Home > Graphic Design Programs - An Introduction
Graphic Design Programs - An Introduction
Image editing programs traditionally fall into one of two categories, vector editors and bitmap editors.
Vector editors are often contrasted with bitmap editors, and their capabilities usually complement each other.
VECTORS are basically simple shapes, made up of PATHS. Paths are a set of both straight and curved lines and co-ordinates, that computers use to calculate the figure and size of shapes. For example, a path with four points connected by four equal lines, tells the computer to draw a square. Fonts are basically vector shapes, with paths telling the computer how to display each letter.
Vector editors are traditionally better for graphic design, page layout, typography, logos, sharp-edged artistic illustrations (e.g. cartoons, clip art, complex geometric patterns), technical illustrations, diagramming and flowcharting.
A BITMAP is simply a digital image or photograph, made up onscreen of millions of individually coloured tiny pixels of data (or dots). Therefore, a photo or image on your computer is a digital ‘map’ of each tiny ‘bit’ of data.
Bitmap editors are more suitable for retouching, photo processing, photorealistic illustrations, collage, and hand drawn illustrations using a pen tablet.
However, recent versions of bitmap editors, such as Adobe Photoshop, have vector-like tools (e.g. editable paths), and vector editors such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Fireworks, are gradually adopting tools and approaches that were once limited to bitmap editors (e.g. blurring).
While both kinds of editors are making efforts to include features usually present in the other, a good graphic designer will be familiar with both programs, and will often combine images designed or modified in Photoshop, with elements or layouts created and constructed in Illustrator.
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Glossary
A glossary of key terms relevant to image editing and graphic design, that are applicable to both Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator can be found here.
