What is Vector?
and why we love when you have it.
When working with one of our designers, you may find yourself being asked “Do you have that in vector form?”
At which point you may be thinking, “What does this mean? What am I looking for and how would I even find that?”
Let us help you help us make this process as smooth as the vector image you’re about to give us (Hint, hint).
Lets start off with some basics. More than likely, we will be dealing with two formats for your files.
Bitmap/Raster Image File Formats and Vector Image File Formats
Bitmap/Raster formats include: JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, and TIFF. If we are limited to this format, PNG is the best route to go, avoiding JPEG’s at all cost. When you think of JPEG, think Pixels. Pixels are bad. Speaking of pixels, dots per inch (DPI) or pixels per inch (PPI) will also determine whether your raster graphic is worthy. When using a design for web, 72 DPI is fine. When printing, your file needs to be at 300 DPI.
Do you want your logo looking like an 8-Bit graphic? Because that is how your logo ends up looking like an 8-Bit graphic.
Now that we know what to avoid, let’s talk about what we would love to see when asking for a file.
Vector file formats include: SVG, EPS, PDF, AI, DXF. These formats will allow us to process your design/logo. Whether you plaster it on billboards, print it on shirts or hand it out on business cards, the detail remains sharp and consistent throughout each application. Much professional.
If you have sifted through your files to no avail, don’t give up just yet. If possible, contact the creator of the
design/logo and see if they can give you access to the Vector format. We realize life isn’t fair and sometimes a vector version is just unobtainable. Here at Fingers Duke, our designers can recreate your JPEG of a logo into a crisp, high quality, resolution independent graphic. Because we are awesome. And you are awesome. And we want to make your experience and product as awesome as possible.
**Taking a JPEG and saving it, then exporting as a PDF is not going to help anyone.