Hello everyone! Here is the very first article related to graphic design. In this article, we explain what is graphic design? Graphic design mainly consists of two words-

GRAPHIC – In general, the word “graphic” means a design or a visual image displayed on a variety of surfaces such as canvas, paper, wall, or a computer monitor. In this article, we talk about computer graphics. Computer graphics include images, movies which are created with the help of hardware and software. It is an art of drawing images, charts, lines, etc. with the help of programming.

DESIGN – Most of the people has a misconception that design is related to decoration. But design means a “Solution”. A Solution of a problem or a task. To achieve something, we need a solution. For example, we talk about a chair. Though you may sit on stone but it is not comfortable as compared to a chair. So, what is the purpose of a chair? The chair is used for sitting purpose. It has a back so you can take backrest, you feel comfortable. So, there is a problem that how we can sit? To solve that problem, there is thinking behind it and then a design of the chair was invented.

PROBLEM -> THINKING -> DESIGN

Design is an evolution. It undergoes many changes with time. The person who makes graphic designs is termed as Graphic designer.

TYPES OF COMPUTER GRAPHIC DESIGN

There are mainly two kinds of computer Graphics.

• RASTER - Composed of pixels
• VECTOR - Composed of paths

Before learning about raster and vector graphics, first, we have to understand what is Pixel? Pixel is the smallest unit of an image. A screen is made up of small boxes which are called pixels. We can say that the pixels are small lights and colors are filled in these boxes. Either you can see the vector image or raster image you see on these pixels only. The number of pixels on the screen determines the resolution of an image.

NOW WE COME TO RASTER GRAPHICS

RASTER GRAPHICS – Raster images are based on pixels. If you zoom a raster image, you may see a lot of tiny squares. These squares are nothing but pixels. When you enlarge the image file without altering the number of pixels, the image get looks blurry.

There are many raster graphics editors which allow users to create and edit images on the computer screen and save them in one of many raster formats such as-

• JPG (Joint Photographic Expert Group)
• GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)
• BMP (Bitmap)
• PSD (Photoshop Document)
• TIF (Tagged Image File)
• PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

SOME POPULAR RASTER GRAPHICS EDITOR ARE

• Adobe Photoshop
• Corel Painter
• GIMP
• PhotoFinish
• Photoshop Elements

VECTOR GRAPHICS

Hope you will understand about raster graphics. Now let us talk about vector graphics.

VECTOR GRAPHICS – Vector graphics are independent on pixels. Vector images are mathematical calculations starting from one point to another that forms lines and shapes. If you zoom a vector image it will always look the same. When you enlarge a vector image, the mathematical formulas stay the same. They render the same visual graphic, no matter the size. Vector images can be scaled up to any size without losing the image quality.

Vector image files are easier to modify as compared to raster images. Vector images composed of geometrically calculated outlines commonly referred to as paths. Whatever color is filled inside that outline is dependent on that outline rather than pixels.

SOME BENEFITS OF VECTOR GRAPHIC DESIGN

• The most important benefit of the vector graphics is the power of scalability. As vector graphics are not made up of pixels, they are resolution independent. The vector shapes can be scaled and printed at any size without losing the image quality.
• Another very important reason for using vector graphics is its small size. Vector objects are smaller than the raster image formats.
• In vector graphics, data can be represented in original resolution without generalization.
• Graphical output of the vector images is more pleasing than the raster images