Have you ever had a conversation with your print vendor and been left completely confused by the end? Since we live, eat, and breathe printing, printer lingo comes as second nature – and sometimes we forget that not everyone knows what perfect binding is or that ghosting isn’t something a bad friend does after you lent them money.
Here’s a list of common printer terminology:
Accordion Fold – Folding paper into pleats resembling the bellows of an accordion. Each panel is about the same size and the folds go in opposite directions. It is also referred to as a zig-zag fold.
Acetate – A transparent plastic cover that overlays the first page of a document.
Artwork – The original materials needed to produce a printed piece. This includes photos, graphic images, text, and any other components used to design the file.
Aqueous Coating – A clear gloss coating that is applied to protect printed pieces. The coating improves durability and deters dirt and fingerprints.
Bleed – When a printed piece has a bleed, this means that the printing goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming. The bleed refers to the part of the artwork that is printed over the trim lines, which are cut off to achieve the final finished size. The standard room for a bleed image is 1/8-inch past the edge.
Blind Emboss – A blind emboss is an image that is stamped on a non-printed area of the stock
that results in a raised image. The embossed image is the same color as the paper.
Bounce – This refers to the inconsistent positioning of the printed image on the paper during printing.
C1S & C2S – Abbreviations for stock being coated on one side and coated on two sides.
Carbonless Paper – Also known as NCR, for “no carbon required,” this paper is coated with chemicals that allow the transfer of images from one sheet to others below via pressure from writing or typing.
Chip Board – Typically used as backing for pads of paper, or as a “stiffener” to protect thinner prints when transporting or mailing.
Clipping Mask – A clipping mask is an object whose shape masks other artwork so that only areas that lie within the shape are visible. Masks allow easy hiding of unwanted parts of a layer and can fit images into shapes.
CMYK – Stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black, and is also known as 4-color process printing. This is a full-color model in which all colors are described as a mixture of these four colors. It is the standard color model used in digital printing.
Coated Stock – Paper that is treated with clay to produce a smooth look and feel for quality printing. Finishes for coated stock include gloss, silk, and matte.
Collate – The organization of printed material in a specific order.
Color Correction – The process of altering shades, hues, and contrast before printing to ensure it is displayed properly when printed.
Color Transparency – An effect applied to an object causing it to appear transparent and letting
objects underneath show through.
Comb Binding – Also called plastic bind and GBC bind, which is a brand name. To comb bind a document, the sheets are inserted into the teeth of a flexible, plastic spine through pre-punched holes along the edge of the sheets.
Contrast – Refers to the difference between dark tones and light tones on a printed document, which can be adjusted from a computer or printer.
Cover Stock – A thicker, heavier paper that is suitable for folders, business cards, covers of books, and posters. This stock can be coated with various smooth finishes or uncoated with a rough surface.
Cropping – A method used to remove part of a digital image.
Crop Marks – These marks, also referred to as cut marks, trim marks, or tic marks, are printed lines on a printed sheet of artwork that indicate where to trim the piece.
Cure – After a piece is printed, coated, or varnished, they must cure, or dry, to ensure good adhesion and to prevent transfer of an image from one sheet to another.
Deboss – The reverse of embossing. The pressed image goes into the paper, lying below the surface rather than above, like embossing.
Die – A device used for cutting, scoring, stamping, and embossing.
Die Cutting – The process of cutting irregular shapes out of stock.
Dots-per-inch – Abbreviated as “dpi,” a measurement of resolution for printers, scanners, and monitors.
Drop Shadow – An underlying soft-edged copy of an object, graphic, or text that adds a three-dimensional appearance.
Dull Finish – A flat finish applied to coated paper that is smoother than a matte-coated finish. It can also be referred to as suede or velvet finish.
Duplexing – The process of printing a sheet of paper on both sides.
Edge Seal – When laminating a printed piece, an edge seal extends the laminate past the edge of the piece, sealing the laminate together from front to back. A border of laminate will surround the piece.
Embossing – A process in which a physical impression is made onto cover stock over printed text or an image. This impression is above the surface of the stock, making it three-dimensional.
EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) – An EPS file is a vector file format created in Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop that is used for high-quality image printing. EPS files, which are made up of lines and curves (rather than pixels) can store images, text, and designs, and can be reopened, resized, and edited at any time.
Finish – Refers to the surface quality of the paper. For example, stocks can have a gloss, silk, or matte finish.
Flattening – In a flattened image, all visible layers are merged into the background, greatly reducing file size. Flattening an image discards all hidden layers and fills the remaining transparent areas with white. Flattening a file should be done once the file is completed and ready to be printed.
Flood – Flooding refers to completely covering the sheet with ink or varnish.
Flush Edge – When a piece is laminated, a flush edge is when the laminate is cut flush to the edge of the piece without any overhang.
Foil Embossing – Once the image has been foil stamped, the same area is then embossed with the same die to create a raised three-dimensional image.
Foil Stamping – The process in which a heated die fuses a design in foil to a piece of stock.
Typically, foil stamped pieces can be found with gold, silver, and other metallic foil colors.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) – FTP is a language used to move files. The term commonly refers to the process of sending a file via FTP or to an FTP site.
Gate Fold – This fold involves taking the left and right edges of the stock and folding them inward with parallel folds where they meet in the middle without overlapping.
Ghosting – There are two types of ghosting – chemical and mechanical. Chemical ghosting is described as a “phantom” image (faint image) on the reverse side of a sheet due to the transfer from the front of one sheet to the back of another sheet. Mechanical ghosting refers to the faint image appearing as a repeat of an image on the same side of the stock during the print process.
