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A |
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Accordion fold
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Folding paper by bending each fold in the opposite direction of the previous fold creating a pleated or accordion effect.
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Acid-free paper
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A paper containing no acidity or acid producing chemicals that degrades less over time than acidic papers.
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Anti-aliasing
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The process of averaging between pixels of different colors. This results is a smoother, more blended transition between the edge of two areas rather than a distinctly jagged appearance.
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Aqueous Coating
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This clear coating is used to protect your printed pieces. It provides a high-gloss surface that deters dirt and fingerprints. Aqueous coating improves the durability of postcards as they go through the mail, and protects business cards as they ride around in people's pockets. It also looks beautiful on brochures, catalog covers, and stand-alone flyers.
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B |
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Base line
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The imaginary horizontal line upon which stand capitals, lower case letters, punctuation points, etc.
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Basis weight
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Basis or basic weight refers to the weight, in pounds, of a ream (500 sheets) of paper cut to a given standard size for that particular paper grade.
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Bleed
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Any element that extends up to or past the edge of a printed page.
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Bond
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A grade of durable writing, printing and typing paper that is erasable and somewhat rigid.
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Bristol
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A board paper of various thicknesses having a smooth finish and used for printing or drawing.
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Bulk
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A term given to paper to describe its thickness relative to its weight.
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Bullet
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A boldface square or dot used before a sentence to emphasize its importance.
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C |
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Caliper
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The measurement of the thickness of paper measured in thousandths of an inch or mils.
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Case binding
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Books bound using hard board (case) covers.
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Center spread
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The two pages that face each other in the center of a book or publication.
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Clip art
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Graphic images, designs, and artwork in digital form that can be used in a digital document.
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Coated stock
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Any paper that has a mineral coating applied after the paper is made, giving the paper a smoother finish.
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Collate
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To gather sheets or printed signatures together in their correct order.
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Color bars
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A color test strip that is printed on the waste portion of a press sheet. It helps a press operator to monitor and control the quality of the printed material relative to ink density, registration and dot gain. It can also include a Star Target, which is designed to detect inking and press problems.
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Color correction
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Using a computer to adjust, change or manipulate a color image, such as retouching, adjusting color balance, color saturation, contrast, etc.
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Color separating
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The processes of separating the primary color components (CMYK) for printing.
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Color transparency
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Transparent film containing a positive photographic color image.
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Condensed type
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A narrow, elongated typeface.
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Contrast
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The degree of tonal separation or gradation in the range from black to white.
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Cover
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A term describing a general type of paper used for the covers of books, pamphlets, etc., also used for business cards and postcards.
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Crop
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To reduce the size of an image.
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Crossover
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An image, rule or line art on one printed page that carries over to an adjacent page of a bound or folded work.
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Cyan
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A shade of blue used in four-color process printing. The C in CMYK.
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D |
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Density
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The degree of tone, weight of darkness or color within a photo or reproduction measured by a densitometer.
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Desktop Publishing
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Creating materials to be printed using a personal computer, as opposed to taking non-electronic documents to a commercial printing company to be prepared for printing.
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Die Cutting
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The process of cutting paper in a shape or design by the use of a wooden die or block in which are positioned steel rules in the shape of the desired pattern.
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Digital Proof
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Color separation data is digitally stored and then exposed to color photographic paper creating a picture of the final product before it is actually printed with ink.
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Dithering
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The process of averaging between pixels of different colors. This results in a smoother, blended transition between the edge of two areas rather than a jagged or 'stair-step' appearance. Also a method used on ink jet printers where colors are produced by mixing colored dots in a randomized pattern.
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Dot
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The smallest individual element of a halftone.
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Dot gain
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A term used to describe when dots are printing larger than they should.
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Drill
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The drilling of holes into paper for 3-hole, ring or comb binding.
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Drop shadow
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A shadow image placed offset behind an image to create the affect of the image lifting off the page.
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Dull finish
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A semi-gloss finish on paper that is less glossy than gloss and more than matte paper.
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Dye sublimation
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A photographic looking color print created by heating dyes on a substrate instead of using inks. Often used for proofing.
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E |
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Electronic Proof
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A process of generating a prepress proof in which paper is electronically exposed to the color separation negatives and passed through electrically charged pigmented toners, which adhere electrostatically, resulting in the finished proof.
