Creating a simple "ratings certificate" logo

[GarryP]

Here's a little tutorial showing how you can quickly make a ratings certificate logo by using only Scribus.

You can find the finished example and other relevant screenshots below.

You will need to have a basic grasp of how to use Scribus to get through this tutorial as I won't be explaining every little step but it's not very difficult.

The Set-up

1. Create a text frame and enter the repeated text for the "background text". I've used Gill Sans Bold at 15pt in black with a fixed line spacing of 20pt and a character scaling height of 140%.
2. Create a circle for the outline. I've used 200pt height/width with a 2pt line width in black.
3. Use "Item -> Transform" to create a smaller copy of the outline. I used a scaling factor of 85% and set the origin of scaling the centre (just to make sure it looks okay). Remember to make the number of copies 1 before okaying the dialog to make a copy.
4. Change the colour and line width of the inner circle. I used the standard Red and made it 6pt wide.
5. Duplicate the inner circle for later use.
6. Create the "label text". I've used Gill Sans Bold again, this time at 80pt in Red with a character scaling height of 140% and given it a black shadow.

You should now have everything you need to begin the more complicated stuff. But don't worry, it's not very complicated, it just takes a little bit of patience. (See the screenshot to make sure you've got it all.)

The Background Text

1. Select the text frame and choose "Item -> Convert To -> Outlines".
2. Select again, then right-click and choose "Ungroup".
3. With all the characters selected choose "Item -> Combine Polygons".

The text should look exactly as it did when it was in a text frame.

4. Drag the duplicated circle over the text so that they're nicely aligned, or use "Window -> Align and Distribute" to let Scribus do it automatically.
5. Drag-select both the circle and text then choose "Item -> Path Tools -> Path Operations".
6. Select the "Intersection of Shapes" operation icon and OK the dialog. (It doesn't matter in which order the shapes were selected or which colours are used as we'll change them next.)

The text might look pretty horrible just now but don't worry.

7. With the text selected, set the Outline colour to None and the Fill colour to Red.

The text should look much better now.

8. Change the Fill to a Horizontal Gradient and here's the tricky part. You need to set Red gradient stops at the start of each text "column" and White gradient stops at the end of each text "column". Where you set the stops will depend on the text you've used. I've used Red: 0%, 35%, 70% and White: 32%, 67% and 100%. (See the relevant screenshot.)
9. Once you've got the stops nicely positioned select each one and set its Shade to 70% to make the colour a bit lighter so it doesn't clash with the "label text".

Now you can start to bring everything together.

Finishing Up

1. Drag-select - or shift-select - the two remaining circles and the background text and use the "Align and Distribute" palette to centre them all vertically and horizontally.
2. Drag the "label text" over the other items to where it looks right.

And you're done. Simple really.

You can make similar but different logos by changing the background colour of the inner circle and setting different gradient colours on the background text. See the other examples.

I hope you've found this interesting and/or useful.

[attachment deleted by admin]