Gripper Edge – Also known as the feeding edge or leading edge. It is an unprinted space at the edge of a sheet that allows the printing press to grip onto it.
Impression – The total number of printed page sides produced by a printer. A single sided page has one impression, whereas a double-sided page has two.
Imprinting – To print new copy on a previously printed sheet. Commonly used in mailings where recipient addresses need to be printed on envelopes that already have return addresses printed on them.
Indicia – A postal marking imprinted on mail used instead of a stamp. Used in bulk mailings.
Knockout – When text or images are “knocked out” they are reversed out of a dark background so that they appear in the color of the paper being printed on.
Laminating – The process of taking a preprinted document and overlaying it with a layer of plastic or some other protective material.
Offset Printing – This print process transfers ink from a plate, then to a rubber blanket, then to the stock rather than printing from the plate directly to the stock. Typically used for longer runs of manuals, brochures, direct-mail pieces, letterhead, posters, and paper-based labels and packaging.
Opacity – Describes the amount of light that passes through an object. In printing, it refers to the quality of paper that prevents images on a two-sided piece from showing through to the other.
Packaging – The process of packaging a file means creating a folder that contains the document, any necessary fonts, linked graphics, and a package report.
Pantone Matching System (PMS) – This color matching system is used to print “spot” colors which can only be produced using their own ink, unlike in CMYK printing where the mixture of the four colors is needed to print. These colors can also be referred to as Pantone colors.
Perfect Binding – Common examples of perfect-bound books are paperbacks and thicker magazines. This binding process involves taking the spine sheet edges, roughing them up, and bonding them with glue to the cover.
Perforation – The process of creating a line of punched dots on stock so that part of it can be torn off and detached. Raffle tickets have perforated stubs.
PostScript – A type of programming language that describes the appearance of a printed image. It was developed by Adobe Systems and has become the industry standard for printing and imaging.
Press Plate – A “plate” is a mold made from a piece of paper, metal, or rubber which carries an image to be reproduced using a printing press.
RBG (Red, Green and Blue) – A color model that’s main purpose is for the sensing, representation, and display of images in electronic systems such as televisions and computers.
Ream – 500 sheets of paper.
Registration – The layering of printed patterns to form a multicolor pattern. When the registration is off, this means that the images are not lining up as they should. The result is color printed in the wrong area, white space, or overlapping layers.
Resolution – Refers to the sharpness and clarity of an image. In print resolution, it is defined by how many pixels (dots) fit into one inch and is sometimes identified by the width and height of the image.
Saddle Stitch – A binding method in which documents are bound by stapling down the spine of the folded pages.
Scoring – Creasing prepare stock for the purpose of making folds easier, cleaner, and more accurate.
Self-Cover – A cover that is the same paper stock as the internal sheets. Typically, a text weight stock rather than cover-weight stock.
Self-Mailer – A printed piece that is mailed without an envelope. It is closed by either a sticker or glue.
Set-off – Defined as the unwanted transfer of ink from one printed sheet to another.
Slip Sheet – Separate sheets independent from the original run positioned between the printed run for a variety of reasons, typically either to act as a divider or to prevent set-off.
Specs – Specifications of a print project are complete and precise descriptions of all the features of that particular project. This includes size, paper grade, quantity, printing, binding, and other finishing methods.
Spiral Bind – Also referred to as coil bind. This bind uses a spiral of continuous wire or plastic looped through holes.
Spot Color – A method of applying a premixed ink color – often based on the Pantone Color Matching System (PMS) – directly to the page.
Spread – An image that extends across two facing pages in a book or brochure.
Substrate – Any material or surface on which printing is done.
Text Weight – High quality, lightweight printing paper. Can be coated or uncoated.
Thermography – Printing process where slow drying ink is applied to paper. While the ink is still wet, a tacky powder is dusted over it. The paper is then passed through a heat chamber where the powder melts and fuses with the ink to produce a raised surface. Also known as raised ink.
Typesetting – The process of setting textual matter in type or into a form to be used in printing.
UV Coating – A shiny, durable high-gloss compound that is applied to printed material and instantly cured with ultraviolet light.
Variable Data Printing – A form of on-demand printing in which text, graphics, or photographs can be changed from one printed piece to the next. For example, a set of postcards can have the same basic layout but can be printed with a different name and address on each piece.
Varnish – A thin, liquid coating applied before or after an image is printed. Varnish protects and enhances image quality. Prints can also be spot varnished in which a certain area of the print can be varnished to highlight that portion of the piece.
Vector – Vector files are made up of many individual, scalable objects defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels, thus producing the highest quality image possible. Common types of vector graphics include Adobe Illustrator and EPS files. Vector graphics are ideal for logos, which can be small enough to appear on a business card, but can also be scaled to fill large banners without losing quality.
Vellum – A finish of paper that is somewhat bulky, slightly rough, and is lighter than cover weight, but heavier and sturdier than text weight paper.
Watermark – A recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness. A watermark is designed to appear only when the paper is held up to light, at a particular angle, or against a black background. Typically, appears on fine papers or on documents to prevent counterfeiting.
Wove – Smooth paper made on a wire-gauze mesh so as to have a uniform unlined surface.
Zip File – Zipping a file compresses it into a smaller archive, taking less time to transfer across a network or the internet.
If you come across any other terms you don’t understand, let us know. We would be happy to explain them to you! And keep in mind that Avalon can help with all of your printing needs regardless of how simple or complex your project may be, so contact us today.
