'A' sized paper |
Paper sizes are based on dimensions of a large A0 sheet. Letterheads are commonly produced on A4 sized paper. |
4-color-process |
The process of combining four basic colors to create a printed color picture or colors composed from the basic four colors. |
A/W |
an abbreviation for Artwork. |
Accordion fold |
Bindery term, two or more parallel folds which open like an accordion. |
Acetate |
a transparent sheet placed over artwork allowing the artist to write instructions or indicate where second colour is to be placed. (See Overlay) |
Addendum |
supplementary material additional to the main body of a book and printed separately at the start or end of the text. |
Against the grain |
At right angles to direction of paper grain. |
Air |
an amount of white space in a layout. |
Air (US) |
an amount of white space in a layout. |
Airbrush |
a mechanical painting tool producing an adjustable spray of paint driven by compressed air. Used in illustration design and photographic retouching. |
Align |
to line up typeset or other graphic material as specified, using a base or vertical line as the reference point. |
Alphabet (length or width) |
the measurement of a complete set of lower case alphabet characters in a given type size expressed in points or picas. |
Alteration |
Change in copy of specifications after production has begun. |
Anodized plate |
an offset printing plate with a specially treated surface to reduce wear during printing. |
Apex |
the point of a character where two lines meet at the top, an example of this is the point on the letter A. |
application |
A computer program designed for a particular use, such as a word processor or page layout application, i.e. Microsoft Word or Quark Xpress. |
Apron |
additional white space allowed in the margins of text and illustrations when forming a foldout. |
Apron (US) |
additional white space allowed in the margins of text and illustrations when forming a foldout. |
Art (US) |
in graphic arts usage, all matter other than text material eg illustrations and photographs. |
Art paper |
a smooth coated paper obtained by adding a coating of china clay compound on one or both sides of the paper. |
Artboard |
Alternate term for mechanical art. |
Artwork |
A general term used to describe photographs, drawings, paintings, hand lettering, and the like prepared to illustrate printed matter. |
Author's corrections |
Also know as "AC's". Changed and additions in copy after it has been typeset. |
Authors Alterations |
changes made to the document by the author after the first proof. |
Authors corrections |
changes made to the copy by the author after typesetting but not including those made as a result of errors in keying in the copy. |
Autoflow |
the flow of text automatically from one page to another, or one column to another. |
Back matter |
also known as end matter |
Back up |
Printing the second side of a sheet already printed on one side. |
Backing up |
to print the second side of printed sheet. Also, to make a duplicate of a computer file as a precaution against losing the original. |
Backslant |
letters that slant the opposite way from italic characters. |
Balloon |
a circle or bubble enclosing copy in an illustration. Used in cartoons. |
Banding |
Method of packaging printed pieces of paper using rubber or paper bands. |
Bank |
a lightweight writing paper. |
Banner |
a large headline or title extending across the full page width. |
Bar code |
a pattern of vertical lines of varying thickness identifying details of a product, conforming to the Universal Product Code (UPC). |
Base artwork |
artwork requiring additional components such as halftones or line drawings to be added before the reproduction stage. |
Baseline |
the line on which the bases of capital letters sit. |
Basis weight |
Weight in pounds of a ream of paper cut to the basic size for its grade. |
Bed |
the base on which the Forme is held when printing by Letterpress. |
BF |
abbreviation for bold face. |
Bibliography |
list of publications providing reference material on a particular subject, usually included in the endmatter of a book. |
Bind |
To fasten sheets or signatures with wire, thread, glue. or by other means. |
Bindery |
The finishing department of a print shop or firm specializing in finishing printed products. |
binding |
Process of fastening papers together. |
bitmap |
A grid of pixels or printed dots generated by computer to represent type and images. |
Bitmapped |
An image formed (or appearing to be formed) by a rectangular grid of pixels. The computer assigns a value to each pixel, from one bit of information (black or white), to as much as 24 or 30 bits per pixel for full color images. Also used to refer to an image that has a too low resolution or linescreen for the output resolution ("That image looks bitmapped."; line art scanned at 72dpi when it is to be printed at 2540dpi will be very coarsely bitmapped). |
Bitmapped font |
a font made up of bitmapped letters, characterized by jagged edges, as opposed to the smooth edges of an outline font. |
Black patch |
material used to mask the window area on a negative image of the artwork prior to 'stripping in' a halftone. |
Blanket |
The thick rubber mat on a printing press that transfers ink from the plate to paper. |
Blanket cylinder |
the cylinder via which the inked litho plate transfers the image to the paper. The cylinder is covered with a rubber sheet which prevents wear to the litho plate coming into contact with the paper. |
Bleed |
Printing that goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming. |
blend |
A smooth transition between two colours, also known as a graduated tint. |
Blind emboss |
a raised impression made without using ink or foil. |
Blind embossing |
An image pressed into a sheet without ink or foil. |
Blind folio |
page number counted for reference or identification but not printed on the page itself. |
Block in |
to sketch in the main areas of an image prior to the design. |
Blow up |
an enlargement, most frequently of a graphic image or photograph. |
Blueline |
A blue photographic proof used to check position of all image elements. |
Blurb |
a short description or commentary of a book or author on a book jacket. |
Board |
Alternate term for mechanical. |
Body |
the main text of the work but not including headlines. |
Body (US) |
the main text of the work but not including headlines. |
Body size |
the height of the type measured from the top of the tallest ascender to the bottom of the lowest descender. Normally given in points, the standard unit of type size. |
Bold type |
type with a heavier darker appearance. Most typefaces have a bold face. |
Bond |
a sized finished writing paper of 50gsm or more. Can also be used for printing upon. |
Bond & carbon |
Business form with paper and carbon paper. |
Bond paper |
Strong durable paper grade used for letterheads and business forms. |
Border |
a continuous decorative design or rule surrounding the matter on the page. |
Box |
a section of text marked off by rules or white space and presented separately from the main text and illustrations. Longer boxed sections in magazines are sometimes referred to as sidebars. |
Break for color |
Also known as a color break. To separate mechanically or by software the parts to be printed in different colors. |
Brightness |
The brilliance or reflectance of paper. |
Bristol board |
a fine board made in various qualities for drawing. |
Broadside |
an original term for work printed on one side of a large sheet of paper. |
Bromide |
a photographic print made on bromide paper. |
Bronzing |
an effect produced by dusting wet ink after printing with a metallic powder. |
Bulk |
Thickness of paper stock in thousandths of an inch or number of pages per inch. |
Bulk pack |
Boxing printed product without wrapping or banding. |
Bullet |
a large dot preceding text to add emphasis. |
Burn |
Exposing a printing plate to high intensity light or placing an image on a printing plate by light. |
Butt |
Joining images without overlapping. |
Butt fit |
Printed colors that overlap one row of dots so they appear to butt. |
Calendered finish |
produced by passing paper through a series of metal rollers to give a very smooth surface. |
Calibration bars |
On a negative, proof, or printed piece, a strip of tones used to check printing quality. |
Caliper |
Paper thickness in thousandths of an inch. |
Camera ready |
artwork or pasted up material that is ready for reproduction. |
Camera-ready copy |
Print ready mechanical art. |
Cap line |
an imaginary line across the top of capital letters. The distance from the the cap line to the baseline is the cap size. |
Caps |
(or "all caps") an abbreviation for capital letters. |
Caps and small caps |
a style of type that shows capital letters used in the normal way while the body copy is set in capital letters which are of a slightly smaller size. |
Caption |
Also called a cutline. The line or lines of text that refer to information identifying a picture or illustration. |