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Embossing
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The molding and reshaping of paper by the use of special metal dies and heat, counter dies and pressure, to produce a raised image on the paper surface.
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Enamel
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Another term for gloss coated paper.
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F |
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Felt side
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The smoother side of a sheet in the paper. The wire side is the rougher side of the paper. The difference happens in the papermaking process. The differences are eliminated when papers are gloss or matte coated.
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Finish
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The surface quality of a paper.
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Foil
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Then metal that is applied to paper using the foil stamping process.
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Font
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The characters which make up a complete typeface and size.
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G |
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Ganging
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The combining of two or more different printing projects on the same sheet of paper.
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Gate fold
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A three or four panel fold where the two outside panels fold inward to meet in the center. In an open gate fold, there are three panels, the bottom of which is twice the size of the folded panels. In a closed gatefold, there are four panels of roughly equal size where the outer panels are folded inward together.
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Gathering
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Assembling sheets of paper and signatures into their proper sequence. See also collate.
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Grain
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Paper fibers lie in a similar direction in a sheet of paper. This direction is called the grain. Printing is usually done so that if folding is required, the fold is done parallel to the grain.
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Gripper
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A series of metal fingers that hold each sheet of paper as it passes through a printing press.
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Gripper edge
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The side of a piece of paper held by the gripper fingers as it passes through a printing press. Nothing can be printed in this area.
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Gutter
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A blank space or margin between components on a printed piece or press sheet.
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H |
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House sheet
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This is a term that refers to a paper that a printer keeps on hand in their shop.
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I |
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Image area
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That portion of a printing plate that carries ink and prints on paper.
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Imposition
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The correct sequential arrangement of pages that are to be printed, along with all the margins in proper alignment, before producing the plates for printing.
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Indicia
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An image and/or text pre-printed on mailing envelopes in place of a stamp.
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Insert
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A piece of printed material that is inserted into another piece of printed material, such as a magazine or catalog.
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Italic
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Text that is used to denote emphasis by slanting the type body forward.
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J |
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Jacket
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Or dust jacket. The paper cover sometimes called the "dust cover" of a hardbound book.
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Jog
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To vibrate a stack of finished pages so that they are tightly aligned for final trimming or binding.
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Justification
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Adjusting the spacing or hyphenation of words and characters to fill a given line of text from end to end. Sometimes referred to as word spacing.
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K |
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Kerning
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The narrowing of space between two letters so that they become closer and take up less space on the page.
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Kraft
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A coarse unbleached paper used for printing and industrial products.
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L |
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Laid finish
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A parallel lined paper that has a handmade look.
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Layout
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A rendition that shows the placement of all the elements, images, thumbnails etc., of a final printed piece.
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Leading
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Space between lines of type. The distance in points between one baseline and the next.
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Letterpress
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Printing that utilizes inked raised surfaces, usually type, to create the image.
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Letterspacing
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The addition of space between typeset letters.
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Line copy
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Any copy that can be reproduced without the use of a halftone screen.
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Linen
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A paper that emulates the look and texture of linen cloth.
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Lithography
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The process of printing that utilizes flat or curved inked surfaces to create the printed images.
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Logotype
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A personalized type or design symbol for a company or product.
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Loupe
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A small magnifier used to observe the details on a printed sheet.
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M |
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M weight
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The actual weight of 1000 sheets of any given size of paper.
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Magenta
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One of the four process colors, or CMYK, the M is for magenta. Magenta is a predominately red color with some blue. Magenta, cyan and yellow are also the three subtractive primary colors.
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Magnetic black
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Black ink containing iron oxides, used for magnetic ink character recognition used for check printing.
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Make-ready
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Paper that is used in the press set-up process before the printing run actually starts.
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Matte finish
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A coated paper finish that goes through minimal calendaring.
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Mottle
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A term used to describe spotty or uneven ink absorption.
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N |
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Natural
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A term to describe papers that have a color similar to that of wood, also called cream, off-white or ivory.
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Newsprint
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A light, low-cost unbleached paper made especially for newspaper printing.
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O |
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Offset
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An erroneous variation of the word "setoff". Ink that is unintentionally transferred from a printed sheet to the back of the sheet above it as the pieces are stacked in a pile when printed.
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Offset printing
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The most commonly used printing method, where the printed material does not receive ink directly from a printing plate but from an intermediary blanket that receives the ink from the plate and then transfers it to the paper.
