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Advantages of Vector Graphics

By Ruben Ramirez

advantages of vector graphics in 2020

Vector graphics are widely used for creating digital graphics today because of the many advantages of
vector graphics over other image editing processes, such as pixel graphics.

Here are the most important advantages of vector graphics:

They have “infinite” resolution

They are scalable

They are lightweight (small file size)

They are intuitively created

They are easily manipulated

They are easily reusable

They are multipurpose

They can produce very realistic results

They can be animated

They can be edited with code

They can be interactive

In this post, I cover the most important advantages of vector graphics in detail. Also, I explain how they
work and some of their most important uses.
#BONUS: I discuss when to use raster (pixel) graphics software, such as Photoshop or Gimp, instead of
vector graphics.

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Contents:

How Vector Graphics Work

Advantages of Vector Graphics

They Have “Infinite” Resolution

They Are Scalable

They Are Lightweight (Small File Size)

They Are Intuitively Created

They Are Easily Manipulated

They Are Easily Reusable

They Are Multipurpose

They Can Produce Very Realistic Results

They Can Be Animated

They Can Be Edited With Code

They Can Be Interactive

Examples of Vector graphics

Uses of Vector Graphics

When to Use Raster Graphics

What Are Vector Graphics?

Vector graphics are an integral part of graphic design work. Without an understanding of how vector
graphics work, you can’t really progress as a professional graphic designer.

What are vector graphics? Vector graphics are basically a graphical representation that is only made up
by lines and its derivatives, such as geometrical shapes such as circles, squares, stars, and polygons. By
combining these lines and shapes, you can draw pretty much draw anything on the computer, such as
you would drawing by hand.

What Are Vector Graphics?

An example of a vector graphics drawing

Vector graphics are made up by points (or coordinates) on a screen that are connected through lines
and curves called paths. Vector graphics are widely used for creating logos, line art, 3D-like renderings,
and animations, among other examples.

In the early 1960s, Ivan Sutherland pioneered one of the very first computer programs for generating
graphics on a screen. He used his software Sketchpad for drawing lines on a screen. This program was a
precursor of CAD (Computer Assisted Design) software and vector graphics in general.

However:
The mathematical grounds for vector graphics date back to at least the 1800s with Euclidean vectors,
which are able to describe two points on a plane by determining their location and direction.

Why does this matter?

Well, vector graphics are basically coordinates on a plane.

If we know the position of at least two points on a plane, we are able to draw a line between those two
points.

Remember those connect-the-dots drawings from our childhood?

Vector graphics work like connect-the-dots drawings

Vector graphics work like connect-the-dots drawings

This, in a nutshell, is how vector software renders drawings.

Now, let’s look at their advantages.

Advantages of Vector Graphics

Vector graphics have a very specific set of advantages that make them unique and powerful.

Let’s look at each one more closely:

1. Vector Graphics Have Infinite Resolution

We say vector graphics have “infinite” resolution because they never lose their quality, even if you zoom
in on them indefinitely.
This means that they are “resolution independent,” unlike pixel (raster) graphics, which depend heavily
on the resolution of an image.

Vector graphics have infinite resolution

An advantage of vector graphics is that they have “infinite”resolution.

Because vector graphics do not depend on pixels but on coordinates on a plane, we can enlarge a line,
curve, or shape to whatever size we want and always see their exact form and features.

Because the software always knows where the points are on the screen, it always knows the line that
connects them.

In other words, it knows the position and direction between two points.

If we were to zoom in on a line at 3,000%, we would see a black screen indefinitely (unless our screen is
the size of a buildings).

2. Vector Graphics are Scalable

Scalability is “the capacity to be changed in size or scale.”

With vector graphics, scalability means three main things:

You can view objects in any size you wish

Objects can be easily scaled down or up

You can export vector graphics at any size you want without compromising quality

First, this means that you can grab an object and quickly zoom in on a tiny detail and examine all its
features and quickly return to a more manageable size. With vectors, you can zoom in and out
effortlessly.
Second, vector software allow you to grab an object (a circle, square, or star, for instance) and simply
scale it down to microscopic or huge proportions in a heartbeat.

Vector graphics are scalable

Vector graphics are scalable.

Finally, you can export any vector object to any dimension you want without quality loss. This means no
unwanted pixelation or blurring and, more importantly, not multiplying the size of the file.

3. Vector Graphics Are Lightweight (Small File Size)

Vector files have less information in the them than, for example, pixel files (such as a picture taken by a
phone or digital camera).

They only contain in them a bunch of coordinates instead of more complex information, like the
thousands, or even millions, of pixels in a digital photo.

This comes as an advantage of vector files, since they can have very compressed drawings in them that
require less information to produce.

What does this mean?

