About
Printing
Glossary of Basic Printing Terms
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.
Back up: Printing the second side of
a sheet already printed on one side.
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.
Bleed: Printing that goes to the edge
of the sheet after trimming.
Blind embossing: An image pressed into
a sheet without ink or foil.
Bond paper: Strong durable paper grade
used for letterheads and business forms.
Brightness: The brilliance or reflectance
of paper.
Caliper: Paper thickness in thousandths
of an inch.
Coated paper: A clay coated printing
paper with a smooth finish.
Color bar: A quality control term regarding
the spots of ink color on the tail
of a sheet.
Color separations: The process of preparing
artwork, photographs, transparencies,
or computer generated art for printing
by separating into the four primary
printing colors.
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: Cutting 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 v paper.
Drop-out: Portions of artwork that
do not print.
Dummy: A rough layout of a printed
piece showing position and finished
size.
Duotone: A halftone picture made up
of two printed colors.
Emboss: Pressing an image into paper
so that it will create a raised relief.
Eurobind: A patented method of binding
perfect bound books so they will open
and lay flatter.
Facsimile transmission: 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.
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.
4-color-process: The process of combining
four basic colors to create a printed
color picture or colors composed from
the basic four colors.
French fold: Two folds at right angles
to each other.
Gang Run: 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.
Generation: Stages of reproduction
from original copy. A first generation
reproduction yields the best quality.
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.
Hard copy: The output of a computer
printer, or typed text sent for typesetting.
Highlight: The lightest areas in a
picture or halftone.
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.
Knock out: To mask out an image.
Laminate: To cover with film, to bond
or glue one surface to another.
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.
Magenta: Process red, one of the basic
colors in process color.
Makeready: All the activities required
to prepare a press for printing.
Matchprint: Trade name for 3M integral
color proof.
Matte finish: Dull paper or ink finish.
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.
Negative: The image on film that makes
the white areas of originals black
and black areas white.
Offset paper: Term for uncoated book
paper.
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.)
Overrun or overs: Copies printed in
excess of the specified quantity. (Printing
trade terms allow for + - 10 % to represent
a completed order.)
Page count: Total number of pages in
a book including blanks.
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.
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.
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.
Process blue: The blue or cyan color
in process printing.
Process colors: Cyan (blue), magenta
(process red), yellow (process yellow),
black (process black).
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: 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.
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.
Saddle stitch: Binding a booklet or
magazine with staples in the seam where
it folds.
Score: A crease put on paper to help
it fold better.
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 stitch: Binding by stapling along
one side of a sheet.
Specifications: A precise description
of a print order.
Spine: The binding edge of a book or
publication.
Spot varnish: Varnish used to hilight
a specific part of the printed sheet.
Stamping: Term for foil stamping.
Stock: The material to be printed.
Substrate: Any surface on which printing
is done.
Text paper: Grades of uncoated paper
with textured surfaces.
Tints: A shade of a single color or
combined colors.
Transparency: A positive photographic
slide on film allowing light to pass
through.
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.
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. 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.
With the grain: Folding or feeding
paper into the press or folder parallel
to the grain of the paper.
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