: Distorting text in Illustrator only scales the middle instead of the whole letter I recently came across a Behance project showcasing a text effect I really like. Here is an example: However,

@Berryessa866

This is mostly down to choice of typeface and using that typefaces to its strengths... The only reason it works as it does in the example is because nothing is being distorted other than the "length" of certain straight segments. Conversely that's why your attempt didn't work; you're blindly stretching whatever was between a bunch of points you selected. So you end up distorting curves and angles and extending crossbars in the wrong direction.

So either use an appropriate typeface to create the effect you want, or as Vincent says, add extra points to curves so that you have a smaller segment to stretch (but that isn't going to achieve the same effect).

I recently did something similar with a typeface of my own. Something similar to this:



The original (i.e. unmodified) type, looked like this:



You'll notice that all I have done is extend straight "lines"; no curves have been distorted. This works particularly well because everything is at 90 degree angles, if you're working with any other angles then it's going to get very tricky to make things fit.

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@Chiappetta793

This is a classic example of 'it looks so easy until you try'. You can do this, but you'll have to manually edit each letter into its stretched form, sometimes adding extra anchors and editing curves.

For example for the C, add four anchor points on both sides of the shape: two just above the vertical middle, one on each side, and two below, one on each side:



Then, select all anchors on the bottom side of the shape, excluding those in the exact middle, and move them down.

For other letters like E or A you will have to use other tricks to prevent weird effects, like the middle bar of the E stretching to a huge block. In that case, you stretch the two gaps separately.

An easier alternative is to look for typefaces that come pre-made in this style, which are usually called 'condensed', and use them at huge sizes.

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