The problem
Clients often have no original artwork, just a 200-pixel logo saved from their website or a photo of their van. Signage, print and embroidery need a vector, so the designer redraws it by hand. If a freelancer gets 8 of these a month and each takes 60 minutes to redraw, that's 480 minutes, 8 hours a month, often unbilled because the client sees it as a file conversion.
What the AI does
Vectorizer.AI is a web app that converts PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP and WebP images into SVG, PDF, EPS and DXF vectors. Its site says it uses deep learning networks it trained itself, fits whole shapes such as circles and rounded rectangles, detects symmetry and lets you choose which corners are sharp or rounded. You upload the logo, inspect the free interactive preview, adjust the options and download once you subscribe. Then open the file in your own design software, check every curve at full size, and reset any lettering in the real typeface rather than keeping traced letters.
A worked example
A freelance brand designer in Cardiff gets about 8 low-resolution client logos a month that need vectors for shop signs, printed workwear and vehicle graphics. They run each through Vectorizer.AI and finish it in Illustrator.
Before
8 logos a month redrawn by hand at 60 minutes each: 480 minutes, 8 hours
After
If converting, checking and tidying takes about 15 minutes each: 120 minutes, 2 hours a month
What it's worth
About $279£210€250A$403C$395 a month of design time saved, against about $11£8€10A$15C$15 for Vectorizer.AI. That's 6 hours (480 minus 120 = 360 minutes) at an assumed $47£35€42A$67C$66 an hour, if 15 minutes per logo holds on your files (try a few in the free preview first). The Web App plan is €8.99 (about $11£8€10A$15C$15) a month, billed monthly and cancellable at any time; the pricing page showed euros or dollars, not sterling.
How to set it up
- Upload three logos you've already redrawn by hand to the free preview and compare the results with your own versions.
- Subscribe to the Web App plan when the results are good enough to save you time, and choose the file format and curve options your print supplier or software needs.
- Open each download in your design software and check it at full size: corners, thin strokes, small text and colors.
- Replace any traced lettering with the real typeface where the client holds the font license, and match colors to the brand's own values, not the traced ones.
- Send the client the vector with a note that it was redrawn from their low-resolution file, and keep the original with the project.
What goes wrong
- Traced text and fine detail can come out slightly wrong. Check every letter, because a sign maker will cut exactly what you send.
- Only vectorise artwork the client owns or has the right to use. A logo drawn by another designer or found online may belong to someone else.
- Uploads go to a third-party service. Don't upload unreleased brand work without the client's agreement, and check Vectorizer.AI's privacy terms.
- The subscription is personal and can't be shared. If you already pay for Illustrator, compare its Image Trace on your own files before adding another bill.