Design and Print Jargon Buster
Confused by the jargon and terminology used by certain graphic designers and design agencie at times?
Here is our no-nonsense Design and Print Design Jargon Buster guide
Being experts in design and print, we wanted to put together a no-nonsense guide for the more commonly used terms within the design and print industry.
This list is by no means definitive and we will probably add to it at a later date. In the
A Sizes
The most common paper size used for general printing (UK), stationery and publications.
Adobe Illustrator
(Illustrator) is a vector-based drawing program developed and marketed by Adobe Systems.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a graphics-editing program developed and published by Adobe Systems. It is the current and primary market leader for commercial bitmap and image manipulation.
Applications
Application software carries out a specific task such as the creation of documents. Examples include industry-standard commercial applications such as Quark XPress, InDesign and Adobe Photoshop.
ApogeeX
Is a complete, integrated digital workflow solution that helps streamline your prepress workflow. It uses the latest workflow technologies and standards – including PDF and the emerging Job Definition Format (JDF).
Artwork
Finished layout of typesetting, drawings and photographs, made up in a form, which is ready for the printer to print from.
A/W
Abbreviation for artwork.
Author’s Corrections
Customer’s corrections/changes made, normally at the proofing stage.
B Sizes
Less common paper sizes which are used mainly for bigger jobs. E.g. Posters, wall charts etc.
Back Up
To print on the reverse side of a printed sheet.
Banding
Substandard rendering of a graduated tint by some systems can produce a banding effect. Unless intentional the result is always undesirable.
Bitmap
A grid of pixels or printed dots generated by computer to represent type and images. ‘Bitmapping’ is a term often used to describe the effect where edges of a picture take on a blocky/jagged shape due to errors in image processing or poor resolution.
Bleed
Printing where the colour continues off the edge of the paper.
Blanket
A rubber surfaced fabric (In offset litho printing) that is clamped around a cylinder on a litho press, to which the image is transferred from the plate and from which it is then transferred to the paper.
Blind Emboss
The process of raising letters or designs on to card or tough paper onto which no printed image has been added.
Blocking
To impress or stamp a design upon a cover. The design can be blocked in colour inks, gold leaf or metal foil. Most commonly used on case bound book covers.
Board
While there is no internationally agreed rule, paper exceeding 170gsm is usually referred to as board.
Bulk
Thickness of paper.
C Sizes
Paper sizes used for envelopes, designed to take A size paper.
Case Bound
A hardback book made with stiff outer covers. Case bound books are usually covered with cloth, vinyl or leather.
CMYK
Letters, which stand for Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) and Key (black) (K). Full colour printed images are made up of these component colours.
Coated Stock
Coated paper generally provides a better printing surface, producing less dot gain and better highlight definition and stronger colours.
Coater
Part of a litho printing press, which applies coatings to printed literature.
Coating
A special water based coating, which is applied to printed matter to protect literature from ink smudging or finger marking or to enhance appearance. The main types are sealer, gloss, matt and silk. Coatings are commonly used on matt or silk coated paper as these types are more prone to smudging than gloss coated paper. The main difference between a varnish and a coating is that coatings are faster drying and therefore jobs can be turned around quicker. They tend to be more scuff resistant than varnishes and there is also less risk of yellowing paper. However, oil based varnishes are better if specific areas of a document need to be coated. (Spot varnish)
Collating
Arranging of printed sheets into the desired sequence.
Colour Mark Up
Specifications on a piece of artwork to a printer, showing the required colours for the item to be printed.
Colour Separation
The process by which an image is separated into the four colours for print production.
Computer To Plate (CTP)
The process of producing printer’s plates directly from the computer (CTP) with no films involved.
Creep
When the middle pages of a folded section extend slightly beyond the outside pages.
Crop Marks
Printed lines on the edge of paper indicating where the paper should be cut to produce the correct page size.
Delano
An online proofing system allowing the customers to upload and approve jobs from their own home or office.
Die Cut
A shaped cut on a leaflet, business card or brochure.
Digital Printing
Printing straight from electronic artwork (no plates used as with litho print). Typically printed out of four colour process. Ideal for short runs up to about the 1,000 mark.
Digital Proofing
Proofing direct from digital files instead of using film.
Dither
Dithering techniques compensate for a restricted colour gamut by simulating colours from adjacent dots of other colours in a bit-image.
Desktop Publishing
The creation of artwork and print from your computer using a PC or publishing MAC.
DL Envelope
A standard envelope size measuring 110mm x 220mm. They take A4 sheets, folded into three.
Dot Gain
Dot gain describes the spread of ink outside the original circumference of each of dot making up the image.
DPI
Dots per inch, which indicate the resolution of images. The more dots per inch, the higher the resolution and the better quality the image. 300dpi is the ideal resolution for print.
