Our clients often ask us to print large-scale artwork, such as flags, banners or billboards. To ensure we can produce the best results, we'll need your logo in the best format you have - the highest resolution available. That would be a scalable vector format (usually a .ai / .eps / .cdr / .svg or .pdf format). A logo in vector format can be scaled infinitely and never lose quality. (The example below shows the difference between a vector PDF image (right) and a Bitmap JPG image (left) when the graphic is zoomed or enlarged.

Bitmap (left) vs Vector (right) upon zoom.

Why is that? Vector graphics contain boundary coordinates for shapes/colours. These coordinates are relative to other coordinates. These coordinates dictate the proportions when a vector image is enlarged or reduced.

On the other hand, Bitmap graphics (sometimes referred to as 'Raster graphics') are images with set dimensions. (Most photographs are Bitmap). These images are made up of grid squares called pixels. Without getting too technical, computer graphics are all set up on a grid of tiny dots of colours called pixels. When printed, each pixel represents a tiny dot of ink that adds up to make the full image. A lower-resolution image has a smaller grid of pixels. A higher resolution has a bigger grid, with many more pixels, thus a larger image.

Example of Vector Up-Scaling

As you can see, trying to scale up a Bitmap image will result in a loss of quality. This is not very good, and the results will look poor when printed too! The computer doesn't have enough 'information' to create a larger version of the image with an accurate appearance. It will look blurry or 'pixelated'.

So, if you've only got your logo in a Bitmap format (.jpg / .png / .gif etc), track down the vector version! The designer should have provided vector versions if your logo were professionally designed. If you do not have a vector version, you must create one from scratch if you wish to have excellent print quality for large-scale media. Having your logo or design converted from a Bitmap format to a Vector format can be a time-consuming process, depending on the shading level or the initial logo's complexity...

Large-scale vector artwork was used to create a shop sign...

Vector file opened inside Adobe Illustrator reveals each coordinate...

Another example, this vector is used to stitch on fabric...

More examples of vector files in use...

Having your logo Vector Traced by DigitalFlare

The DigitalFlare team are happy to quote on all vector-trace work. The video below shows the process we take when we trace a logo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fot3f9dyU3E

We cannot list prices here because prices will vary considerably depending on the complexity of the artwork... The examples below showcase what we may constitute are simple or complex traces...

Please get in contact with us for further details. Some more examples of other interesting vector conversions we have worked on are displayed below...