Pixel based VS Vector based design

I have heard the question about what program to use to design with a lot lately, so I wanted to lay out the facts for you guys. There are only two programs you will ever need for your brand — Illustrator and Photoshop. Both are incredibly powerful and helpful, but you should be using them in different ways, for different things. Anyone that says you can use them interchangeably is kinda right, but incredibly wrong at the same time. Here is why:

The difference is that Illustrator is VECTOR BASED, and Photoshop is PIXEL BASED.

So what the heck does that mean?

Illustrator — Vector Based

This means that within the program, I can shrink shrink shrink skink, or enlarge enlarge enlarge an object as big or small as I want, and the edges will stay crystal clear and sharp. No matter how much I zoom in, the edges stay sharp as a razor. This is crucial when sending your design to your screen printer or manufacturer because they can resize it as much as they want in order to make it work for their printing process needs. Now, this is only true though for objects and designs that have been created in Illustrator. In other words, you can not drag a pixel based image in there and expect the edges to be sharp when you blow it up large. Any image, jpg, png, gif, that you drag into Illustrator, will stay Pixel Based. SO what is pixel based?

Photoshop — Pixel Based

A pixel based object or image is what we are all used to. It is any picture on the internet. We all know that with images you can only zoom in on so much without it getting blurry and pixelated. This is because they are made up of tiny little squares, called pixels.

Photoshop is great for image editing, that is what it was made for. It is not so hot for creating logos, editing text, and designing. It was not made for this. Thats what Illustrator was made for! So, what do we use Photoshop for? Use it for your mock-up. Once your design is all ready to go, and you want to throw it on a shirt and show it off, that is when Photoshop comes in. Drag your vector based design right out of Illustrator and into photoshop where your blank t-shirt is already sitting. Then you can hit it with certain effects to make the design sit nicely on the shirt and look real.

As always, hit me up if you have any questions!

Ben

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