Vector vs. Raster

July 2, 2013

Designers and printers always request customer logos as vector files. Not sure exactly what that means? Questioning why a jpg just won’t work?

Here’s a quick breakdown of vector vs. raster…

Think of a vector image as a solid color geometric shape. It’s created from points, lines and curves using a mathematical formula. Vector files are scalable and can be enlarged indefinitely – perfect for your logo. This means that at any size, from business cards to billboards, your company’s emblem will have smooth, crisp edges. (Vector files are usually saved as .eps format.)

In contrast, raster images cannot be sized up without losing detail and quality.So that logo you pulled from your website is no good for print. But raster images do have their purpose. Your product photography, for example, is a raster file and is made up of thousands of tiny dots of color called pixels. All of these little pixels fit together to give your photo its detail, shading and texture. A high resolution photo shows gradients and subtleties no vector can. Just make sure your photos are at least 300 dpi (dots per inch) and they’ll print beautifully. (Raster files are usually saved as .jpg or .tif format.)

Still unsure if your files are good to go? No vector file to be found? In many cases your logo can be easily recreated as a vector file. Contact us to learn more.