Carbonless |
Pressure sensitive writing paper that does not use carbon. |
carbonless paper |
(NCR)Paper coated with chemicals that enable transfer of images from one sheet to another with pressure from writing or typing. |
Caret marks |
an indication to the printer of an ommission in the copy indicated as ( ) showing the insertion. |
Carload |
A truck load of paper weighing 40000 pounds. |
Cartridge |
a thick general purpose paper used for printing, drawing and wrapping. |
Case bind |
A type of binding used in making hard cover books using glue. |
Case bound |
a hardback book made with stiff outer covers. Cases are usually covered with cloth, vinyl or leather. |
Cast coated |
Coated paper with a high gloss reflective finish. |
Cast off |
a calculation determining how much space copy will take up when typeset. |
Catchline |
a temporary headline for identification on the top of a galley proof. |
Chalking |
a powdering effect left on the surface of the paper after the ink has failed to dry satisfactorily due to a fault in printing. |
Character count |
the number of characters; ie letters, figures, signs or spaces in a piece of copy, line or paragraph used as a first stage in type calculations. |
Chase |
a metal frame in which metal type and blocks (engravings) are locked into position to make up a page. |
choke |
A method of altering the thickness of a shape by over exposure in processing or by means of a built-in option in some computer applications. |
Chrome |
A term for a transparency. |
chromolin |
A fast proofing system which uses powder as opposed to ink. |
Clip Art |
copyright free photos or drawings. |
clipart |
Graphics saved in ready-to-use computer files. these are normally vector illustrations and not photographic images. |
clipping path |
An outline, embedded into the file, that tells an application which areas of a picture should be considered transparent. |
Close up |
a proof correction mark to reduce the amount of space between characters or words indicated as ('). |
CMYK |
cyan, yellow, magenta, black. The subtractive primaries, or process colors, used in color printing. Black (K) is usually added to enhance color and to print a true black. See four color process. |
Coated |
printing papers which after making have had a surface coating with clay etc, to give a smoother, more even finish with greater opacity. |
Coated paper |
A clay coated printing paper with a smooth finish. |
Cold type |
type produced without the use of characters cast from molten metal, such as on a VDU. |
Collate |
A finishing term for gathering paper in a precise order. |
collating |
Gathering together sheets of paper from a book, magazine or brochure and placing them into the correct order. |
Color bar |
A quality control term regarding the spots of ink color on the tail of a sheet. |
Color correction |
Methods of improving color separations. |
Color filter |
Filters uses in making color separations, red, blue, green. |
Color matching system |
A system of formulated ink colors used for communicating color. |
Color proof |
A representation of what the final printed composition will look like. The resolution and quality of different types of color can vary greatly. |
Color separations |
The process of preparing artwork, photographs, transparencies, or computer generated art for printing by separating into the four primary printing colors. |
Color transparency |
A photographic image transparent film used as artwork. 35 mm, 4"x5" and 8"x10" formats are commonly used. |
colour separation |
Process by which a continuous tone colour image is separated into the four process colours (CMYK) for print production. |
Column rule |
a light faced vertical rule used to separate columns of type. |
Comb bind |
To plastic comb bind by inserting the comb into punched holes. |
Compose |
to set copy into type. |
Composite film |
Combining two or more images on one or more pieces of film. |
Concertina fold |
a method of folding in which each fold opens in the opposite direction to its neighbour, giving a concertina or pleated effect. |
Condensed |
a style of typeface in which the characters have a vertically elongated appearance. |
continuous stationery |
Forms which are produced from reels of paper and then fan folded. these can be either single or multi-part forms. |
Continuous tone |
an image in which the subject has continuous shades of color or gray without being broken up by dots. Continuous tones cannot be reproduced in that form for printing but must be screened to translate the image into dots. |
Continuous-tone copy |
Illustrations, photographs or computer files that contain gradient tones from black to white or light to dark. |
Contrast |
The tonal change in color from light to dark. |
Copy |
All furnished material or disc used in the production of a printed product. |
Copyright |
The right of copyright gives protection to the originator of material to prevent use without express permission or acknowledgement of the originator. |
Corner marks |
marks printed on a sheet to indicate the trim or register marks. |
Cover paper |
A heavy printing paper used to cover books, make presentation folders, etc. |
Crash number |
Numbering paper by pressing an image on the first sheet which is transferred to all parts of the printed set. |
crease |
To mechanically press a rule into heavy paper or board to enable it to be folded without cracking. |
creep |
Phenomenon when middle pages of a folded section extend slightly beyond the outside pages. |
Crimping |
Puncture marks holding business forms together. |
Cromalin |
Trade name for DuPont color proofs. |
Crop |
To cut off parts of a picture or image. |
Crop marks |
Printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet. |
Cropping |
the elimination of parts of a photograph or other original that are not required to be printed. Cropping allows the remaining parts of the image to be enlarged to fill the space. |
Cross head |
a heading set in the body of the text used to break it into easily readable sections. |
Crossover |
Printing across the gutter or from one page to the facing page of a publication. |
CTP |
Abbreviation of computer-to-plate; a process of printing directly from a computer onto the plate used by a printing press. |
Cursive |
used to describe typefaces that resemble written script. |
Cut flush |
a method of trimming a book after the cover has been attached to the pages. |
Cutline |
also called a caption. The line or lines of text that refer to information identifying a picture or illustration. |
Cutout |
a halftone where the background has been removed to produce a silhouette. |
Cyan |
One of four standard process colors. The blue color. |
Dagger and double dagger |
symbols used mainly as reference marks for footnotes. |
Dampening |
a necessary process in lithography of dampening the printing plate to prevent ink from spreading. |
Dash |
Sometimes called an "em" dash. A horizontal rule used for punctuation. |
deboss |
Image pressed into paper so it lies below the surface. |
Densitometer |
A quality control devise to measure the density of printing ink. |
Density |
The degree of color or darkness of an image or photograph. |
Diazo |
A light sensitive coating used on printing plates. |
Die |
Metal rule or imaged block used to cut or place an image on paper in the finishing process. |
Die cutting |
Curing images in or out of paper. |
die-cutting |
Process of using sharp metal rules on a wooden block to cut out specialised shapes such as pocket folders or unusual shaped flyers etc. |
Digital |
Files for printing that are produced on the computer. |
digital printing |
Benefits are for very short runs or for personalised print. some feel that the quality is not yet to the standard of offset litho, however, some feel that it is. |
Display type |
larger type used for headings etc. Normally about 18 point or larger. |
Dithering |
The process of specifying color to adjacent pixels in order to simluate a third color in a bitmapped image. This technique is generally used whan a full range of colors is not available. |
Dmax |
The highest level of density on a film negative. |
Dot |
An element of halftones. Using a loupe you will see that printed pictures are made many dots. |
Dot gain |
A printing defect in which dots print larger than intended, causing darker colors or tones; due to the spreading of ink on stock. The more absorbent the stock, the more dot gain. Can vary by type of ink as well. |
Dot gain or spread |
A term used to explain the difference in size between the dot on film v paper. |
Double burn |
Exposing a plate to multiple images. |
Double density |
a method of recording on floppy disks using a modified frequency modulation process that allows more data to be stored on a disk. |
Double page spread |
two facing pages of newspaper or magazine where the textual material on the left hand side continues across to the right hand side. Abbreviated to DPS. |
DPI |
Dots per inch. A measure of output resolution produced by printers, imagesetters, or monitors. |
