fill-rule=\"evenodd\"`.\n\nThis same rule is why a letter \"O\" imported from somewhere sometimes fills solid, and why a die-line with an interior window prints as a block.\n\n## Strokes are a promise, not a shape\n\nA stroke is a rendering instruction: draw this path, this many units wide. It is not geometry until you make it geometry. That matters in three places, so learn the command now:\n\n- Inkscape: Path > Stroke to Path, **Ctrl+Alt+C**\n- Illustrator: Object > Path > Outline Stroke\n- CorelDRAW: Object > Convert Outline to Object, **Ctrl+Shift+Q**\n\nDo this before sending anything to a cutting plotter, a laser or an embroidery digitiser, and before applying a boolean to a stroked object. Also check \"Scale strokes and effects\" in your preferences: with it off, scaling a logo down leaves the stroke at its original weight, and your 2 mm outline becomes an inky mess at business-card size.\n\nEverything in this lesson works identically in the free tools. Nothing here is behind a paywall."},"check":{"question":"Someone makes a ring by drawing a large circle and a smaller circle inside it and combining them into a single path. It previews as a solid disc with no hole. What has happened?","options":[{"text":"Both subpaths wind in the same direction and the non-zero fill rule counts the inner region as inside; reversing the inner path's direction, or switching the object to even-odd fill, opens the hole.","correct":true},{"text":"The inner circle is behind the outer one in stacking order, so bringing it to the front will reveal the hole.","correct":false,"tempting":"Pictures the hole as a white object stacked on top rather than as a region excluded by the fill rule."},{"text":"The inner circle still carries a fill colour, and setting its fill to none will make the hole appear.","correct":false,"tempting":"Applies a whole-object property to a subpath that no longer has a fill of its own once combined."},{"text":"A union was applied where a difference was needed, so the only fix is to undo and re-run the operation as a difference.","correct":false,"tempting":"Assumes the wrong operation was chosen, missing that a correctly combined compound path behaves exactly this way when the winding is wrong."}]},"prev":{"slug":"fewer-points-better-curves","title":"Your curves are lumpy because you used too many points","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/fewer-points-better-curves"},"next":{"slug":"the-pen-tool-in-four-moves","title":"The pen tool is four gestures","url":"https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/the-pen-tool-in-four-moves"},"authorship":"Founder and series editor: Dr Mustafa Mun. Written by AI models to a written standard. Exam keys checked blind by a second model: 3,665 of 3,666 agreed. Academic review invited.","review":{"status":"Draft, open for academic review"},"cite":"Addaly (2026) 'Most good logos are circles and rectangles cut into each other', in Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed. Edited by M. Mun. Addaly. Available at: https://addaly.com/learn/vector-and-print/build-marks-from-shapes (Accessed: 31 October 2026).","licence":{"name":"CC BY-NC-SA 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/"},"reader":{"schema":1,"title":"Most good logos are circles and rectangles cut into each other","courseTitle":"Vectors, Logos and Things That Get Printed","module":{"index":2,"slug":"drawing-curves","title":"Drawing curves people will pay for"},"answer":null,"keyIdea":"Assemble marks from exact primitives and cut them with booleans, duplicate before every boolean because it is destructive, and remember a hole that fills solid is a fill-rule problem, not a stacking one.","hero":{"kind":"plate","image":null,"alt":null,"caption":null},"blocks":[{"t":"h2","id":"stop-drawing-logos-freehand","runs":[{"text":"Stop drawing logos freehand"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Watch a beginner build a mark and they open a blank canvas and start clicking with the pen tool. Watch someone who does this for a living and they draw a circle, draw a rectangle, align them, and cut one out of the other. The pen tool comes out for the parts nothing else can make."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"There is a practical reason. A circle drawn with the ellipse tool is mathematically a circle. A circle drawn by hand with the pen tool is four slightly wrong curves, and at 6 metres or in a 16-pixel favicon, “slightly wrong” is what people see without being able to say why. Primitives are exact for free."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-five-boolean-operations","runs":[{"text":"The five boolean operations"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Select two or more objects and combine them:"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"Union","b":true},{"text":" (Weld in CorelDRAW) fuses them into one outline."}],[{"text":"Difference","b":true},{"text":" (Minus Front, Trim) removes the top shape from the one beneath."}],[{"text":"Intersection","b":true},{"text":" keeps only the overlap."}],[{"text":"Exclusion","b":true},{"text":" (Exclude, XOR) keeps everything except the overlap."}],[{"text":"Division","b":true},{"text":" (Divide, Break Apart) cuts the shapes into separate pieces along every intersection, which is the one people forget and the one that does the most work."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Where they live:"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"Inkscape","b":true},{"text":": the Path menu, and they are keyboard-driven, which makes them fast. Union "},{"text":"Ctrl++","b":true},{"text":", Difference "},{"text":"Ctrl+-","b":true},{"text":", Intersection "},{"text":"Ctrl+\\","b":true},{"text":"*, Exclusion "},{"text":"Ctrl+^","b":true},{"text":", Division "},{"text":"Ctrl+/","b":true},{"text":"."}],[{"text":"Illustrator","b":true},{"text":": the Pathfinder panel (Window > Pathfinder), and the Shape Builder tool, "},{"text":"Shift+M","b":true},{"text":": drag across regions to merge them, hold "},{"text":"Alt","b":true},{"text":" and drag to delete a region. Shape Builder is the fastest way to work and worth the hour it takes to get used to."}],[{"text":"CorelDRAW","b":true},{"text":": select two objects and Weld, Trim and Intersect appear on the property bar; the fuller set is in the Shaping docker. "},{"text":"Boundary","b":true},{"text":" creates a new outline around a selection, which is useful for making a knockout behind a group."