What Even Are Vector Graphics?
A tale as old as time. You or someone you love has been given a task of the graphical nature, and you have absolutely no idea what a vector graphic is — but you know that you need to get one, and you need to get it soon. What to do? Who to call? Do you actually already have one in your inbox somewhere? Fear not! We’re here to help soothe your worries and talk you through this age-old conundrum.
Simply put, vector graphics are graphics that are infinitely scalable, and are made of curves, lines, and points, rather than pixels.
Still with us? Let’s keep going, and let’s focus on the “infinitely scalable” part.
You know when you go to the corner store and you see a homemade flyer with an image blown up to a size that it definitely wasn’t supposed to be blown up to, and now you can see a bunch of grainy pixels and the image loses its clarity? That image was not a vector graphic — because it was not infinitely scalable. It has fixed dimensions contained within its pixels, which means it’s a raster graphic. This means that if it’s ever scaled past those fixed dimensions, it will lose its integrity and the details will get swallowed up by our good old square friends, the pixels. Whatever software the image was created with, it was at some point exported or saved out as a static, raster graphic format — a .JPEG, a .PNG, or a .GIF — making it so that the image cannot be scaled up, only scaled down.
Raster vs. Vector
Let’s talk about the greener side of the grass. Let’s say someone made a lovely digital illustration for you and you wanna get it printed on a giant banner for your next family reunion. Thankfully, they knew their stuff and they’re worth their salt, so they sent you the file as an .EPS because they didn’t want the guys from the print shop to come after you with pitchforks asking for a vector graphic! Although the actual dimensions of the illustration may have been only as large as your illustrator’s desktop screen, this .EPS file can be infinitely scaled to fit your banner without losing integrity — meaning you could use it for anything from a yard sign to a billboard!
TL;DR: Vector graphics can be made bigger or smaller and will retain clarity at any size, while raster graphics can only be faithfully reproduced at the resolution they are currently at, or smaller.
Here’s our handy dandy list of vector vs. raster file extensions — some exceptions detailed below.
Vector
You can scale these files as big as your dreams — the limit does not exist!
AI (Adobe Illustrator)
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript)
SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
CDR (CorelDRAW)
Raster
Though these might be “high resolution” files, you cannot scale them limitlessly. Past a certain size, pixelation will occur.
JPG or JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
PNG (Portable Graphics Format)
GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
HEIF (High Efficiency Image File)
RAW (commonly used in professional photography)
BMP (bitmap)
Somewhere in between
The following file types are a wildcard — they can be completely vector, but they might also include raster elements that could affect scalability. When in doubt, consult with your favorite graphic designer.
PDF (Portable Document Format)
PSD (Adobe Photoshop)
INDD (Adobe InDesign)
Congrats! You’ve made it to the end of our graphic design lesson. Whether you need help to spruce up an outdated rasterized logo file, or you want a shiny brand new one, we can help! Check out some examples of past Swash work or give us a shout to get a project rolling. ✨