Print Glossary
Bind: To fasten sheets or signatures with wire, thread, glue. or by other means.
Bleed: The area that extends (1/8") beyond the trim size of a sheet or page, allowing the image to "spill" off the edge after being trimmed.
Blind embossing: An image pressed into a sheet without ink or foil.
Burn: Exposing a printing plate to high intensity light or placing an image on a printing plate by light.
CMYK: The primary colors of subtractive light used for process printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
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.
Color separations: The process of preparing artwork, photographs, transparencies, or computer generated art for printing by separating into the four primary printing colors.
Composite: Combining two or more images into one.
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.
Cover paper: A heavy printing paper used to cover books, make presentation folders, etc.
Crop: To cut off parts of a picture or image.
Crop marks: Printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet.
Cyan: One of four standard process colors. The blue color.
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.
Dot: An element of halftones. Using a loupe you will see that printed pictures are made many dots.
Dot gain or spread: A term used to explain the difference in size between the dot on film vs paper.
Drop-out: Portions of artwork that do not print.
Dummy: A rough layout or mock-up of a printed piece.
Duotone: A halftone picture made up of two printed colors.
Emboss: Pressing an image into paper so that it will create a raised relief.
Flood: To cover a printed page with ink, varnish, or plastic coating.
Foil: A metallic or pigmented coating on plastic sheets or rolls used in foil stamping and foil embossing.
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.
Four-Color Process: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK) to simulate full-color images.
French fold: Two folds at right angles to each other.
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.
Ghosting: A faint printed image.
Gloss: A shiny look reflecting light.
Grain: The direction in which the paper fiber lie.
Hairline: A very thin line or gap about the width of a hair or 1/100 inch.
Halftone: Converting a continuous tone to dots for printing.
Hickey: Reoccurring unplanned spots that appear in the printed image from dust, lint, dried ink.
Indicia: Postal information place on a printed product.
Knock out: To mask out an image.
Lines per inch: The number of rows of dots per inch in a halftone.
Loupe: A magnifying glass used to review a printed image, plate and position film.
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.
Moire: Occurs when screen angles are wrong causing odd patterns in photographs.
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.
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.
Opacity: The amount of show-through on a printed sheet. The more opacity or the thicker the paper is, the less you can see through it (and usally, the higher the cost).
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.)
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.
PMS (Pantone Matching System): A standardization of printing using the trademarked color system of the ink company, Pantone, Inc.
Point: A unit used to measure the thickness of paper equaling 1/1000 inch. Or a unit of height equaling 1/72 inch used in typesetting.
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.
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. 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.
RGB: The primary colors of additive light as displayed on a computer monitor or television: red, green and blue.
Saddle stitch: Binding a booklet or magazine with staples in the seam where it folds.
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.
Score: A crease put on paper to help it fold better.
Screen angles: The angles at which halftone, duo tones, tri tones, and color separation printing films are placed to make them look align correctly and appear as smooth continuous-tone images.
Self-cover: Using the same paper as the text for the cover.
Shadow: The darkest areas of a photograph.
Signature: A sheet of printed pages which when folded become a part of a book or publication.
Skid: A pallet used for a pile of cut sheets.
Specifications: A precise description of a print order.
Spine: The binding edge of a book or publication.
Spot varnish: Varnish used to highlight a specific part of the printed sheet.
Stet: A proof mark that stands for "never mind, use the original copy"
Stock: The material to be printed.
Tints: A shade of a single color or combined colors.
Transparency: A positive photographic slide on film allowing light to pass through.
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.
Uncoated stock: Paper that does not have a special chemical finish or coating. It is the most commonly used paper in printing and copying.
Under-run: Production of fewer copies than ordered. See over run.
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 which is environmentally friendly.
Varnish: A clear liquid applied to printed surfaces for looks and protection. (UV coating looks better.)
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.
White space: The "free" or "negative" space surrounding printed copy.
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.
