The list shown below is a summary
of terms commonly used in the printing industry. At Reprotech Printing
and Digital Media Services believe in and educated client. If you
have any questions that are not addressed below please call us or
e-mail us we are
more than happy to provide with answers,
quotations. samples or any
information that helps you. This information has been reviewed and
edited to clearly define the terms commonly used in the printing
industry.
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. Alteration: Change in copy of specifications after production has begun. Artboard: Alternate term for mechanical art. Author's corrections: Also know as "AC's". Changed and additions in copy after it has been typeset. Back up: Printing the second side of a sheet already printed on one side. Banding: Method of packaging printed pieces of paper using rubber or paper bands. Basis weight: Weight in pounds of a ream of paper cut to the basic size for its grade. 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. Blanket: The thick rubber mat on a printing press that transfers ink from the plate to paper. Bleed: Printing that goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming. Blind embossing: An image pressed into a sheet without ink or foil. Blueline: A blue photographic proof used to check position of all image elements. Board: Alternate term for mechanical. Bond & carbon: Business form with paper and carbon paper. Bond paper: Strong durable paper grade used for letterheads and business forms. Break for colour: Also known as a colour break. To separate mechanically or by software the parts to be printed in different colours. Brightness: The brilliance or reflectance of paper. Bulk: Thickness of paper stock in thousandths of an inch or number of pages per inch. Bulk pack: Boxing printed product without wrapping or banding. Burn: Exposing a printing plate to high intensity light or placing an image on a printing plate by light. Butt: Joining images without overlapping. Butt fit: Printed colours that overlap one row of dots so they appear to butt. Carbonless: Pressure sensitive writing paper that does not use carbon. Caliper: Paper thickness in thousandths of an inch. Camera-ready copy: Print ready mechanical art. Carload: A truck load of paper weighing 40000 pounds. Case bind: A type of binding used in making hard cover books using glue. Cast coated: Coated paper with a high gloss reflective finish. Chrome: A term for a transparency. Coated paper: A clay coated printing paper with a smooth finish. Collate: A finishing term for gathering paper in a precise order. colour bar: A quality control term regarding the spots of ink colour on the tail of a sheet. colour correction: Methods of improving colour separations. colour filter: Filters uses in making colour separations, red, blue, green. colour key: colour proofs in layers of acetate: colour matching system: A system of formulated ink colours used for communicating colour. colour separations: The process of preparing artwork, photographs, transparencies, or computer generated art for printing by separating into the four primary printing colours. Comb bind: To plastic comb bind by inserting the comb into punched holes. Composite film: Combining two or more images on one or more pieces of film. 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 colour 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. Crash number: Numbering paper by pressing an image on the first sheet which is transferred to all parts of the printed set. Crimping: Puncture marks holding business forms together. Cromalin: Trade name for DuPont colour proofs. Crop: To cut off parts of a picture or image. Crop marks: Printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet. Crossover: Printing across the gutter or from one page to the facing page of a publication. Cyan: One of four standard process colours. The blue colour. Back To The Top
Densitometer: A quality control devise to measure the density of printing ink. Density: The degree of colour or darkness of an image or photograph. Diazo: A light sensitive coating used on printing plates. 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 v paper. Double burn: Exposing a plate to multiple images. Draw-down: A sample of ink and paper used to evaluate ink colours. 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 colours. Dylux: Photographic paper made by DuPont and used for bluelines. Emboss: Pressing an image into paper so that it will create a raised relief. Emulsion: Light sensitive coating found on printing plates and film. 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. Film rip: See Rip film. Flat: An assembly of negatives taped to masking materials for platemaking. 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-colour-process: The process of combining four basic colours to create a printed colour picture or colours composed from the basic four colours. French fold: Two folds at right angles to each other. Galley proof: Text copy before it is put into a mechanical layout or desktop layout. 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. Generation: Stages of reproduction from original copy. A first generation reproduction yields the best quality. Ghost bars: A quality control method used to reduce ghosted image created by heat or chemical contamination. Ghosting: A faint printed image that appears on a printed sheet where it was not intended. More often than not this problem is a function of graphical design. It is hard to tell when or where ghosting will occur. Sometimes you can see the problem developing immediately after printing the sheet, other times the problem occurs while drying. However the problem occurs it is costly to fix, if it can be fixed. Occasionally it can be eliminated by changing the colour sequence, the inks, the paper, changing to a press with a drier, printing the problem area in a separate pass through the press or changing the racking (reducing the number of sheets on the drying racks). Since it is a function of graphical design, the buyer pays for the increased cost. Gloss: A shiny look reflecting light. Grain: The direction in which the paper fiber lie. Grippers: The metal fingers on a printing press that hold the paper as it passes through the press. 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. Hickey: Reoccurring unplanned spots that appear in the printed image from dust, lint, dried ink. High-bulk paper: A paper made thicker than its standard basis weight. 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. Indicia: Postal information place on a printed product. Ink fountain: The reservoir on a printing press that hold the ink. Keylines: Lines on mechanical art that show position of photographs or illustrations. Kiss die cut: To cut the top layer of a pressure sensitive sheet and not the backing. Knock out: To mask out an image. Laid finish: Simulating the surface of handmade paper. Laminate: To cover with film, to bond or glue one surface to another. Layflat: See Eurobind. Line copy: High contrast copy not requiring a halftone. 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 colours in process colour. Makeready: All the activities required to prepare a press for printing. Marginal words: Call outs for directions on various parts of a business form. Mask: Blocking light from reaching parts of a printing plate. Matchprint: Trade name for 3M integral colour proof. Matte finish: Dull paper or ink finish. Mechanical: Camera ready art all contained on one board. Mechanical separation: Mechanical art overlay for each colour to be printed. 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.
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