glossary
The print industry has its own terminology and to make it easier for you to understand what we are talking about we have included a glossary.
You will find many of these words and phrases used by printers all over the world. Please select a letter from tabbed menu.
A
A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7 - see under P, Paper sizes
Adobe Acrobat - A software programme that creates ‘PDF’ files in the ‘portable document format’. PDF files (i.e. files in the ‘portable document format’) can be read in almost any software programme. All digital printing jobs are printed from PDF files. If you submit your job as a PDF file, your file will normally go through the prepress process faster (and you will receive your proof more quickly). Click here to find out more about Adobe Acrobat.
Art Paper - Paper, usually of high gloss, coated with china clay.
Artwork - Drawings, lettering and general ornamentation prepared by the artist in final form for reproduction.
B
B0, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6, B7 - see under P, Paper sizes
Backing up – Printing the reverse side of a sheet already printed on one side (Duplex).
Bindery operations - The process of cutting, scoring/creasing, folding, trimming, collating, stitching, tabbing, wrapping, etc. after print has been placed upon paper.
Binding - The process of attaching sheets of paper to one another (e.g. attaching paper sheets together to form a book or booklet).
Bitmap - A computerised image made up of dots or pixels. Line art and photographs are often saved as bitmaps. To stop artwork from looking jagged, bitmaps should be saved at a minimum of 1200 dots per inch (dpi).
Bleaching – Papermaking process to whiten cellulose fibres.
Bleed - A gruesome sounding term that describes the mostly-harmless situation where printing goes right to the very edge of the paper. Whilst printed words almost never go to the very edge of the paper, some printed matter does (e.g. background colours on business cards and brochures, company logos, pictures and artwork). If the programme you are using does not support bleeds there is another way you can prepare your files for printing. Make your document 2mm too big in both dimensions. For instance, if the final size is 210mm x 297mm then make your document 214mm x 301mm. But keep in mind that 2mm around the image is going to be trimmed to the final size.
Bond – A paper that is commonly used for business forms and letterheads. Bond paper accepts ink readily and provides good erasability. This paper is used for printing, writing or typewriting. It may contain all chemical wood pulp or 25%, 50% or 100% rag pulp. Several grades are available, and the best are usually watermarked.
Brochure – A brochure/pamphlet is a small single A4 page, two-sided, folded document designed to be handed out or mailed, and is an excellent way of communicating condensed information to a targeted community. It presents information on a specific topic or product in a clear, organised manner. It should give enough information that the reader won’t be left wondering ‘what is this really about?’, but should also be a ‘quick read’ so that the reader doesn’t become bored before reaching the end. Because it doesn’t tell the whole ‘story’, it should contain the most important parts of the ‘story’, and be attractive and appealing so that the reader is motivated to find out more.
Burst Binding – Allows glue to penetrate the spine of a book and holds each section intact.
Brightness - The ability of a paper to reflect light. Brightness of paper is expressed as a percentage that is obtained by comparing the paper to be tested with a sample paper, called a ‘calibration sample’.
C
Catching Up – Indicates that the non-image areas of the press plate are inking up.
Celloglaze – A process whereby a fine gloss or matt clear film is adhered to the paper using heat and pressure. It is used for visually enhancing a printed piece and adds thickness to the sheet at the same time. It is sometimes called cello-sheen.
CMYK - These are the colours that four-colour CMYK printers use (i.e. cyan, a light blue; magenta, a pinkish purple; yellow; and, black inks). These are called subtractive colours, as combining them all gives the colour black. Subtracting one or more of these colours will yield any other colour. When combined in various percentages, these four inks will create an entire spectrum of colours, including those used in colour photographs.
Coated paper - Paper that has a layer of coating applied to one or both sides (e.g. a gloss, dull or matt finish). Coated papers provide sharper images and are used frequently in four-colour process work, as well as in black and white halftones.
Collate – To bring sections of a booklet, magazine etc. together in the correct sequence.
Colour matching - A colour sample book is used to match colours with standard inks used by most printers. The printer will then prepare separate printing plates for each colour. The colours are chosen from those provided by a colour matching system, such as Pantone. Use of a colour matching system permits consistency of the colour over time and among different jobs.