DPI (Dots Per Inch) |
the measurement of resolution for page printers, phototypesetting machines and graphics screens. Currently graphics screens reproduce 60 to 100dpi, most page printers work at 300dpi and typesetting systems operate at 1,000dpi and above. |
Draw-down |
A sample of ink and paper used to evaluate ink colors. |
Drawn on |
a method of binding a paper cover to a book by drawing the cover on and gluing to the back of the book. |
drilling |
Drilling of holes in product which will allow insertion over rings or posts in a binder of some sort. |
Drop cap |
a large initial letter at the start of the text that drops into the line or lines of text below. |
Drop-out |
Portions of artwork that do not print. |
Dry transfer (lettering) |
Characters, drawings, etc, that can be transferred to the artwork by rubbing them off the back of the transfer sheet. Best known is Letraset. |
Dummy |
A rough layout of a printed piece showing position and finished size. |
Duotone |
A halftone picture made up of two printed colors. |
Dye transfer |
a photographic colour print using special coated papers to produce a full colour image. Can serve as an inexpensive proof. |
Dylux |
Photographic paper made by DuPont and used for bluelines. |
EGA (Enhanced Graphics Adapter) |
a graphics standard for the PC which can be added or built into a system to give sharper characters and improved colour with the correct display device. Standard EGA resolution is 640 by 350 dots in any 16 out of 64 colours. |
Egyptian |
a term for a style of type faces having square serifs and almost uniform thickness of strokes. |
Eight sheet |
a poster measuring 60 x 80in (153 x 203cm) and, traditionally, made up of eight individual sheets. |
Electronic Publishing |
a generic term for the distribution of information which is stored, transmitted and reproduced electronically. Teletext and Videotext are two examples of this technology in its purest form, ie no paper.. Desktop publishing forms just one part of the electronic publishing market. |
Elliptical dot |
A type of halftone screen dot with an elliptical rather than circular shape, which sometimes produces better tonal gradations. |
Em |
a fixed space equal in size to the chosen point size. It gets its name from the letter M which originally was as wide as the type size. |
Em dash |
a dash used in punctuation the length of one em. |
embed |
Implies the inclusion of elements and data into a computer file necessary to maintain or change the elements when used remotely. |
Emboss |
Pressing an image into paper so that it will create a raised relief. |
Embossing |
relief images formed by using a recessed die. |
Emulsion |
Light sensitive coating found on printing plates and film. |
En |
a fixed space that is half as wide as an em space. |
En dash |
a dash approximately half the width of an em dash. |
End papers |
the four page leaves at the front and end of a book which are pasted to the insides of the front and back covers (boards). |
EPS |
Enapsulated PostScript. A file format used to transfer PostScript image information from one program to another. The preferred file format for saving images, as it is resolution independent, as opposed to TIFF. |
Epson emulation |
the industry standard control codes for dot matrix printers were developed by Epson and virtually all software packages and most dot matrix printers either follow or improve on these codes. |
Estimate |
A price provided to a customer, based on the specifications outlined on the estimate form. It is normally sent prior to entry of an order and prices may change if the order specifications are not the same as the estimate specifications. |
Eurobind |
A patented method of binding perfect bound books so they will open and lay flatter. |
Expanded type |
a typeface with a slightly wider body giving a flatter appearance. |
Express |
a printer control language developed by OASYS. |
Face |
an abbreviation for typeface referring to a family in a given style. |
Facsimile transmission |
The process of converting graphic images into electronic signals. |
file format |
The system by which data is held in a particular type of computer file. |
Filler |
extra material used to complete a column or page, usually of little importance. |
Film rip |
See Rip film. |
Final Proof |
once called a "Blueline" this is now a digitally generated full color proof. |
Flag |
the designed title of a newspaper as it appears at the top of page one. |
Flat |
An assembly of negatives taped to masking materials for platemaking. |
Flexography |
a rotary letterpress process printing from rubber or flexible plates and using fast drying inks. Mainly used for packaging. |
Floating accent |
an accent mark which is set separately from the main character and is then placed either over or under it. |
Flood |
To cover a printed page with ink, varnish, or plastic coating. |
Flop |
The reverse side of an image. |
Floppy disk |
once popular and now seldom used, it is recommended that all materials be burned to a CD. |
flush |
To align, to be even with. (flush right to a margin for example). |
Flush left |
copy aligned along the left margin. |
Flush right |
copy aligned along the right margin. |
Flyer |
an inexpensively produced circular used for promotional distribution. |
Foil |
A metallic or pigmented coating on plastic sheets or rolls used in foil stamping and foil embossing. |
Foil blocking |
a process for stamping a design on a book cover without ink by using a coloured foil with pressure from a heated die or block. |
Foil emboss |
Foil stamping and embossing a image on paper with a die. |
Foil stamping |
Using a die to place a metallic or pigmented image on paper. |
Font |
or typeface. A complete set of characters in a typeface. |
Font (or fount) |
a complete set of characters in a typeface. |
font matching |
A sometimes undesirable process used when a chosen font is not available, the closest possible match is made, sometimes causing reflow of the text or other errors.format Size, shape and overall style of layout or printed project. |
Form letter |
used in word processing to describe a repetitive letter in which the names and addresses of individuals are automatically generated from a data base or typed individually. |
Forme |
type and blocks assembled in pages and imposed in a metal chase ready for printing. |
four-colour process |
Reproduction of full-colour photographs or art with the four basic colours of ink (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). |
French fold |
Two folds at right angles to each other. |
Full measure |
a line of type set to the entire line length. |
Full point |
a full stop. |
Galley proof |
Text copy before it is put into a mechanical layout or desktop layout. |
Galleys |
the printing term for long metal trays used to hold type after it had been set and before the press run. |
Gang |
Getting the most out of a printing press by using the maximum sheet size to print multiple images or jobs on the same sheet. A way to save money. |
Gatefold |
an oversize page where both sides fold into the gutter in overlapping layers. Used to accommodate maps into books. |
Gathering |
the operation of inserting the printed pages, sections or signatures of a book in the correct order for binding. |
Generation |
Stages of reproduction from original copy. A first generation reproduction yields the best quality. |
Ghost bars |
A quality control method used to reduce ghosted image created by heat or chemical contamination. |
Ghosting |
A faint printed image that appears on a printed sheet where it was not intended. More often than not this problem is a function of graphical design. It is hard to tell when or where ghosting will occur. Sometimes you can see the problem developing immediately after printing the sheet, other times the problem occurs while drying. However the problem occurs it is costly to fix, if it can be fixed. Occasionally it can be eliminated by changing the color sequence, the inks, the paper, changing to a press with a drier, printing the problem area in a separate pass through the press or changing the racking (reducing the number of sheets on the drying racks). Since it is a function of graphical design, the buyer pays for the increased cost. |
Gloss |
A shiny look reflecting light. |
Gloss ink |
for use in litho and letterpress printing on coated papers where the ink will dry without pentration. |
Golden ratio |
the rule devised to give proportions of height to width when laying out text and illustrations to produce the most optically pleasing result. |
Gothic |
typefaces with no serifs and broad even strokes. |
Gradated screen |
A smooth transition between black and white, one color and another, or color and the lack of it. |
Grain |
The direction in which the paper fiber lie. |
Grayscale |
a range of luminance values for evaluating shading through white to black. Also, a term used when referring to a black and white photograph. |
Greeking |