You can have a very complex vector drawing, with many shapes, text, colors, and gradients, and still
have a very lightweight file.

Moreover, you could increase the dimensions of the object and still have a light file.

The same drawing in pixel format would require much more information and, therefore, would create a
heavy file (in terms of resolution).
4. Vector Graphics Are Intuitively Created

You can create vector graphics in ways similar to the way you draw on paper. This is so because the
building blocks or vector graphics are lines.

Vector editing software allows you to easily create shapes such as squares, rectangles, circles, and stars
with gestures that resemble drawing on paper.

Vector graphics are created just like drawing

Vector graphics resemble drawing

Also, you can draw lines to create anything you want, just like drawing. You can join lines to draw simple
shapes or even complex, realistic illustrations.

5. Vector Graphics Are Easily Manipulated

In addition to creating objects intuitively, You can manipulate vector graphics easily and precisely.

For example, you can create a square, pick it up, and move it around the canvas (the computer screen).
You can now take that square and scale, rotate, skew, or invert it.

You can create a line (called stroke) with two points (called nodes) and easily add other nodes to it.

You can also create curves or arches along the way by moving and editing the nodes (these are called
Bézier curves).

Vector graphics can be easily manipulated

Vector graphics can be easily manipulated.

You can also easily add color to the objects you create, even gradients.
6. Vector Graphics Are Easily Reusable

With vector graphics, you can easily create an object, duplicate it, and put it anywhere else on the
canvas.

Also, you can grab an object and duplicate it exponentially, quickly and easily creating numerous copies
of an object.

You can even create clones of an object that change according to the transformations of the original.

Finally, you can copy any element of a drawing and composition and export or copy it to another vector
composition effortlessly.

7. Vector Graphics Are Multipurpose

One cool thing about vector graphics is their versatility.

Modern vector graphics programs, such as Inkscape or Illustrator, can do so much more than lines on a
screen.

Here’s a few of the things you can do with vector programs:

Draw shapes, such as rectangles, circles, stars, polygons, and spirals.

Create and manipulate text by changing their shape, scale, tilt, and so on.

Make certain transformations to pixel images, such as clipping them into shapes or adding filters to
them.

Create color gradients and adding them to drawings.

Adding a great deal of filters to drawings, such as textures and other effects.

Applying extensions (mini-programs) that let you transform drawings even further.
So here’s a really cool advantage:

You can also perform pixel operations on vector objects, such as add gradients, pixelation, blur, and a
wide-ranging list of filters.

But:

You can also perform some editing on pixel images, such as basic cropping, blurring, or masking, and
even some retouching.

So, in the end, vector editing software allow you to create and manipulate not only vectors, but also text
and even pixel images.

8. Vector Graphics Look Realistic and Precise

Vector graphics can produce drawings that look very realistic and precise.

Realistic car illustration using Inkscape.

You can draw realistic illustrations in Inkscape.

For example, you can produce scientific illustrations, technical drawings, blueprints, maps, charts, and
data graphs.

This is possible because vector software allow you to manipulate an object to the last millimeter.

You can move it precisely, through coordinates, along vertical and horizontal axes, and bend it to
mathematical precision.

But here’s the catch:

In my experience, you can achieve this realistic look only with inanimate objects (although animals can
look pretty realistic too).

You can definitely draw amazing people with a vector program. However, they will always look more
like a drawing than a photograph.

Pixel, or raster graphics, are better suited for dealing with actual images of real people and natural
things.

9. Vector Graphics Can Be Animated

You can use vector graphics software to make basic, frame-by-frame animations.

This is a cool feature, since you you can create drawings easily with vector software.

You can animate vector objects by moving them, transforming them, changing their color, bending their
strokes, and so on.

You can create a frame for each transformation. Then, you can combine the frames into a GIF, for
example.

You can find many vector formats that allow animation, such as SVG or Flash, throughout the web.

10. Vector Graphics Can Be Edited With Code

Most vector formats are text-based, readable by both humans and computers.
What does that mean?

It means that a vector drawing can be written (programmed) as a file.

For example, a vector format such as SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics), is based on XML, which stands for
eXtensible Markup Language.

XML and HTML are very similar in that both are designed to be self-descriptive and human readable.

In this sense, you can easily learn and write in a vector format such as SVG . Not only that, but software
such as Inkscape allow you to even edit vector drawings not only on the canvas, but on its source code
as well.

11. Vector Graphics Can Be Interactive

Document Object Model (DOM) is a programming API for HTML and XML documents. In a nutshell, this
allows you to make SVG objects interactive on the web.

With vector formats such as SVG, you can use this interactivity for responsive web page design or to
signal certain events on a web page.

These vector objects may be animated or made responsive to user actions, with objects changing their
properties with user interaction.

