PRINTING TERMS
4/0, 4/1, 4/4: These terms, pronounced "four over zero," "four over one" and "four over four" refer to the full color printing process using the standard four color process inks: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (also referred to as CMYK). 4/0 printing is full color ink on the front and no ink on the back. 4/1 printing is full color ink on the front and black ink on the back. 4/4 printing is full color ink on the front and back.
4-COLOR PROCESS: The process of combining four basic colors to create a printed color picture or colors composed from the basic four colors. The colors used in 4-color process are: C=Cyan, M=Magenta, Y=Yellow and K=Black - also known as CMYK.
A
ACCORDION FOLD Bindery term, two or more parallel folds which open like an accordion.
AGAINST THE GRAIN: At right angles to direction of paper grain.
ALTERATION: Change in copy of specifications after production has begun.
AQUEOUS COATING: A waterbased coating that can be used to create the shiny side of rackcards, postcards and other printed materials. This is done as part of the printing process, rather than as a separate step like UV lamination.
ARTBOARD: Alternate term for mechanical art.
AUTHOR'S CORRECTIONS: Also known as "AC's." Changes and additions in copy after it has been typeset.
B
BACK UP: Printing the second side of a sheet already printed on one side.
BANDING: Method of packaging printed pieces of paper using rubber or paper bands.
BASIS WEIGHT: Weight in pounds of a ream of paper cut to the basic size for its grade.
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.
BLANKET: The thick rubber mat on a printing press that transfers ink from the plate to paper.
BLEED: Printing that goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming. The bleed is the art that gets printed over the trim line which gets cut off during trimming. We add an extra 1/8" to art on each edge that bleeds off the side.
BLIND EMBOSSING: An image pressed into a sheet without ink or foil.
BLUELINE: A blue photographic proof used to check position of all image elements.
BOARD: Alternate term for mechanical.
BOND & CARBON: Often referred to as an "NCR form" also. Business form with paper and carbon paper.
BOND PAPER: Strong durable bond paper grade used for lettereheads and business forms.
BREAK FOR COLOR: Also known as a color break. To separate, mechanically or by software, the parts to be printed in different colors. Also the percentages of each color (CMYK) that make up the final color.
BRIGHTNESS: The brilliance or reflectance of paper.
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.
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.
C
C1S or COATED ONE SIDE: Printed materials which are only coated on one side for specific uses, such as label paper.
C2S or COATED TWO SIDES: Printed materials which have the same finish on both sides - usually for use in text publication or for commercial printing in which both sides of the paper are printed.
CALIPER: A device to measure paper thickness in thousandths of an inch.
CAMERA-READY ARTWORK: Print ready mechanical art.
CARBONLESS: Pressure sensitive writing paper that does not use carbon.
CARLOAD: A truck load of paper weighing 40,000 pounds.
CASE BIND: A type of binding used in making hard cover books using glue.
CAST COATED: Coated paper with a high gloss reflective finish.
CHROME: A term for a transparency.
CMYK: Colors used in the four-color printing process: C=Cyan, M=Magenta, Y=Yellow and K=Black.
COATED PAPER: A clay coated printing paper with a smooth finish.
COLLATE: A finishing term for gathering paper in a precise 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. Fixing the color on a picture to make it look better.
COLOR FILTER: Filters uses in making color separations, red, blue, green.
COLOR KEY: Color proofs in layers of acetate.
COLOR MATCHING SYSTEM: A system of formulated ink colors used for communicating color. Pantone Matching System (PMS color) is one such system.
COLOR SEPARATIONS: The process of preparing artwork, photographs, transparencies or computer generated art for printing by separating it into the four primary printing colors (CMYK) and/or spot colors.
COMB BIND: To plastic comb bind by inserting the comb into punched holes.
COMPOSITE FILM: Combining two or more images on one or more pieces of film.
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 discs used in the production of a printed product. Also the words used in the piece itself.
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.
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.
CROSSOVER: Printing across the gutter or from one page to the facing page of a publication.
CYAN: One of four standard process colors. The blue color.
D
DENSITOMETER: A quality control device 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 CUTTING: Curing images in or out of paper, by use of a die.
DIE: Metal rule or imaged block used to cut or place an image on the printed piece in the finishing process.
DOT: An element of halftones. Using a loupe, you will see that printed pictures are made up of many micro dots.
