Create a Stylized First Aid Icon in Illustrator
Download Source Files
In this tutorial we’ll use a combination of craft and Illustrator’s 3D tools to create a first aid icon. You can use the techniques you learn in this tutorial to create realistic rounded box icons of your choice. This works well for complex icons at large sizes and scales down nicely.
Final Image Preview
Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Vector Plus for just 9$ a month.
Tutorial Details
- Program: Adobe Illustrator CS4
- Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate
- Estimated Completion Time: 1 hour
Step 1
Open up a new document and select the Rectangle Tool (M). Create a rectangle and fill it with red.
Step 2
Got to Effect > Stylize > Round Corners and apply a radius of 30pt to the rectangle. Go to Object > Expand Appearance. This will apply the rounded corners. Make a copy of the shape, as we’ll need it again later.
Step 3
Now go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel and apply the settings you see in the image below. Make sure you add an extra highlight and a bevel.
Step 4
Go to Effect > Stylize > Drop Shadow and choose the settings you see in the image below.
Step 5
Create a rectangle filled with gray. This will become the cross for the first aid icon. I filled it with gray for now, but later we will change it to white.
Step 6
Select the rectangle, hit Command + C + F (this will paste the object on top) and then select it with the Selection Tool (V) and rotate it 45 degrees.
Step 7
Select the two rectangles and apply the Unite option in the Pathfinder Palette.
Step 8
Apply another round corner effect (see Step 2) and set the radius to 12pt.
Step 9
Once the shape has been expanded (Object > Expand Appearance), fill it with white.
Step 10
With the cross still selected, open up the Symbols Palette and drag the cross into it. Name it "Cross" and set the type to Graphic.
Step 11
Go back to the red box and open up the Appearance Palette. There, double-click the 3D Extrude & Bevel layer to edit the effect. In the pop-up window, click on Map Art, choose “surface 1″ and select the "Cross" we just added into the Symbols Palette. Place it into the middle of the box top.
Step 12
This is what we have so far for the first aid icon.
Step 13
Let’s create an illusion of a separation to the box, so it looks like it has a top and a bottom that opens up. Take the copy of the rectangle we made in Step 2 and set the fill to none and the stroke to 1pt red.
Step 14
Select the object and go to Object > Path > Outline stroke.
Step 15
Apply the same 3D Extrude & Bevel Settings from Step 3, but add no Bevel and set the Extrude Depth to 5pt.
Step 16
Create a rectangle and fill it with a white to black gradient. Place it on top of the rectangle we just created. Make sure you set the gradient direction like you see in the image below. We will add an Opacity Mask and the black will hide the object and the white color will show it.
Step 17
Select the object and the gradient and go to the Transparency Palette and click on the small arrow on the right and apply the Opacity Mask.
Step 18
This is what it should look like.
Step 19
Now move the object on top of the box.
Step 20
Let’s get on to the box clips. Create three similar shapes like you see in the image below. These object are fairly easy to create. Fill them with gray and the compound object with a gradient of black to white.
Step 21
Apply a 3D Extrude & Bevel again.
Step 22
Once you applied the 3D effect on all three objects, move them together. These three objects make up the clip for the first aid box.
Step 23
Group the three shapes (Command + G) and make a copy. Then place them on the front of the first aid box.
Step 24
Last but nor least, create a shape with the Pen Tool (P) and fill it with a white to gray to white linear gradient. Place it on top of the box and set the Opacity in the Transparency Palette to 80%. This will be the highlight of the first aid icon.
Conclusion
This is the final image. I create a 384px, a 192px, a 64px, and a 32px version. Even as small as 32px, the first aid icon is till recognizable. I hope you had fun creating this little icon.
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By Simona Pfreundner
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Great tutorial and nice icon, excellent work Simona! :)
thanks for sharing this tutorial and easy to understand and using the 3d tool is good. learned few things from this !
I think you got the whole thing working in the first 3 steps :)
very nice icon and I love it :)
Good and simple tutorial, but why the quality of the images is so low?
nice icon, the gather clams looks a little too flat, but it`s very nice, nicely done
Another well explained tutorial.
Really nice. I like that.
