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Glossary of Print Terms
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- Acetate
- A transparent sheet made of clear of clear plastic, most used in presentation booklets
- Alignment
- The exact positioning of printed pages with each other when they register with adjacent pages and second side printing
- Artwork
- A generic term used to describe any work of art but more specifically the finished graphic piece that you would like to get printed
- Area composition
- Common practice of typesetting copy into its proper position
- Baronial envelope
- A square envelope usually used for announcements or greeting cards
- Base stock
- A base or standard piece of paper that can be coated, laminated or further processed
- Bill of lading
- The document that originates a shipment and for larger cargo usually contains all of the information for the carrier to handle the job
- Bindery
- To join pages together by adhesive, (see perfect binding), wire (see wire O), or staples (see saddle stitching)
- Bind margin
- The gutter or inner margin that is crucial when binding the book so that your artwork doesn’t get cut off (3/8 inch safe zone)
- Black-and-White
- One color printing or copying of a single color, black
- Bleed
- An illustration or type is said to bleed when the color prints off the edge of a sheet. This is done by using an extra 1/8 inch of artwork so that the sheet may be trimmed along the bleed edge
- Booklet
- A pamphlet or catalog that is bound together.
- Brightness
- For paper, it is the reflectance or brilliance of the sheet. Bright white and bright hue sheets are often used to stand out from generic copy paper
- Broker
- A printing broker sells printing to end users typically buying from printers who service these brokers along with other trade-only professionals
- Bulk
- A term used when referring to quantities of an order. Often times bulk rates apply at different breaks in quantity (i.e.: 2500 business cards, 5,000 postcards, 10,000 flyers)
- Business form
- A document that’s primary purpose is for variable information to be written in by hand or computer software. Often times the margins need to be precise when typesetting
- C1S
- Coated one side referring to paper that gets UV coating on only one side (great for mailings or cards where you want to be able to write on the back)
- C2S
- Coated two sides with UV coating, most seen on club postcards
- Caliper
- The thickness of a sheet of paper measured in thousandths of an inch (mils)
- Carbonless paper
- Paper that is activated by pressure, transferring text onto the next page. Available in 2 part, 3 part and 4 part carbonless paper.
- Cloudy
- Referring to image clarity, lacking sharpness
- Coated paper
- Paper surfaces that are coated giving it a glossy appearance
- Cockle finish
- Paper finish that has a rough, hard surface. Great for stationary
- Collate
- The process of gathering, assembling or stuffing to prepare the finished piece for binding or mailing
- Color separation
- The process of separating colors so that printing plates can be made. Two color jobs need color separation creating two images for each color ink
- Color swatch
- A setting in creative suite by Adobe to pick your colors. Swatches most often used in print include cmyk, pantone coated and pantone uncoated (not rgb)
- Composite
- Several pictures or colors combing to create on image
- Crash numbering
- Consecutive numbering on carbonless forms that imprints all the parts of that form with the same number
- Crop
- To trim an image to eliminate portions of that image
- Crop marks
- Marks outside of the artwork used to illustrate where the piece is being cut
- Density
- In print the density of ink or toner applied to the sheet of paper
- Die-cutting
- Used to cut out standard and special shapes on artwork. Commonly used on presentation folders and tabbed forms
- Dividers
- Sheets of paper used to separate a job so that there is no confusion when one section ends and another one begins
- Drilling
- Actual drilling of holes into paper. Much easier than individual punching
- Duplex
- The term refers to printing both sides, usually at the same time through digital presses and perfector presses
- Embossing
- A process used after printing to raise or lower an image into the piece. Available on all presentation folders from jazpress.com
- Feathering
- A design technique that makes the edges of an image transparent
- Finishing
- The processing of coating or texturizing a sheet of paper after printing
- Four-color process
- Also known as full color printing. This refers to the inks used to create the entire spectrum of colors cyan, yellow, magenta and black
- Gang run
- To group jobs together to be printed at once saving in production ready steps and lowering your cost per item
- Gloss
- A paper shine or luster that reflects light
- Grade
- A means of ranking and grouping paper with similar quality and price
- Graphic artist
- Any designer who creates finished pieces for print. A true artist will excel at translating computer work to printed material
- Gutter
- The blank space where two pages meet
- Halftone
- Images that have different sheds of a color causing a gradient effect
- Heidelberg press
- The “Cadillac of Presses” in our opinion. Known for their long history of dominance in print shops nationwide
- Imposition
- Laying out pages to maximize the sheet of paper. Let the printer do this because there many different sheet sizes for each press
- Impression
- The number of times an image is applied. 1-sided printing is one impression while two-sided printing is two impressions
- Inline
- When all printing and finishing are done in one continuous run. Bindery is done on the press saving in time and handling
- Indicia
- Mailing permit imprints that are printed on postcards and envelopes for bulk mailing services
- Insert
- Used to put printed pieces and letters into envelopes or final packaging
- Laid
- Paper that has a rough horizontal pattern
- Make-ready
- The time it takes to get the press ready to run a job. Often times there is set-up to get the colors, registration and adjustments correct. Digital presses virtually eliminate make-ready which allows for cheap short-run color
- Master
- The final proof used to reference while printing and finishing a job
