PRINTING GLOSSARY:

Common industry terms

Bleed: Printing that extends to the edge of a sheet or page after trimming.
CMYK : Abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black), the four process colors.
Commercial Printer: Printer producing a wide range of products such as brochures, booklets, magazines, forms, etc.
Cover Paper: Category of thick paper used for products such as posters, menus, folders and covers of paperback books.
Dots-per-inch: Measure of resolution of devices such as scanners, display devices such as laser printers, and monitors. (DPI)
DPI: “dots per square inch,” a measure of output resolution in relationship to printers, imagesetters and monitors.
Dull Finish: Flat (not glossy) finish on coated paper; slightly smoother than matte.
Folder: A bindery machine dedicated to folding printed materials.
Fold Marks: With printed matter, markings indicating where a fold is to occur, usually located at the top edges.
Four-color Process Printing: Technique of printing that uses black, magenta, cyan and yellow to simulate full-color images.
Full web: Press that prints from rolls of paper, then cuts into sheet. Prints 16 pages at a time.
Gang Run: To reproduce two or more different printed products simultaneously on one sheet of paper during one press run.
Gloss: Consider the light reflecting on various objects in the printing industry (e.g., paper, ink, laminates, UV coating, varnish).
Graphics: Visual elements that supplement type to make printed messages more clear or interesting.
Half web: Press that prints from rolls of paper, then cuts into sheet. Prints 8 pages at a time.
Inserts: Within a publication, an additional item positioned into the publication loose (not bound in).
Margin: Imprinted space around the edge of the printed material.
Matte Finish: Flat (not glossy) finish on photographic paper or coated printing paper.
News Print: Paper used in printing newspapers. Considered low quality and “a short life use.” Not commonly used for inserts.
PDF: Adobe software that saves art designs in a “portable device format” suitable for viewing and printing.
Perforating: Creating a line of small dotted wholes for the purpose of tearing-off a part of a printed matter.
Proof: Test sheet made to reveal errors or flaws, predict results on how a printing job is intended to appear when finished.
Quotation: Price offered by a printer to produce a specific job.
RGB: Abbreviation for red, green, blue, the additive color primaries. Used mostly for electronic monitors, not printing.
Saddle Stitch: To bind by stapling sheets together where they fold at the spine, as compared to side stitch.
Tabloid: Using a broadsheet as a measure, one half of a broadsheet.
Trim Size: The size of the printed material in its finished stage (e.g., the finished trim size is 5 1\2 x 8 1\2).
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.
Web Press: Press that prints from rolls of paper, usually cutting it into sheets after printing. Web presses come in many sizes.

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