Tip of the Day: Illustrator Guides and Presets

One of the things I find a bit harsh and distracting in Adobe Illustrator is the cyan color of the guides/smart guides, which I'm constantly turning on and off as I'm working.  So, once upon a time, I decided that I'd had it and would give a different color a whirl. 

After trying a light-ish photo-pencil blue and lavender, I've settled on a desaturated green.  It really helps me use them but not be distracted by them.  To change the color on your machine, do the following ...

You'll get a dialog box like the one below.  Click the color swatch to change the color to your liking.  Easy as pie.

Additionally, because I'm turning them on and off so frequently, I have set up a hotkey, F1, to toggle them on and off.  I have big hands and can more easily reach Ctrl+U more easily than most, but I figure that if I can make it even simpler, then why not?  I haven't looked back. 

To customize your hotkeys ...

And you'll get this dialog box ...

   

When you press the 'F1' key to set that hotkey, you will probably get a warning at the bottom of the dialog box.  Just press 'OK', it's fine, I promise.  I'll try to make a video version of this (first ever, world premiere!) tonight if I find the time. 

Cheers,

G!