- Matte finish
- A flat, non-reflecting surface
- Metallic inks
- Inks that are meant to represent a metal sheen and have characteristics that work well in print. Gold and silver inks are metallic as well as other spectrum metallics for CMYK colors
- Negative
- Used like a film negative to process and print a job. Negatives can have greater detail than direct to plate machines
- Offset printing
- This term has been generalized to encompass all printing done of a press that uses plates and ink as a basis for printing. The opposite being a digital press
- Overrun
- In printing it is typical to print extras for bindery and in general to remain on the safe side. At Jazpress.com we make sure every job is an overrun to ensure that what you order is what you get
- PMS (Pantone matching system)
- An ink color system used in one and two color printing jobs. There are approximately 500 basic colors for coated and uncoated paper. Remember inks react differently with different papers
- Padding
- This is accomplished by applying a flexible glue that dries on one edge of the pad allowing multiple sheets to be put together and taken apart. Featured in our to-do pad section
- Parallel fold
- Folds done in sequence made in parallel fashion. Example a 11 x17 sheet folded exactly in half and then in the same direction, in-half again
- Perfect binding
- A bookbinding technique where the cover is glued to the pages as seen in paperback books and printed pieces
- Perfector press
- A press that prints both sides of a sheet of paper in one pass through the machine
- Perforate
- To make slits in the paper at the fold to allow for an easy fold every time. Great for invitations and often times necessary for folding heavier card stocks
- Plate
- Abbreviated term for printing plate, that carries the image to be printed with the various inks
- Prepress
- A crucial step in the printing process between creative graphic design and actual print. To transfer the beauty of the design takes a strong knowledge of print practice so that the desired result is translated during print
- Print quality or press quality
- A setting used when exporting files into PDF’s. This preset setting ensures that the images and resolutions will be high enough for print
- Process colors
- In printing the subtractive primaries which means that yellow, magenta, cyan plus back are four colors whose combination creates the full spectrum of colors used by printers
- Proof
- A sample image (digital) or hard copy sent to the customer for approval
- Proofreader
- The most crucial step in printing. Making sure everything is correct because you can’t make changes after it is printed unless you want to print again
- Ream
- 500 sheets of paper
- Recycled paper
- Paper made from post consumer waste, or recycled pulp
- Retouch
- A method used quite frequently buy our artists as they retouch artwork to remove an impurities or inconsistencies that we as professionals see
- Revision
- A change from the last proof sent. Limiting the number of revisions saves in graphic design hours and cost
- Rules and Rulers
- Vertical and horizontal rulers in software such as Indesign and Publisher. Use rules to box out your exact margins and lock your objects to them
- Saddle Stitch
- Binding process for booklets and catalogs that uses two staples along the spine of the book to hold it together. Very cost effective
- Silk finish
- A smooth, silk-like finish applied to paper. Different texture than UV coating
- Scaling
- Determining the proper size of an image to be reduced or enlarged
- Screen Angles
- In color reproduction this is the angle for which the color separations hit the sheet and create halftones
- Sharpness
- The term used to describe the clarity of the printed piece, which is essential in all high quality press work. It starts with the resolution of the images and ends with the press and plate maker.
- Short-run
- The typical run for full-color jobs has been set at around 1,000 and may even be considered as 5,000 for some. We consider anything under 1,000 to be a short run which requires the tools to accomplish this. This includes a digital press for full color
- Skid
- A platform that holds finished printed pieces. When calculating shipping, the number and sizes of skids is taken into account
- Step and repeat
- A feature in graphic software that allows you to repeat images exactly where you want them by determining the distance (steps)
- Stocking paper
- Paper is always accumulated after jobs and we have a warehouse full of paper in-stock. If you want a better price on a custom order it could be good to ask us what paper we are stocking
- Style sheets
- Just like the web term for style sheets (CSS) these are templates used in multiple page books to create a standardized style on all the pages
- Tabloid
- The technical term for an 11 x 17 sheet of paper
- Thermography
- The technical term for raised printing. This is done by dusting wet ink with a resin and then fusing it with heat
- Toner
- What is used in digital presses to apply the image onto the sheet of paper. Toner is heat activated as it lays on the paper and is not absorbed unlike ink
- Trim
- To cut away unused sections of the printed piece
- Typesetting
- Less illustrative version of design that deals more with page layout and positioning of text as opposed to images
- UV Coating or Curing
- The drying of a UV coat that protects the image from cracking or pealing when bent or used
- Vellum paper
- Refers to the vanish of the paper that isn’t rough but has a soft feel to it like a t shirt that has been washed repeatedly
- Wash-up
- The process of washing a press and cleaning the rollers after a specific color was used
- Web press
- An offset press that is fed by giant rolls of paper as opposed to larger sheets
- Window
- Referring to envelopes it is a clear plastic window encased in the print to display what is inside
- Wire O Binding
- The use of plastic coils that come in many shapes and sizes to bind a booklet. The key feature other than professionalism and style is that these books lay flat which is greater for writing in booklets that require participation
- Zip Code sorting
- Presorting mal, other than first class, into zip code sequence prior to delivery to post office
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