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THE VECTORVAULT – VECTOR ART GLOSSARY

Graphic design terminology

This is a list of common terms and definitions that are related to the field of vector art and graphic design. This terminology was collected as an easy reference for anyone who is curious or may be afraid to ask for a definition. Use the Alphabetical navigation to get right to what you need to know – fast.

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A

Adobe Systems

(Adobe Systems Incorporated) Software company based in California specializing in industry-standard graphic design and image software (ie. Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Flash).

Adobe Illustrator

Industry-standard vector art application containing precision drawing tools and expressive natural brushes. A flexible program, widely considered one of the most powerful graphic design applications in the world.

Adobe Photoshop

Perhaps the most widely used photo manipulation application. This pixel-based software manages raster images better than any other.

Apple

(Apple Inc.) Computer company based in Cupertino, California. Producing some of the world’s most innovative software and computer hardware products including the world renowned Macintosh computer, iPod, iPad etc.

.AI

(Adobe Illustrator file format) File format developed by Adobe Systems for the Macintosh computer platforms. A primarily vector-based format widely used by designers in many creative disciplines.

AI

Also known as Artificial Intelligence. This refers to the ability of computer systems to perform tasks that usually require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making.

AI Art

Refers to images created with the assistance of artificial intelligence or AI.

AI Art Director

Someone who describes a desired image in the form of a prompt to an AI image generator. Someone who directs art from an AI but does not actually create anything themselves.

AI Artist

This term was coined in early 2021. It refers to human creators who prompt requests from a AI image generator. These are typically paid services. Although the word Artist is added to this title the individual does not actually create any art, they describe it.

Aliasing

An effect where there is distortion or visible pixelation – often a blocky/jagged effect. Especially noticeable with near horizontal or near vertical lines of high contrast.

Animated GIF

A GIF graphic file composed of two or more image frames and shown in a timed sequence to give the effect of animation.

Alley

The space between columns within a page layout. Not to be confused with the gutter.

Anchor Point

A stationary point that remains when you distort, stretch, scale, mirror, or skew a vector object. Anchor points can be manipulated using several tools in the Adobe Illustrator application.

Anti-Aliasing

The smoothing or blending of pixels in an image. Anti-aliasing the edges of a graphic image makes the edges appear smooth, not jagged.

Ascender (typography)

The portion of lowercase letters that fall above the body (x-height) of the letter. “b”, “d”, “f”, and “h” are some examples of letters with ascenders. Related: Descender.

B

Bevel

An effect to a graphic image that gives it a raised appearance by applying highlights and shadows to either the inside or outside edges.

Black (font)

Heavier weight than a bold version of a typeface.

Bitmap

A graphic file that is made up of square dots (pixels). Scaling these images to larger sizes results in pixelation and lower resolution which can make the image look blocky and create jagged edges.

Bleed

When an image, element, or document is printed right up to the edge of a page, beyond the trim line, leaving no margin. This is often accomplished by printing documents on a larger page and then cutting it to size.

Body/Copy

The main text of a layout (also known as copy or body copy).

C

Callout

A label with an annotation often drawn with a leader line pointing to an area of the illustration.

Cap Height

The distance from the base line to the top of the capital letters in typography.

Crop Marks

Horizontal and vertical cross hairs that indicate the edge of the printed piece.

Clip Art

Ready-made artwork that is sold or distributed for clipping and pasting into publications.

CMYK

CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (or Key) and colours are defined as percentages of these 4 colours. These are colours a printer works with, as opposed to the RGB screen color space. Also known as a process color and is a subtractive color space; that means for example, to make white, you would need to take away all the colors.

Compression

A method used in graphics programs to shrink the size of image files by packing data in order to save storage space or download time. JPEGs are the most common compressed graphic file type.

Crop marks

Horizontal and vertical lines that designate the edge of the printed piece for cropping.

Cropping

The cutting out of extraneous parts of an image.

D

Descender (typography)

The portion of lowercase letters that fall above the body (base line) of the letter. “g”, “j”, “p”, “q” and “y” are all examples of letters with descenders. Related: Ascender.

DPI

(Dots Per Inch) Unit of measurement related to the amount of pixels within a 1 inch square area.

Drop Shadow

Gives an image depth by creating a shading offset behind it.

Duotone

The application of two colors to provide richer tones than a monotone (single-color image, usually grayscale). The combination may also give the impression of more colors than just the two.

E

Emboss

Adds dimension to a graphic image by making it appear as if it were carved into the foreground as a projection.

eps file format

(Encapsulated PostScript) or EPS, is a DSC-conforming PostScript document with additional restrictions intended to make EPS files usable as a graphics file format. In other words, EPS files are more-or-less self-contained, reasonably predictable PostScript documents that describe an image or drawing, that can be placed within another PostScript document.

F

Feathering

The edges of a graphic image gradually dissipates, making it appear blurry.

Flash

Vector graphic animation software owned by Adobe and was made to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. One of the advantages of Flash animations is its relatively fast download time.

Frame

In animation, it is a single graphic image in a sequence of graphic images.

G

Glow

The opposite of a shadow in that it creates a surrounding highlight of an image. It can vary from a high radiance that creates a soft, subtle glow and a low radiance creates a hard, but bright glow.

Gradient

A gradual transition of two or more colours into one another.

Graphic design

A creative process with the goal to communicate a message or idea in a visual representation. The term is used as a collective name for all activities relating to visual design.

Greyscale

A color mode where there are no colours in use; just black, white, and the various shades in between. In print, a greyscale image is achieved using just black ink.

Gutter

The combination of inside margins or blank space of two facing pages. Often used as the extra space allowance to accommodate the binding of books.

H

Hue

The actual color of an object. Hue is measured as a location on a color wheel, expressed in degrees.

V

Vector Art

Vector art is a unique digital file format used by designers, animators, web developers and artists. Unlike raster based graphics that use pixels to make up an image, vectors (as they are commonly referred to) are comprised of mathematical shapes, angles, points, lines and color values. This makes them easy to scale without losing resolution or becoming pixelated. For a more expanded definition, read more here.

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