When necessary, always create a JPG or PNG for use on the web from this master vector file. Your company logo and brand graphics should be created as a vector and saved as a master file so you can use it with smaller items such as your business card and letterhead, but also on larger surfaces, such as your corporate jet. Constructed using mathematical formulas rather than individual colored blocks, vector file types such as EPS, AI and PDF* are excellent for creating graphics that frequently require resizing. Vector images, alternatively, allow for more flexibility. Therefore, it is important that you save raster files at precisely the dimensions needed to eliminate possible complications.

This is why altered photos may appear pixilated or low resolution. When stretched to fit a space they werenвЂ™t designed to fill, their pixels become visibly grainy and the image distorts. Almost all of the photos found on the web and in print catalogs are raster images.Д«ecause raster images are constructed using a fixed number of colored pixels, they canвЂ™t be dramatically resized without compromising their resolution. JPEGs, GIFs and PNGs are common raster image types. Raster images use many colored pixels or individual building blocks to form a complete image.

We can start making sense of the issue by clarifying the difference between the two major image types вЂ“ raster and vector. As a marketer, understanding the importance and role of different image file types is essential to ensuring your brand is properly represented and to better communicate with designers, developers and printers.

However, that request is often met with blank stares or responses like вЂњcanвЂ™t you just pull the logo from my site?вЂќ. When starting off a project, one of the first things we request from the client is a vector file of their logo. If youвЂ™re confused over the difference between the many image file types, youвЂ™re not alone.

Vector and raster