What’s the deal with vector and bitmap art? Is one better than the other?
Vector graphics, commonly known as “line art,” are made up of individual dots connected by lines, while bitmap graphics are comprised of pixels.

Vector files are usually created in Adobe Illustrator, although a number of other packages also output vector files. Adobe Photoshop outputs bitmap files, but a wide variety of packages create other bitmap files with suffixes such as “jpeg”, “bmp”, and “tiff”. Vector files are used for line art such as logos and for text, whereas the bitmap formats are used for photographic images.

Vectors are usually preferable, since a business-card-sized vector graphic can be reproduced as a billboard without losing any of its image quality or resolution. The same can’t be said of bitmap graphics. Bitmaps are difficult to manipulate; due to their fixed resolutions, they cannot be resized without diminishing an image’s quality. Bitmap files

also tend to be much larger than vector graphics, taking up more hard drive space.

However, you have no option but to utilize a bitmap file when the subject is a photographic type image. Just be sure to pay attention to the required resolution for these images as discussed above.

I thought I knew what PMS was, but apparently it’s something different in graphics-speak. What does it mean and why is it important?
In graphics, PMS stands for Pantone Matching System — the standardized color guide that assigns each color (thousands in all) a code made up of numbers and/or letters. Originally developed for the graphics industry by Pantone Inc. to solve problems of color matching, PMS is now the standard in a host of other industries as well, including fashion, plastics, architecture and paint. By asking your client to specify a PMS color for their logo you will insure that the right color is supplied on the final output.