Pixels, explained
The Technical Underbelly
🔥Enough to be Dangerous
Talk tech, don’t code it, so you can talk about all kinds of other stuff.
The Technical Underbelly
Bite-sized technical web, SaaS, or cloud concepts
Pixels
A pixel, or picture element, is the fundamental unit of digital graphics (logos, charts, diagrams), images (photos, drawings, illustrations), and videos.
It’s a tiny square made up of three colors - red, green, and blue (RGB) - each with a number value that represents its color intensity. Pixels work together to create digital images on display devices like computer monitors and modern TV screens.
Pixels: Key Takeaways
Display screens are giant grids. Each square on the grid is a pixel, and the number of pixels going top to bottom, left to right determine the screen’s resolution.
When pixels are tightly packed together, our human eyes see a clear image. When pixels on a screen are large, we say the images are pixelated, or blocky.
To create different color pixels, the amount of RGB in a pixel is altered. The values of red, green, and blue range from 0 to 255, with 0 as the darkest and 255 as the lightest (256 total).
Any digital image or graphical user interface (GUI) is made up of millions of pixels. A computer takes the series of RGB and translates it into binary for the computer to process and return what we see on screen.
Raster/Bitmap graphics: JPG, PNG, GIF
Each pixel is mapped to one bit of information, hence bitmap
Best suited for complex images like photos
Vector graphics: SVG, AI, ESP
Images are composed of formulas that create lines and curves that can be adjusted independently
Best suited for brand graphics and logos
In Case You Missed It
Last week’s Shortlisted: Reddit and the Struggle to Detoxify the Internet from The New Yorker
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
Up next week, it’s Stay Savvy - curated links and commentary at the intersection of tech, business, and culture.
Alice Egan, Founder & Educator, SaaS Savvy.
I teach B2B SaaS salespeople the technical SaaS + cloud concepts they need to sell SaaS smarter + talk tech with confidence. Learn about my online course.