Glossary of Terms
This section is our handy little guidebook - a print and design lexicon filled with terms that will make both of our jobs easier.
| Bleed | Printing that extends to the edge of a sheet or page after trimming |
| Body | The main text of work not including headlines |
| Brief | A brief is the assignment set out by the client or for the creative. The brief should include all technical specifications required, as well as a mood or tone for the creative to work with. |
| CMYK | Abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black), the four process colours |
| Coated Paper | Paper with a coating of clay and other substances that improves reflectivity and ink holdout. Mills produce coated paper in the four major categories cast, gloss, dull and matte. |
| Contrast | The degree of tones in an image ranging from highlight to shadow |
| Copywriting | Copywriting is the use of words to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. |
| Creep | Phenomenon of middle pages of a folded signature extending slightly beyond outside pages |
| Crop Marks | Lines near the edges of an image indicating portions to be reproduced. Also called cut marks and tic marks. |
| Design | Design refers to a variety of different design areas - from graphic design to fashion and industrial design. Design is the conceptualisation of creative ideas and solutions used to sell or package an idea, product or opinion. |
| Die | Device for butting, scoring, stamping, embossing and debossing |
| Die Cut | To cut irregular shapes into paper or paperboard using a die |
| DPI | DPI stands for dots-per-inch. DPI is the measure of resolution of input devices such as scanners, display devices such as monitors, and output devices such as laser printers, imagesetters and monitors. |
| Duotone | Black-and-white photograph reproduced using halftone negatives, each shot to emphasise different tonal values in the original. |
| Emboss | To press an image into paper so that it lies above the surface. Also called cameo and tool. |
| Encapsulated PostScript file | Computer file containing both images and PostScript commands. Abbreviated as EPS file. |
| Flood | To print a sheet completely with an ink or varnish. Flooding with ink is also called painting the sheet. |
| Foil Emboss | To foil stamp and emboss an image. Also called heat stamp. |
| Foil Stamp | Method of printing that releases foil from its backing when stamped with the heated die. Also called block print, hot foil stamp and stamp. |
| Fold Marks | With printed matter, markings indicating where a fold is to occur, usually located at the top edges. |
| Gate Fold | A sheet that folds where both sides fold toward the gutter in overlapping layers |
| Grammage | Basis weight of paper in grams per square meter (gsm) |
| Gray Scale | Strip of gray values ranging from white to black. Used by process camera and scanner operators to calibrate exposure times for film and plates. Also called step wedge. |
| Illustrator | An illustrator is a graphic artist who specialises in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text. |
| Inserts | Within a publication, an additional item inserted into the publication loose (not bound in). |
| Layout | A sample of the original providing (showing) position of printed work (direction, instructions) needed and desired. |
| Lithography | Method of printing using plates whose image areas attract ink and whose non-image areas repel ink. Non-image areas may be coated with water to repel the oily ink or may have a surface, such as silicon, that repels ink. |
| L.O.B | Doodle Pad's own personal term, which stands for Lack of Brief - the phenomenon whereby the client fails to provide a proper brief to the creative, who then has to intuit which direction to take with the work. Leads to general confusion and time wastage. To be avoided at all cost, L.O.Bs go hand in hand with FAILS. |
| Mock Up | A reproduction of the original printed matter, possibly containing instructions or direction |
| Opaque | Something that is not transparent. |
| Overprint | To print one image over a previously printed image, such as printing type over a screen tint. Also called surprint. |
| Perforating | Taking place on a press or a binder machine, creating a line of small dotted holes for the purpose of tearing off a part of the printed matter (usually straight lines, vertical or horizontal). |
| Photographer | A photographer is a person who takes photographs using a camera. A professional photographer uses photography to earn money whilst amateur photographers take photographs for pleasure and to record an event, emotion, place or person. |
| Pixel | Short for picture elements, a dot made by a computer, scanner or other digital device. Also called pel. |
| Register | To place printing properly with regard to the edges of paper and other printing on the same sheet. Such printing is said to be in register. |
| Register Marks | Cross-hair lines on mechanicals and film that help keep flats, plates, and printing in register. Also called crossmarks and position marks. |
| Resolution | Sharpness of an image on film, paper, computer screen, disc, tape or other medium |
| Score | To compress paper along a straight line so it folds more easily and accurately. Also called crease. |
| Spread | Two pages that face each other and are designed as one visual or production unit. |
| Step and Repeat | Prepress technique of exposing an image in a precise, multiple pattern to create a flat or plate. Images are said to be stepped across the film or plate. |
| Tagged Image File Format | Computer file format used to store images from scanners and video devices. Abbreviated as TIFF. |
| Trim Size | The size of the printed material in its finished stage |
| Uncoated paper | Paper that has not been coated with clay - also called offset paper |
| UV Coating | Liquid applied to a printed sheet, then bonded and cured with ultraviolet light |
