Glossary of Graphic Communication Terms
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Against the Grain - At right angles to the direction of the grain of the paper.

Alteration - Any change made by the customer after copy or artwork has been given to the service bureau, separator or printer.
The change could be in copy, specifications, or both. Also called AA, author alteration or CA customer alteration.

Aqueous Coating - Water based coating applied like ink by a printing press to protect and enhance the printed surface.

Basis Weight - Weight in pounds of a ream (500 sheets) of paper cut to a given standard size for that grade; example: 500 sheets
of 17" x 22" 20lb bond paper weights 20 pounds.

Bleed - Printed image that extends beyond the trim edge of the sheet or page.

Blind Image - Image that is debossed or embossed, but not printed with ink or foil.

Blueline - Prepress photographic proof made from stripped negatives where all colors show as shades of a single color on white
or yellow paper. Also called brownline or silverprint.

Brightness - In paper, the reflectance or brilliance of the paper surface.

Caliper - The thickness of paper, usually expressed in thousandths of an inch (mils). Typically measured with a device called a
thickness measure or micrometer.

Chalking - Refers to improper drying of ink. Pigments dust off because the ink has absorbed too rapidly into the paper.

CMYK - Abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and (key) black, the four process ink colors.

Color Balance - Maintaining the proper ratio of cyan, magenta, and yellow ink to produce a picture with the desired color and without
an unwanted color cast or color bias.

Color Bars - The color strip on proofs and press sheets that is used as a guide for the printer in determining the amount and density
of ink needed to produce the desired result.

Color Calibration - A means or method of setting a computer monitor, scanner or color printer to a standard set of color values so as
to ensure that all the colors remain consistant throughout each step of the imaging process.

Color Cast - Discoloration of an entire image or portion of an image caused by an overabundance of one color.

Color Seperations - The four-color negatives or postives which are the result of changing full color photos or art images into the four
process colors (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) by the use of filters. This process is almost exclusively done with computers now.

Composite File - A postscript file that represents color pages containing picture elements specified in terms of CMYK color space
as opposed to black and white "greyscale" pages which represent seperations.

Composite Proof - Single test sheet showing position and color of all elements as stripped up.

Comprehensive (Comp) - A detailed dummy or sketch of a design, intended to give a clear sense of how the finished piece
should look.

Computer-To-Plate (CTP) - Describes a system in which the use of desktop publishing software, electronic prepress workstations,
and platesetters allow the imaging of metal plates for any format of press without the use of film, stripping or traditional
platemaking. This process results in lower costs while shortening the amount of time needed to get a job on press.

Copy - Original job material (paste-ups, film, photos, and other graphics) furnished for the print job.

Coverage - The amount of ink on a page or sheet, usually given in percentages.

Crop Marks - Symbols placed in the margin outside the image area that indicate to the printer and bindery the area to be printed
and or trimmed from the image.

Cure - To dry inks, varnishes or other coatings after printing to ensure good adhesion and prevent set-off.

Curl - The distortion of paper due to differences in stucture or coatings from one side to the other or from absorption of moisture
on the press.

Densitometer - Instrument used to measure density or thickness. Reflection densitometers measure light reflected from paper and
other surfaces. Transmissiion densitometers measure light transmitted through film and other materials.

Die - Device for cutting, scoring, stamping, embossing or debossing. Usually custom manufactured for a specific job.

Diecutting - Using sharp steel rules to cut special shapes from printed sheets. Diecutting can be done on either flatbed or
rotary presses.

Dot Gain - The increase inthe printing dot size from athe halftone film to the printed substrate resulting in darker tones. This
variance occurs on all printing presses but can be minimized by proper plate to blanket calibration, or software based film
calibration for a specific printing press.

Doutone - A two-color halftone produced by overprinting two halftone screens made from the same photograph (usually a black and
white photo), as a means of generating a monocromatic image with a full range of tonal gradations.

Dye Sublimation - A process used for color proofing systems and heat transfer printing. The "dye" is a colorant that undergoes
"sublimation" which is the direct transformation from a solid into a gas without passing through the liquid phase. When the
substance is cooled, it turns back into a solid again, also without passing through a liquid stage. In the case of proofing systems,
the colorrant is a solid wax.

Emboss - To press an image into paper so it lies above the surface.

