A   B  C  D  E  F   G  H   I  J   K   L   M  N   O  P  Q   R   S   T   U  V  W   X   Y   Z 

A

AA Authors Alterations, changes other than corrections, made by a client after the proofing process has begun. AAs are usually charged to a client as billable time.

Artwork The finished composition or the graphical elements used in printing or electronic publishing.

B

Basis Weight The weight in pounds of a ream of paper in its uncut basic size (which varies from grade to grade).

Binding The process of attaching loose sheets of paper into a book or other multipage document.

Bleed When an image runs off the edge of a sheet. Normally, a printer requires the image to extend a quarter inch beyond finsihed trim mark.

Blueline A printer's proof, actually blue on white paper. All AAs and corrections should have been made prior to seeing a blueline.

BMP A DOS native graphics format not generally used in professional printing or online design.

C

Camera Ready Type and/or artwork that has been pasted into position to be photographed for plate ready film.

Choke (Choking) When trapping color closing the open spaces in a graphic to be filled with another color.

CMYK The acronym for the four process color inks: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

Color Key A printer's proof, actually four sheets of colored acetate, for examining the quality of process color separations. This process is normally used when printing on a press capable of fewer than four colors at once. All AAs and corrections should have been made prior to seeing a color key.

Color Separation Literally separating the areas of a piece to be printed into its component spot and process ink colors. Each color to be printed must have its own printing plate.

Color Space The parts of the visible spectrum which can be reproduced in a given medium. (i.e. RGB for computer monitors, CMYK for print, web safe index colors for the world wide web)

Comb Binding A plastic comb is inserted through pre-cut holes to bind the book. There is no flat spine for printing title information.

Composite Image A photograph or other graphic image, that is made of a combination of multiple images.

Conversion The process of creating a three dimensional (3D) item from a flat sheet of paper. i.e. envelope conversion / box conversion

Copy The prose or other text used in advertising and printed material.

Copyright (©) A group of legal rights granted to the author or creator of written or visual work. All work appearing with the © symbol or the word "copyright" is protected by its creator or his heirs. For more information, contact your attorney.

Copy Writer The individual who writes the prose or "copy" for an advertisement or brochure.

D

Desktop Publishing A process for creating camera ready and plate ready artwork on a personal computer. Though once in vogue, this term is now usually associated with low end, less professional design.

Digital Imaging The process of creating a digital copy of an illustrated or photographic image.

Digital Photography The process of recording images using a digital camera or a conventional camera with a digital adapter.

Digital Printing A system of printing, which involves linking printing presses and computers, bypassing the traditional route of making printing plates.

Dot Gain A phenomenon, which occurs when wet ink comes in contact with paper. As the halftone dots are applied to the paper, the wet ink spreads, causing the dots to increase in size and halftones to appear darker. A number of factors affect dot gain.

E

Electronic Publishing A process by which information is created and/ or distributed in electronic or magnetic formats. (i.e. CD ROM or web.) The usage of this term has expanded to include digitally created designs that are reproduced on conventional printing presses.

EPS (EPSF) Encapsulated Postscript File. A vector based, computer graphics file format developed by Adobe Systems. EPS is the preferred format for many computer illustrations, because of its efficient use of memory and fine color control.

F

Foil Stamping A mechanical process that results in the bonding of colored foil to paper.

FPO (For Position Only) A low resolution image inserted into a layout to be replaced by a full resolution image before or during the prepress process.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) The method for uploading and downloading files to/from internet server systems.

G

GIF An eight bit (256 colors or shades of grey) or less computer file format. Though commonly used to post photographic images to computer bulletin boards, GIF files are almost never used for professional printing.

Graphic A non text item (Illustration or photograph) to be printed.

Graphic Design A process of problem solving, using visual elements (pictures and type) usually to communicate a concept or idea.

Graphic Designer An individual who solves communication problems, using visual elements (pictures & type) to convey an idea or concept.

H

Halftone A reproduction of a continuous tone image (i.e. a photograph or painting) using fine dots of varying size and spacing to reproduce the shades and textures of the original.

Hardcopy Another name for camera ready. Black and white original copy that is ready to be processed for printing. No additional work necessary.

I

Illustrator An individual who draws or paints or otherwise creates original artistic images for use in commercial art.

Imagesetter A high resolution device that prints directly to plate ready film.

Imposition The process of positioning multiple pages on a flat sheet of paper to be printed at one time.

Inch A unit of measurement equal to six (6) picas or seventy two (72) points. Normally used by design clients and printers.

ISBN International Standard Book Number. A ten-digit number that uniquely identifies a publication worldwide.

J

JPEG Joint Photographic Electronic Group. A common standard for compressing image data for electronic delivery (CD ROM or Web). JPEG is not commonly used in printing because of data loss which leads to degraded images.