gibberish or gray areas to simulate lines of text. |
Grey scale |
a range of luminance values for evaluating shading through white to black. Frequently used in discussions about scanners as a measure of their ability to capture halftone images. Basically the more levels the better but with correspondingly larger memory requirements. |
greyscale |
Shades of grey ranging from black to white; in printing, greyscale uses only a black halftone plate. |
Grid |
A systematic division of a page into areas to enable designers to ensure consistency. The grid acts as a measuring guide and shows text, illustrations and trim sizes. |
Grippers |
The metal fingers on a printing press that hold the paper as it passes through the press. |
GSM |
Grams per square metre. The unit of measurement for paper weight. |
Guard |
a narrow strip of paper or linen pasted to a single leaf to allow sewing into a section for binding. |
gusset |
Expandable portion of a pocketed folder or envelope. |
Gutter |
the central blank area between left and right pages. |
Hairline |
A very thin line or gap about the width of a hair or 1/100 inch. |
Hairline rule |
the thinnest rule that can be printed. |
Hairlines |
the thinnest of the strokes in a typeface. |
Half up |
artwork one and a half times the size which it will be reproduced. |
Halftone |
Converting a continuous tone to dots for printing. |
Halftone screen |
a glass plate or film placed between the original photograph and the film to be exposed. The screen carries a network of parallel lines. The number of lines to the inch controls the coarseness of the final dot formation. The screen used depends on the printing process and the paper to be used, the higher the quality the more lines can be used. |
Hanging punctuation |
punctuation that is allowed to fall outside the margins instead of staying within the measure of the text. This is now seldom used in desktop publishing. |
Hard copy |
The output of a computer printer, or typed text sent for typesetting. |
Hard disk |
a rigid disk sealed inside an airtight transport mechanism. Information stored may be accessed more rapidly than on floppy disks and far greater amounts of data may be stored. Often referred to as Winchester disks. |
Hardback |
a case bound book with a separate stiff board cover. |
Head |
the larger bold text at the top of a page. |
head margin |
The white space above the first line on a page. |
Helvetica |
a sans serif typeface. |
Hickey |
Reoccurring unplanned spots that appear in the printed image from dust, lint, dried ink. |
Hickies |
a dust particle sticking to the printing plate or blanket which appears on the printed sheet as a dark spot surrounded by an halo. |
High-bulk paper |
A paper made thicker than its standard basis weight. |
Highlight |
The lightest areas in a picture or halftone. |
house sheet |
General use paper ordered in large quantities and kept in stock by a printer. |
House style |
The style of preferred spelling, punctuation, hyphenation and indentation used in a publishing house or by a particular publication to ensure consistent typesetting. |
hue |
The main attribute of a colour which distinguishes it from other colours. |
Image area |
Portion of paper on which ink can appear. |
Imagesetter |
A device used to output a computer image or composition at high resolution onto photographic paper or film. |
import |
To bring a picture or text file into and application ready for editing or design work. |
Imposition |
Positioning printed pages so they will fold in the proper order. |
imPRESS |
a page description language developed by Imagen and supported by over 60 software products including Crystal, TeX, Superpage and AutoCAD. Almost certainly the first commercially available PDL. |
Impression |
Putting an image on paper. |
Impression cylinder |
the cylinder of a printing machine which brings the paper into contact with the with the printing plate or blanket cylinder. |
Imprint |
Adding copy to a previously printed page. |
Indicia |
Postal information place on a printed product. |
Ink fountain |
The reservoir on a printing press that hold the ink. |
Insert |
an instruction to the printer for the inclusion of additional copy. |
Interface |
the circuit, or physical connection, which controls the flow of data between a computer and its peripherals. |
International paper sizes |
the International Standards Organisation (ISO) system of paper sizes is based on a series of three sizes A, B and C. Series A is used for general printing and stationery, Series B for posters and Series C for envelopes. |
Interpress |
Xerox Corporation's page description language which was the first such product to be implemented. At present the language still has to be adopted commercially by a third party. |
ISBN |
International Standard Book Number. A reference number given to every published work. Usually found on the back of the title page. |
Italic |
type with sloping letters. |
Ivory board |
a smooth high white board used for business cards etc. |
job ticket / job sheet |
Alternate names for a works order. |
jog |
To shake a stack of papers, either on a machine or by hand, so that the edges line up. Also referred to as knocking-up. |
JPEG |
Joint Photographic Electronic Group. a common standard for compressing image data. |
justified |
Text which is flush to both the left and right margins. |
Justify |
the alignment of text along a margin or both margins. This is achieved by adjusting the spacing between the words and characters as necessary so that each line of text finishes at the same point. |
K (Kilobyte) |
1024 bytes, a binary 1,000. |
Keep standing |
to hold type or plates ready for reprints. |
Kerning |
the adjustment of spacing between certain letter pairs, A and V for example, to obtain a more pleasing appearance. |
Keyline |
an outline drawn or set on artwork showing the size and position of an illustration or halftone. |
Keylines |
Lines on mechanical art that show position of photographs or illustrations. |
Kilobyte (K, KB) |
1024 bytes, a binary 1,000. |
Kiss die cut |
To cut the top layer of a pressure sensitive sheet and not the backing. |
kiss-cut |
To die-cut but not all the way through the paper ? commonly used for peel off stickers. |
Knock out |
To mask out an image. |
Knockout |
A shape or object printed by eliminating (knocking out) all background colors. Contrast to overprinting. |
Kraft paper |
a tough brown paper used for packing. |
Laid |
paper with a watermark pattern showing the wire marks used in the paper making process. Usually used for high quality stationery. |
Laid finish |
Simulating the surface of handmade paper. |
Laminate |
To cover with film, to bond or glue one surface to another. |
lamination |
A thin film coating which is applied to the paper or board to give a more glossy or matt appearance. |
LAN |
Local Area Network. A group of connected computers in a relatively small area that share access to printers and other peripheral devices. |
Landscape |
work in which the width used is greater than the height. Also used to indicate the orientation of tables or illustrations which are printed 'sideways'. See portrait. |
Laser printer (see also Page printer) |
a high quality image printing system using a laser beam to produce an image on a photosensitive drum. The image is transferred on to paper by a conventional xerographic printing process. |
Lateral reversal |
a positive or negative image transposed from left to right as in a mirror reflection of the original. |
Layflat |
See Eurobind. |
Layout |
the final composed pages |
layout file |
The file created by computer application software which contains all the imported elements and where all the design and layout of a document are performed. |
Lead or leading |
Space added between lines of type to space out text and provide visual separation of the lines. Measured in points or fractions therof. Named after the strips of lead which used to be inserted between lines of metal type. |
Legend |
the descriptive matter printed below an illustration, mostly referred to as a cutline or caption. Also an explanation of signs or symbols used in timetables or maps. |
Letterpress |
a relief printing process in which a raised image is inked to produce an impression; the impression is then transferred by placing paper against image and applying pressure. |
Letterset |
a printing process combining offset printing with a letterpress relief printing plate. |
Library picture |
a picture taken from an existing library and not specially commissioned. |
Ligature |
letters which are joined together as a single unit of type such as oe and fi. |
Lightface |
type having finer strokes than the medium typeface. Not used as frequently as medium. |
Line block |
a letterpress printing plate made up of solid areas and lines and without tones. |
Line copy |
High contrast copy not requiring a halftone. |
Line gauge |
a metal rule used by printers. Divided into Picas it is 72 picas long (11.952in). |
Linen tester |