Duplex
Printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. The term applies to digital printing presses.
Duotone
An image printed using two colours rather than one.
Drilling
Drilling of holes in printed literature allowing insertion over rings in a binder.
Dummy
A sample of a proposed job made up with the actual materials and cut to size to show bulk etc.
Encapsulation
Plastic coating providing a rigid, watertight covering for printed matter.
Embossing
The process of raising letters or designs on card or paper.
EPS
Encapsulated Postscript File. This is a file format, which can be read across different programs on MAC or PC computers.
Finishing
All operations after printing (i.e guillotining, folding, binding, etc).
Folio
Page numbers.
Font
A set of letters, numbers and symbols that share a unified design. The design (style) is called a typeface.
Four Colour Process
Full colour printing using four constituent colours: Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y) and Key(black) (K).
Four – Up, Three – Up, Two – Up
The number of similar items printed on one sheet of paper.
Four Back Nothing
Printed four colours on one side only. (4/0)
Four Back One
Printed four colours on one side and one colour on the reverse. (4/1)
Four Back Two
Printed four colours on one side and two colours on the reverse. (4/2)
Four Back Four
Printed 4 colours on both sides. (4/4)
FTP
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a network protocol used to transfer data from one computer to another through a network such as the Internet.
Gamut
The colour gamut of a system defines the limits of the shades and hues that can be displayed or rendered on screen or in print.
GSM
Grammes per square metre. Standard measure of paper weight.
Gloss Coating
A coating applied to printed matter which is quick drying and protects literature from ink smudging and finger marking and gives a gloss finish.
Grain Of The Paper
Machine made paper is made up of many fibres, which tend to line up in one direction due to the nature of the process. This produces a preferred direction or grain along which it is easier to fold, bend or tear paper.
Gloss Varnish
A varnish applied to printed matter to protect against smudging and finger marking and gives a gloss finish. Please refer to coating to see the difference between varnishes and coatings.
Greyscale
Each pixel on a greyscale monitor can display gradations from white to black. This is important for the quality display of halftone black and white images.
Gripper
A device on a printing machine for holding the sheet during the printing or finishing process.
Gripper Allowance
The margin of paper along the gripper edge of the sheet, which is held by the gripper and cannot be printed on.
Gutter
The inside margins or blank space between 2 facing pages is the gutter. The gutter space is that extra space allowance used to accommodate the binding in books and magazines.
Hickey
Spots or imperfections in printed items due to dirt on press, dried ink, paper particles etc.
Imposition
Plans for the arrangement of the pages of a job so that they will follow in the correct sequence when folded.
Insert
Leaflet or other printed material inserted loose in a publication or mailing package.
JDF
Job Definition Format. This is a type of computer language, which automates workflows from desktop to final print production.
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group. A type of file format for image files.
Kiss Cut
A cut made on the top layer only of two layered stock – mostly used for peel off stickers.
Laminating
A thin plastic film used on the covers of printed literature to give protection. This can be gloss or matt finish.
Lithographic (Litho) Printing
See offset litho.
Make-Ready
The set-up of printing equipment before running a job.
Margin
Margins are the unprinted area around the edges of a page.
Matt Coating
A coating applied which is quick drying and protects literature from ink smudging and finger marking and gives a matt finish.
Matt Varnish
A varnish applied to printed literature to protect against smudging and finger marking and gives a matt finish.
Machine Fold
The process of mechanically folding printed paper.
Machine Varnish
A general varnish applied to printed literature to protect or seal against smudging or finger marking.
Micrometer
Instrument for measuring thickness of paper.
Origination
All the items needed to put together and print the job. i.e Artwork, photography, typesetting etc.
Offset Litho (Graphy)
A printing process by which the inked image to be printed is transferred (offset) first to a rubber layer before coming into contact with the paper which takes up the inked areas.
Overs
The extra printed products delivered to a customer over and above the net amount ordered.
Page Picking
A digital printing technique which allows the printer to select pages from a database for inclusion in an individual document.
Pantone Reference (PMS)
International system of designating colours for printing reference.
PDF
Portable Document Format. A PDF is a special file type that combines, images, drawings, layouts and text into one file for easy delivery to or from the printer. PDF’s provide a very useful tool for proofing purposes as what you see is what you get.
Perfect Binding
Pages of a book, which are glued together to give a square spine.
Perfector
A printing press, which prints on both sides of a sheet of paper in one pass.
Perforation
Running a dotted score into paper to allow the paper to be torn off easily.
Personalisation
Where data elements are unique to an individual print piece. Concept facilitated by digital printing. Most commonly used on direct mail literature.
Post Script
PostScript is the page description language (PDL) developed by Adobe as the common standard for the printing and publishing industries.
