Printing Terms Glossary
Some commonly used Printing terms
Art Paper/ Artboard – This is a generic term given to wood free coated papers, which has traditionally referred to papers in the upper quality bracket and which have a highly polished surface. Today the term is less used because of the introduction of more categories in the sector.
Artwork – Images, including type and photos, prepared for printing.
Artwork on disc – Complete, requiring no edits, ready to output to final film or direct to plate, and provided in recognised commercial software such as Illustrator, Corel draw, or Photoshop.
Bleed – The part of a printed image beyond the area to which the finished sheet will be cut.
Boards/Board Weight – A term applied to paper above an accepted weight. The weight when paper becomes known as board varies a great deal between manufacturers from as low as 80 g/m2 to 250 g/m2.
Carbonless Paper (No Carbon Required or NCR paper/pads/sets). This consists of two sheets of paper, the underside of the top sheets are coated with a dye. The sheet (s) underneath are coated with a reactive coloured chemical. Pressure from a pen causes the dye to appear on the bottom sheet(s).
Cartridge Paper – Slightly rough printing surfaced paper used for a variety of graphic purposes such as envelopes.
China Clay – A naturally occurring mineral, used as a filler or as a component in gloss paper coating.
CMYK – Abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks.
Crop – To eliminate portions of an illustration or photograph so the remainder is more clear, interesting, or able to fit the layout.
Crop marks – Lines near the edges of an image showing portions to be eliminated.
Die cutting – Cutting irregular shapes in paper using metal rules mounted on a letter press.
Digital Printing – The printing process where an image is applied to the paper directly from a digital file rather than using plates or film.
Dots per inch (DPI) – This describes the density of dots within a set radius. The higher the DPI, the clearer the image will look, especially when enlarged. 300 DPI minimum is recommended for all print work. It can be less for website (screen) images.
Embossed Paper – Paper on which a raised and/or depressed design has been produced by a , patterned steel roll or plate.
Fastness – Resistance of colour to fading.
Foil embossing – To foil stamp and emboss an image.
Foil stamping- Method of printing on a letter press using thin metallic or pigmented film and a die.
Four 4-color printing (CMYK) – Technique of printing that uses the four process colours of ink to simulate colour photographs or illustrations.
GSM/Grammes per square metre – The correct definition by paper makers but gsm is used more frequently. 80gsm is lighter than 135gsm.
Lamination – The process of laminating paper or board with other materials with a thin plastic film. Matt or gloss lamination are available.
Laser Printing – Images are produced through electronic impulses using an intense beam of focused light.
Lithographic Printing – A printing process where the non-image areas of the printing plate are made wettable and the image areas are made to repel water whilst attracting the printing medium (ink). Litho printing gives better image definition and a better end product than digital printing in most cases.
Matt(e) paper – A coated paper with a dull smooth finish.
Pages – AKA “sides”. i.e. a 2 page A4 is a double sided A4 sheet, a 4 page A4 is 4 sides of A4, i.e. an A3 double sided sheet folded in half. For Brochures you can only add 4 pages at a time as they are bound.
PDF – High Resolution. If you are using images or logos in your artwork try to keep these at a high resolution. If possible keep the resolution at or above 300dpi to avoid pixelly images
Recycled Paper – Paper made all or in part from recycled pulp.
Recycled Pulp – Pulp made from waste paper or board and used to make paper. It may or may not be de-inked. The quality of the fibres deteriorates with recycling, so paper cannot be endlessly recycled.
RGB – A three colour system of colour mixing used by TV screen & monitor. Colours viewed in RGB mode appear more vibrant than printed colours in CMYK, 4 colour mode
Saddle stitch – To bind by stapling sheets together where they fold at the spine.
Spiral bound – To bind using a spiral of wire or plastic looped through holes.
Thermal Paper – Thermal papers are used in till printers at shop checkouts very often and FAX machines. The base paper is pre-coated with a heat-sensitive modifier. The heat from a thermal head in the printer or FAX melts the modifier, which allows the colour formers and pigments to mix, producing the image.
Toner – Chemical used to create an image in photocopying and laser printing.
Trim marks – Lines on a negative or press sheet showing where to cut edges off of paper or cut paper apart after printing.
Trim size – Size of the printed product after last trim is made.
UV Varnish – A varnish applied after printing, either as an overall finish to give a high gloss finish, or applied as a “spot” varnish to certain previously printed images, then cured using ultra violet light.
Watermark – A deliberate design or pattern in paper which is visible when viewed by transmitted light or against a contrasting background, made by a dandy roll at the wet end of the papermaking machine.