: How to make a 'D' shape out of circles (that follow the curved path)? I am creating a logo for an NGO and it must contain the letter 'D'. They've required it to be similar to this one:

@Tiffany317

Here's what I did. May not be the most graceful approach, but I was able to get most of the way there in a few minutes in Adobe Illustrator.


Create just a simple circle. This will be the basis for your new brush.
With the circle selected, create a new Pattern brush. I'd recommend opening the Brushes panel (Window > Brushes). Click the "new brush" icon in the bottom right.
Create the letter you want to mimic out of your selected type face. Outline the text, and delete all but the outer path. (I chose to go this route instead of applying the stroke to both inner and outer paths. Might take some trial and error here)
Apply your new brush to the remaining stroke. You should see it as circles all smashed up right next to each other. Double click the brush in the Brushes panel and make sure Preview is checked. Expand the spacing until you get the spacing you want. For me 50% looked pretty good.
Now you have one line of circles. Duplicate the path and scale it down. Now you have 2 lines of circles. Repeat this step however many times it takes.
When you're all done making your paths, expand all the strokes to make all the circles editable. You can now delete the single circles you'd like.


If you're really wanting to make a type shape, it might be good to overlay that type character so you make sure you're staying within the bounds of that type shape.

Here's a quick and dirty image of the steps I went through.


I hope this sends you down the path to what you're trying to make. An obligatory note, please don't just recreate what is already in logo referenced above. It's a great inspirational piece and a great launching board to some other great ideas. Build upon it and best of luck!

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