Anti Set-Off Spray

A device used on the delivery end of the printing machine to prevent set-off by projecting a fine spray at the sheet.

Art Paper

Clay coated paper with a shiny surface.

Artwork (A/W)

The production of material suitable for reproduction whatever the media.

Ascender

The part of the letter that is above the x-height, l, h, etc.

Backing up

Printing the reverse of a sheet with the lines exactly lining up with those on the other side.

Banding

Rendering of a graduated tint by some systems can produce banding, as the increment of the tint is increased or decreased. Unless intentional, the result is undesirable.

Bank Paper

Thin, tough almost transparent paper suitable for layout work.

Blade Coated paper

Paper coated by a process in which the freshly applied wet coating is smoothed and the excess removed by a thin metal blade.

Bleed

Image extends beyond the area to be trimmed.

Blind Embossed

A logo, text or design which has been relief stamped onto a piece of paper, onto which no printing ink has been added.

Blister Pack

Packaging system where product is sealed to a board by a transparent plastic film.

Boards

A term applied to paper above a certain weight. This can vary between manufacturers.

Body

The solid shank of the letter.

Bitmaps

When enlarged, bitmap images appear as clusters of rectangles, with the characteristic 'staircases' on curves. In colour systems, a bit-depth of 24 produces a near photographic true colour.

Brief

Client information on The Company, The Product, The Service, The Market and the Competition etc

Broadsheet

Large sheet of paper usually printed on one side only.

Bromide

Photographic print of black & white image (also referred to as PMT).

Carbon-less copy paper

(NCR) No Carbon Required

Cartridge Paper

Slightly rough coated or uncoated printing surfaced paper used for a variety of graphic purposes such as envelopes.

Cast Coating

A method of drying coated paper by contact of the freshly coated surface with a highly polished chromium plated heated metal surface. Cast coated papers have an extremely high gloss finish for top quality printing.

CB

Coated on back paper '96 to be used as the top part of a multipart carbonless form.

CF

Coated front paper for use as the bottom part of a multipart carbonless form.

CFB

Coated front and back paper for use as the middle part of a multipart carbonless form.

Characters

Individual typeface letters, figures, punctuation marks etc.

Chip Board

A cheap board grade usually manufactured from the lower grades of waste paper.

CMYK

is the abbreviation for the four process colours used in standard four colour printing. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black are known as the subtractive primaries. These colours provide the widest colour gamut with the smallest number of inks.

Coated Paper

Material coated on one or both sides with a mixture of china clay, latex and other loadings to fill pits and improve the printing surface.

Computer to Plate

Process in which printing plates are imaged from a digital file instead of using film.

Contrast

Differential between light and dark areas of an image.

Concept

The idea/theme.

Contact Print

Same size (S/S) positive from negative material.

Continuous Stationery

The paper is supplied in reel form. A particular use is for invoices and statements where it is usually fan-folded.

Corporate Identification

Rules of a company image / layout / grid which must be adhered to.

Cover Papers and Boards

A range of different grades which may be plain, embossed, coated etc, and which offer a wide range of materials for printing. Many cover papers are characterised by strength, flexibility and durability.

Creative Design

Finding a solution.

Cromalin

Photographic colour proof (no progressives supplied).

Cross Perf

A line of perforations running across the width of a continuous form, at both the head and foot of the form, or sometimes in the middle of the form.

Descender

The part of the type below the x height.

Digital Printing

The printing process where an image is applied to the substrate directly from a digital file rather than using plates or film.

Digital Proofing

Proofing directly from digital files instead of using film to create proofs.

Dot gain

describes the spread of ink outside the original circumference of each of the dots making up the image.

DPI

Stands for Dots per Inch. Refers to the frequency of dots appearing \'96 the greater the DPI, the finer the print.

Draft Copy

Text for approval.

Dummy

Blank pages used to show size, shape, paper and general style.

Embossed Paper

Paper on which a raised and/or depressed design has been produced.

Estimate

An advanced indication of costs likely to be involved based on the assumptions made at the creation of the estimate.

Fluorescent paper/Board

A white base paper or board coated with a mixture of fluorescent pigment and binder.

Foil Blocking/Stamping

The process by which extremely fine leaves of foil are impressed onto a paper, usually logos of company names.

Folding Boxboard

This term is usually taken to mean white lined boards. They are made on multi layer machines and the outer layers may be of a different finish to the centre layer.

Folio

Page number.

Four Colour Line

Any combination of colour, but these are solid colour with no screen.

Four Colour Process

Printing in black, yellow, cyan and magenta, using material that has been screened.

Full Point

Printer's term for a full stop.

Galley

Continuous output of setting (text) before artwork.

Graduated Screen

A 'screen' is a series of ink 'dots' printed onto a paper which gives the appearance of a solid colour.

Graphic Design

Making the solution work visually.

Grammage

An expression of gsm used to express the weight of paper or board.

Gravure Printing

Process in which recesses on a printing cylinder are filled with ink and the surplus removed by a blade.

Grey Board

A board made entirely from waste paper. It can be lined or unlined and is used for a variety of packaging.

Greyscale

Each pixel can display gradations from black to white and is important for reasonable quality of halftone black and white images.

Grid

A predetermined set of rulings on which all material will be produced.

Half Tone

Generally referred to as a black and white screened image.

Headlines

The main titles or sub-titles.

Headlining

Quality typesetting which can be enlarged without losing much quality.

Hickey

A spot on the printed sheet caused by dust, lint or ink perfections.

Imposition

The manual or digital technique for arranging pages in position for printing, governing the correct sequence when folded.

In Pro

Reduce or enlarge in proportion.

Insert

Sheet or part of a sheet placed inside another sheet after folding, to complete the sequence of pagination of a section.

