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So What’s the Deal With Vector?

May 5th, 2010

This type of Vector - although delicious and high in fibre - is not what were talking about

This type of Vector - although delicious and high in fibre - is not what we're talking about

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

If you’ve ever gone to a sign shop, cresting/embroidery shop, or any design and printing house to get your marketing materials designed or printed, there’s a good chance that one of the very first questions you’ll be presented with is, “Can you supply us with a vector of your logo?” Your first instinct may be to reply, “A logo? Sure! I’ll send a JPEG over as soon as I get back to the office.” But do you really know what you are providing?

There are two general types of image files – raster and vector. Best defined, a raster file is a bitmap image consisting of a simple grid of pixels that can be compressed into different formats including *.gif or *.jpeg. So those photos you uploaded to Facebook of your 4 year old nephew’s birthday party where he lit his scalp on fire while attempting to blow out the candles – those are raster files. The same goes for those animated clipart graphics of a dancing fish that your distant relatives send you every week despite the fact that you’ve only met them once in your life. (You were only 7 at the time, but somehow they’ve tracked you down through the power of the interwebs… and your mother who sent them your Hotmail address.)

If you’ve ever tried to take a JPEG image and enlarge it to fit on a poster, you’ll notice that the image becomes blurry. The problem with raster files is that when enlarged, each square within that grid also becomes enlarged and your image processing software has no idea what to do with all of that extra new space. It tries to fill it the best it can, but it’s still guessing what each new pixel should look like.

raster

A vector file is much more complex. Vector files use a series of points, lines and various geometric equations to determine what an image looks like. A vector image can fit on the side of a pen or on the side of the Empire State Building and keep the same quality, crispness and detail. Some file types generally associated with vector files include *.ai and *.eps.

vector

It’s quite possible that your company may not have a logo version in vector format. If you’ve created your company logo yourself or purchased one from an online logo creation website, you may not have a vector logo at your disposal. Also, if your company predates the digital age for logo design (back when everything was created through the CMYK layering process), it’s possible that you’ve never had a need to have a vector logo on hand. All reasoning aside, if you’re going to be printing anything from now on, it’s always a good idea to have a vector logo on hand. Some print shops may even charge you for having to recreate your logo in vector format if they require it for the printing process. It’s always a good idea to ask the print shop what type of formats they prefer, since every printer setup is different. If you’re supplying them with a CorelDraw 4 file from 1993 for example, there’s probably a good chance they won’t be able to use it.

If you’d prefer not to be the punchline of every inside joke at your local print shop and would rather be prepared for printing in any medium, contact Point.Click Media.

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Posted in Branding Tips, General News on May 5th, 2010

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