Keep minium distance of 1px when resizing logo

Question

I am currently doing some work for one of my sites, for which among other things I am designing a logo. The logo partly consists of a few squares, which are aligned directly next to each other and should have a distance of 1px between them.

My question is, how can I keep the distance of 1px between the squares when resizing the logo, so that borders dont cross/overlapp/get anti aliased ect. as in the images I provided?

I would prever to find a solution for photoshop, but illustrator would be ok as well. I hope this is not too much of a dumb question, I dont design stuff that often :). Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

The best way to do this in Illustrator as well as Photoshop is to scale it down first to the desired size and then (perhaps duplicating the layer so you have a reference) carefully adjust the squares to match the grid (prepare a 1px grid and select snap to grid) to ensure the 1px gaps to be precise and aligned with the pixel grid. Keep an eye on the original scaling to not wander off too much from the original design.

It is not uncommon that logos are redrawn for smaller sizes. The question is just how much to change (as little as possible).

I fould this tutorial very helpful on this subject, they call it "pixel hinting": http://methodandcraft.com/videos/pixel-hinting-vectors-in-photoshop

Edit: In your example, if you examine the borders and the squares, they are all 53x53px. So all you would have to do is remove the semi-transparent elements for a quick fix. On more complex logos you should import them as vector shapes or do this in Illustrator.