How to do Subscript in Illustrator

What is a subscript and how do you create it? In the following tutorial, you will learn how to do subscript in Illustrator. We'll use the Magdelin font from Envato Elements to better exemplify subscript in Illustrator.

Interested in learning more about working with fonts in Illustrator? Check out these resources as well:

What You'll Learn in This Illustrator Tutorial

What is subscript?
How to do subscript in Illustrator

What Is Subscript?

Superscript is text reduced in size in relation to the existing font size and lowered in relation to the baseline. The baseline is the invisible line on which letters sit.

How to Do Subscript in Illustrator

To add subscript in Illustrator, you need to go to the Character panel.

You can either go to Window > Type > Character or use the Control-T keyboard shortcut to open this panel. Open the fly-out menu from the Character panel and go to Show Options to get access to the extra text-editing options.

Use the Type Tool (T) to select characters from your text and simply click the Subscript button from the Character panel to add subscript in Illustrator.

Alternatively, you can open the fly-out menu from the Character panel and go to Subscript to add subscript in Illustrator.

Illustrator applies a predefined baseline shift and font size value for each subscript. These settings are percentages of the existing font size and leading value.

To adjust these predefined settings, go to File > Document Setup. Move to the Type section, and you can simply adjust the Size and Position percentages for Subscript text.

Congratulations! You're Done!

Now that you know how to do subscript in Illustrator, feel free to use the technique in your future projects.

You can find some great sources of inspiration at Envato Elements, with interesting solutions to improve your design portfolio.

Want to Learn More?

We have loads of tutorials on Envato Tuts+, from beginner to intermediate level. Take a look!