a magnifying glass designed for checking the dot image of a halftone. |
Lines per inch |
The number of rows of dots per inch in a halftone. |
Lining figures |
numerals that align on the baseline and at the top. |
Linotype |
manufacturers of a range of high resolution phototypesetting machines such as the 100, 202, 300 and 500. The 100, 300 and 500 series are capable of processing PostScript files through an external RIP and typesetting desktop publishing files direct from disk at 1270dpi and beyond. |
lithographic printing |
A printing process based on the principle of the natural aversion of water to grease. the areas to be printed receive and transfer ink to the paper, the non-printing areas are treated with water to repel the ink. |
Lithography |
a printing process based on the principle of the natural aversion of water to grease. The photographically prepared printing plate when being made is treated chemically so that the image will accept ink and reject water. |
Logo |
short for logotype. A word or combination of letters set as a single unit. Also used to denote a specially styled company name designed as part of a corporate image. |
Loose leaf |
a method of binding which allows the insertion and removal of pages for continuous updating. |
Loupe |
A magnifying glass used to review a printed image, plate and position film. |
Lower case |
the small letters in a font of type. |
lpi |
Lines per inch - refers to the quality of a halftone screen. it is important to distinguish it from dpi which refers to the resolution of a device or image. commonly lpi is used at exactly half of the dpi of the device or image, i.e. 300dpi would equal 150lpi. |
Luminosity |
A value corresponding to the brightess of color. |
M (Megabyte) |
one million bytes. |
Machine glazed (MG) |
paper with a high gloss finish on one side only. |
Macro |
a series of instructions which would normally be issued one at a time on the keyboard to control a program. A macro facility allows them to be stored and issued automatically by a single keystroke. |
Magenta |
Process red, one of the basic colors in process color. |
Magnetic ink |
a magnetized ink that can be read both by humans and by electronic machines. Used in check printing. |
make-ready |
The work associated with the set-up of printing equipment before running a job. |
Makeready |
All the activities required to prepare a press for printing. |
Making ready |
the time spent in making ready the level of the printing surface by packing out under the forme or around the impression cylinder. |
Manilla |
A tough brown paper used to produce stationery and wrapping paper. |
Manuscript (MS) |
the original written or typewritten work of an author submitted for publication. |
Marginal words |
Call outs for directions on various parts of a business form. |
Margins |
the non printing areas of page. |
Mark up |
copy prepared for a compositor setting out in detail all the typesetting instructions. |
Mask |
Blocking light from reaching parts of a printing plate. |
Masthead |
details of publisher and editorial staff usually printed on the contents page. |
Matchprint |
Trade name for 3M integral color proof. |
matt |
A non glossy finish. |
Matt art |
a coated printing paper with a dull surface. |
Matte finish |
Dull paper or ink finish. |
Measure |
denotes column width, expressed in picas. |
Mechanical |
Camera ready art all contained on one board. |
Mechanical separation |
Mechanical art overlay for each color to be printed. |
Megabyte (M, MB) |
one million bytes. |
Memory |
the part of the computer which stores information for immediate access. . |
metal plate |
A metal sheet with a specially coated 'emulsion' on its surface which when exposed through a film mask or by CTP process will produce an image. when the plate is loaded onto printing press it then reproduces this image using inks onto the paper. |
Metallic ink |
printing inks which produce an effect gold, silver, bronze or metallic colors. |
MG (Machine glazed) |
paper with a high gloss finish on one side only. |
Micrometer |
Instrument used to measure the thickness of different papers. |
Middle tones |
The tones in a photograph that are approximately half as dark as the shadow area. |
Modern |
refers to type styles introduced towards the end of the 19th century. Times roman is a good example of modern type. |
moir? pattern |
An undesirable grid-like pattern caused by the misalignment of dots on a printed document. this can occur when printing or sometimes when scanning from pre-printed material. |
Moire |
Occurs when screen angles are wrong causing odd patterns in photographs. |
Monitor calibration |
The process of correcting the color settings of a monitor to match selected colors of printed output. |
Monochrome |
A black and white display with no gray tones. |
Monospace |
a font in which all characters occupy the same amount of horizontal width regardless of the character. |
Montage |
a single image formed from the assembling of several images. |
Mounting board |
a heavy board used for mounting artwork. |
Mouse |
a handheld pointing device using either mechanical motion or special optical techniques to convert the movement of the user's hand into movements of the cursor on the screen. Generally fitted with one, two or three buttons which can control specific software functions. |
MS (Manuscript) |
the original written or typewritten work of an author submitted for publication. |
Mutt |
a typesetting term for the em space. |
Negative |
The image on film that makes the white areas of originals black and black areas white. |
Newsprint |
Unsized, low quality, absorbent paper used for printing newspapers. |
Nipping |
a stage in book binding where after sewing the sheets are pressed to expel air. |
Non-reproducing blue |
A blue color the camera cannot see. Used in marking up artwork. |
Oblique stroke |
(/) |
OCR (Optical Character Recognition) |
a special kind of scanner which provides a means of reading printed characters on documents and converting them into digital codes that can be read into a computer as actual text rather than just a picture. |
Offset lithography |
(see Lithography) a printing method whereby the image is transferred from a plate onto a rubber covered cylinder from which the printing takes place. |
Offset paper |
Term for uncoated book paper. |
Offset Plates |
A method in which the plate or cylinder transfers an ink image to an offset or transfer roller, which then transfers the image to stock. |
offset printing |
A method in which the plate or cylinder transfers an ink image to an offset or transfer roller, which then transfers the image to stock. |
Offsetting |
Using an intermediate surface used to transfer ink. Also, an unpleasant happening when the images of freshly printed sheets transfer images to each other. |
Ok sheet |
Final approved color inking sheet before production begins. |
Oldstyle (US) |
a style of type characterised by stressed strokes and triangular serifs. An example of an oldstyle face is Garamond. |
Onion skin |
a translucent lightweight paper used in air mail stationery. |
Opacity |
The amount of show-through on a printed sheet. The more opacity or the thicker the paper the less show-through. (The thicker/heavier the paper the higher the cost.) |
Optical center |
a point above the true centre of the page which will not appear 'low' as the geometric centre does. |
Optical centre |
a point above the true centre of the page which will not appear 'low' as the geometric centre does. |
Optical Disks |
video disks on which large amounts of information can be stored in binary form representing characters of text or images. The disks cannot be used to view the information using a modified compact disk player and TV. Mainly used for reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc. |
origination |
A term used to describe all of the processes which prepare a job for the printing stage. |
Orphan |
line of type on its own at the top or bottom of a page. |
OU Red |
PMS 200 or 201. (See Pantone Matching System) A dark scarlet red. |
Outline |
a typeface in which the characters are formed with only the outline defined rather than from solid strokes. |
Outline halftone |
Removing the background of a picture or silhouetting an image in a picture. |
outline paths |
A term used when converting a font or graphic into a mathematical vector format. can also be called 'curves'. |
Output |
Computer image transferred to color proof, paper, film, or temporary plate material by an imagesetter device. |
over-run |
Copies printed in excess of the quantity specified in the order. |
Overlay |
The transparent cover sheet on artwork often used for instructions. |
Overprinting |
printing over an area already printed. Contrast with knockout. |
Overrun or overs |
Copies printed in excess of the specified quantity. (Printing trade terms allow for + - 10 % to represent a completed order.) |
Overs |
additional paper required to compensate for spoilage in printing. Also used to refer to a quantity produced above the number of copies ordered. |