EPS - An abbreviation for Encapsulated PostScript (most common in graphic arts); for Electronic Publishing System; and
External Page Storage. Encapsulated PostScript is an Adobe Systems-developed file format. It is a device-independent
PostScript representation of a graphic or other object. It stores files as vectors and includes a low-resolution bimap
representation for quick on-screen viewing.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) - In networking and telecommunications, a specific (and eponymously named) file transfer protocol
used for logging into remote computer networks, browsing and searching directories, downloading or uploading files without data
loss. Typically requires a software program to impliment.

Flexography - A printing process that used a raised surface of flexible rubber or photopolymer printing plate mounted on a rotary
drum and thin, fast drying inks to print on almost any roll stock.

Foil Stamp - To press a heated die onto a sheet of foil, releasing the foil from its backing and adhering it to a substrate.

Font - A complete set of type charaters in one typeface and typesize.

For Position Only (FPO) - Refers to interior quality copies of photos or art used on mechanicals to indicate placement and
scaling, but not intended for reproduction.

Four-Color Process - Use of cyan, magenta, yellow and black to create a full color image.

Fullfillment - The storing of a customer's materials until that customer requests delivery to itself or a third party. Also, the
fullfilling by a vendor of a request received from a customer by phone, mail, or electronic means. Also known as "pick and pack."

Gang (Gang Run) - To print two or more finished products on the same sheet during a press run.

Ghosting - Phenomenon of a faint image on a printed sheet where it was not intended to appear.

Grain (Grain Direction)- The direction in which the fibers are aligned in a paper stock. Determined at the manufacturing stage.

Gripper Edge - The leading edge of a sheet which is held by the grippers on a printing press as the sheet passes through the machine.

Gripper Margin - The unprintable area of the paper where it is gripped as it passes through a printing press. Usually measures a half
inch or less depending on the press manufacturer.

Halftone - An image composed of tiny dots whose variations in size create the illusion of variations in tone. traditionally, a halftone
screen was used to convert a continuous tone image into a halftone; such screening is done electronically now.

Hickey - Spot on a printed sheet usually due to dust, dried ink or lint fibers from paper.

Imagesetter - A high-resolution laser output device that writes data on photosensitive paper or film. The data is processed by
a RIP and can record halftones and line images as well as type.

Imposition - Laying out pages in a press form so that when the pages are printed and folded they will be in the right order.

Imprinting - To print new copy on a previously printed sheet, such as imprinting an employee's name on business cards.

Kiss Cut - To diecut the top layer but not the backing of self-adhesive paper.

Knock Out - To clear an area of absolutely every printing dot; or to outline an image and drop out all dots surrounding it.
Most common application is to knock out type from a background image or solid ink color to make it visible as "white"
or to color of the paper beneath it.

Laminate - To bond a plastic film by heat and/or pressure to a printed sheet for protection and appearance.

Layout - A drawing that gives the general appearance of the finished piece and usually indicates the relationship between
illustrations and copy.

Leading - (ledd-ing) The linespace, or white space, between lines of copy measured in points.

Letterpress - Method of printing where the wrong-reading raised surface of a printing plate is inked and impressed directly
onto paper.

Line Copy - High contrast images or type without shading which do not require halftone screening.

Lithography - Method of printing using plates whose image areas attrach ink and whose non-image areas repel ink. The images
are first printed onto a rubber blanket and then offset (transferred) to paper.

Makeready - The process of setting up and adjusting a printing press for a particular ink, paper and set of printing conditions
prior to a press run. Also, the paper used or consumed in making these adjustments.

Margin - The blank space around the image area of a page, also referred to as a gutter.

Mechanical - Complete pages, with text, line art, and crop marks in postion, ready to be photographed or output to film.

Moire - Objectionable patterns that appear at regular frequencies when two or more screen patterns are placed over one
another. may be caused by misalignment, incorrect screen angles, sipping or slurring.

Mottle - Spotty or speckled printing, can be caused by a breakdown in ink viscosity during a press run. It is most visible
in solid areas of ink.

Negative - The film image of a completed page from which plate will be burned. the light and dark parts of the image are tonally
reversed from the original copy.

Offset Printing- Usually refers to offset lithography. The image prints by transferring ink from a plate to a rubber blanket
that deposits the ink onto the subtrate instead of directly from plate to paper.

Pagination - Numbering pages in a certain order. Also, the process of performing page makeup on a computer.

