Glossary and Dictionary of Terms
Graphic Design, Web Design, Search Engine Marketing & Printing Terms
— A —
Accordion (”M”) Fold - three zigzag folds with 8 panels (3 parallel folds that go in opposite directions). Each panel of the accordion fold are the same size.
Additive Color - involves light emitted directly from an illuminant, usually as red, green and blue light, to produce colors (see also RGB color). Combining one of these additive primary colors with another in equal amounts produces the additive secondary colors: cyan, magenta, and yellow. Combining all three primary colors in equal intensities produces white. Varying the luminosity of each color in various proportions produces the full gamut of those three colors. Computer monitors and televisions mimic additive color, but use a system called optical mixing which cannot be considered additive light since the colors do not actually overlap.
Aqueous Coating - a water based sealant available in gloss, dull, and satin sheens applied to printed paper to reduce scratching and fingerprints & enhance visual appearance. Aqueous coating is more durable than varnish.
— B —
Bleed - a printing term referring to printing ink that goes beyond the edge of a sheet of paper after trimming. The required bleed in the artwork is a small amount of "extra" space (usually 1/8") where the art continues past the document edge to allow for small variations in paper size and equipment registration capabilities. A document without bleed can result in finished pieces showing a thin area of white on the edge or a document being trimmed slightly smaller than desired. Bleed is especially necessary for booklets or any document that folds.
Blind Embossing - hot-stamping used to raised an images into paper using pressure and an embossing die without adding foil.
Brightness - the brilliance of a paper. The brightness of a sheet of paper measures the percentage of blue light it reflects. The brightness of a piece of paper is typically expressed on a scale of 1 to 100 with 100 being the brightest. Most papers reflect 60-90% of light. The brightness of a paper affects readability, the perception of ink color and the contrast between light and dark hues.
— C —
C1S - paper that is coated on only one side of the sheet — "coated one side."
C2S - paper that is coated on both sides of the sheet — "coated two sides."
CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Black) inks used for "full color" printing, usually includes color photographs.
Coated Paper - a coated paper stock has a surface sealant and often contains clay. Coated papers tend to minimize "dot gain" by restricting ink from absorbing into the surface of the paper allowing for crisper images, particularly photos and other halftone images. Coated stocks have coating options related to sheen: gloss, matte, dull and satin finishes.
Color Management - calibrating and controlling color accuracy between various devices, such as monitors, scanners, printers, and printing presses.
Color Space (color model) - a system for describing color numerically to determine a color range (gamut) you can work in: the colors that a printer can print, a monitor can display, or a camera can capture.
Corporate Identity - the "personality" of a corporation which is visually manifested by way of branding including the company’s name, logo, typeface, colors, slogan, etc. — each are elements that help comprise its corporate identity.
Crop - to cut off part or parts of an image or graphic.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) - a standardized way that efficiently defines the styling & formatting of web pages. All current version of browsers are capable of displaying CSS. READ MORE
Cut-size - cut paper sizes of 8 1/2"x11" (letter), 8 1/2"x14" (legal) and 11"x17" (ledger).
— D —
Die-cutting - cutting custom shapes out of a piece of paper using a "die" made with sharp metal-edged rules that have been mounted onto wood.
Direct-to-Plate - digital printing plates created using data sent from a computer to a direct-to-plate device making traditional film unnecessary.
DNS (Domain Name System, or Domain Name Server) - the term used to denote an internet web site address; the system used on the internet for translating domain names into the actual numerical addresses of computers on the internet. For example, www.example.com actually translates to number, such as 208.77.188.166. The numerical equivalent of the address of a website is known as its IP address.
Dot Gain - dots of ink are absorbed into the paper in the printing process, spreading out somewhat as it transfers. Dot gain causes an image to look less crisp and can also darken an image. Paper types (coated or uncoated), inks and press type effect the amount of dot gain.
Dull Paper - a dull finish coated paper has a smooth surface that is low in gloss. Dull coated paper is made with a surface sealant which often contains clay. Coating papers restrict ink from absorbing into the surface of the paper which allows for crisper images, particularly photos and other halftone images. The sheen of a dull coated paper falls between matte and glossy paper.
Dummy - a folded sample used to show finished size, shape,page layout and binding.
Duotone - a two color photo or illustration (halftone) of the same image created with two different ink colors.
— E —
Embossing - using a hot metal die to press a raised image into an area of paper. Embossed images can be "blind," with foil, or applied to an image already printed with ink.
— F —
Foil stamping - using a foil stamping die to applying a very thin surface of one or more of various foil colors (often gold or silver) or pigments to create an image onto paper.
Four-color Process - full-color printing or CMYK. Combining dots of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) to simulate the various colors in a color photo or illustration.
FPO (for position only) - the placement of a placeholder or a temporary low-resolution image placed in the desired location and size on the artwork to indicate where an actual image is to be placed. FPO images are commonly used when images need to be scanned, drawn, photographed or for any other reason are not yet available.
