Alamy now offering vector graphics as part of its complete image solution for picture professionals

- Affordable, high quality vectors with one price and a simple license
- 500,000 vector graphics available at launch, with plans to double the collection in the first year
Stock photo agency Alamy has today announced its move to supply the image market with vector graphics as part of its strategy to provide a full service to image buyers. Alamy has 45 million images online, including creative, editorial, live news and video.

The company is launching with a collection of 500,000 vectors from leading suppliers including YAY media AS, Matthew Britton and Pavel Konovalov. They aim to expand their collection rapidly over the next 12 months adding new content from their existing contributors as well as recruiting more specialists.

Vectors are great for designers, because they are scalable and can easily be resized without altering the quality of the image. If you print a vector logo on a small sheet of paper, and then enlarge it to billboard size it will keep the same sharp quality.

Ned Selby, partner at New Future Graphic agency said: "Vector graphics are a cornerstone of many of our design processes and it's great to know that Alamy now offer them as part of their vast image library. They’ve made licensing vectors straightforward, with a simple flexible package of rights at one price."

Rachel Wakefield, Alamy head of sales said: "We’ve been building our portfolio for the creative market and, when we talked to our customers, vectors was an obvious next step. It’s an exciting time, our content is getting more diverse as we continue to add new products - in the last two years we’ve added Live News and Video. And we’ve made it really easy to buy as well – one simple transaction whatever the media.”

About Alamy:

Founded in 1999, Alamy revolutionised stock photography by creating the world’s first open, unedited collection of images. With over 44 million images Alamy is the world's largest independent agency for news, stock and video imagery. It supplies thousands of designers, marketing departments, news desks, and publishers with imagery produced by the best professional and amateur contributors around.

Alamy provides the most comprehensive choice of imagery, supported by excellent customer service and a fast and simple online experience. Alamy is proud of its fair and ethical business model. It aims to be the first port of call for buyers and suppliers of imagery. It has a friendly and helpful approach. And it shares the rewards with its suppliers with fairness and transparency. Alamy’s business is underpinned by a philanthropic ethos.

See about Alamy for more information.

See our vector graphics gallery for a small sample of what we’ve got online.

What is a vector graphic?

Unlike JPEGs, GIFs, and BMP images, vector graphics are not made up of a grid of pixels. Instead, vector graphics are comprised of paths, which are defined by a start and end point, along with other points, curves, and angles along the way. A path can be a line, a square, a triangle, or a curvy shape. These paths can be used to create simple drawings or complex diagrams. Paths are even used to define the characters of specific typefaces.

Because vector-based images are not made up of a specific number of dots, they can be scaled to a larger size and not lose any image quality. If you blow up a raster graphic, it will look blocky, or "pixelated." When you blow up a vector graphic, the edges of each object within the graphic stay smooth and clean. This makes vector graphics ideal for logos, which can be small enough to appear on a business card, but can also be scaled to fill a billboard. Common types of vector graphics include Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand, and EPS files. Many Flash animations also use vector graphics, since they scale better and typically take up less space than bitmap images (techterms.com).

Vector Facts

• The earliest 2D computer graphics were all vector graphics
• One of the first uses of vector graphic displays was the US SAGE air defence system
• Various arcade games like Asteroids and Space Wars used vector graphics
• The term "vector graphics" is mainly used today in the context of two-dimensional computer graphics Vector graphics are infinitely scalable