Glossary

A comprehensive guide to printing terms

ART PAPER A paper evenely coated with a fine clay compound, which creates a hard smooth surface on one or both sides.   ARTWORK Material for illustration on the printed page, e.g. photographs, maps, line drawings, and so on.   ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a digital text file format used to transfer data. It does not include any formatting.   BACK TO BACK Aligning the reverse side of a previously printed sheet to match the type area   BLEED When an illustration or image is designed to run off the page, or edge of paper   BLIND EMBOSSING The process of raising or recessing an image using an unlinked block   BOND PAPER Catergory of paper commonly used for writing, printing and photocopying. Also called business paper, communication paper, correspondence paper and writing paper.   BMP Bit Map Picture files are commonly used on Windows PCs. They are not suitable for transfer across the internet, because they are poorly compressed. Bitmap files are made up of rows and columns of dots. When you enlarge them, you can see the dots.   BURST BINDING A binding technique that entails nicking the backfold in short lengths during the folding process, which allows glue to reach each individual leaf and create a strong bond.   CMYK Shorthand for the colours used in four colour process printing; cyan, magenta, yellow and black.   COATED STOCK Paper that is coated either one or two sides in matt, semi-gloss, or gloss finish.   COLOUR BARS This term refers to a colour test strip, that is printed on the waste portion of a press sheet. It is a standardised (GATF-Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) process that allows a pressman to determine the quality of the printed material relative to ink denisty, registration and dot gain. It also includes the Star Target, which is a similar system designed to detect inking problems.   CTP Computer to plate is the pre-press or imaging process in lithographic printing where a finished digital layout or image is output direct to a printing plate.   CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVE Employee of a printer who co-ordinates projects and keeps customers informed. Abbreviated CSR   DELANO File transfer system which allows users to easily proof-read, mark up and approve in real time, high resolution production files in a standard web browser.   DENSITOMETER An optical device used by printers and photographers to measure and control the density of colour on printed pages.   DENSITY The weight of tone or colour in any image as measured by the densitometer.   DIE CUTTING 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.   DIGITAL PROOF Colour seperation data is digitally stored and then exposed to colour photographic paper creating a picture of the final product before it is actually printed   DIGITAL PRINT A way of printing small quantites of full colour material. Typically, runs consist of up to 200 A3 sheets are more cost effective to run digitally. But digital presses use the four colour process, so the colours on your business cards won't match your 2 colour letterhead. Digital presses are rather like large, fast, high quality laser printers. File are output directly from a computer, and can be personalised- your customer's name in full colour right in the flow of text. This makes it a powerful solution for direct mail.   DIGITAL WORKFLOW This term describes the whole process of publishing and printing. It starts with digitalising images and text, and ends with the final printed job.   DPI Considered as "dots per square inch", a measure of output resolution in relationship to printers, image setters and  monitors,   DRILLING Making the holes in paper for use in a ring binder. Drills can neatly perforate a much greater thickness of paper than the kind of hole punch you have in the office.   DUMMY A mock-up produced by the designer to show how the finished job will look. This will usually involve colour prints from various sources and will therefore not be on the intended stock.   EPS Encapsulated Postscript Files are object-orientated graphics files, but can also store bitmapped images, and are usually created within drawing applications. The resulting vector files can be output to any resolution or size.   ESTIMATOR The individual performing or creating the "estimate".   FINISHING Any process that follows the actual printing. Can include folding, creasing, stiching, binding and the like.   FINISHED SIZE Size of a product after production is completed, as compared to flat size, also called trimmed size.    FLAT SIZE Size of product after printing and trimming, but before folding, as compared to finished size.   FLUSH COVER A bound book or booklet having the cover trimmed to the same size as the text.    FOILS Papers that have a surface resembling metals.    FOILS EMBOSS To foil stamp and emboss an imag, also called heat stamp..    FOLDOUT Gatefold sheet bound into a publication, often used for a map or chart.   FOLIO A page number, and consequently a page.    FTP File Transfer Protocol, a 2Mb fixed connection to the internet which enables seamless transfer of PDF files from your desktop to our secure server.    GATE FOLD Two parallel folds towards each other, in which the fold can be opened from the left to the right.   GATHERING Assembling sheets of paper into their proper sequence prior to binding.   GIF Graphic Interchange Format (GIF) is used for graphic images for the web and is compressed. It is not really of sufficient quality for continous-tone images and photos.    GSM Grams per Square Metre (GSM) this indicates the weight of stock. For example; a typcial photocopier paper would be 80gsm - a good letterhead paper might be 100gsm - a postcard would be about 250gsm.   GRAIN Paper fibres lie in a certain direction, this direction is called the grain.   GUILLOTINE Machine to trim paper or board before or after printing.   GUTTER The margin closest to the spine of a publication.   HOT METAL An adhesive used in the binding process, which requires heat for application.   ISO International Standards Organisation (ISO) which overseas the adoption of many types of Internationally accepted working methods, protocols and technologies    IMAGE AREA The printed area of the sheet.   IMPOSITION This term is used to describe the organisation of the pages on each side of a printed sheet so that they will in the correct order when they are cut, folded and trimmed.