Paste-up - Placing graphics and text in a mechanical either manually or electronically.

PDF - Abbreviation for Portable Document Format, a file format developed by Adobe Systems. PDF is a universal file format
that preserves the fonts, images, graphics, and layout of any source document, regardless of the application and platform
used to create it. Adobe PDF files are compact and complete, and can be shared, viewed, and printed by anyone with free
Adobe Reader software. You can convert any document to Adobe PDF using Adobe Acrobat software products. There are
also other vendors, like Global Graphics, who also market their own flavor of PDF.

Perfect Binding - Signatures that are collated on top of one another, then glued with a wrap around cover, as opposed to
saddlestitched binding in which the signatures are folded inside one another and stapled or saddlestitched together
at the spine.

PMS - Acronym for Pantone Matching System®, a set of preprinted color swatches used as the universal color communication
standard in the printing industry. Pantone inks are formulated by premixed amounts of pigment colors to formulate a desired
color or shade of color.

Preflight - Procedures used to make sure that digital files are correctly prepared for reproduction.

Prepress - Camera work, color seperating, stripping, platemaking, and other functions performed by the printer, seperator or
service bureau prior to the actual printing. Most prepress is done electronically now.

Prepress Proof - Any color proof made using inkjet, toner, dyes or overlays.

Press Check - When a customer is at the printing press in order to approve the job as it is printed.

Ream - 500 sheets of printing paper. Stacks and skids of paper often include slips of paper (ream markers) marking the division
of the stack into reams.

Register Marks - Crosses or other designs that are placed outside the image area of a proof and press sheet to prevent
elements of the job from being misaligned. Also referred to as targets or target marks.

Registration - The correct positioning of one color in relation to another during the printing process.

Remote Proofing - Digital transmission of a proof to a remote office or customer location for output and evaluation at
the remote site.

Resolution - Refers to the sharpness of an image. Is determined me to number of dots or pixels per square inch.

Reverse - Type, Graphic or illustration produced by printing ink around its outline, thus allowing the underlying color
or paper to show through and form the image. The image "reverses out" of the ink color.

RGB - Red, Green and Blue. The additive primaries which are used in video monitors.

RIP - Abbreviation for Raster Image Processing, a hardware and/or software system that translates page description
commands into bitmaps for output.

Saddlestitched - A form of binding that uses staple-shaped wires through the gutter fold or spine of a booklet.

Score - To compress paper along a straight line so it folds more easily and accurately.

Screen Angles - Angles at which the halftone screens are placed with relation to one another to avoid undesirable moire patterns.

Screen Printing - Method of printing that uses a squeegee to force ink through an assembly of mesh fabric and a stencil.

Set-off - Ink from a printed sheet rubs off or marks the next sheet as it is being delivered. Also called offset.

Show-through - The undesireable condition in which the printing on the reverse side of a sheet can be seen through the sheet
under normal lighting conditions.

Spiral Bind - To bind using a spiral of continuous wire of plastic looped through holes. Also called coil bind.

Spot Color - Individual color or colors that are utilized to highlight illustrations or type. Spot color is frequently printed with
non-process inks, (such as Pantone Inks) although process inks can be used.

Spot Varnish - Varnish applied only to certain portions of a sheet to highlight those areas.

Stripping - The process of manually creating composite films and fully imposed flats for platemaking.

Substrate - Any surface on which printing is done.

Thermography - A method of printing in which the image is coated with a resin which, when heated, results in the image being
raised off the surface of the paper.

TIFF - Accronym for Tagged Image File Format. A graphics and page layout file format for desktop computers. Used as an
intermediary file format for both color and black and white images. TIFF is used to transfer documents between applications
and computer platforms.

Trade Shop - Service Bureau, printer or bindery working primarily for other graphic arts professionals, not for the general
public. Some trade shops require a resellers permit and or trade group affiliation to do business with them.

UV Coating - Liquid applied to a printed sheet, then bonded or cured with an ultraviolet light.

Varnish - A thin, protective liquid coating applied to the printed sheet for protection or appearence, drys by oxidation and is not
cured in any way.

Work and Tumble- To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn the sheet over from gripper edge to back using the same
side guide and plate to print the second side.

Work and Turn - To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn the sheet over from left to right and print the second side.
The same gripper edge and plate are used to print both sides.