Colour separation - The separation of full colour artwork or transparencies into the four primary printing ink colours (see: CMYK).
Composite image - An image that is created by a combination of several images on a single sheet.
Concertina Fold – Term used for two or more parallel folds which open in concertina fashion. Can also be referred to as a Z-fold.
Contone (Continuous Tone) - A photographic image which contains gradient tones from black to white.
Copy - Any furnished material to be used in the production of printing.
Corel Draw - A popular graphics program for the Windows market. We use this program for design & imposition.
Cotton fibre content - Paper containing some percentage of cotton fibre, generally either 25%, 50% or 100%.
Creative Suite - Adobe’s software suite, which contains InDesign (for page layout), Illustrator (for vector, or line, drawing), PhotoShop (image creation and manipulation software, using raster images), Acrobat (PDF or Portable Document Format), Acrobat Distiller (to create PDF files), GoLive (web authoring software) and VersionCue (which helps integrate projects using more than one of these software packages).
Crop Mark – A mark on the impression showing what areas to eliminate on trimming
Cropping - To reduce in size; to remove unwanted elements (e.g. cropping part of a picture to include only the parts you wish).
D
Desktop publishing - The use of a computer to create documents that can be printed. Specialised software is used to add copy (i.e. text) and graphics to the document, which is then sent to a printer or typesetting equipment.
Die-Cutting – The use of a sharp, formed piece of metal to cut out- and score specific shapes in a piece of paper. We do this in-house for clients.
Digital - Data processed using the numbers 0 and 1 through on/off impulses.
Digital camera - A type of camera that stores the photographed image electronically, rather than on film. The images are downloaded into a computer where they can be manipulated in a manner similar to a scanner.
Digital printing - New printing technology that permits the linking of printing presses to computers. Benefits include faster turnaround times - and is very good for on-demand printing, lowered production costs on small to medium production runs (i.e. 1 copy to 2000 copies), and the ability to personalise documents - that is, each document in your production run can be different from every other document. This is very good for personalised brochures, newsletters, etc.
Dot – The basic constituent of a halftone.
Dot gain - The spread of ink on paper, causing the dots that make up the image to print at a larger size than they were on the film or plate. The images may become distorted, appearing darker with less clarity.
Dots per Inch (DPI) - DPI stands for dots per inch. The more dots per inch, the higher quality your image will be. It is a measure of the resolution of a screen image or printed page. Do not go higher than 300-400 dpi, as more dpi also means bigger files and longer transfer time. Also, stay away from under 300 dpi. Images found online are commonly viewed at 72 dpi, and they should not be used for four-colour digital printing (they are meant to be seen on computer screens only). For optimum results, make sure your image is at 300 dpi resolution.
Dull Finish – Paper with little or no gloss.
Dummy - A preliminary layout showing the position of illustrations and text as they are to appear in the final reproduction. A set of blank pages made up in advance to show the size, shape, form and general style of a piece of printing.
Duotone colour - reproduction from a monochrome original, such as a black and white photograph. Two halftones with different screen angles are made from the same original and printed in register with two colours.
Duplex – Printing the reverse side of a sheet already printed on one side (Backing up).
Dynamic range - The range of tones from lightest to darkest a scanner can see and resolve.
E
Embossing – The finishing process whereby an artistic indentation is made in the paper using a combination of heat, a multi-level die, a counter die and the right grade and texture of paper.
EPS (Encapsulated Post Script) - A computer graphics file format developed by Adobe Systems that usually contains object-oriented files. In digital prepress, a file format used to transfer graphic images within compatible applications. A file containing structured Post Script code.
F
File transfer protocol (FTP) - The File Transfer Protocol, or FTP, allows computers to speak to each other. FTP is used to make files available for transfer over the Internet. Anyone with access to the Internet can use FTP. In some cases you may need network access and/or username and password information. The primary benefit of FTP, as opposed to email, is the size/speed at which files can be sent and received.
Folding – the sharp-edged bending of paper under pressure at a prepared or unprepared bending point along a straight line according to specified dimensions and folding layouts.
Fonts - Also known as typefaces, are the style of the letters in your text. There are hundreds of different fonts, and graphic designers choose them with great care to convey their messages. All Macs and PCs come with a range of different fonts built-in, but designers usually work with a much greater range. Fonts can be bought on CDs or downloaded from the Internet.
