| 4
over 1 (4/1) |
Stands
for 4 colors on the front of a page
and 1 color on the back. When 4 is
used, mostly it refers to CMYK colors
or "full
color."
The 1 means it will be a spot color, such as a Pantone color.
The numbers can be of any number, such as 6/3, meaning 6 different spot colors
on the front and 3 on the back, but those mentioned here are the most common
for most print projects. See also 4/4, 4/K.
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| 4
over 4 (4/4) |
Stands for 4 colors
("full color") on the front and back
of a page.
See also 4/1, 4/K.
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| 4
over K |
Stands for 4 colors
("full color") on the front and blacK
ink on the back. See also 4/1, 4/4.
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| accordion
fold |
Parallel folds
in a print piece, each folding in
the opposite direction than the one
before it so that the entire piece
folds and unfolds like an accordion,
but probably won't sound like one.
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| bleed |
A term used in
printing to describe the ink reaching
the very edge of the paper. A "full
bleed" is when the ink reaches the
edge on all sides of the page. The
design of the page has to go beyond
the borders so that the printer can
trim the excess off.
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| brochure |
A promotional piece
of literature in any shape or size
(within reason). Many people are
stuck on the definition of a brochure
being a traditional trifold of an
8.5"x11" sheet of paper. Thinking
outside the box on making a brochure's
dimensions different makes you stand
out from the crowd!
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| business
card |
A card that bears
company information and contact information,
including company name and logo (hopefully
that fit into the style
guide and corporate
identity of the company),
employee name, phone number (office,
cell, fax), address, web address,
email address. Used as a means to
give all the vital company contact
information in one fell swoop while
simultaneously impressing the receiver
of the card (if done right).
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| CMYK |
Stands for "Cyan,
Magenta, Yellow and blacK." Also
referred to as "full color." When
you have a logo designed, your colors
you will mostly be using will be
in CMYK mode since those are the
four ink colors that mix together
to create any color of the rainbow.
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| coated
stock |
Paper that has
a finish applied to it post-printing
that gives the surface a shine. Synonyms:
gloss, varnish.
See also uncoated stock.
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| cover
stock |
A category of papers
that are thicker, usually used as
the cover of books and magazines
since they are sturdier and more
resistent to wear and tear. Also
called cover paper.
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| die
cut |
A specialized printing
technique that involves a sharp steel
rule that cuts designed shapes directly
into one or many sheets of paper.
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| dpi |
Stands for "dots
per inch." Used to describe how many
dots are used within a square inch
to compose an image. The higher the
dpi, the finer the print quality.
What you are looking at now on-screen
is only 72dpi. Newspapers print at
170dpi, higher quality printing usually
starts at 300dpi.
Synonym: ppi.
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| duotone |
When two ink colors
are used in the reproduction of an
image. These colors are usually black
and a Pantone color,
but it can be any two colors used
together to recreate a black and
white image that normally just used
black ink. Along these same lines,
there can be more colors than two,
but the more colors, the more muddy
and brownish the entire image becomes.
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| emboss |
A specialized printing
technique that stamps a piece of
paper with a design such that the
paper is raised up in the pattern
of the stamp's design.
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| gloss
finish |
A highly reflective
clear finish applied to the paper
of a printing process to aide in
the readability of images and writing
on the page. There is also a semi-gloss for
half the shine and
matte finish
with minimal shine.
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| matte
finish |
A clear finish
with little to no reflection applied
to the paper of a printing process
to aide in the readability of images
and writing on the page. See also
gloss finish and semi-gloss
finish.
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| metallic
ink |
A special printing
ink that has flecks of metal combined
into it to simulate a gold, silver
or bronze surface. Definitely a head-turner!
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| Pantone® |
The industry-standard
way to ensure that colors are reproduced
in the expected way. They are pre-mixed
in exact portions of CMYK.
If you don't have a corporate color
already, you should be sure to determine
your corporate color by way of Pantone
first, then a graphic designer can
then translate that color into equivalent
CMYK and RGB colors for uses in other
applications.
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| paper
weight |
The paper weight
is determined by its thickness (how
much pulp each sheet of paper contains).
The higher the weight, the thicker
the paper. The normal paper weights
are 80#, 100# and 120#. These paper
weights can be expressed as "text,"
which is a thinner sheet or "cover,"
a thicker version normally used,
as its name implies, for covers because
of its durability.
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| perfect
bound |
A method of binding
that stacks the paper together and
uses a plastic glue on the spine
of the cover to hold all the pages
in place. This results in a flat,
square spine to a book. See also
saddle stitch.
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| PMS
|
Stands for Pantone® Matching
System. And you thought it stood
for something else!
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| ppi |
"Pixels per inch"
or "Points per inch." Synonym: dpi.
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| print
run |
Sometimes called
a press run, this refers to the number
of pieces to be printed in one printing
session. You save money per piece
the more quantity you order. On average,
most of the cost is involved in setting
up the print plates, so the cost
savings go up very steeply as the
quantity increases.
For example, if you print out 500 full color brochures, that may cost you $1,000.
But to print 1,000 it may only cost
you $1,200. That's a difference of
$2 per brochure for 500 or $1.20
per for 1,000. Always ask for a range
of quantities when requesting quotes
from printers.
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| printing
plate |
A surface that
bears the likeness of the image to
be printed. This plate involves most
of the cost of print
runs, which
is why it always saves you money
per piece to go with a higher quantity
(read above).
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| registration |
The fitting of
two or more images to be in exact
alignment with each other or one
another. This is very important in
the printing process when more than
one ink is involved. For example,
with a full color printout, there
are four separate print plates, each
having its own ink (CMYK). Each
printing plate
has a different coverage area
that contributes to the overall image
being printed. If printing plates
aren't in proper registration, the
image will appear fuzzy or muddy.
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| saddle
stitch |
A basic binding
method that involves putting all
the signatures of a book together
and either sewing a wire through
all their centers or stapling them.
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| semi-gloss
finish |
A semi-reflective
clear finish applied to the paper
of a printing process
to aide in the readability of images and writing on the page.
See also
gloss finish and matte
finish.
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| signature |
A printed sheet
folded at least once, possibly multiple
times in order to be bound together
to be made into multiple pages of
a book.
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| stock |
The term that is
used to describe the specifics of
the paper to be used for printing:
The type of paper, its opacity,
weight, texture, etc.
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| swatchbook |
Used in the print
world to refer to a Pantone®
book that has samples of all the colors under the sun. There are many different
kinds of books that Pantone® offers, so keep in mind the kind of stock you
are printing on. One PMS color that is printed on coated
stock will end up looking
a lot duller and deeper in tone when printed on an uncoated
stock because the
ink soaks in the uncoated pulp to a higher degree.
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| text
stock |
Refers to the lighter
version of a type of paper, normally
used for the inside pages of a book
(for the "text pages"). The text
stock is usually wrapped by a sturdier
cover stock.
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| uncoated
stock |
This is the most
common type of paper used for printing
and copying. It has no special chemical
finish or coating, unlike the opposite,
which is – you guessed it – coated
stock.
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