— G —
Gaussian Blur - a widely used effect in graphics software typically to reduce image noise and reduce detail or applied to re-screens to eliminate a moiré effect. A Gaussian Blur blurs an image to apply a softening effect.
Gloss Paper - a gloss paper is a coated paper that has a high sheen (most magazines use gloss paper) as it is made with a surface sealant and often contains clay. Coating papers restrict ink from absorbing into the surface of the paper which allows for crisper images, particularly photos and other halftone images. Gloss papers are less opaque and have less bulk and are less expensive than Dull & Matte papers.
Grain - the fibers in a sheet paper have a grain direction similar to like the muscle fibers in the human body. Paper folds best “with the grain,” parallel to the paper’s grain direction. Sometimes a paper needs to be folded against the grain, which results in a more irregular fold with cracks along the crease. This effect is more noticeable as the paper thickness increases and “scoring” the paper becomes a requirement for a smooth looking fold.
Gripper - an area at the edge of a sheet of paper that the printing press or copier uses to pull the paper through the machine. It is not possible to print in this area.
Guts - the inside pages of a multi-page publication that has a separate cover.
— H —
Halftone - the use of dots to simulate the tones between light and dark. A halftone image that is produced by simulating continuous tones with equally spaced dots of varying size used in the commercial printing industry. The eye "sees" an optical illusion, blending these tiny dots into smooth tones. Full color printing is made possible by repeating the halftone process for each subtractive color, most commonly using what is called the "CMYK color model."
Hard Copy - a printed, physical copy of text or a page layout, in contrast to a "soft copy" that is viewed on a computer monitor.
HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) - the predominant markup language for web pages. A cross-platform text-formatting system for creating web pages, including copy, images, sounds, frames, animation and more
— I —
— J —
Justified Type - alignment of type in which each line length is identical: type is aligned on both the right and left margins. Type is justified by changing the spacing between individual words in each line.
— K —
Keywords, Keyword Phrases - the specific terms used by a person to search for something on the internet. A word or group of words that describe the content on a web page. Keywords are used in internet marketing to optimize webpages to ensure that commonly used search terms are contained on the website to increase page rank.
— L —
Left Justified Type(Ragged Right) - columns of type are aligned with the left margin.
Linen Finish - a paper finish similar to the texture of linen fabric.
— M —
Matte Paper - is a non-glossy, flat-looking coated paper has a smooth surface. Matte coated paper is made with a surface sealant which often contains clay. Coating papers restrict ink from absorbing into the surface of the paper which allows for crisper images, particularly photos and other halftone images.
Merge/Purge - merging two or more mailing list files into one file and purging the file of duplicates.
Moiré - a wavelike or checkered pattern where the two dot patterns overlap resulting when rescreening a halftone image. A moiré looks somewhat like the pattern in a chain-link fence, but can be eliminated by the proper application of a Gaussian blur.
— N —
NCR Forms(carbonless forms) - an acronym for “No Carbon Required.” NCR papers are available in up to 6 parts and usually padded into "sets." The NCR paper is coated with a colorless dye. Writing or other pressure produces visible color making "copies" automatically to the other sheets.
— O —
Opacity - a paper's opacity is determined by its weight, ingredients and absorbency. A paper's opacity determines how much printing will show through on the reverse side of a sheet. Opacity is expressed in terms of it's percentage of reflection. Complete opacity is 100% and complete transparency is 0%.
Optimize - reducing the size of graphics images as much as possible without any noticeable loss in quality so web pages will load more quickly. Depending on the image(s) involved and the techniques used. File size reduction of 50% - 75% without perceivable image quality loss are not uncommon.
Organic Page Rank - organic search engine results pages are the "natural," unpaid search results that a search engine returns for a given search query.
— P —
PDF (Portable Document Format) - a self-contained cross-platform document that will look the same on the screen and in print, regardless of what kind of computer or printer someone is using or what software the document was originally created with. A file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. READ MORE
Perfect Binding - book binding in which pages are glued together and then adhered directly to the cover of the book.
PMS (Pantone Matching System) - a color choices chart; a color space used primarily in printing, but also a variety of other industries including advertising specialties, paint, fabric and plastics.
Process Color - the CMYK color model, referred to as process color (or four color, or four-color process) is a subtractive color model used in full-color printing. CMYK refers to the four inks used in process color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
— Q —
— R —
Ragged Right(Justified Left) - ragged right type aligns type along the left margin but not along the right margin resulting from using normal spacing between the words.
Rescreen - the process of using a previously reproduced image for commercial printing that has already been through the halftone process. If the halftone screen used was coarse and open, you may be able to shoot it as a line shot. One may have to rescreen the image. Rescreening a halftone image will create a wavelike or checkered pattern where the two dot patterns overlap. This is called moiré. Steps must be taken to avoid this undesirable moiré effect caused by the rescreening process.
Resolution - the fineness or coarseness of an image; the amount of data stored in an image file, measured in pixels per inch (PPI) or dots per inch (DPI).