Format - The size, style, type page, margin, printing requirements, etc. of a printed piece.
Four-colour (4 colour) process - A method of printing that uses dots of cyan, magenta, yellow and black (see: CMYK) to recreate the continuous tones and variety of colours in a colour image.
FreeHand - A professional graphics programme produced by Macromedia. FreeHand is used for graphic design work such as logos and drawings. Graphics can be exported to PageMaker or QuarkXPress.
G
GIF - This file format is mainly used for Web pictures, images and graphics. It makes a very small file, however, it is not very accurate (i.e. printed GIF files will get ‘Bitmapped’ and not be very clear). GIF is not acceptable for quality reproduction in printing.
Gloss - A shiny coating on paper. Gloss coatings allow very little ink to be absorbed by the paper. This results in the printed material having excellent colour definition (richer colours) and contrast.
Grain direction - The fibres in paper align themselves in the direction in which the paper flows on the paper making machine. Grain direction is often important if the paper has to be folded after it is printed. Folding across the grain can result in cracking.
Grain in paper - Grain is the direction in which most wood-pulp fibres lie within the sheet as the paper is made. Folding paper against the grain breaks more wood fibres than folding with the grain, resulting in an uneven, less precise fold.
Graphic - An item to be printed that is not copy (text); includes photographs, images and illustrations.
Graphic design - The use of graphic elements and text to communicate an idea or concept.
Graphic designer - The person who develops the graphic designs.
GSM (grams per square metre) - This is a measure of the weight of paper. It is obtained by weighing a square metre of paper. Usually, the higher the gsm number, the thicker or more rigid is the stock. Although a coated paper of a given gsm will usually be thinner than an uncoated paper of the same weight. The laser copy paper you use in your office printer would normally be 80-90gsm. Business cards are usually printed on 250-350gsm papers. We can handle weights of up to 350gsm on our presses.
Gutter - The blank space or inner margin from printing area to binding.
Guillotine – A machine used for trimming paper using a very sharp blade at very high pressure.
H
Halftone - The method by which photographs and other images are printed by using cells of dots to simulate the tones between light and dark. A printing press is not able to change the tone of ink, therefore dots of colour are used to trick the eye into seeing a continuous tone image. To accomplish this, the photograph is shot through a mesh of a screen that breaks the image into tiny dots. The closer the lines of the screen, the smaller the dots and the more dots per inch, leading to a crisper image.
Hard Copy - The permanent visual record of the output of a computer or printer.
Hardware - Physical Computer and peripheral components as distinguished from software which is a program for operating hardware.
Hickey – Spot or imperfection in printing due to dirt on the press, hardened.
I
Illustrator - A professional graphics programme produced by Adobe. Illustrator is used for graphic design work such as logos and drawings.
Imposition - In digital imaging, the positioning of pages on a signature, so that after printing, folding and cutting, all pages will appear in the proper sequence.
InDesign - A professional page layout programme developed by Adobe, currently up to version 3. InDesign is carefully integrated with Adobe’s other products using a piece of software called VersionCue.
Ink-jet printing - In digital printing, a plateless printing system that produces images directly on paper from digital data using streams of very fine drops of dyes which are controlled by digital signals to produce images on paper.
Insert - A printed piece prepared for insertion into a publication or another printed piece.
J
JPG or JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group) - A file compression format for graphics suited to photographic images and the most commonly used image file format on the World Wide Web.
Justify - In composition, to position page elements (usually text) uniformly across an area.
K
Kern - The adjustment of the spacing between letters in order to make them more visually pleasing and balanced on the sheet.
Knockout - When type or line art is printed over a photograph or coloured background, the best way to produce a consistent colour is to reverse the type or artwork out of the background and then drop in the desired colour. This process is referred to as knocking out.
L
Label – One side of the paper is prepared for printing, whilst the other side is rough and has adhesive applied. Most common labels used are “snap & peel” where you bend the label and the protective backing snaps away from the adhesive coating making application easy.
Lamination - A plastic film bonded usually by heat and pressure to a printed sheet for protection and appearance.
LAN - Local Area Network. A group of computers linked together, usually to share resources such as Printers or a File Server.