Printing Plate
A metal plate, which has the inked images involved in the offset plate lithography printing process. It is important to realise that each colour in a printing job requires a separate plate.
Process Colours
The four colours which make up full colour printing. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
Proof
A sample of work to be checked for errors in text, positioning or quality of colour reproduction. This can be in both paper and PDF forms.
QuarkXPress
(Quark) is an industry standard computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts.
Ream
500 sheets of paper.
Register
Accurate positioning of images on a sheet relative to one another.
Registration Marks
Marks on film separations to allow them to be lined up accurately. Registration marks also appear on proofs to show the trim area of the page.
Resolution
Refers to the degree of detail of an image. It is usually measured in dots per inch (dpi) or lines per inch (lpi). A high resolution gives a high quality image and vice versa.
Reversed Out
Type appearing white on a black or colour background, which is either a solid or a tint.
RGB
3 colour split (Red, Green, Blue). Typically used for web based images. RGB images must not to be used in artwork for print. Although RGB images can be converted to CMYK in the RIP process, unusual and unwanted results may occur.
RIP
Raster Image Processor. A processor which converts files into a format ready for printing.
Saddle-Stitch
When the pages of a printed document (i.e. magazine) are bound together using metal staples.
Scanner
The equipment, which converts colour transparencies or hard copy colour artwork into images on a Mac or PC.
Scans
The name given to colour transparencies or colour artwork, which have been converted to images on an MAC or PC.
Sealer
Alternative name for a coater.
Sealer Coating
A coating applied to printed matter, which is quick drying and protects literature from ink smudging and finger marking and gives a neutral finish.
Sealer Varnish
A varnish applied to printed matter to protect against finger marking and gives a neutral finish.
Self Cover
The paper used inside a booklet is the same as that used for the cover.
Set Off
During the printing process, this is the unintentional transfer of wet ink to another sheet.
Sheet Fed Press
Printing presses, which are fed by, separate sheets of paper. As opposed to paper on a roll. They are suitable for all types of commercial printing, particularly high quality work.
Show Through
The degree to which printing is visible through paper. Commonly seen on lightweight papers.
Shrink Wrapping
Method of packing printed products by surrounding them by plastic, then shrinking by heat.
Silk Coating
A coating applied to printed matter, which is quick drying and protects literature from ink smudging and finger marking and gives a silk finish.
Silk Varnish
A varnish applied to printed literature to protect against finger marking and smudging and gives a silk finish.
Solid Colour
An even colour, which is not shaded. Areas on a page with solid colours are known as solids.
Special Colour
A colour, which cannot be made up of the four component colours – CMYK. They are listed in a pantone colour swatch book. For example, if a corporate logo contains a special blue and is included in a brochure with photographs and text; this is termed a five colour job. (CMYK (pictures+text) + special blue = 5 colours)
Spread
Two or more adjoining pages that would appear in view on a sheet.
Spot Colour
Same as special colour.
Stock
Paper or card to be printed on.
Tint
Percentage shade of a colour.
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format. A type of file, which stores an image.
Text
Pages in a book excluding covers.
Trapping
The process of overlapping adjacent colours to eliminate the white lines that could appear between them during the print process.
Typesetting
The assembly of text and pictures on a MAC or PC by keyboard or other digital means.
Typo
Short for ‘typographical error’ – a mistake in the copy.
UCR (Under Colour Removal)
UCR describes a method of replacing elements of cyan, magenta and yellow with black to avoid an undesirable build up of ink on a printed sheet in dark areas.
UV
A special varnish which has undergone an accelerated varnish drying process using ultra violet is applied to printed matter to enhance its appearance. A gloss UV Varnish is commonly used and this gives a very shiny effect, especially when used on printed matter with a matt laminate.
Variable Data Printing
The ability to vary text and image elements on a Digital printing press.
Varnishes
Special varnishes applied to printed matter to protect literature from ink smudging or finger marking or to enhance appearance. There are five main types – machine, gloss, matt and silk and UV. Varnishes are commonly used on matt or silk coated paper as these types are more prone to smudging than gloss coated paper. Varnish applied to a specific area of a document is known as spot varnish and when it is applied to the whole document it is termed as an overall varnish.
Vector Graphics
The use of geometrical algorithms (such as points, lines, curves, and polygons) to represent images in computer graphics. By contrast, the term raster graphics is the representation of images as a collection of pixels (dots).
Versioning
The technique used in digital printing systems to create numerous versions of a basic document – typically, different language versions.
Visual
A preliminary layout, indicating the general design, and the position of the various elements.
Web Fed Press
Presses which are fed by paper from a reel, as opposed to separate sheets. They are normally used for high run work.