Rounded, bevelled and fancy corners in Layout by Zaweba

Square corners are the default for a reason, but they are not always right. A rounded box looks friendlier on a children's leaflet, a bevelled corner suits a technical brochure, and a decorative corner can turn an ordinary panel into a label or a ticket. Corner options in Layout by Zaweba set the shape of each corner of a frame, and the change is live on the frame rather than a separate drawing.

The corner shapes on offer

There are five shapes. Rounded gives the familiar curved corner. Inverse rounded curves the other way, cutting a scoop into the corner, which looks like the corner of a ticket or a vintage label. Inset cuts a small square notch. Bevel cuts the corner off at an angle. Fancy is the decorative choice for certificates, menus and invitations.

Each comes with a size, so the same shape can be a subtle softening or a bold feature. Corners can be set per corner. A tab shape with only the top two corners rounded, a speech panel with one sharp corner, or a card with one bevelled corner are all simple to make this way.

Why live corners are better than drawn ones

Because corner options are live, the frame stays a frame. Resize it and the corners are drawn again for the new size instead of being stretched. Put a picture in it and the picture is clipped to the corner shape. Type in it and the text sits inside. Change your mind and you change the setting; nothing needs redrawing.

Compare that with drawing a rounded rectangle by hand and then converting it to a path. Once it is a path, resizing distorts the curves, and changing the corner size means redrawing it. Keep corners live unless you really need to edit the outline point by point with the Pen tools.

Good uses on real pages

Picture frames with rounded corners give a soft, modern feel to a newsletter or a website style brochure. Keep the size modest and consistent across the document, or the page looks unplanned.

Panels and boxes behind sidebars, tips or quotes benefit from a consistent corner. If the document has an object style for these boxes, put the corner option in the style, so every box shares it and a change to the style updates them all.

Tickets, vouchers and labels are where inverse rounded and fancy corners shine. Pair them with a dashed stroke from the Stroke panel for a tear line or a cut edge.

Buttons and tabs in an interactive PDF or a slide export read as buttons more clearly with rounded corners.

Mistakes to avoid with corner shapes

Mixing too many corner styles on one page is the main one. Pick one or two and repeat them. A page with rounded photos, bevelled boxes and fancy panels looks like a sampler.

Making corners too big for the frame causes odd shapes; a radius larger than half the frame's short side leaves nothing straight. Scale the size to the frame.

Rounding corners on pictures that need their edges, such as a product shot cut close to the frame, can crop important detail. Check the corners after applying.

Watch the stroke too. A thick stroke on a heavily rounded corner can look lumpy. A thinner stroke, or one aligned to the inside of the frame, usually looks cleaner.

Corners and the rest of the drawing tools

Corner options are the quick route to a lot of common shapes. When a shape needs more, Pathfinder can combine or subtract outlines, convert shape can turn a frame into a rounded or bevelled rectangle, and the Pen tools can edit points directly. Start with corner options, and only move on when the shape really needs it.