Right Justified - type that is aligned with the right page margin using normal spacing between the words resulting in a ragged left margin.
— S —
Saddle Stitch - a binding process where pages are stapled together through the spine to create a booklet.
Sans Serif - a type face that has lacks serifs; there are no small horizontal lines which rest on the tops and/or bottoms of some or all of the individual type characters.
Scoring - the creation of a crease along the sheet of paper where it needs to be folded to achieve a crisp fold. With thick paper (card stock), scoring is a necessary to get a professional-looking and crisp fold without cracks in it. The best scoring is performed on an old-fashioned letterpress, although they are slower and thus a more expensive than alternative processes. Fast, modern scoring machines are also used, as well as folding machines with in-line scoring devices.
SE (search engine) - a web search engine examines websites on the internet in order to provide a catalog of what information is contained on those websites. Although there are many search engines, Google is arguably the most successful.
Self cover - a booklet with a cover using of the same paper type and thickness as the inside pages.
Serif Font - a type font characterized by small horizontal lines which rest on the tops and/or bottoms of some or all of the individual type characters. The serifs help to create a horizontal line of the sentence to aid in readership.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - is the use of various techniques to improve a web site's "natural" organic search ranking and thus attract more visitors.
Sheet-fed Press - a printing press that uses single sheets of paper to print on rather than a continuous roll of paper.
Side Stitch - binding paper by stapling along the side of a sheet (usually to the left of the text).
Signature - a larger sheet of multiple pages which are folded at right angles to become all or part of a book or publication.
Spot Color - using one or more single ink colors instead of (or in addition to) process color (full color) printing. Ink color is mixed before printing instead of during the printing process.
Style Sheet - a document using predetermined rules for using type fonts, type sizes, ink colors, etc. Style sheet are used in documents containing multiple pages where consistent style and uniformity is desired.
Subtractive Color - the mixing of inks, paints, dyes and natural colorants. The color that a surface displays depends on which colors of the spectrum are reflected by it and therefore made visible. Colors are caused by subtracting (that is, absorbing) some wavelengths of light and reflecting the others.
Swatch Book - contains paper samples showing paper colors, thicknesses and other specifications.
— T —
Toner - the fine plastic-based powder used in copy machines and laser printers, as opposed to ink that is used on a printing press.
Trim Size - the final size of a printed piece once it’s been cut.
— U —
Uncoated Paper - an uncoated paper stock has not been coated with clay or other surface sealants. Inks dry by absorbing into the paper. Uncoated papers are available in a variety of surfaces, both textured (such as "laid" and "linen") and smooth.
UV Coating - a clear gloss or dull liquid that is cured with ultraviolet light applied to printed paper to reduce scratching and enhance visual appearance. UV coating gives more protection and sheen than either varnish or aqueous coating.
— V —
Varnish - varnish is a clear gloss or dull coating sealant applied to printed paper to reduce scratching and enhance visual appearance.
Vector Art - a Vector image is a graphic that has been created in a drawing program (i.e. Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand or CorelDraw). It uses paths to create lines and curves at connecting points called "nodes" to store the graphic's information mathematically. Vector images can be scaled up to any size without loss of quality, as opposed to raster images which become pixelated and quality is diminished when they are enlarged.
— W —
W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium) - the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web. It is arranged as a consortium where member organizations maintain full-time staff for the purpose of working together in the development of standards for the World Wide Web.
Web Directory (link directory) - A web directory is a directory on the World Wide Web. Like an "on-line yellow pages," a web directory lists websites by category and subcategory. The categorization is usually based on the whole web site rather than one page or a set of keywords, and sites are often limited to inclusion in only a few categories.
Website Hosting (hosting, web hosting, internet hosting, internet hosting services, and web hosting services ) - the business of providing the storage, connectivity, and services necessary to serve files for a website. A company that provides web hosting services is called a web host, and their detailed offers of storage, connectivity, and services are called web hosting plans.
Weight - the weight of a paper refers to its thickness and is measured in pounds (#). The higher the number, the thicker the paper for that "type" of paper. Paper weights in commercial printing can be very confusing. For example, a sheet of 20# bond (probably what you use on your copy machine) is about the same thickness as a sheet of 50# offset. A more meaningful measurement to pay attention to is a paper's caliper.
Whiteness - a measure of the light reflected from a sheet of paper. How white a paper is depends on how evenly it reflects all colors in the visible color spectrum.
Work and Tumble - printing on one side of a sheet and then turning it over (from the gripper to the tail) to print the second side. The same side guide and plate are used for the second side printing.
Work and Turn - printing one side of a sheet and turning it over while using the same gripper and plate for the second side printing.
WYSIWYG (pronounced "wiz-E-wig") - an acronym for "What You See Is What You Get," used in computing to describe a system in which content displayed during editing appears very similar to the final output.
— X —
— Y —
— Z —
Z Fold - folding paper in thirds in “zig zags,” it opens like an accordion in the shape of a “Z”
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