DOT GAIN OR SPREAD: A term used to explain the difference in size between the dot on the plate vs. the dot on the paper. When the ink hits the paper, it is absorbed and somewhat spreads out.
DOUBLE BURN: Exposing a plate to multiple images.
DPI or DOTS PER INCH: A term to describe the measure of sharpness within an image. Images and files should be at least 300dpi in order to print clean and sharp.
DRAW-DOWN: A sample of ink and paper used to evaluate ink colors
DROP-OUT: Portions of artwork that do not print. Also called "knock out."
DUMMY: A rough layout of a printed piece showing position and finished size.
DUOTONE: A halftone picture made up of two printed colors; usually a spot color and black.
DYLUX: Photographic paper made by DuPont and used for bluelines.
E
EMBOSS: Pressing an image into paper so that it will create a raised relief.
EMULSION: Light sensitive coating found on printing plates and film.
F
FACSIMILE TRANSMISSION (FAX): The process of converting graphic images into electronic signals.
FLOOD: To cover a printed page with ink, varnish or plastic coating.
FLOP: The reverse side of an image. Also as a verb - to flip an image the reverse way.
FOIL: A metallic or pigmented coating on plastic sheets or rolls used in foil stamping and foil embossing.
FOIL EMBOSSING: Foil stamping and embossing an image on paper with a die.
FOIL STAMPING: Using a die to place a metallic or pigmented image on paper.
FORMAT: The type of computer file. You can usually tell what the format is by the 3 letters apearing after the dot after the file name (i.e. filename.doc - this is a Microsoft Word format.) There are universal formats that we can go to print with: tif, eps, qxd. There are others that we can read but need to convert to a printable format: jpg, pdg. Others we can not read at all. That's why our website has very specific instructions on which formats we can accept.
FOUR-COLOR PROCESS: The process of combining four basic colors to create a printed color picture or colors composed from the basic four colors. The colors used in 4-color process are: C=Cyan, M=Magenta, Y=Yellow and K=Black - also known as CMYK.
FRENCH FOLD: Two folds at right angles to each other.
G
GALLEY PROOF: Text copy before it is put into a mechanical layout or desktop layout.
GANG or GANG RUN: To combine multiple jobs on one print plate in order to reduce costs and setup charges.
GHOSTING: A faint printed image that appears on a printed sheet where it was not intended.
GLOSS: A shiny look reflecting light.
GRAIN: The direction in which the paper fiber lie.
GRIPPERS: The metal fingers on a printing press that hold the paper as it passes through the press.
H
HAIRLINE: A very thin line or gap about the width of a hair or 1/100th of an inch.
HALFTONE: Converting a photo to dots for printing.
HARD COPY: The output of a computer printer, or typed text sent for typesetting. This is a way to see the font used and how the paragraphing/text lies on the piece.
HICKEY: Reoccurring unplanned spots that appear in the printed image from dust, lint, dried ink, etc.
HIGH-BULK PAPER: A paper made thicker than its standard basis weight.
HIGHLIGHT: The lightest areas in a picture or halftone.
I
IMAGE AREA: Portion of paper on which ink can appear.
IMPOSITION: Positioning printed pages so they will fold in the proper order.
IMPRESSION: Putting an image on paper.
IMPRINT: Adding copy to a previously printed page.
INDICIA: Postal information place on a printed product.
INK FOUNATIN: The reservoir on a printing press that hold the ink.
K
KEYLINES: Lines on mechanical art that show position of photographs or illustrations.
KISS DIE CUT: To cut the top layer of a pressure sensitive sheet and not the backing.
KNOCK OUT: To mask out an image. Also See Drop-Out.
L
LAID FINISH: Simulating the surface of handmade paper.
LAMINATE: To cover with film, to bond or glue one surface to another.
LAYFLAT: See Eurobind.
LINE COPY: High contrast copy not requiring a halftone.
LOUPE: A magnifying glass used to review a printed image, plate and/or position film.
LPI or LINES PER INCH: The number of rows of dots per inch in a halftone.
M
MAGENTA: Process red, one of the basic colors in process color.
MAKEREADY: All the activities required to prepare a press for printing.
MARGINAL WORDS: Call outs for directions on various parts of a business form.
MASK: Blocking light from reaching parts of a printing plate.
MATCHPRINT: Trade name for 3M integral color proof.
MATTE FINISH: Dull paper or ink finish.
MECHANICAL: Camera ready art all contained on one board.
MECHANICAL SEPARATION: Mechanical art overlay for each color to be printed.