Landscape – Page or illustration wider than it is deep.
Laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) - The laser is an intense coherent light beam with very narrow bandwidth used in digital imaging devices to produce images by electronic impulses from computers.
Layout - The drawing or sketch of a proposed printed piece.
Leading - The space between lines of type, measured from the baseline of one line to the baseline of the next. The quantity is measured in points, such as 6-point type, 8-point, etc. Each point equals approximately 1/72 of an inch.
Lines per Inch (LPI) - Halftone screens are measured in lpi. Newspapers print photographs at 65 to 85 lpi, and this produces coarse-looking pictures. Our normal printing process uses 133 to 150 line screens. The industry rule of thumb is to scan your photographs at two times the lpi at which they are going to be printed. This means we scan our photographs at 250-300 dpi to achieve the best quality. Any higher dpi than twice the lpi will just increase the file size, but will have very little effect on the quality of the image.
Logo or Logotype - The name of a company or product in a special design used as a trademark in advertising.
Lupe - A magnifying lens used by printers to examine the details of printed materials. Use of a lupe permits an individual to see the individual colour halftone dots used in process colour printing.
M
Matt - A coated paper finish that isn’t shiny like a gloss, but still keeps much of the ink from being absorbed by the paper and provides an excellent image.
Moiré - A blurry pattern created by printing several repetitive designs on top of each other. In four-colour process printing, this pattern is created when the halftone screen of each colour is not properly aligned.
Mock Up – A model of the finished printed product with essential detail sketched in.
O
Object-oriented graphics or vector graphics - Used for line drawings, logos, and other images that require smooth edges. Made up of mathematically defined curves and line segments called vectors. It is beneficial in printing, due to ability to be enlarged without loss of detail.
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) - Computer software capable of parsing (reading) scanned images of documents and intelligently detecting and converting the various page elements into (editable) Fonts, vector graphics and tables.
Offset printing - An indirect printing process whereby ink is transferred to the paper by a blanket that carries an impression from the printing plate, rather than directly from the plate itself. This is the most common method of commercial printing at this time.
Opacity - The quality of being impenetrable by liquids or light. With printing paper it is the ability to keep photographs and print from showing through to the other side.
P
PageMaker - One of the standards of the desktop publishing market. Adobe PageMaker is a professional product that is designed to output colour separations and produce high quality output. PageMaker was the pioneer desktop publishing programme for the Macintosh. It has now been superseded by Adobe InDesign, but is still in popular use. It is available for both Macintosh and PC platforms.
Paper Sizes:
‘A’ SERIES PAPER SIZES 'B' SERIES PAPER SIZES
A0 1189mm x 841mm B0 1414mm x 1000mm
A1 841mm x 594mm B1 1000mm x 707mm
A2 594mm x 420mm B2 707mm x 500mm
A3 420mm x 297mm B3 500mm x 353mm
A4 297mm x 210mm B4 353mm x 250mm
A5 210mm x 148mm B5 250mm x 176mm
A6 148mm x 105mm B6 176mm x 125mm
A7 105mm x 74mm B7 125mm x 88mm
PDF (Portable Document File) - A proprietary format for the transfer of designs across multiple computer platforms. PDF is a universal electronic file format, modelled after the Post Script language and is device and resolution independent. Documents in the PDF format can be viewed, navigated and printed (subject to Author defined constraints) from any computer regardless of the fonts or software programs used to create the original.
Perfect binding - A binding process whereby single sheets are stacked together, one edge (the binding edge) is then ground to create a rough surface, and adhesive is applied to that now-roughened edge. A cover is then wrapped around the pages to form a booklet, book or folder. Many books on your bookshelf are bound in this manner.
Photo CD - The system developed by Kodak for storing the images obtained through a digital camera onto a compact disc.
PhotoShop - Adobe’s premier photograph manipulation programme. PhotoShop is used to correct colours, and sharpen scans, and make great looking reproductions from not-so-great looking photographs.
Pica - A unit of measure equal to 12 points or one sixth of an inch.
Pixel depth - The amount of data used to create the coloured dots on a computer monitor.
Pixel - A corrupted abbreviation of ‘picture element’ (just as facsimile is frequently condensed to ‘fax’). These are the dots that form the picture on a monitor. The smaller the pixel, the more detailed the picture. A pixel is the smallest resolvable point of a raster image. It is the basic unit of digital imaging.