INSERT A piece of printed material that is prepared for the purpose of being inserted into another piece of printed material, such as a magazine.   JPEG Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) files are compressed to save storage space. They are used extensively for digital images.   KERNING The adjusting of the space between the individual characters in a line of type. This is typically used with certain letter combinations such as Yo, Te, LY, AVA, WA as there is often too much space between them.   LAMINATION The application of a transparent gloss - or matte finish film from a variety of materials.   LITHO PRINT This is how most printed things you see have been produced. It is good if you need a large number of copies of the same product, and allows you a lot of flexibilty in the sort of paper and inks you can use. From files supplied, plates are produced. These plates are mounted on the printing press and impressions of the image on the plates are made in ink onto the blanket which, in turn, puts the ink onto the paper, hence the term 'offset'. It is important to realise that there are initial costs involved in setting up a press - making plates, cleaning the press of inks from the last job, mixing and loading the inks etc. This makes litho unsuitable for very short runs, but it is usually the most cost-effective method for a long run.   MACHINE COATED Paper that has a coating applied to either one or two of its sides during the papermaking process.   MAKE READY The printer goes through the all important preparatory stages prior to printing the first good copies of the job.   OFFSET The most commonly used printing method, wherby the printed material does not receive the ink directly from the printing plate but from the printing plate but from an intermediary cylinder called a blanket cylinder that recieves the ink from the plate and transfers it to the paper.   OFFSET PAPER A term for uncoated book paper   OVERPRINTING Any printing goes that is done on an area that has already been printed.   OVERS Quantities of sheets printed over the requested number of copies.   PANTONE The brand name of a colour matching system produced by Pantone Inc, USA. A large range of inks are specified and identified by number to produce standard results across the industry. A reference such as PMS341 indicates a colour in the Pantone range, in this case our Company green. In a colour swatch book the number PMS341C would indicate how the colour looks when printed on uncoated or matt stock. Sometimes the difference can be quite dramatic. If a colour match is critical (as on the company logo), it must be printed as a special (fifth) colour.   PAPER SIZES The most common system of paper sizes in Europe is the ISO standard. Most people are familiar with the A series (see chart below) which indicates A4, the usual letterhead size. The C series is for envelopes - A C4 envelope being for holding an A4 sheet flat. There is also a B series which provides intermediate sizes for the A series. DL is a special size for envelopes designed to accept A4 paper folded in three.   PERFECT BINDING A term used to describe the binding process where the pages are held together in the spine by the guide.   PDF Portable Document Format (PDF) files are created after application files have been exported to PostScript. They are created with Adobe Acrobat Distiller and have become the standard for viewing and printing files. Fonts are embedded, thus avoiding the need for the recipient to have font licenses. Low-res PDFs are small enough to be emailed and are fine for viewing on screen, but not for print.   PDF/X This is a standardised PDF file, which restricts the information in the file to that needed for platemaking and printing and is much more reliable than an ordinary PDF.   PERFECTING PRESS A printing press that prints on both sides of the paper in a single pass.   PERFORATING Taking place on a press or folding machine, creating a line of small dotted holes for the purpose of tearing-off a part of a printed matter (usually straight lines, vertical or horizontal).   PLATE Pieces of paper, metal, plastic or rubber carrying an image to be produced using a printing press.   POINT SIZES Characters in typeset copy are measured in units called 'points'. This is measured by the height of the capital letters, 1 point equals 1/72 of an inch.   PREFLIGHT Before a complicated application file is sent for proofing/printing one of the several desk-top programs can run a series of checks to ensure the content is correct and all fonts and additional items are included.   PRE-PRESS Colour separations, stripping, platemaking and other pre-press functions performed by the printer prior to printing.   PRIMARY COLOURS In printing the four primary colours are cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black.   PUR Polyurethane glue binding using the latest VPN nozzle technology.   REAM 500 sheets of paper   REEL The master roll of paper as it comes off the papermaking machine. It is in its original width and is then cut into smaller rolls.   REGISTER MARKS Any crossmarks or other symbols used on layout to assure proper registration.   SADDLE STITCH The binding of booklets or other printed materials by stapling the pages on the folded spine.   SCORING To impress paper with a rule for the purpose of making folding easier.   SECTION A folded sheet which is assembled with others to make up a book. For example an A2 sheet will provide a section of eight A4 pages when folded twice. A 20 page booklet would therefore require two 8-page sections and one 4-page section. These sections are then saddle-stitched together. Large booklets can be perfect bound.   SELF COVER A publication whose cover is the same paper or material as the inside pages.   SHEET-FED PRESS Press that prints sheets of paper, as compared to a web-press.   SHOW THROUGH  A problem that occurs when the printing on one side of a sheet is seen from the other side.   SPIRAL BIND  A binding wherby a wire or plastic is spiralled through holes punched along the binding side.   SPREAD Two pages that face each other and are designed as one visual or production unit.   TIFF Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) are high resolution raster files for bitmapped monochrome and colour images - this format is widely used and generally preferred by the printing industry.   TINTS The four process colours can be printed in various combination of percentages to produce the apperance of flat colours.   TRAPPING  A trap is the tiny overlap required between two different coloured elements on a printed page. Trapping is only necessary when different colours touch. If different colours do not touch, there is no need for a trap.   UV VARNISHED A method of adding a gloss finish to printed surfaces. The advantage of UV varnishing is that it is similar to printing an extra colour and can be applied to selected areas to produce special effects. The UV refers to the Ultra-Violet lamp under which the varnished sheets pass for rapid drying.   VECTOR FILES  These are  made up of mathematically described geometric lines and shapes (rather than coloured dots) and so will never get 'blocky', whatever sizes you print them.   WORK & TURN When a whole job is printed on one side of sheet, the sheet is turned and printed again using the same plates. For example, a single sheet A4 flyer is printed with  back and front adjacent to each other on one side of an SRA3 sheet. The sheets are turned over and printed with the same plates again. When trimmed you have A4 sheets with a different image front and back. The advantage of this technique is to save a plate change and make-ready cost.