Ivory Board

High quality board made in white or colours, with a bright clear appearance, particularly used for visiting cards, and similar high class printing work.

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network is a telecommunications standard which governs high-capacity communication links through the public telephone networks and exchanges.

Justified setting

The equal and exact spacing of letters and words to a given measure - ranging left and right.

Kerning

Reduction of inter-character spacing in order to achieve best visual effect.

Key Line

Inked outlines on artwork that serve as guide lines to printers.

Laid Paper

Usually printed or writing paper with a ribbed appearance caused by the use of a wire roll at the wet end of the paper machine.

Layout

An arrangement of items ( on a page, screen etc ).

Leading

Interline spacing 'leading' (originates from hot metal typesetting where strips of lead were used for spacing out lines of type).

Letterpress

Printing from raised blocks of type.

Literal

A misprint.

Litho

Offset litho printing. Printing from a lithographic plate transferred by a rubber roller to the paper.

L.C.

Lower case or small letters.

LPI

Lines per inch. Frequencies of halftone screens are expressed in LPI. For most commercial printing, screens vary from 55 (newspapers) to 200 (brochures). Some applications where quality is essential may required 300 LPI and above.

Make-Ready

Time spent preparing a machine to run a specific job.

Mark-up

Instructions on artwork for print or film reproduction mark.

Matt Paper

A coated paper with a dull smooth finish.

Measure

Generally the line length of copy (text).

Microns

Units used to express thickness of stock.

Microperf

A very finely cut perforated edge, designed to simulate the effect of a guillotine cut.

Negatives (negs)

A photographic film image in which values are reversed.

Overlay

Transparent sheet used to prepare multi-colour artwork, in registration.

Overprint

Printing onto existing printed material.

Pagination

The numbering of pages of a block or manuscript in the correct sequence.

Pantone

Printer's ink reference system showing hundreds of colour variations Matching System (PMS)

Paper Weight

Measured in grams/square metre, eg, 80gsm = light, 175gsm = medium stock, 330gsm = heavy stock.

Paste-up

Putting Headlines, text, photo rules etc onto artwork.

PDF

Portable Document Format is a document transfer format developed by Adobe. The principle advantages of PDF for printing are that the format is both platform independent and encapsulates all of the elements necessary for its production.

Perfecting

Printing both sides of the substrate at the same pass through a printing machine.

Pica EM

Approximately 1/6th of an inch, a twelve point em.

PMT

Photomechanical transfer (ie black and white prints from artwork to any size required).

Point Size

The size of letters.

Primary Colours

Standard ink colours that are supplied by ink manufacturers which do not require mixing by the printers.

Print Run-on

An increase in print quantity. Must be specified on the initiation of the main print run.

Progressives

Printed at the same time as proofs. Used by printer as a colour guide.

Proofs

A pre-production print, made for the purpose of checking the accuracy of layout, type matter, tone and reproduction.

Proofing and Checking

Either text, artwork/setting, photographs, proofs. The agency and its suppliers will check all material carefully. The client has the final responsibility for checking and approving all work.

Recycled Paper

Paper made all or in part from recycled pulp.

Register

The accurate positioning of images on a sheet relative to one another.

Register Marks

A set of fine line crosses added to original artwork to provide reference points for multi colour printing or finishing processes.

Reversed out Printing

This is to print a solid block of colour while leaving the text to be read as unprinted areas on the paper.

RGB

Red, Green, Blue. Whereas most colour print images are made up from the CMYK process colours, the picture on a colour display - as with television - is built up from combinations of red, green and blue, known as the additive primaries.

RIP

Raster Image Processors are either programs running on a powerful computer or a dedicated piece of hardware which carry out the converting of a digital image into a patters of dots for output onto film, plates or paper.

Run-on

A sentence continued in the same line as the previous one, not a distinct paragraph. Chapters starting below the previous one on the same page are said to run-on.

S/S

Same size.

Scanning Screen

Method of turning photographs, transparencies, artwork into a form suitable for print (e.g dots).

Self Adhesive

Used essentially for labeling purposes.

Set-Off

The unwanted transfer of printing ink from a printed sheet to a surface facing it. Not to be confused with Offset.

Show Through

The degree to which printing is visible through paper due to the low opacity of the paper.

Stock

Unprinted paper (material).

TCF

Totally Chlorine Free - Pulp produced without any chlorine or chlorinated chemical compounds whatsoever.

Text

The words.

Thermographic Printing

Relief effect created by dusting a special powder onto a printed image whilst still wet then passing the sheet through a heating device.

Tint (%)

A weaker version of a specified colour 5% - 100% (solid).

Transparencies

Colour, sizes vary.10 x 8, 5 x 4, 35mm

Trapping

Used in connection with printing a sequence of colours one upon another with a small overlap to avoiding registration errors.

Trim Mark

Position guide for items to be trimmed to size.

Typeface

Different lettering styles (font).

Typesetting

Text produced suitably for reproduction.

Typography

The graphic use of words and space.

U.C.

Upper case or capital letters.

Vellum Paper

Often used for certificates. Strong, tough and of high class appearance.

Visuals

An artistic representation of the Art Director's perception of the finished item.

Watermark

A deliberate design or pattern in paper which is visible when viewed by transmitted light or contrasting background.

Work and Tumble

Printing one side of a sheet, then turning the sheet over, retaining the same side lay edge but reversing the front and back edges and using the same printing plate.

Work and Turn

Printing one side of a sheet, then turning the sheet over, retaining the same front edge but moving the side lay edge of the sheet to the other side of the press, and using the same printing plate.

Wove

Paper produced using a plain woven dandy roll and therefore without laid lines.

X-height

The height of the main body of a piece of type, not counting ascenders or descenders.