Plate – A thin object (plate) made of either metal or paper that is light sensitive and causes an image to be transferred to paper while on a printing press. The image is burned onto the plate by the use of high intensity light. The surface of the plate is treated or configured so that only the printing image is receptive to the ink that transfers to the printed object.
PMS (Pantone Matching System) - This is a system of colour formulae where we can reproduce over 1,000 different shades and colours by accurately mixing several ‘standard’ inks. We can print any colour listed in the Pantone Matching System so that you will get the exact colour you want.
Point - In measuring type, 1 point is 1/12 of a pica or 1/72 of an inch. In measuring heavy paper stock, 1 point is equivalent to 1/1000 of an inch. Thus 10-point stock is 10/1000 of an inch, or 0.010 inches thick.
Postscript - A page description language for medium- to high-resolution printing devices. Since Postscript images are made up of mathematical calculations, they can be resized and still maintain their quality unlike bitmap images. Postscript was developed by Adobe Systems Inc. to describe an image for printing. It handles both text and graphics. A PostScript file is a purely text-based description of a page.
pp (Printed page) - Describes the number of printed pages in a finished document .
Pre-flight - In digital prepress, the test used to evaluate or analyse every component needed to produce a printing job. Pre-flight confirms the type of disc being submitted, the colour gamut, colour breaks, and any art required (illustrations, photographs, etc.), plus layout files, screen fonts, printer fonts, EPS or TIFF files, laser proofs, page sizes, print driver, crop marks, etc.
Prepress - The processes performed on a printing job prior to its going to the press to be printed. Examples are typesetting, layout, scanning, etc.
Press Proof – A proof to indicate the appearance of a colour subject printed on a printing press.
Printing plate - A thin object (plate) made of either metal or paper that is light sensitive and causes an image to be transferred to paper while on a printing press. The image is burned onto the plate by the use of high intensity light. The surface of the plate is treated or configured so that only the printing image is receptive to the ink that transfers to the printed object.
Process colours - for four colour printing CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) that are used in producing full-colour images, such as colour photographs.
Proof - A method of checking for errors prior to printing a job. Normally, the proof is the last prepress operation and it consists of either a hard copy of the job to be printed or a computer-generated imaged of the job to be printed. A press-proof is used by printing-press operators to ensure the correctness of the finished product during the production of an order.
Publisher - A software package produced by Microsoft for simple office and home publishing.
Pulp - A mixture of wood and/or cotton fibres, chemicals and water which paper mills use to make paper.
Q
QuarkXPress - A professional quality desktop publishing program. It is the program of choice for some designers and advertising agencies.
R
Raster Image Processor (RIP) - The process of interpreting a page description language, such as Postscript, to a raster format at the resolution, and in the format, required for a printer or image-setter. May also refer to the hardware and/or software used in the process of ripping a file.
Ream - Five hundred sheets of paper. A ream is often confused with a package of paper. A ream of paper refers to a number of sheets, whereas a package of paper can have as many or as few sheets as the packager wants (e.g. paper can be packaged in quantities of 250, as well as 500 sheets.
Register - In printing, fitting of two or more printed images in exact alignment with each other, ie back to back on reverse side of the printed sheet
Registration - In printing, the fitting of two or more colours or images in alignment with one another. Hairline register is the fitting of two or more colours in exact alignment with each other.
Registration marks - Marks outside the printing area that help us make sure colours are lined up or ‘registered’ together.
Resolution - The degree of image sharpness that can be reproduced by a piece of equipment. Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi). Most laser printers image at 600 dpi.
Reverse - Text or images reproduced by printing the background rather than the text or image itself, allowing the paper or underlying inks to show the shape of the text or image.
RGB red, green and blue - These are the primary colours that make white light. For printing, secondary colours (cyan, magenta and yellow) are used to simulate the colours required. Black (K) is added to help CMY (cyan, magenta and yellow) reproduce rich blacks and shadows. When preparing colour files for output, it is important to ensure that all placed graphics and colours are separated for four-colour CMYK and not RGB.