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Offset paper
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A term for sometimes used for uncoated book paper.
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Onionskin
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A light bond paper used for typing and used with carbon paper because of its thinness.
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Opacity
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Quality of papers that defines its opaqueness or ability to prevent two-sided printing from showing through.
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Opaque ink
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Ink that completely covers any ink under itself.
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Overlay proof
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A process of proof-making whereby the color separations are individually exposed to light sensitive film. This film is then set in registration with a piece of white paper in the background.
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Overprinting
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Any printing that is done on an area that has already been printed.
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Overrun
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Quantities of sheets printed over the requested number of copies.
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P |
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Pagination
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The numbering of individual pages in a multi-page document
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Parchment
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A hard finished paper that emulates animal skin used for documents, such as awards, that require writing by hand.
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Parent sheet
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A sheet that is larger than the cut stock of the same paper.
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Perfect Binding
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A binding process where the signatures of a book are held together by a flexible adhesive.
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Perfecting press
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A printing press that prints on both sides of a sheet in a single pass through the press.
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Pica
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A typesetting unit of measurement equaling 1/6th of an inch.
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Plastic comb
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A method of binding books whereby holes are drilled on the spine, and a plastic grasping device is inserted to hold the pages together.
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PMS
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The abbreviation of the Pantone Color Matching System.
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Point
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A measurement unit equal to 1/72 of an inch. 12 points to a pica, 72 points to an inch.
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PostScript
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A tradename of Adobe Systems, Inc. for its page description language. This language translates a digital file from an application into a language a compatible printer or other device can use to create its output.
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PPI
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Pages per inch or pixels per inch.
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Premium
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Any paper that is considered better than grade #1 by its manufacturer.
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| Pressure-sensitive |
Self-adhesive paper covered by a backing sheet.
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Process printing
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A system where a color image is separated into different color values (cyan, magenta, yellow and black or CMYK) by the use of filters and screens and then transferred to printing plates and printed on a
printing press, reproducing the original color image.
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| Progressive proofs |
Any proofs made from the separate colors of a multi-color printing project.
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Q |
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Quark
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Short for QuarkXPress, one of the primary computer applications used in graphic design.
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R |
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Rag paper
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Papers with a complete or partial content of cotton fibers.
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Ragged left
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The term given to right-justified type that is uneven on the left.
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Ragged right
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The term given to left-justified type that is uneven on the right.
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Ream
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500 sheets of paper.
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Register
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The arrangement of two or more printed images in exact alignment with each other.
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Register marks
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Any crossmarks or other symbols used on a press sheet to assure proper registration.
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RGB
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The color space of Red, Green and Blue. These are the primary colors of light, which computers use to display images on your screen. An RGB computer file must be translated into the CMYK (the primary colors of pigment) color space in order to be printed on a printing press.
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Right angle fold
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A term that denotes folds that are 90 degrees to each other.
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Running head
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A title at the top of a page that appears on all pages of a book or chapter of a book.
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S |
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Saddle stitch
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The binding of booklets or other printed materials by stapling the pages on the folded spine.
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Safety paper
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A paper that shows sign of erasure so that it cannot be altered or tampered with easily.
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Scoring
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To crease paper with a metal rule for the purpose of making folding easier.
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Scum
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Unwanted deposits of ink in the non-image area of a printed piece.
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Self cover
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A cover that is the same paper stock as the internal sheets.
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Sharpen
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To decrease the dot size of a halftone, which in turn decreases the color strength.
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Sheetwise
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The printing of two different images on two different sides of a sheet of paper by turning the sheet over after the first side is printed and using the same gripper and side guides.
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Show through
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When the printing on one side of a sheet is seen from the other side, a frequent problem with thin papers.
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Side guide
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The guides on the sides of a printing press that consistently positions the sheet sideways as it is fed through the press.
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Side stitch
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The stapling of sheets or signatures on the side closest to the spine.
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Signature
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A printed sheet with multiple pages on it that is folded so that the pages are in their proper numbered sequence, as in a book.
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Smoothness
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That quality of paper defined by its levelness that allows for pressure consistency in printing, assuring uniformity of print.
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Spiral bind
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A type of binding where a metal or plastic wire is spiraled through holes drilled along the binding side of a document.
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Stock
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A term for unprinted paper.
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Super calendaring
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A machine procedure that produces a very smooth paper surface that is exceptional for printing.
