A Printing Glossary
Print is littered with industry specific terms that can make print ordering a confussing business. Below is a handy dictionary of some of the common printing terms which should help you with the ordering process
This list is in alabetical order for ease of use. To understand what the term means just click on it and the definition will be scrolled out below, click again to close the definition.
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Barn Door
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This is a printed product with a ‘split’ covering page that opens out in the style of a barn door to reveal the page beneath.
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Bellyband
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A band of paper usually printed with a promotional message that can be wrapped around the entire magazine, or with the ends stuck to specific pages in order to steer the reader’s attention towards a specific piece of editorial or advertisement.
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Blanket Cylinder
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A blanket cylinder holds a multi-ply fabric carcass laminated with rubber adhesive and coated on the top face with several layers of rubber, which form the hard accurate surface that transfers the inked image from printing plate to paper.
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Bleed
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Where material is printed to the extremity of the page, it is customary to extend the printed area by 3mm beyond the trim size to ensure accuracy when trimming. This extended area is known as ‘bleed’.
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Calibration
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Using a fixed measurement to ensure accurate performance in a machine or process.
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CMYK
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Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black; the subtractive primary colours used within the four-colour printing process.
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Colour control bar
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Similar to the calibration bars, this is a strip on the margin of the printed sheet used to verify printing quality.
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Cover mount
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An object that is glued onto the cover of a magazine, often used as an inducement for readers to purchase the publication.
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Crease
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An indent made on a sheet before folding so as to avoid cracking.
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CTP
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Computer to Plat. Technology whereby the digital file is sent directly from the imposition program to a plate setter.
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DAM
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Digital asset management. The storing, retrieving and managing of specific items of content within a workflow for use and re-use.
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Die-cut
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Unusual and bespoke shapes that can be cut into paper using a specifically shaped die.
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Digital asset
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Digital media e.g. images, graphics, audio, video, web pages and text documents.
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Digital printing
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Printing by plateless imaging systems that are imaged by digital data from pre-press systems.
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Digital proof
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A proof that is created by the electronic document to check colour and layout.
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Digital workflow
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A multi-layer manufacturing process leading to the printing of a product, or the posting of information onto a website. The digital workflow lies at the heart of a system, connecting devices in the production cycle to produce reliable and repeatable results.
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Distributing rollers
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The rollers on a printing press that move the ink from the ducts onto the plates.
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Dot gain
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A half tone dot will become larger in the transition from plate to print, which has to be planned for within the reproduction process.
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DTP
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Desktop publishing. Computer-based typesetting and page layout systems introduced in the final three decades of the last century which revolutionalised the print and publishing industries.
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Dummy
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An example of a proposed publication, usually made out of the paper specified.
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Epro
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Royal mail’s internet-based docking system.
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Imposition
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The arrangement of the pages of a document into their relative positions on the printing plate (according to the size of the plate and the number of pages within the section), so they will be in correct sequence when the printed sheet is folded.
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Interleaving
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Also known as slip-sheeting. When sheets of paper are placed between printed sheets as they come off the printer to avoid set-off.
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Knocking-up
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A mechanical process that involves ‘knocking’ loose pages or sections up to a block, therefore ensuring that the edges are flush.
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Knock-out
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Since printing inks are not completely opaque, printing one colour over another will create a third colour. To avoid this a knock-out or unprinted area in the shape of the foreground object is left in the colour plates that make up the background.
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Lamination
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A gloss or matt plastic film applied to the paper after the printing process to maximise durability.
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Lithographic printing
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A printing material using a flush printing and non-printing surface which is in contact with the paper. The non-printed areas are treated to attract water which prevents ink from attaching to it.
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Offset printing
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The most common form of lithographic printing where a blanket is used to transfer the ink to the printed area.
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Overprint
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To avoid problems with trapping, the background object is printed in its entirety, with no knockout for the foreground item, so the object colour sits on top of the background colour. This is desirable when the object colour is black or when you wish to mix two colours to achieve a third colour.
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Overs
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Surplus printed material above that ordered.
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Pantone
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A proprietary system providing a method for the selection, reproduction, matching and control of colour.
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PCF paper
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Process chlorine-free paper. Similar to TCF (totally chlorine-free paper), but it can contain post consumer fibre in the pulp which contains traces of chlorine.
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PDF
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Portable document format.
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Perfect binding
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Method of book and journal binding using adhesive rather than thread to hold the leaves together.
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Polywrap
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Thin polythene used as an alternative to envelopes in the mailing of printed materials.
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Proof
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A copy of a document for checking prior to printing.
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Registration marks
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Circles and lines that appear on the outside of the page area that ensure the colour plates are properly lined up with each other during the printing process.
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RGB
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Red, Green, Blue. These colours make up an additive form of the four printing colours, CMYK. In litho-print, RGB scans should always be converted to CMYK for correct output.
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RIP
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Raster-image processor. This is the technology that converts PostScript page data to a high-res bitmap.
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Saddle-stitching
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A form of binding where the covers and sections are stitched with wire.
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Self-cover
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When the cover is printed on the same paper as the rest of the product.
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Set-off
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When ink from a printed sheet marks the underside of the sheet above it.
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Show-through
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A printed area shown through from the other side of a printed page due to the low opacity of the paper.
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Silk paper
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A smooth coated paper with a semi-gloss finish and distinctive silky feel.
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Spot colour
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A colour that is printed using a specially pre-mixed ink, usually identified by a Pantone number.
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Tip-on
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An item glued onto a specific page within a piece of literature.
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Trapping
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The process of intentionally overlapping adjacent colours within a file to compensate for mis-registration.
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UV Varnishing
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A gloss or matt coating applied to either the complete page or to a section of the page after the printing process.
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Web presses
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Printing presses that use paper fed from a reel.
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