Overstrike |
a method used in word processing to produce a character not in the typeface by superimposing two separate characters, eg $ using s and l. |
Ozalid |
a trade name to describe a method of copying page proofs from paper or film. |
Page count |
Total number of pages in a book including blanks. |
Page proof |
Initial output to proofing printer. The best stage for identifying and correcting mistakes, typos and other problems. |
Page proofs |
the stage following galley proofs, in which pages are made up and paginated. |
PageMaker |
a common desktop publishing software. |
Pagination |
the numbering of pages in a book. |
Pantone |
a registered name for an ink colour matching system. |
Pantone Matching System |
a registered name for an ink color matching system, usually abbreviated PMS. |
Pantone? colours |
Premixed ink colours that are often specified for printing as a spot colour. can be matched using CMYK but will not be exactly the same colour as its Pantone colour counterpart. |
Paper plate |
a short run offset printing plate on which matter can be typed directly. |
Paragraph mark |
a type symbol used to denote the start of a paragraph. |
Paragraph mark ( ) |
a type symbol used to denote the start of a paragraph. Also used as a footnote sign. |
Parallel fold |
a method of folding; eg two parallel folds will produce a six page sheet. |
Pattern carbon |
Special carbon paper used in business forms that only transfers in certain areas. |
Perfect bind |
A type of binding that glues the edge of sheets to a cover like a telephone book, Microsoft software manual, or Country Living Magazine. |
Perfect binding |
An inexpensive bookbinding technique in which the pages are glued rather than sewn to the cover and used primarily for paperbacks, small manuals, phone books, etc. |
perfecting |
Process of printing both sides of one sheet during a single pass through the press. |
Perfecting press |
A sheet fed printing press that prints both sides of a sheet in one pass. |
Perfector |
a printing press which prints both sides of the paper at one pass through the machine. |
Photogravure |
(see Gravure) a printing process where the image is etched into the plate cylinder. The main advantage of this method of printing is the high speed, long run capability. Used mainly for mail order and magazine work. |
Pi fonts |
characters not usually included in a font, but which are added specially. Examples of these are timetable symbols and mathematical signs. |
Pica |
Unit of measure in typesetting. One pica = 1/6 inch. |
Picking |
Printers nightmare that occurs as the surface of a sheet lifts off during printing. Generally a paper manufactures quality control problem. |
Pigment |
Particles that absorb and reflect light and appear colored to our eyes; the substance that gives ink its color. |
Pin register |
A standard used to fit film to film and film to plates and plates to press to assure the proper registration of printer colors. |
Pixel |
The smallest distinct unit of a bitmapped image displayed on a screen. |
Plate gap |
Gripper space. The area where the grippers hold the sheet as it passes through the press. |
PMS |
The abbreviated name of the Pantone Color Matching System. |
PMT |
Abbreviated name for photomechanical transfer. Often used to make position prints. |
Point |
For paper, a unit of thickness equaling 1/1000 inch. for typesetting, a unit of height equaling 1/72 inch. |
Portrait |
an upright image or page where the height is greater than the width. |
Positive |
a true photographic image of the original made on paper or film. |
Posterization |
the deliberate constraint of a gradation into visible steps as a special effect. |
PostScript |
The computer language most recognized by printing devices. |
Press number |
A method of numbering manufacturing business forms or tickets. |
Press proof |
a copy obtained from inked type, plate, block or screen for checking purposes; a reasonably accurate sample of how a finished piece is intended to look. Also, to check for consistency and accuracy. |
Pressure-sensitive paper |
Paper material with self sticking adhesive covered by a backing sheet. |
Preview mode |
a mode where word processing or desktop publishing software which doesn't operate in WYSIWYG fashion can show a representation of the output as it will look when printed. The quality ranges from acceptable to worse than useless. |
Primary colors |
cyan, magenta and yellow. These three colors when mixed together with black will produce a reasonable reproduction of all other colors. |
Primary colours |
cyan, magenta and yellow. These three colours when mixed together with black will produce a reasonable reproduction of all other colours. |
Printer Command Language |
a language developed by Hewlett Packard for use with its own range of printers. Essentially a text orientated language, it has been expanded to give graphics capability. |
Process blue |
The blue or cyan color in process printing. |
process blue / process red / process yellow / process black |
Alternate names for the CMYK colours |
Process colors |
Cyan (blue), magenta (process red), yellow (process yellow), black (process black). |
process colour |
Colour specified in percentages of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. when superimposed during printing the four colour printing process, their separate plates can recreate millions of different colours. |
Production coordinator |
A person who follows the print job through every step of the process and in general acts as a liaison between Printing Services and the customer. |
Progressives |
color proofs taken at each stage of printing showing each color printed singly and then superimposed on the preceding color. |
Proof |
a copy obtained from inked type, plate, block or screen for checking purposes. |
Proof correction marks |
a standard set of signs and symbols used in copy preparation and to indicate corrections on proofs. Marks are placed both in the text and in the margin. |
Proofreading |
To read and mark typesetting corrections in written matter. |
Proofreading marks |
a standard set of signs and symbols used in copy preparation and to indicate corrections on proofs. Marks are placed both in the text and in the margin with a line connecting them. |
Proportional spacing |
a method of spacing whereby each each character is spaced to accommodate the varying widths of letters or figures, so increasing readability. Books and magazines are set proportionally spaced, typewritten documents are generally monospaced. |
Pulp |
the raw material used in paper making consisting mainly of wood chips, rags or other fibres. Broken down by mechanical or chemical means. |
Quadding |
the addition of space to fill out a line of type using en or em blocks. |
Quark Xpress |
The industry standard typesetting and page layout program. |
QuarkXpress |
The industry standard typesetting and page layout program. Highly recommended. |
Quire |
1/20th of a ream (25 sheets). |
quotation |
Our offer to produce a job for a specific price calculated on from specifications provided by the customer. |
Rag paper |
high quality stationery made from cotton rags. |
Ragged |
lines of type that do not start or end at the same position. |
Ragged left |
Type that is justified to the right margin and the line lengths vary on the left. |
Ragged left/right |
successive lines of type which are of unequal length and which are aligned at either the right or left hand column. |
Ragged right |
Type that is justified to the left margin and the line lengths vary on the right. |
Ranged left/right |
successive lines of type which are of unequal length and which are aligned at either the right or left hand column. |
Rasterization |
The process of converting mathematical and digital information (vector commands) into a series of dots by an output device. |
Ream |
Five hundred sheets of paper. |
Recto |
Right-hand page of an open book. |
Reference marks |
symbols used in text to direct the reader to a footnote. Eg asterisk (*), dagger, double dagger, section mark ( ), paragraph mark ( ). |
Reflective copy |
Copy that is not transparent. |
Register |
To position print in the proper position in relation to the edge of the sheet and to other printing on the same sheet. |
Register marks |
Cross-hair lines or marks on film, plates, and paper that guide strippers, platemakers, pressmen, and bindery personnel in processing a print order from start to finish. |
registration marks |
Crosses or other marks placed on artwork which ensure perfect alignment ('registration'). |
Resolution |
the measurement used in typesetting to express quality of output. Measured in dots per inch, the greater the number of dots, the smoother and cleaner appearance the character/image will have. Phographs need to be scanned at a resolution of 300 dots per inch. Screen resolution is 72 dots per inch and something that looks wonderful on your computer screen or on the Internet will look terrible when printed. |
