Guides / Swish
How to add a swoosh to text in Illustrator
Draw the swoosh with the Pen tool or a Width-profile brush stroke, then join it to an outlined letter with Pathfinder › Unite. JuicyType's Swish effect draws a tail from the end of the word, on live type, with curl, height, wave and tail-tip controls.
JuicyType Swish · screen recording goes hereSkip to JuicyType ↓
The manual way, in Illustrator
- Duplicate the text and Type › Create Outlines on the copy.
- With the Pen tool draw a curve out of the last letter's terminal, then apply a tapered Width Profile from the Stroke panel.
- Object › Expand Appearance the stroke, select it with the letter, and click Unite in Pathfinder.
- Tidy the join with the Smooth tool.
A hand-drawn swoosh belongs to one word; change the text and it has to be redrawn.
Steps drafted from Illustrator's documentation; to be checked in Illustrator 2025–2026 before launch.
Or, with JuicyType
Swish with JuicyType
Select the text, open the JuicyType panel, choose Swish, and drag. It is a live effect, so the text stays editable and every control can be changed later.
- Curl0–100, default 60
- Height0–150%, default 28
- Wave0–100, default 20
- Slope−20 to 20°
- Ratio0–80, default 29
- Length50–150%
- Tail tipHorse / Shark / Duck / Rat / Beaver / Fox / Monkey tail
- Size−100 to 100, default 50
- H.Shiftfine horizontal position
- Swish positionAbove text / Under text
- Gapon/off, with a weave gap amount
JuicyType≡
Swish✓
Curl
Height
Wave
Keep live text●
Apply
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Common questions
Are there fonts with swooshes built in?
Yes, many script fonts have swash alternates in the Glyphs panel. JuicyType's swoosh attaches to any font and stays editable.