Simple and great result.
Thanks for sharing.
I absolutely! love it! Thank you.
Great tutorial. I like the use of 3D Extrude & Bevel, Map Art, and the Opacity Mask. Thank-you!
Thanks for this tutorial! It’s always good to learn more abiout 3-D
In step 6, shouldn’t the rotation be 90 degrees, not 45?
your are right, it should be 90 degrees.
What’s the purpose of the rounded corners on the “Cross” symbol? The cross on top does not have rounded corners. I don’t get it.
I think that is a mistake? Surely it should have round corners?
It surely should have…must have saved the wrong images. I originally had it without rounded corners. Robert, the purpose is a personal preference…just that.
I like this, simple and effective.
One tip though, with the clasps, if you group the 2 grey shapes and then apply 3d extrude, they extrude together and accurately. On a further note, you need to adjust the 3d and size settings on both the clamps so they both fit with the vanishing points of the box.
Here’s my version :) http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_EaAhq2URYEc/S4M9i8Rfn6I/AAAAAAAAAu0/obsa-hYqK6w/s1600/First%2Baid%2Bbox.jpg
Love it ! Great tutorial. Thank you.
Nice Tutorial, but the Icon is not first Aid. It’s the Swiss Flag. I need to know it because I’m Swiss :D. You need to change the colours and then it’s first Aid ^^
Dear Simon, you have problems with the box clips. They are not properly located.
Nice tutorial, very well done! But as a proud swiss citizen I need to intervene! First Aid, Paramedics, etc..(all health and hospital related stuff) red cross on white background, Switzerland (the country and founding place of the red cross) white cross on red background. This mixup seems to only occur in the states, never less I had to point it out with, since we swiss take life rather serious…
P.s. don’t take my comment to serious
P.p.s Kind regards from Switzerland and again, very nice tutorial
I apologize for for the mix up. We shall call it a Swiss Aid Icon :). I should know better as a European :). The Americas have polluted my mind…
Thanks for pointing it out. I do appreciate it.
Both of you are partly wrong… The white cross on red is the Swiss flag, the red cross on white is a brand name… the Red Cross brand… and if you use it without their approval it’s a copyright infringment.
The universal medical color is green.. it should be a white cross on green background.
I know they are missused everywhere though.
Your are not the only one, smile, have a look at the olympic games, a swiss cross beside the dopping test and the first aid room.
Red, white, green, blue. We all know what it means. We see a box with a cross on it we don’t first assume. “Hey, a Swiss kit!” more often than not you know that it is a first aid kit and thats all that matters. And I would like to see the Red Cross bitch about first aid kits with the red on white… I think that was a terrible copyright move.
Blessed America open your eyes
its really cool effect and easy to create.
very stunning. nice done, Simona.
Thanks a lot, I’m a relative beginner and learned plenty here
Very usefeul to begin with 3d tools and shapes
Thank you for the tutorial! Great stuff!
That having been said, I have some problems with creating smaller “first aid boxes”.
I try to scale my original size box and the “Embosses and Extrudes” as well as the white cross won’t scale with the rest. I know I’m missing something here.
Thank you for the help
Actually, this is a Swiss flag, not a First Aid icon. The real First Aid icon always shows a white cross on a green ground. There’s also the Red Cross organization, which uses a red cross on white ground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_aid
http://blisstree.com/feel/this-is-not-the-first-aid-symbol/?utm_source=blisstree&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=b5hubs_migration
I found many tools with your tutorial! and I posted on my blog the result … was beautiful!
thank you for your dedication.
beijos from Brazil!
After Adding “+” to Surface 1, My design is getting disturbed. can u let me know why is this happening? I tried several times but not getting. ………….Pat
Love it ! Great tutorial. Thank you for sharing :)
the box is great bro, but those box clips are horrible…
Great tut man. I have done several of your tutorials and learned more about Illustrator than I would hav ever found out on my own. Thanks so much for having these out there!
Very comprehensive and useful tutorial. With the help of your tutorial I’ve managed to create a first aid kit, check it out here: http://www.creattor.com/vectors/first-aid-kit-39. I modified it a little bit, to not be exactly the same with the above one.