Rest in Proportion (RIP) |
an instruction when giving sizes to artwork or photographs that other parts of the artwork are to be enlarged or reduced in proportion. |
Retouching |
a means of altering artwork or color separations to correct faults or enhance the image. |
Reverse |
The opposite of what you see. Printing the background of an image. For example; type your name on a piece of paper. The reverse of this would be a black piece of paper with a white name. |
Reverse out |
to reproduce as a white image out of a solid background. |
reversed-out |
Type appearing white on a black or colour background, either a solid or a tint. |
Revise |
indicates the stages at which corrections have been incorporated from earlier proofs and new proofs submitted. Eg First revise, second revise. |
RGB |
red, green, blue. The additive primary colors used for computer monitor displays; also a color model. Cannot be used for printing. All RGB files must be changed to CMYK to be printed. |
Right reading |
a positive or negative which reads from left to right. |
RIP (raster image processor) |
Computer used to create an electronic bitmap for actual output. this may be built into an imagesetter or may be separate. |
Rip film |
A method of making printing negatives from PostScript files created by desktop publishing. |
Roman |
type which has vertical stems as distinct from italics or oblique which are set at angles. |
Rosette |
The pattern created when all four color halftone screens are placed at the traditional angles. |
Rotary press |
a web or reel fed printing press which uses a curved printing plate mounted on the plate cylinder. |
Rough |
a preliminary sketch of a proposed design (see also, "Dummy" and "Layout dummy." |
Royal |
a size of printing paper 20in x 25in (508 x 635mm). |
Ruler |
rulers displayed on the sreen that show measures in inches, picas or millimeters. |
Runaround (see also Text wrap) |
the ability within a program to run text around a graphic image within a document, without the need to ajust each line manually. |
Running head |
a line of type at the top of a page which repeats a heading. |
S/S (Same size) |
an instruction to reproduce to the same size as the original. |
Saddle stitch |
Binding a booklet or magazine with staples in the seam where it folds. |
Saddle stitching |
a method of binding where the folded pages are stitched through the spine from the outside, using wire staples. Usually limited to 64 pages size. |
Sans serif |
a typeface that has no serifs (small strokes at the end of main stroke of the character). |
Saturation |
the amount of gray in a color. The higher the gray content, the lower the saturation. |
Scale |
the means within a program to reduce or enlarge the amount of space an image will occupy. |
Scaling |
a means of calculating the amount of enlargement or reduction necessary to accommodate a photograph within the area of a design. |
Scamp |
a sketch of a design showing the basic concept. |
Scanner |
Device used to make color separations, halftones, duo tones and tri tones. Also a device used to scan art, pictures or drawings in desktop publishing. |
Scanner |
Device used to make color separations, halftones, duo tones and tri tones. Also a device used to scan art, pictures or drawings in desktop publishing. |
Scanning |
Using a scanner to digitize images to be manipulated, output or stored on a computer. |
Score |
A crease put on paper to help it fold better. |
Scraperboard |
a board prepared with black indian ink over a china clay surface. Drawings are produced by scraping away the ink to expose the china clay surface. |
Screen angles |
Frequently a desktop publishers nightmare. The angles at which halftone, duo tones, tri tones, and color separation printing films are placed to make them look right. |
Screen frequency |
the number of lines or dots per inch on a halftone screen. |
Section |
a printed sheet folded to make a multiple of pages. |
Section mark ( ) |
a character used at the beginning of a new section. Also used as a footnote symbol. |
Security paper |
paper incorporating special features (dyes, watermarks etc) for use on cheques. |
Self-cover |
Using the same paper as the text for the cover. |
Serif |
a small cross stroke at the end of the main stroke of the letter. |
Set off |
the accidental transfer of the printed image from one sheet to the back of another. |
Set size |
the width of the type body of a given point size. |
Set solid |
type set without leading (line spacing) between the lines. Type is often set with extra space; eg 9 point set on 10 point. |
Shadow |
The darkest areas of a photograph. |
Sheet |
a single piece of paper. In poster work refers to the number of Double Crown sets in a full size poster. |
Sheet fed |
a printing press which prints single sheets of paper, not reels. |
Sheetwise |
a method of printing a section. Half the pages from a section are imposed and printed. The remaining half of the pages are then printed on the other side of the sheet. |
Sherpa |
The final proof stage before printing. This full color output is generated digitally and has replaced the Blueline |
Show-through |
Printing on one side of a sheet that can be seen on the other side of the sheet. |
Side guide |
The mechanical register unit on a printing press that positions a sheet from the side. |
Side heading |
a subheading set flush into the text at the left edge. |
Side stabbed or stitched |
the folded sections of a book are stabbed through with wire staples at the binding edge, prior to the covers being drawn on. |
Side stitch |
Binding by stapling along one side of a sheet. |
Sidebar |
a vertical bar positioned usually on the right hand side of the screen. |
Signature |
A sheet of printed pages which when folded become a part of a book or publication. |
Silhouette halftone |
A term used for an outline halftone. |
Sixteen sheet |
a poster size measuring 120in x 80in (3050mm x 2030mm). |
Size |
a solution based on starch or casein which is added to the paper to reduce ink absorbency. |
Skid |
A pallet used for a pile of cut sheets. |
Slurring |
a smearing of the image, caused by paper slipping during the impression stage. |
Small caps |
a set of capital letters which are smaller than standard and are equal in size to the lower case letters for that typesize. |
Soft back/cover |
a book bound with a paper back cover. |
Soft dot |
a type of dot in a halftone screen whose edge is not smoothly circular. This can create a fuzzier image. Contrast with hard dot. |
Soft or discretionary hyphen |
a specially coded hyphen which is only displayed when formatting of the hyphenated word puts it at the end of a line. |
solid |
An area on the page which is completely covered by the ink. |
Specifications |
A precise description of a print order. |
Spell check |
a facility contained in word processing and page makeup programs to enable a spelling error check to be carried out. Should be used as an adjunct to proofreading, not a replacement of it. |
Spine |
The binding edge of a book or publication. |
Split fountain |
Putting more than one ink in a printing fountain to achieve special color affects. |
Spoilage |
Planned paper waste for all printing operations. |
Spot Color |
An ink color,The ink is usually Pantone Matching System (PMS) consisting of named or numbered colors. PMS is generally accepted throughout the printing and graphic arts industry as the standard. |
spot colour |
Spot colour is not made using the process colours. instead the colour is printed using an ink made exclusively. each spot colour therefore requires its own separate printing plate. spot colours do not apply to digital printing as the printing devices can only reproduce from the four process colours; cyan, magenta, yellow and black. |
Spot varnish |
Varnish used to hilight a specific part of the printed sheet. |
spread |
Two or more adjoining pages that would appear in view on sheet. |
SRA |
a paper size in the series of ISO international paper sizes slightly larger than the A series allowing the printer extra space to bleed. |
Stamping |
Term for foil stamping. |
Stat |
Term for inexpensive print of line copy or halftone. |
Stem |
the main vertical stroke making up a type character. |
Step up |
A term used to describe the positioning of documents several times onto the same sheet of paper to avoid paper wastage. it's also known as imposition. |
Step-and-repeat |
A procedure for placing the same image on plates in multiple places. |
Stet |
A proof mark meaning let the original copy stand. |
Stock |
The material to be printed. |
Strap |
a subheading used above the main headline in a newspaper article. |
Strawboard |
a thicker board made from straw pulp, used in bookwork and in the making of envelopes and cartons. Not suitable for printing. |
Stripping |
The positioning of film on a flat prior to platemaking. |
Style sheet |
a collection of tags specifying page layout styles, paragraph settings and type specifications which can be set up by the user and saved for use in other documents. |