L

Laminated Cover A thin film that adds a gloss finish to a cover and protects the finish from being damaged.

LCCN Library of Congress Catalog Number. If you plan to sell your book to libraries, it is a good idea to have an LCCN.

Lupe (Loupe) From the German word for magnifying glass, a lens used by photographers, printers, and designers to examine details in printed materials.

M

Match Print A color proofing system developed by 3M. All AAs and corrections should have been made prior to seeing a Match Print.

Mechanical Board mounted, camera ready artwork intended for use in traditional (non digital) prepress.

O

Offset Printing (Offset lithography) Currently the most common commercial printing method, in which ink is offset from the printing plate to to a rubber roller then to paper.

P

Paste-up The process of physically adhering artwork, galleys, and other type to a paste board other substrate, usually with hot wax or other adhesive. The product of the paste-up process.

Paste Board The physical substrate, usually composed of a stiff paper board, used for composing camera ready artwork.

PDF Portable Document file. A proprietary format developed by Adobe Systems for the transfer of designs across multiple computer platforms.

Perfect Binding A book binding process where pages are glued together and directly to the cover of the book.

Photo CD A proprietary format developed by Eastman Kodak for storing photographic images on a compact disc. Images can be easily accessed for use in professional printing.

PhotoCopy A mechanical printing process that uses a light sensitive printing element, electrostatic toner and a heating element to fuse the toner to the paper.

Photo Illustration An image, primarily consisting of a photograph or composite image containing a photograph.

Photo Plate A light sensitive printing plate. The plate is developed like film, then used on a printing press.

Photograph An image or picture made by exposing light sensitive film with a camera.

Pica A unit of measurement equal to twelve (12) points or one sixth (1/6) of an inch. Used by designers and other graphics professional for its precision.

Pixel Depth The amount of data used to describe each colored dot on the computer screen. i.e. Monochrome is 1 bit deep. Greyscale is 8 bits deep. RGB is 24 bits deep. Images to be printed as CMYK separation should be 32 bits deep.

Plate Ready Film Final photographic film or other artwork used to "burn" printing plates. No addtional paste-up or stripping should be required if artwork is actually plate ready.

PMS color (Pantone Matching System) A proprietary color system for choosing and matching specific spot and process colors.

Point A unit of measurement equal to 1/12th of a pica or 1/72nd of an inch. Normally used to measure type size or fractions of a pica for the design process.

PrePress The various printing related services, performed before ink is actually put on the printing press. (i.e. stripping, scanning, color separating, etc. . .)

Press Proof A sheet of paper used as reference while printing.

Printing The process of applying ink to paper.

Process Color The mechanical process of reproducing a full color image with the three primary subtractive color inks (CMYK/ Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black) and black. When viewed under a lupe, the individual color halftone dots can be seen in a process color image.

R

Reflective Art Artwork which is neither digital nor transparent. Reflective art requires either scanning or camera work to be printed.

Registration The quality of alignment of the different colored inks as they are applied to paper. (i.e. If the inks can be seen to overlap improperly or to leave white gaps on the page, the printing is said to be "out of registration" or "poorly registered".)

RGB Red Green Blue, the colors used by a computer monitor to create color images on the screen.

S

Score To imprint a crease. It is preferable to score heavy paper before folding it, in order to avoid cracking.

Service Bureau The facility that provides professional services to graphics and printing professionals. (i.e. plate ready film, matchprints, colorkeys, etc...)

Signature (Sig) All pages of a book or other bound print job, to be printed on a single pass through a printing press. On small presses 2 pages, on larger presses always a number divisible by 4 or 8 pages. (Bound pages are always in groups divisible by four, 2 outside and 2 inside pages.)

Spiral Binding A wire is inserted through a series of holes in a spiral fashion to bind the book. There is no flat spine for printing title information.

Spot Color Single colors applied to printing when process color is not necessary (i.e. one, two and three color printing), or when process colors need to be augmented (i.e. a fluorescent pink headline or a metallic tint).

Spread 1) A design that encompasses two or more facing pages (i.e. the center spread in the morning newspaper 2) Literally, spreading the ink around a colored object so that there is no gap between it and the next colored object. (i.e. yellow text on a blue background.)

T

TIFF Tagged Image File Format, a bitmapped file format used for the reproduction of continuous tone images such as photographs and illustrations.

Trapping The process of closing gaps between different color inks as they appear on the printed page. Trapping color is achieved by use of chokes and spreads.

V

Vector Graphics Any of a number of graphics formats including EPS(F) and DXF which describe objects on the screen not as colored pixels but as mathematically defined shapes. Vector graphics can be rescaled to any size wthout any effect to file size. Typically, vector graphics occupy less disk space than their bitmapped (rasterized) counterparts.