Why we recommend Vector Graphics and What are they?

CustomKings loves creating personalised gifts for our customers and corporate clients, to aid in engraving, UV printing and embroidery of items with logos and images we require a vector image to ensure the best result for you.

What is the difference?

Raster Images are commonly a photo in a jpg, png, jpeg or HEIC format, these can result in low quality if the image resolution is low and can not be increase beyond the base size without a greater loss of quality. When zoomed in, you will often see squares (pixels) and each pixel can only be 1 pixel wide and 1 pixel high. This results in a low quality product if the image is small and required to be printed on a large item. Raster images are often supplied when the image is taken on a phone, digital camera or created through programs such as photoshop. Raster Images can never be increased in quality due to the nature of the pixels, however a large resolution image and be scaled down without losing quality, due to this we always recommend taking the photo with the highest resolution possible. In cases where designing in photoshop, saving the image on a high DPI (dots per Inch) setting of 300 DPI or more. Raster images will always increase greatly in file size when resolution is increased due to the extra data being stored.

Vector graphics are always a better alternative for logos, clipart and general graphics but are not possible for photos. Often saved as a SVG, DXF or PDF ( true PDF), these file formats treat the image as a complex math equation. Think of it like connect the dots, the file has all the dots, and the computer (or phone) opening the file connects them. This allows Vector graphics to be scaled infinately and offers the best result when engraving, UV Printing or embroidering your logo. It also makes your logo stay true to the colours when saved vs, raster images that can change colour.