Vector vs Raster Infographic

Many of my clients are a bit confused on the difference between Vector and Raster. Just like when my accountant tells me there’s an easy calculation to do payroll source deductions. Um no thanks. Find out what the difference is below in my Vector vs Raster Infographic.

Take-away: Please do not design your business cards in Photoshop.

Vector

  • Image is made up of straight paths – think of drawing a line from A to B.
  • Programs: Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw
  • File Output: AI, EPS, PDF
  • Attributes: Great for illustrations, small file size, scale to any size, infinite resolution, can easily convert to raster, fast editing, flat or gradient colour, no loss of image data when zoomed in.
  • Projects: Business cards, logos, small to complex illustrations

Raster

  • Image is made up of square pixels – think of Minecraft or Atari
  • Programs: Adobe Photoshop
  • File Output: JPG, PNG, GIF, PSD, TIF
  • Attributes: Great for photographs, large file size, can scale down but not up, finite resolution, slower editing, lots of possibility with colour
  • Projects: Editing for photographs