Create and edit vector masks

Create and edit vector masks in Adobe Illustrator — with the four heights of help laid out: do it now, make it easier for the next person to accept, work out the right move when you are stuck, and learn the pattern so it stops coming back.

4prompt heights
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The four heights

The same task, four distances: today's deadline, the next reviewer, the stuck moment, the pattern.

Execute — do the immediate task

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I need the attached artfile’s masks fixed so the logo can export correctly. Open the artwork, check…
I need the attached artfile’s masks fixed so the logo can export correctly. Open the artwork, check each masked group named Logo_Mask and Product_Halo, confirm the clipping path sits above the artwork, release any compound masks that hide strokes, and reapply single-layer vector masks so the art exports to SVG cleanly. Do not rasterize. Sign off when both masks pass the export preview at 1x and 2x on a transparent background.

Improve — make it easier to accept

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Before I hand this to production, make the masks obvious to a non-designer reviewer: show the…
Before I hand this to production, make the masks obvious to a non-designer reviewer: show the masked area as a faint colored overlay, list which shapes are being clipped and which strokes are preserved, and flag any mask that flattens gradients or removes live strokes. Move the mask outlines into a group named Masks_For_Review and add a one-line note on whether it’s safe for SVG export or needs rasterizing.

Decide — diagnose the stuck moment

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I exported the logo and the halo disappears in the SVG; Anna in web needs a fix and I can’t tell if…

Masked logo looks wrong after SVG export

I exported the logo and the halo disappears in the SVG; Anna in web needs a fix and I can’t tell if the mask or a compound path caused it. I’m worried about breaking client gradients. Which likely caused the disappearance, what immediate change gets a correct SVG for Anna, and what quick check would tell me I didn’t lose gradients?

Become — change the pattern

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On several accounts we keep losing live strokes and gradient fills when applying masks before…

Masks repeatedly fail SVG export

On several accounts we keep losing live strokes and gradient fills when applying masks before sending to web. What habitual step should I change in my workflow so masks are stable for SVG export, and what two quick checks before sending would prevent repeated rework from the web team?

Next to this one

Other vector design work people do in Adobe Illustrator.

Every task here came from the work, not from a feature list — which is why the prompts name what you want done and never the button that does it. The tool changes; the work does not.
Copyright © LLOS.ai · 2026 — original pedagogy, voice, and design — all rights reserved.

The rest of the map

Same library, five ways in.