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Synthetic papers
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Any non-wood or cloth paper, usually petroleum (plastic) based.
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T |
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Text Paper
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A high quality light weight printing paper.
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Thermography
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A printing process whereby slow drying ink is applied to paper and, while the ink is still wet, is lightly dusted with a resinous powder. The paper then passes through a heat chamber where the powder melts and fuses with the ink to produce a raised surface.
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Tint
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A halftone screen that contains all the same sized dots.
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Trapping
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The overlapping of one color over a different, adjacent color to ensure that no white space is visible where the two colors meet, especially when there are slight variations in the registration of the two colors during the printing process. Or the process of printing wet ink over wet or dry previously printed ink.
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Trim marks
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Marks placed on the printed sheet to indicate where cuts should be made.
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Typo
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A spelling mistake in printed material resulting from a mistake in typing or setting type. See common printing term mispellings.
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U |
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Undercolor removal
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The removing of cyan, magenta, or yellow from a heavily colored image to limit the total amount of ink being applied to that image to avoid potential production problems.
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Up
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A term used to describe how many similar pieces can be printed on a larger sheet; two up, four up, etc.
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V |
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Variable Data Printing
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Is a form of on-demand printing in which elements (such as text, graphics, photographs, etc) can be changed from one printed piece to the next, without stopping or slowing down the press, using information from a database. For example, a set of personalized letters, each with the same basic layout, can be printed with a different name and address on each letter.
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Varnish
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A clear coating added to printed material as a protective layer for improved scuff resistance and usually higher gloss.
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Vellum
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A finish of paper that is somewhat bulky and is slightly rough.
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Vignette
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A photo or illustration, in which the tones fade gradually away until they blend with the background they are printed on.
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W |
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Warm color
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A color with a reddish tone rather than a blue tone. Browns, oranges, reds, and yellows are generally considered to be "warm" colors.
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Washup
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The procedure of cleaning a particular ink from the unit of a printing press.
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Watermark
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A translucent mark or image that is embossed during the papermaking process, or printed onto paper, which is visible when the paper is held up to the light.
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Web press
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A printing press that prints on rolls of paper passed through the press in one continuous piece, as opposed to individual sheets of paper.
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Widow
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A single word or two left at the end of a paragraph, or a part of a sentence ending a paragraph, which loops over to the next page and stands alone. Also, the last sentence of a paragraph, which contains only one or two short words.
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Work and Turn
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A printing production format that has the front and back of a printed piece on one side of the paper, that is then printed the same on the back side, producing two copies of the piece.
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Wove
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A smooth paper with a gentle patterned finish.
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Writing paper
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Another name for bond paper.
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X |
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| Xerographic paper |
Papers made to reproduce well in copy machines.
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Y |
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Yellow
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One of the four process colors, or CMYK, the Y is for yellow.
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Z |
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Zip file
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Zipping a file compresses one or more files into a smaller archive. It takes up less hard drive space and less time to transfer across a network or the internet.
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# |
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24# Bright White
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This is a standard stock commonly used for line sheets and letters. Used with B&W text but not inexepensive copy paper which is 20# text.
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80# Gloss Text
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Standard glossy paper stock for catalogs and magazines. The shiny finish provides an excellent opaque base for rich process color printing.
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100# Gloss Text
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Similar to the 80# gloss text, but 25% thicker and heavier, for a piece that feels more substantial. This is our most popular stock for: Brochures, Catalog Inserts, Flyers, Posters, etc.Standard Uses: Brochures, Information Sheets, Self-mailers, etc.
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80# dull/matte text
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This stock is finely coated with a non-gloss finish. It provides an excellent opaque base for easy to read, crisp typography. Standard Uses: Brochures, Catalog Inserts, and Flyers, etc.
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80# Gloss Cover
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As a "cover" stock, this paper is stiff, about like a postcard or baseball card. This stock is coated with a glossy finish, making photographs and other images look beautiful. Standard uses: durable, heavy-weight Brochures, Catalog Covers, Product Spec Sheets.
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100# Gloss Cover
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An excellent option for book covers and heavy weight flyers.
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10-point C1S
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A bristol stock, gloss coated on the outside and uncoated on the inside. Used for Greeting Cards and postcards.
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14pt C2S
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We use this stock exclusively for business cards. The glossy, coated finish makes photographs and other images look beautiful.
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