Example of interactive vector graphics

One cool advantage of vector graphics is that they can be interactive.

This makes posible the creation of complex, yet crisp and fast, interfaces with buttons, links, and drag-
and-drop, for example.
What Is A Vector Image?

Now that you have learned the basics of vector graphics, you can easily understand what a vector image
is.

A vector image is a computer generated drawing or illustration that is entirely composed of lines, curves,
and shapes, as opposed to a pixel image, which is composed of dots (or pixels) on the screen. Vector
images look more like drawings or illustrations than pixel images, which can look photo-realistic.

The following examples show the characteristics of vector images and all the cool things you can do with
them:

Examples of Vector Images

Examples of vector graphics or vector art include icons, logos, illustrations, text designs, and
vectorization of pixel images. Vector images are characterized by thick outlines and strokes; geometric
shapes; symmetric and very precise contours; and solid, vibrant colors.

The following are great current examples of vector art that show the beauty and versatility of vector
graphics:

Credit: Jade Purple Brown

Credit: @stevenscrosby

Credit: @george_bokhua
Credit: Aaron James Draplin

Credit: Nick Slater

Credit: Sergey Kovalenko

Credit: @catalystvibes

Credit: Wayne Minnis

Credit: Monica Ahanonu

Uses of Vector Graphics

Vector graphics are extremely useful for graphic design. Also, they are extremely common and versatile.

In fact:

The aesthetics of vector graphics have come to dominate the look and feel of everything on the web.
They offer a minimalist, clean look with expressive, colorful illustrations and clean, geometric icons.

Vector design examples

Vector graphics strongly influence current design trends

These are some of the things you can do with vector graphics:

Digital illustrations, from simple to very complex and realistic

Icons for apps or web applications

Mockups for apps or websites

Logo and logotype making

Printables, such as flyers or posters

3D-looking objects or renderings

Video-game characters, imagery, and assets

Images that look modern, clean, and minimalist

You can upload pixel images to vector software to add text, filters, and drawings

Website assets, such as buttons, banners, flags, and calls to action

Text

Grid-based technical drawings

Descriptive statistics (data graphs)

And so much more.

Vector graphics’ versatility make vector graphics an excellent option for design and a superb starting
point for learning graphic design on your own.

Check out what you can do with vector graphics:

Easy Image Cropping in Inkscape

Inkscape Vector Logo Tutorial

Powell Peralta Logo Vector Tutorial

When To Use Raster (Pixel) Graphics?

Vector graphics, of course, are not the only way for creating computer graphics, and that’s because their
uses and applications have limitations.

In general, you can’t use vector graphics to transform pixel images (such as pictures you take with a
digital camera or smartphone) in fundamental ways.

If you want to edit a red eye, hair color, or change the background of a pixel image, you need a raster
program such as Gimp (which is free and open source) or something like Adobe Photoshop.

difference between vector and raster

Vector and pixel (raster) graphics use different approaches to rendering objects

The following infographic shows the key differences between a pixel image and a vector image.

Infographic showing the key differences between pixel and vector images. Via
https://www.vectorizeimages.com/

The bottom line:

If your projects primarily deal with images of natural things, then you will not get great results from
vector graphics.

Here’s a list of tasks better done with raster editing software:

Editing preexisting pixel files, such as a picture taken by a digital camera

Color corrections and retouching

Removal of red-eyes

Drawings that emulate natural media, such as watercolor or oil-painting

Rendering of complex natural textures, such as hair, grass, or fibers

“Painting” any portion or selection of a pixel image

Changing the illumination or lighting of an image

Retouching the picture of a model or modifying the illumination of a portrait are some of the operations
that require a pixel graphics program.

For example, if you’re working with a fashion magazine, a photojournalism blog, or some types of
advertising, then you will need to use a great deal of pixel programs.

Conclusion: Vector Graphics are Excellent for Learning Graphic Design

In this post, I showed you the features, uses, and advantages of vector graphics in design.

This is the bottom line for vector graphics:

They are historically one of the first methods for generating computer graphics.

They have very important features, such as resolution, file-size, and multi-purpose capabilities, that
make them ideal for many applications, including some raster operations.
They are frequently used today for creating a clean, minimalist feel and have heavily influenced current
design trends, especially in all things digital.

They allow you to create drawings and illustrations from scratch, with very realistic results.

They are an excellent tool for learning graphic design because they allow you to gain confidence and
experience with shapes, geometry, color, text, layout , and even raster operations.

There you have it! start experimenting with vector graphics right now.

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Check the box to receive exclusive, actionable content only available to my newsletter subscribers (no
spam, I will never sell or share your information)

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About the Author:

Ruben Ramirez teaches digital media in college and started Self-Made Designer to share his knowledge
of graphic design. He loves skateboards, guitars, and vector graphics.

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