Acetate:
A transparent
plastic sheet used for overhead projectors and artwork overlays.
Album Paper: A paper made from wood pulp often used for
pages in photos albums.
Antique Finish: A type of paper with a rough finish that
is often used for cover and business card stock.
Art Work: Any images or text that will be reproduced in
a printed piece.
Autochrome Paper: A type of paper with a coating that
is most often used for full-color printing.
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Back
To Back:
A piece printed on both side of the paper.
Background: An image or picture that is behind the main
imprint.
Base Line: The imaginary line that denotes where the bottom
of non-descending letters lie.
Basis Weight: The weight in pounds of one ream (500 sheets)
of any given paper style.
Binding: The term to describe the finishing process of
a printed piece. Includes, perfing, numbering, folding, stapling,
cutting booklet making, etc.
Bleed: When the print area of a document extends right
to the edge of the paper.
Blind Emboss: A printing process that raises an image
or text from the page without the use of any ink.
Blow-Up: An enlargement of an image or text.
Blue-Line: A proof of a printed piece, produced using
the actual photographic images, used to check for layout and
design correctness.
Bond: A type of paper most used for writing and copying.
Book: A type of paper most used in the printing of books.
Bounce: A term used to describe when a press has problems
lining up one color to another due to a paper shift during the
printing process.
Brochure: A single-paged printed piece that will be bound
in booklet form.
Bullet: A bold dot used to set off a line of text in a
document.
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Camera
Ready:
Crisp black & white artwork that will be shot by a camera
and reproduced onto printing plates to be used on a press.
Case Binding: A term used to describe books bound with
hard covers.
Coated Paper: Paper with a shiny non-porous finish used
for full-color printing.
Collate: Binding process of putting multiple paged documents
in their correct order.
Color Separating: The process of getting each color of
a printed piece on to its' own printing plate.
Column Gutter: The term for the space between two columns
of text on a printed page.
Condensed Type: Font styles that are compressed left and
right.
Crop Mark: Marks on a printed piece showing where the
piece is to be cut later.
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Deckle
Edged:
Used to describe a piece of paper with a rough or "torn-off"
look on its' edge.
Die Cutting: Method of cutting pieces into shapes or designs
using a "cookie-cutter" like steel cutting die.
Display Type: Type that is bold or larger than other text
on the page such as headlines.
Drop Shadow: A light gray fuzzy reproduction of an object
that when placed under said object, gives the appearance of being
above the page.
Duotone: A type of photograph that is reproduced in two
colors instead of just black and white.
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Em: A unit of measure
equivalent to 12 Points or 4.5 mm.
Embossing: A method of raising already printed text or
images on a page.
Emulsion: The side of a photographic negative that is
coated with light sensitive material.
Engraving: A method of printing where a steel die is etched
out, filled with ink then the paper is forced into this area
from behind, giving the image a raised look.
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Felt
Finish:
The side of paper that is smoothed, usually found in books.
Finish: Refers to the surface of paper.
Fold Marks: Printed marks on a sheet showing where folding
will later take place.
Font: A single family of like characters in a type style.
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Ganging: When two or more
like printed pieces are printed on the same sheet.
Gripper Edge: The edge of the paper used by a press to
be grabbed and pulled through the machine.
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Hairline
Register:
Printed pieces that require tight color alignment and precision
presswork.
Halftone: A light or transparent image that uses a shade
of a color rather than its' own separate color.
Halftone Screen: A screen made up of lines or dots, that
when placed over an image makes it appear lighter or separates
it into its' tone for printing.
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Image
Setter:
An instrument for producing high-resolution film output from
an electronic image.
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Jogger: Machine that will
vibrate paper reams into an even edged pile.
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Kerning: The term for the
space between individual letters in a line of text.
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Laid
Finish:
A higher grade paper with a "lined" look on its surface.
Layout: A proof of the final artwork used to preview a
project and check for errors.
Ledger Paper: A heavier grade paper usually used for business
records and financial statements.
Linen: Paper style that has the look of cloth.
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M
Weight:
The weight of 1000 sheets of any type of paper style.
Make Ready: The process of setting up the actual press
used to do a particular job.
Match Print: A print made using the actual plates used
in a job that is used to check for color accuracy and other errors.
Matte Finish: A coated finish paper with less shine or
gloss.
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Natural: A family of papers
whose colors match closely those of wood.
Newsprint: A light-weight and cheap grade of paper most
commonly found in newspapers.
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Offset: The most common method
for printing, an image is "burned" into a printing
plate, which is applied to one cylinder on a press. The image
is then transferred to another cylinder before being applied
to the paper.
Offset Paper: Paper type that is uncoated and slightly
heavier than bond.
Opacity: Term used to describe how transparent a sheet
of paper is.
Opaque: Paper type that does not allow the image from
one side to show through the other.
Overprinting: When an image or text is printed on an area
that has already been printed.
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Parchment: Paper type that is
hard on thick, used for diplomas and other fancy handwritten
documents.
Paste-Up: Process of hand gluing pieces of artwork together
to produce a final piece.
Perfect Binding: Process of book binding that glues pages
along their edges and then applies a wrap-around cover, like
a paper-back book.
Perforating: Also called "perfing", the process
of punching a line of thin holes along a piece of paper to make
it easy to tear off.
Pica: Unit of measure equal to 1/16 of an inch or 12 points
Plastic Comb: Method of biding where a series of rectangular
holes are punched along an edge and a plastic "comb"
is inserted to hold the sheets together.
Point: A unit of measure equal to 1/72 of an inch.
PPI: Refers to pixels per inch or the resolution of a
scanned image.
Process Inks: The four color inks, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow,
Black, that are used in full-color printing.
Proof: The final image to be created, used to check for
errors.
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Text: A type of paper with
a higher quality than standard bond.
Trapping: The method of slightly expanding the edges of
one object when it overlaps another to make it easier to line
up on a press.
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Up: Term used when printing
more than one copy of a piece on a single sheet of paper, "4
Up", "2 Up" etc.
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Vellum: Paper type with a
rough finish and is heavier than standard bond.
Vellox: A print that is created from the actual photographic
negatives.
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Wash-Up: term used to describe
the process of cleaning one ink color out of a press to add another.
Watermark: The image that can be found on higher grade
papers that appears to be transparently applied to the finish.
Web Press: Press that prints on continuous rolls of paper
rather than single sheets.
