Pixel vs Vector
February 3, 2009 in Design by Richard

Pixels are great, actually photoshop would not exist if it wasn’t for pixel based images. Your camera  for instance takes 8 mega pixel images with its CCD sensor, and when saved that picture is made of 8 million building block elements each having a certain color intensity mode. When viewed at 100% on a monitor every line (even if the picture is taken incorrectly) looks perfectly smooth and straight, when viewed up close the picture soon becomes distorted and you can see each individual element creating it. This becomes a problem with print as each picture has its own DPI or PPI , which will determine its size. Standard prints print at 360(or 300) DPI, which means any low resolution file that is blown up will reveal jagged lines.

When Math and Graphics Meet

How do we solve this? Well of course we combine math and graphics together (math is the answer to everything after all). When a graphics editor uses geometric calculations, we get something that is called a vector based image, in which lines and each geometric shape has its value stored instead of individual blocks. This brings one major benefit to the print and design world… scalability. At any size the geometric equations that make the image can be recalculated according to the ratio asked of it. So for an image that you made just for someones business card, you can have the same amount of detail if it were possibly made big enough for a billboard picture. This is why it is essential for designers to learn and pickup on vector based programs such as Adobe illustrator, especially when creating a logo or brand.

Get Started

To get you started in the world of illustrator visit: 50 Illustrator Tutorials Every Designer should see

And of course if you have a client who doesn’t understand why you cant put that 200×200 pixel GIF logo they pulled off their site on a billboard, here is a video from MacMerc tv explaining.