}]]},{"t":"h2","id":"build-something-concrete","runs":[{"text":"Build something concrete"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A wifi mark. Four concentric circles, all centred. Convert the outer three to rings by subtracting a smaller copy of each. Draw a rectangle covering the lower half and rotate it to a wedge; select all and use Division, then delete everything outside the wedge. Add a dot. That is the mark, and it is exact, because every element started life as a mathematically perfect circle."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A play button. Circle, plus a triangle made from a three-point polygon, then Difference. Ten seconds."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Alignment does the rest of the work. Learn one thing per program: Illustrator’s "},{"text":"align to key object","b":true},{"text":": click one selected object again to make it the anchor, then align everything to it. Inkscape’s Align & Distribute dialog has a “Relative to” dropdown; set it to “Last selected”. CorelDRAW aligns with "},{"text":"C","b":true},{"text":" for centre-horizontally and "},{"text":"E","b":true},{"text":" for centre-vertically, and "},{"text":"P","b":true},{"text":" centres on the page."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"booleans-are-destructive-and-that-costs-people-work","runs":[{"text":"Booleans are destructive, and that costs people work"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Union throws away the originals. Difference throws away the cutter. There is no going back after you save and close."}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"Duplicate first. Keep an untouched copy on a locked layer named "},{"text":"source","code":true},{"text":". This costs nothing and saves an afternoon."}],[{"text":"Illustrator will make a "},{"text":"compound shape","b":true},{"text":" instead of a flattened path if you "},{"text":"Alt-click","b":true},{"text":" a Pathfinder button; the components stay editable inside it until you press Expand."}],[{"text":"Affinity Designer holds "},{"text":"Alt","b":true},{"text":" while clicking a boolean to keep the operation live, and it is better than the alternatives here: you can move the cutter afterwards and watch the result update."}],[{"text":"Inkscape has no live boolean. Duplicate first, or you are relying on undo."}]]},{"t":"h2","id":"the-bug-everyone-hits-the-hole-that-will-not-appear","runs":[{"text":"The bug everyone hits: the hole that will not appear"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"You make a ring by combining a big circle and a small one, and it previews as a solid disc."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"The cause is the "},{"text":"fill rule","b":true},{"text":". A shape with more than one subpath needs a rule for deciding which regions count as inside. "},{"text":"Non-zero winding","b":true},{"text":" counts a region as filled when the subpaths around it wind in the same direction, so two circles drawn the same way both count as inside and you get a disc. "},{"text":"Even-odd","b":true},{"text":" counts crossings, so the inner region is outside again and you get a hole."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Two fixes, both one click:"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"Reverse the direction of the inner path. Inkscape: Path > Reverse, "},{"text":"Shift+R","b":true},{"text":". Illustrator: the Reverse Path Direction button in the Attributes panel. CorelDRAW: with a compound path, use the Shape tool and reverse the subpath."}],[{"text":"Or set the object to even-odd fill. Inkscape’s Fill & Stroke dialog has the two buttons next to the fill type; Illustrator’s Attributes panel has “Even-Odd Fill Rule”; in SVG it is literally "},{"text":"fill-rule=\"evenodd\"","code":true},{"text":"."}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"This same rule is why a letter “O” imported from somewhere sometimes fills solid, and why a die-line with an interior window prints as a block."}]},{"t":"h2","id":"strokes-are-a-promise-not-a-shape","runs":[{"text":"Strokes are a promise, not a shape"}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"A stroke is a rendering instruction: draw this path, this many units wide. It is not geometry until you make it geometry. That matters in three places, so learn the command now:"}]},{"t":"ul","items":[[{"text":"Inkscape: Path > Stroke to Path, "},{"text":"Ctrl+Alt+C","b":true}],[{"text":"Illustrator: Object > Path > Outline Stroke"}],[{"text":"CorelDRAW: Object > Convert Outline to Object, "},{"text":"Ctrl+Shift+Q","b":true}]]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Do this before sending anything to a cutting plotter, a laser or an embroidery digitiser, and before applying a boolean to a stroked object. Also check “Scale strokes and effects” in your preferences: with it off, scaling a logo down leaves the stroke at its original weight, and your 2 mm outline becomes an inky mess at business-card size."}]},{"t":"p","runs":[{"text":"Everything in this lesson works identically in the free tools. Nothing here is behind a paywall."}]}],"check":{"question":[{"text":"Someone makes a ring by drawing a large circle and a smaller circle inside it and combining them into a single path. It previews as a solid disc with no hole. What has happened?"}],"options":[{"text":[{"text":"Both subpaths wind in the same direction and the non-zero fill rule counts the inner region as inside; reversing the inner path’s direction, or switching the object to even-odd fill, opens the hole."}],"correct":true,"tempting":null},{"text":[{"text":"The inner circle is behind the outer one in stacking order, so bringing it to the front will reveal the hole."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Pictures the hole as a white object stacked on top rather than as a region excluded by the fill rule."}]},{"text":[{"text":"The inner circle still carries a fill colour, and setting its fill to none will make the hole appear."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Applies a whole-object property to a subpath that no longer has a fill of its own once combined."}]},{"text":[{"text":"A union was applied where a difference was needed, so the only fix is to undo and re-run the operation as a difference."}],"correct":false,"tempting":[{"text":"Assumes the wrong operation was chosen, missing that a correctly combined compound path behaves exactly this way when the winding is wrong."}]}],"order":[1,3,0,2],"why":null},"prev":{"slug":"fewer-points-better-curves","title":"Your curves are lumpy because you used too many points","minutes":10},"next":{"slug":"the-pen-tool-in-four-moves","title":"The pen tool is four gestures","minutes":8}}}