My Favorite Hidden Feature in Illustrator: The Width Tool!

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to share something that completely changed the way I work in Illustrator — the Width Tool (Shift + W). I've been using Illustrator for a while now (mostly for logo design and vector illustrations), but for some reason I always overlooked this tool until recently. Now, I can't believe I ignored it for so long!

The Width Tool lets you adjust the thickness of a stroke at specific points along a path. It's super intuitive — just click and drag anywhere on the path, and it creates these width markers that you can tweak. You can get really organic, hand-drawn line effects without having to expand strokes or mess with shapes.

Here’s how I used it recently:

I was working on a minimalist fox logo and wanted the tail to have this swooshy, dynamic feel — thicker at the curve and thinner at the tip. Instead of creating multiple shapes or brushes, I just used the Width Tool on a single stroked path and got exactly the look I was after.

Bonus Tip: After tweaking with the Width Tool, you can save that stroke profile and apply it to other paths — super useful for keeping your design consistent.

A few things I learned along the way:

• You can double-click the width point to get numeric control over the start and end.

• Combining the Width Tool with Variable Width Profiles adds even more flexibility.

• It works great with brushes too — especially if you're trying to get that “inking” style look.

Anyway, just wanted to share that in case anyone else hasn’t explored it much. Would love to hear how you use it — or if there are other underused tools you swear by. 😊

Cheers,