In the pantheon of typographic sins, the underline has had a rough few decades. To the average word processor user, it’s a blunt instrument for emphasis. To a seasoned graphic designer, it’s often a relic—a clunky default best left to hyperlinks on a blue, clickable web.
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The default Illustrator underline is a brute. It is a single, thin stroke anchored to the font’s baseline. It doesn't care about descenders (the tails on 'g', 'j', 'p', 'q', or 'y'). It slices right through them like a laser through fog. For a legal document, this is fine. For a luxury logotype or an editorial headline? It’s typographic vandalism. illustrator underline
Welcome to the secret weapon of the Illustrator power user: . In the pantheon of typographic sins, the underline
But Adobe Illustrator is not Microsoft Word. It is a precision machine. And within that machine, the humble "Illustrator Underline" is not a single tool, but a philosophical fork in the road. Do you let the software decide where the line goes, or do you wrestle control for yourself? By [Your Name] The default Illustrator underline is