RIP (Raster Image Processor) - In digital imaging, a combination of computer software and hardware that controls the printing process by calculating the bit maps of images and instructing printing devices to create the images. Most PostScript systems use a hardware RIP built into the printer.
Resolution - In electronic imaging, the quantification of printout quality using the number of dots per inch.
S
Saddle stitching - A binding method where multiple folded sheets are stapled at the centre (the spine). Booklets, magazines, catalogues, newsletters and manuals are some of the projects that get saddle-stitched.
Sans serif - Literally, it means ‘without serifs’. In printing, it refers to the plain looking letters. Helvetica and Arial are sans serif typefaces. The ‘Times’ typeface is a serif typeface (i.e. more ornate).
Scanning – The process whereby an original is analysed and captured line by line to convert the analogue image information from an original into digital data. This can be further processed in a computer.
Score (or crease) - To press a channel into paper to facilitate folding and prevent cracking. Scoring is particularly important with digital printing, which cracks more easily than traditional ink-based printing.
Script - A kind of typeface that mimics handwriting.
Serif - An extra projection from the main stroke of letters in certain type faces. ‘Times’ is a serif typeface. The short cross-lines at the ends of the main strokes of many letters in some type faces.
Server - A file server provides centralised data backup, security and data interchange between compatible peripheral devices such as computer workstations on a local area network. Servers are identified by the type of resource they provide (e.g. disk server, file server, printer server, communications server).
Set Off - The transfer of ink from printed page to the back of the adjoining printed sheet. Occurs when the inks are not allowed to dry sufficiently and under pressure, ie when trimming.
Sheet-fed press - A press that prints single sheets of paper, as opposed to a web press. Our presses are sheet-fed digital and direct imaging presses.
Spot colour - A single colour ink or varnish applied to printed material. Primarily used when process colours are not appropriate. The effective use of spot colour can add heightened interest to printed materials without incurring the cost of process colours.
Spread - When a publication is printed with several interacting spot colours, gaps or colour, then shifts may appear between objects. A spread closes the gap by overlapping a light foreground object to a dark background. See also ‘Trapping’.
Stock - Paper or other material to be printed.
Style sheet - Instructions for the layout of a document, such as the typefaces to be used, point size of headers, placement of footers, etc., in order to maintain consistency throughout the document.
T
Text - the body matter of a page or book, as distinguished from the headings.
Text/writing papers - A general term used to describe paper with fine or speciality textures that is used for printing. Usually made from chemical wood pulp, sometimes with cotton fibre content. Often writing grade papers will feature a ‘watermark’.
TIF or TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) - The most common pixel format; it is supported by virtually all systems. Among other things, this format is suitable for the data exchange of colour images and gray values as well as various levels of resolution and sizes.
Tint - A lightened spot or process colour created by printing smaller halftone dots of the base colour. This is also referred to as screening the colour.
Trapping - The deliberate overlap of adjacent colours to minimise the effects of misregistration of printed materials.
Trimming – The cutting of paper to a pre-determined size.
U
Uncoated paper - Paper that has not had a final coating applied for smoothness. Uncoated paper is absorbent and soft in appearance.
Up – In printing, two up, three up, etc refers to the imposition of the material to be printed on a larger size paper sheet than would be necessary for only that material, to take advantage of press capacity.
V
Variable data printing - Individual data is inserted into a common background artwork in order to personlise or individually number a document.
Varnish – Thin, protective coating applied to the printed sheet for protection or appearance. Types used are UV, Matt, Gloss. These can be applied as an “all-over” or spot (to a certain location on the printed sheet). Varnishes are very effective in adding emphasis or eye-appeal to printed material.
Vector graphics - Used for line drawings, logos, and other images that require smooth edges. Made up of mathematically defined curves and line segments called vectors. It is beneficial in printing, due to ability to be enlarged without loss of detail.
VersionCue - A piece of software that is provided with Adobe’s CS software, that assists in integrating projects created using PhotoShop, Illustrator, GoLive, Acrobat and InDesign.
W
Watermark - A design, or symbol impressed in paper while it is being formed on the wet end of the paper-making machine. When the paper is held up to the light, the watermark appears as a lighter area than the rest of the paper.
Web press - A high-run, fast speed printing press that uses reels of paper rather than individual sheets. Commonly used in newspaper printing and high-run commercial printing.