Solving the Age-Old Type-on-a-Circle Mystery in Illustrator

To place type on a circle, you simply click a circle (path) with the Path Type tool and begin typing. Putting text on both the top and the bottom of a circle (without half the text turning upside-down), however, isn’t as easy. All the type on a path must have the same orientation, which can be right-side up or upside down but not a mix of the two.

Read through the following steps to discover how to place type on the top of a circle. Then read through the next set of steps to discover how to put type on the bottom of the same circle.

Here’s how to put type on the top of a circle:
1. Select the Ellipse tool (which looks like an oval) from the Toolbox to draw a circle. Press the Shift key while you draw to change the oval into a perfect circle.
2. Select the Path Type tool from the Toolbox and click the top of the circle.
A blinking insertion point appears on the top of the circle.
3. Type your text.
Notice that the type starts to run down the right side of the circle. Don’t worry; it’s all part of the plan.
4. In the Paragraph palette, click the Align Center button.
You can find the Paragraph palette by choosing Window➪Type➪Paragraph. The Align Center button is the second button from the left along the top row of buttons in the Paragraph palette. After you click the Align Center button, the text centers itself on the top of the circle.

Here’s how to put type in the bottom of a circle:
1. Select the regular Selection tool from the Toolbox and then click the circle text that you created in the previous step list.
An I-beam cursor appears at the point where you click.
2. Press the Alt key (Option on a Mac), hold down the mouse button, and with the Selection tool drag the I-beam to the bottom of the circle.
Don’t releases the mouse button until you move the cursor up into the circle just a bit.
Holding the Alt key (Option on a Mac) duplicates the text while you drag it. Doing so also duplicates the circle that the text is on — but because that circle is invisible, you won’t see it. Moving the cursor into the circle flips the type so that you can read it right-side up on the bottom and at the top of the circle.
3. In the Character palette, click the down triangle of the Baseline Shift field until the type appears outside (below) the circle.
The Baseline Shift field is at the bottom left of the Character palette. If it isn’t visible, choose Show Options from the Character palette’s pop-up menu.
4. Select the Type tool from the Toolbox and then select the type at the bottom of the circle.
5. Type the text that you want to appear at the bottom of the circle.

In this set of steps, you actually create two separate circles with type on them. Because the circles overlap precisely, however, you get the illusion that the type is on just one circle. If you click and drag the circle with the Selection tool, you drag away the circle with the text in the bottom, thus destroying the illusion.