Subscript |
the small characters set below the normal letters or figures. |
Substance weight |
A term of basis weight when referring to bond papers. |
Substrate |
Any surface on which printing is done. |
Supercalendered paper |
a smooth finished paper with a polished appearance, produced by rolling the paper between calenders. Examples of this are high gloss and art papers. |
Superscript |
the small characters set above the normal letters or figures. |
Surprint (US) |
(see Overprinting) printing over a previously printed area of either text or graphics. |
Swash letters |
italic characters with extra flourishes used at the beginning of chapters. |
Swatch |
a color sample. |
Tabloid |
a page half the size of a broadsheet. |
Tabular setting |
text set in columns such as timetables. |
Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) |
a common format for interchanging digital information, generally associated with greyscale or bitmap data. |
Template |
a standard layout usually containing basic details of the page dimensions. |
Text |
the written or printed material which forms the main body of a publication. |
Text paper |
Grades of uncoated paper with textured surfaces. |
Text type |
typefaces used for the main text of written material. Generally no larger than 14 point in size. |
Text wrap |
see Runaround. |
Thermography |
a print finishing process producing a raised image imitating die stamping. The process takes a previously printed image which before the ink is dry is dusted with a resinous powder. The application of heat causes the ink and powder to fuse and a raised image is formed. |
Thin space |
the thinnest space normally used to separate words. |
Thirty two sheet |
a poster size measuring 120in x 160in (3048mm x 4064mm). |
Threaded or Chained (US) |
see Pipelining. |
Thumbnails |
the first ideas or sketches of a designer noted down for future reference. |
Tied letters |
see Ligature. |
TIFF |
a common format for scanned photographs. |
Tint |
the effect of adding white to a solid color or of screening a solid area. |
Tints |
A shade of a single color or combined colors. |
Tip in |
the separate insertion of a single page into a book either during or after binding by pasting one edge. |
Tissue overlay |
Usually a thin transparent paper placed over artwork for protection uses for marking color breaks and other printer instructions. |
Tone line process |
the process of producing line art from a continuous tone original. |
Transfer tape |
A peel and stick tape used in business forms. |
Transmissive densitometer |
Instrument used to measure the coverage of exposed film. |
Transparency |
A positive photographic slide on film allowing light to pass through. |
Transparent copy |
A film that light must pass through for it to be seen or reproduced. |
Transparent ink |
A printing ink that does not conceal the color under it. |
Trapping |
The ability to print one ink over the other. |
Trash can (US) |
the icon selected for the deleting of files or objects. |
Trim |
the cutting of the finished product to the correct size. Marks are incorporated on the printed sheet to show where the trimming is to be made. |
Trim marks |
Similar to crop or register marks. These marks show where to trim the printed sheet. |
Trim size |
The final size of one printed image after the last trim is made. |
turnaround time |
Amount of time needed to complete a project. |
Twin wire |
paper which has an identical smooth finish on both sides. |
Typeface |
A complete set of characters forming a family in a particular design or style. |
Typescript |
a typed manuscript. |
Typo (US) |
an abbreviation for typographical error. An error in the typeset copy |
Typographer |
a specialist in the design of printed matter, and in particular the art of typography. |
Typography |
the design and planning of printed matter using type. |
U & lc |
an abbreviation for UPPER and lower case. |
U&lc |
an abbreviation for UPPER and lower case. |
UCR |
Undercolor Removal. A technique for reducing the amount of magenta, yellow, and cyan in neutral areas and replacing them with an appropriate amount of black. |
Under-run |
Production of fewer copies than ordered. See over run. |
Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) |
gives protection to authors or originators of text, photographs or illustrations etc, to prevent use without permission or acknowledgment. The publication should carry the copyright mark, the name of the originator and the year of publication. |
Up |
Printing two or three up means printing multiple copies of the same image on the same sheet. |
UV coating |
Liquid laminate bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. Environmentally friendly. |
UV varnish |
A liquid laminate that is bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. |
Varnish |
A clear liquid applied to printed surfaces for looks and protection. (UV coating looks better.) |
Varnishing |
a finishing process whereby a transparent varnish is applied over the printed sheet to produce a glossy finish. |
varnishing/sealing |
The application of a varnish/sealant to a surface to offer protection against marking and improve it's overall appearance. |
Vellum |
the treated skin of a calf used as a writing material. The name is also used to describe a thick creamy book paper. |
Verso |
The left hand page of an open book. |
Vertical justification |
the ability to ajust the interline spacing (leading) and manipulation of text in fine increments to make columns and pages end at the same point on a page. |
Vignette |
a small illustration in a book not enclosed in a definite border. |
Vignette halftone |
A halftone whose background gradually fades to white. |
wash up |
To clean ink from rollers, fountains and other components of a press. |
Washup |
Removing printing ink from a press, washing the rollers and blanket. Certain ink colors require multiple washups to avoid ink and chemical contamination. |
Waste |
A term for planned spoilage. |
Watermark |
A distinctive design created in paper at the time of manufacture that can be easily seen by holding the paper up to a light. |
Web |
A roll of printing paper. |
Web press |
The name of a type of presses that print from rolls of paper. |
Weight |
the degree of boldness or thickness of a letter or font. |
WF |
an abbreviation for 'wrong fount'. Used when correcting proofs to indicate where a character is in the wrong typeface. |
Widow |
a single word left on the last line of a paragraph which falls at the top of a page. |
Windows |
a software technique that allows a rectangular area of a computer screen to display output from a program. With a number of programs running at one time, several windows can appear on the screen at one time. Information can be cut and pasted from one window to another. The best known version of "windows" is that developed by Microsoft. |
Wire |
the wire mesh used at the wet end of the paper making process. The wire determines the textures of the paper. |
Wire O |
A bindery trade name for mechanical binding using double loops of wire through a hole. |
Wire stitching |
see saddle or side stitching. |
Wire-O binding |
A method of wire binding books along the binding edge that will allow the book to lay flat using double loops. See Wire O. |
With the grain |
Folding or feeding paper into the press or folder parallel to the grain of the paper. |
Woodfree paper |
made from chemical pulp only with size added. Supplied calendered or supercalendered. |
Word break |
the division of a word at the end of a line. |
Word wrap |
in word processing, the automatic adjustment of the number of words on a line of text to match the margin settings. The carriage returns set up by this method are termed "soft", as against "hard" carriage returns resulting from the return key being pressed. |
Work and tumble |
Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from the gripper to the tail to print the second side using the same side guide and plate for the second side. |
Work and turn |
Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from left to right ussing the same side guides and plate for the second side. |
Wove |
a finely textured paper without visible wire marks. |
Wove paper |
A paper having a uniform unlined surface with a smooth finish. |
WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get pronounced "wizzywig") |
used to describe systems that preview full pages on the screen with text and graphics. The term can however be a little misleading due to difference in the resolution of the computer screen and that of the page printer. |
x height |
The height of lower case letters without their ascenders or descenders, which is the height of the letter x. |
X-height |
the height of a letter excluding the ascenders and descenders; eg 'x', which is also height of the main body. |
Xerography |
A term used to describe the positioning of documents several times onto the same sheet of paper to avoid paper wastage. it's also known as imposition. |