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.
MOIRE: Occurs when screen angles are wrong causing odd patterns in photographs.
N
NEGATIVE: The image on film that makes the white areas of originals black and black areas white.
NON-REPRODUCING BLUE: A blue color the camera cannot see. Used in marking up artwork.
O
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.
OFFSET PAPER: Term for uncoated book paper.
OK SHEET: Final approved color inking sheet before production begins.
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.)
OUTLINE HALFTONE: Removing the background of a picture or silhouetting an image in a picture.
OVERLAY: The transparent cover sheet on artwork often used for instructions.
OVERRUN or OVERS: Copies printed in excess of the specified quantity. (Printing trade terms allow for + - 10% to represent a completed order.)
P
PAGE COUNT: Total number of pages in a book including blanks.
PATTERN CARBON: Special carbon paper used in business forms that only transfers in certain areas.
PERFECT BIND or PERFECT BOUND: A type of binding that glues the edge of sheets to a cover like a telephone book; so there is no creep.
PERFECTING PRESS: A sheet fed printing press that prints both sides of a sheet in one pass.
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.
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.
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.
POSTSCRIPT: The computer language most recognized by printing devices.
PRESS NUMBER: A method of numbering manufacturing business forms or tickets.
PRESSURE-SENSITIVE PAPER: Paper material with self sticking adhesive covered by a backing sheet.
PROCESS BLUE: The blue or cyan color in process printing.
PROCESS COLORS: Cyan (process blue), Magenta (process red), Yellow (process yellow) and Black (process black).
R
RAGGED LEFT: Type that is justified to the right margin and the line lengths vary on the left.
RAGGED RIGHT: Type that is justified to the left margin and the line lengths vary on the right.
REAM: Five hundred sheets of paper.
RECTO: Right-hand page of an open book.
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.
REVERSE: The opposite of what you see. Printing the background of an image.
RIP FILM: A method of making printing negatives from PostScript files created by desktop publishing.
S
SADDLE STITCH: Binding a booklet or magazine with staples in the seam where it folds; causes creep when there are a lot of pages to bind.
SCANNER: Device used to make color separations, halftones, duotones and tritones. Also a device used to scan art, pictures or drawings in graphic design.
SCORE: A crease put on paper to help it fold better.
SCREEN ANGLES: Frequently a graphic designer's nightmare. The angles at which halftone, duotones, tritones and color separation printing films are placed to make them look right.
SELF-COVER: Using the same paper as the text for the cover.
SHADOW: The darkest areas of a photograph.
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 STITCH: Binding by stapling along one side of a sheet.
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.
SKID: A pallet used for a pile of cut sheets or boxes for shipping.
SPECIFICATIONS: A precise description of a print order.
SPINE: The binding edge of a book or publication.
SPLIT FOUNTAIN: Putting more than one ink in a printing fountain to achieve special color effects.
SPOILAGE: Planned paper waste for all printing operations.
SPOT VARNISH: Varnish used to hilight a specific part of the printed sheet.
STAMPING: Term for foil stamping.
STAT: Term for inexpensive print of line copy or halftone.
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.
STRIPPING: The positioning of film on a flat prior to platemaking.
SUBSTANCE WEIGHT: A term of basis weight when referring to bond papers.
SUBSTRATE: Any surface on which printing is done.
T
TEXT PAPER: Grades of uncoated paper with textured surfaces.
TINTS: A shade of a single color or combined colors.
TISSUE OVERLAY: Usually a thin transparent paper placed over artwork for protection; used for marking color breaks and other printer instructions.
TRANSFER TAPE: A peel and stick tape used in business forms.
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.
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.
U
UNDERRUNS or UNDERS: Production of fewer copies than ordered. See Overruns or Overs.
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.
V
VARNISH: A clear liquid applied to printed surfaces for looks and protection. (UV coating looks better.)
VERSO: The left hand page of an open book.
VIGNETTE HALFTONE: A halftone whose background gradually fades to white.
W
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.
WIRE-O: A bindery trade name for mechanical binding using double loops of wire through a hole.
WIRE-O BINDING: A method of wire binding books along the binding edge that will allow the book to lay flat using double loops. Also See Wire-O.
WITH THE GRAIN: Folding or feeding paper into the press or folder parallel to the grain of the paper.
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 using the same side guides and plate for the second side.
WOVE PAPER: A paper having a uniform unlined surface with a smooth finish.