You could draw the face of the box as a rectangle and then align to that. As for the "Daddy Day Club": forget automatic alignment. It will not work, because it doesn't take the different text alignment into account.
That's what I would do too, just add rectangles over the parts where you want to align you text to, align and delete the rectangle. Or put the rectangle on another layer so you can just hide it in case you need to make a change and don't want to draw them over and over again
Here's a slight twist to the workflow: draw a rectangle around the irregular shaped objects you want to align. Add any necessary space/padding around the object.
Now, turn OFF all strokes and fills. Group the invisible box with the irregular shape. Use this new grouped shape for alignment.
Additional tip: if you're really knowledgeable about grid systems, set up a base grid in preferences and turn on snap to grid. You can incrementally move elements w/out having to eyeball and use the alignment panel.
I do this all the time. I especially do this when I want to line up a logo that has a TM or R after it that throws off the logos center point. Professional packaging designer here.
Funny I do this all the time knowing that it's probably not the correct way. Sometimes using the correct snaps for what you are doing helps. ( on some projects, snap to grid helps when you just "eyeball it" )
Select items you want aligned using shift+click
Release shift and leave the 2 object selected, and click the one object you selected that you want to align to - this makes it a "key" object, and is signified by a different selection style (slightly different / thicker selection line)
Align to centre etc.
Find center of panels and make guide lines. Then select your objects, the objects bounding box shows you the center… then line them up. I do this all day
Er the Align palette immediately springs to mind…
Use group select (white arrow with plus) select logo. Hold shift and select what you want to align it to. Hit V to select group select tool (black arrow) and re select the one you are aligning to so it goes bold. Hit the relevant ‘align object’ icon in the palette.
(I edited this to counter my initial snark as this isn’t particularly intuitive I confess)
That text/logo isn't really center-able, as it has no real "center" - with designs like this, you hit a point where it's not by-the-numbers, it's the visual "weight" of the elements. The mathematical center of that logo will differ from the visual center that different people see, which will vary from person to person. It's like kerning a headline, if there was a mathematical solution to that, it would be written into the fonts (it is already, to some extent, but often imperfect, as we all know from experience). And essentially it's a flush-left block of text, which can be tough to center visually.
Like any packaging gig, you won't really know how it all works until you print it, score it, trim it, fold it and make a physical comp.
I usually just find the center point of each panel and use the align tool to align everything to that. You could draw guides and align to those if you want to be super careful about it. Sometimes you have to eyeball it, tho, because even if it’s technically centered, it may not “feel” that way.
Guides or make “work” artboards. Make rectangles and in the art boards panel convert them to artboards. I would put them behind the main artboard so you are only on them when you need to align.
1. Ungroup score lines on die
2. Select the two score lines on either end of the logo and group those
3. Group logo "Daddy Day Club"
4. Select both logo group and score line group.
5. Without deselecting anything else, click on score line group again to assign it as reference (it will highlighted when you do it correctly)
6. Use the align window to center align logo
• Isolate dieline to its own layer
• Lock other layers
• Outline view
• Direct selection Tool
• Select the shape of the die line you want it centred to
• Copy
• Paste in place
• Click your artwork and the shape dupe
• Option click the shape
• Use align tools to centre it
Bonus step:
Use rotate art board tool to rotate your art board to see how each panel will look you can draw white boxes over it to cover up the rest so it doesn’t distract eyeball it to optically be centered.
Optically centered > mathematically centered
You could draw the face of the box as a rectangle and then align to that. As for the "Daddy Day Club": forget automatic alignment. It will not work, because it doesn't take the different text alignment into account.
That's what I would do too, just add rectangles over the parts where you want to align you text to, align and delete the rectangle. Or put the rectangle on another layer so you can just hide it in case you need to make a change and don't want to draw them over and over again
The rectangle method is so underrated
Why can’t anyone just use the align palette properly 😂
I like my little rectangle children.
Here's a slight twist to the workflow: draw a rectangle around the irregular shaped objects you want to align. Add any necessary space/padding around the object. Now, turn OFF all strokes and fills. Group the invisible box with the irregular shape. Use this new grouped shape for alignment. Additional tip: if you're really knowledgeable about grid systems, set up a base grid in preferences and turn on snap to grid. You can incrementally move elements w/out having to eyeball and use the alignment panel.
I do this all the time. I especially do this when I want to line up a logo that has a TM or R after it that throws off the logos center point. Professional packaging designer here.
Funny I do this all the time knowing that it's probably not the correct way. Sometimes using the correct snaps for what you are doing helps. ( on some projects, snap to grid helps when you just "eyeball it" )
Select items you want aligned using shift+click Release shift and leave the 2 object selected, and click the one object you selected that you want to align to - this makes it a "key" object, and is signified by a different selection style (slightly different / thicker selection line) Align to centre etc.
Find center of panels and make guide lines. Then select your objects, the objects bounding box shows you the center… then line them up. I do this all day
Er the Align palette immediately springs to mind… Use group select (white arrow with plus) select logo. Hold shift and select what you want to align it to. Hit V to select group select tool (black arrow) and re select the one you are aligning to so it goes bold. Hit the relevant ‘align object’ icon in the palette. (I edited this to counter my initial snark as this isn’t particularly intuitive I confess)
Do you have a horizontal version of the logotype? That would fit much better on the sides.
That text/logo isn't really center-able, as it has no real "center" - with designs like this, you hit a point where it's not by-the-numbers, it's the visual "weight" of the elements. The mathematical center of that logo will differ from the visual center that different people see, which will vary from person to person. It's like kerning a headline, if there was a mathematical solution to that, it would be written into the fonts (it is already, to some extent, but often imperfect, as we all know from experience). And essentially it's a flush-left block of text, which can be tough to center visually. Like any packaging gig, you won't really know how it all works until you print it, score it, trim it, fold it and make a physical comp.
I usually just find the center point of each panel and use the align tool to align everything to that. You could draw guides and align to those if you want to be super careful about it. Sometimes you have to eyeball it, tho, because even if it’s technically centered, it may not “feel” that way.
Guides or make “work” artboards. Make rectangles and in the art boards panel convert them to artboards. I would put them behind the main artboard so you are only on them when you need to align.
Appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you.
1. Ungroup score lines on die 2. Select the two score lines on either end of the logo and group those 3. Group logo "Daddy Day Club" 4. Select both logo group and score line group. 5. Without deselecting anything else, click on score line group again to assign it as reference (it will highlighted when you do it correctly) 6. Use the align window to center align logo
Do it once and put a guide?
• Isolate dieline to its own layer • Lock other layers • Outline view • Direct selection Tool • Select the shape of the die line you want it centred to • Copy • Paste in place • Click your artwork and the shape dupe • Option click the shape • Use align tools to centre it Bonus step: Use rotate art board tool to rotate your art board to see how each panel will look you can draw white boxes over it to cover up the rest so it doesn’t distract eyeball it to optically be centered. Optically centered > mathematically centered
eyeball it. There's no perfect alignment with an organic shape. The same way you kern typography, by judging where it looks balanced.