Where to Download The Best Vector Graphics For Your Designs
Discover five popular sources for vector graphics in this article. Learn where you can download high-quality, legal visuals for outstanding commercial design projects.
Where to Download The Best Vector Graphics For Your Designs
Graphic elements are excellent when it comes to conveying ideas and messages to customers. The University of Minnesota conducted a study showing a human brain can process a picture 60,000 times faster than a text. Moreover, 90% of the information people get from their environment is visual. Hence, using appealing images for successful commercial projects is a must.
Vector graphics serve as a great visual element to create eye-catching, impressive designs. You can zoom vectors in without quality loss, quickly edit the files, and optimize your website’s loading speed. Read further to learn how vectors can enhance your designs and discover top stock content marketplaces to download high-quality graphics for commercial and personal use.
What is the definition of a vector image?
Vector graphics are digital pictures created by illustrators in specialized software. These images are made of so-called vector primitives, like curves, lines, and points, based on mathematical formulas. Information about every element’s coordinates is kept in the file and can be automatically recalculated when scaling.
However, digital images can also be raster. Raster graphics consist of pixel grids, where pixels represent a specific color forming an overall composition. The number of pixels directly impacts raster picture quality—the more components, the higher resolution. An image gets blurred even after slight scaling when there are a few pixels. You can easily differentiate vectors from rasters by looking at the file extension. AI, SVG, EPS, CDR, and PDF are the most common vector formats, while PNG, JPEG, and JPG are raster.
In contrast to raster pictures, vector graphics have some benefits that can be useful for designers. The main vector feature is scalability, which does not allow quality loss even after considerable resizing. Moreover, you can easily manipulate vector pictures in graphics editors, e.g., remove elements, change colors, or make lines bold. A vector’s file size is much smaller than a raster’s, as it does not keep information about every pixel. Therefore, designers can optimize the loading speed of their websites by using vectors.
Top sources featuring high-quality vector pictures
Stock content marketplaces are a quick and legal way to get vectors for your design projects. These platforms feature vector art images from international illustrators on various trendy topics. All files on photo stocks are correctly licensed, allowing you to implement downloaded visuals in commercial projects without breaking copyright laws.
Depositphotos
Depositphotos is one of the largest stock content marketplaces, featuring 54+ million royalty-free vector pictures, including 70,000 free files. With over 100,000 contributors, the library gets replenished with trendy files on various subjects daily. You can browse curated collections and thematic categories to find inspirational, suitable content for your projects. Depositphotos also provides search filters that allow you to simplify the whole process. You can sort images by orientation, color, contributor, date, location, and origin.
How can you download stock vector graphics on Depositphotos?
1. Follow the link: https://depositphotos.com/stock-vectors.html.
2. Enter your request and click the search button.
3. Browse the results and apply filters to specify your request.
4. Choose the preferred image and open it.
5. Select a vector file type and click the Download Vector button to save the picture.
Vecteezy
Vecteezy is one of the popular stock content libraries where you can find photos, vectors, and videos for commercial and personal design projects. You can browse curated collections on different topics and explore content other creators often look for. Advanced search filters make it easy to find files that match your query quickly. Also, free Vecteezy visuals have a special tag in the top left corner of the photo. Note that you must attribute the source when utilizing free files in your commercial projects.
How to download vector files from Vecteezy:
1. Visit the platform’s official website.
2. Select the Vector file type and enter your request in the search box to narrow your criteria.
3. Press Enter and explore the search results.
4. Apply extra filters to specify your request.
5. Open a liked image and download it.
Freepik
Freepik offers a huge variety of visual content that can be useful for your designs. You will find vectors, photos, templates, fonts, backgrounds, and PSD mock-ups for your projects on the platform. It also offers thematic picture collections popular among creators so that you can explore visual design trends. Freepik’s user-friendly functionality and search filters allow you to find suitable images with ease. You can sort content by license type, color, orientation, and style. Moreover, you can manipulate some of its vector pictures online using Freepik’s graphics editors. When using free files from commercial design projects, you must attribute the source.
How do you download vector images on Freepik?
1. Go to Freepik’s official website.
2. Type in your search request and select Vectors from the content types list.
3. Launch the search and browse results.
4. Apply advanced search filters to sift out unneeded files.
5. Choose a favored picture and click on Download to save it.
Vector4Free
Vector4Free is a specialized vector graphics library regularly replenished by talented illustrators from all over the world. On its main web page, you can discover featured files and choose from popular categories to browse needed content. You can search for visuals in a specific category like Animals, Background, Cartoons, Lifestyle, and more. Moreover, Vector4Free provides a selection of new images that were recently uploaded to the platform. This photo stock features only free content. However, the illustrators can impose different usage terms for their visuals, so you must check the license type before downloading and using a file.
To download vector graphics from Vector4Free, follow these steps:
1. Open Vector4Free in your browser.
2. Type a keyword into the search box and press Enter.
3. Browse the search results and choose an image.
4. Click on the license to check usage terms for the selected picture.
5. Get the vector on your device by clicking on Free Download.
FreeDesignFile
The FreeDesignFile provides a variety of stock content you can use to enhance your design projects. Thousands of free vectors, photos, PSD mock-ups, fonts, icons, and Photoshop plugins are available on the platform. All files are sorted into over 119 thematic categories. You can search for vector graphics by browsing subjects like Architecture, Floral, Ornaments, Music, and others. Pictures from FreeDesignFile can be used for personal purposes without limitations or restrictions. However, you need the author’s permission to implement downloaded pictures in commercial projects.
How to download vector pictures on FreeDesignFile:
1. Visit FreeDesignFile’s official website.
2. Select Vector in the list, type in a keyword, and press Enter to start searching.
3. Browse images available in the library and select one.
4. Click on Free Download to save the file.
Conclusion
Well-picked visuals can significantly enhance your design projects, as people perceive visual information better than textual. Digital creators can benefit from vector graphics, as these pictures are made of simple geometrical shapes based on mathematical formulas. This makes them perfectly scalable without potential quality loss. Moreover, vector graphics are editable. You can manipulate pictures in vector-based software, changing their shapes, lines, and colors. Vector files also have a smaller size compared to rasters, which can be useful for increasing your website’s loading speed. To find licensed HD visuals for your design projects, browse stock content marketplaces offering extended vector libraries on various subjects.