Raster vs Vector Images

The main reason between these two is that; the raster works with pixels (those small boxes that when you zoom into the picture they start to appear), while the vector works with lines, dots, curves and shapes in general.

Raster Type and Vector Type

Raster images; are measured in pixels, and it has a certain amount of pixels within each inch and that is the ppi (pixels per inch).
The quality of the image will change depending of how many ppi it has. The lower the ppi is, the less quality the image will have, and the higher the ppi is, the higher the quality.
An advantage that this type has on vector is that it has more support for effects and more colours.

Vector images; because pixels aren't used in this type of image, it is resolution-independent.
This means that the image won't lose any of its quality and that is one of the advantages a vector has on raster. Other advantages are that when designing a vector you will have unlimited scaling and unlike raster images the file of the designs will be smaller.

The use of both types & the type of file formats

Below you can find an activity we did in the class with a raster image and sticky notes. Basically we drawn a grid on the raster image so we would know how many boxes(pixels) there are, and then for every pixel we used a sticky note to represent it and to make a model of it.

A Raster Image with a Drawn Grid

The model of the image with the sticky notes

Screen vs Print

When you are designing something it is important to keep in mind, for what it is going to be used; either for screen(web) or if it is going to be printed(billboards, business cards, posters).

The main reason that these two are different is because:

• A design for screen,You need to make sure that the design will be shown in its best measurement and quality, when shown on every type of screen. This will take some time to be done as there is a large variety of display dimensions.

Different type of Displays

• A design for print,All you need to make sure of is that the design will fit on the printing measurements given to you, and that it will be specifically done for that measurement. You cant use a design done for a small measurement to do a large print, because of the pixels.

Different Print Measurments

Before one starts the design he/she needs to know the audience not only for who is going to view it, but in what they are going to view either web or printed.

In a print you are limited to one particular measurement and the design you need to put on needs to catch the eye of its audience, and not to overload it with information because it will be distracted for them and it wont get the marketing message across.

In a web the aim is to keep the audience on the website, so the more clear and informative it would be, the more audience you will have. In web you can put as many pages as you want so it would be a good idea not to overload one page but instead you will divide your information into several pages and make clear navigation buttons with the title of the information within.

An important think that can change your design from how you want it, is the colour:

In printing, because the colour you will see on the monitor its not the same colour that will be printed, and the colour may vary from the one you need. In the picture below you can see what type of colour both screen and printer use.

Screen vs Print Colour

In screen, because the colour may change the way of how it looks depending of how the brightness and contrast settings of the monitor are, and even the actual colour settings of the monitor.

Brightness and Contrast Setting

Colour Setting

All this will change the way of how a colour will look like, so when designing you need to check everything so your design will be shown as it would be planned.