Printing Glossary
For all those words that we use but you don't!
We have included a glossary of terms on this site which we feel will be of benefit to whoever is involved in the procurement of print from our company. We find that our clients have a good grasp of the exacting standards that they need, and some essential vocabulary could be helpful. This glossary will hopefully help the process of producing a quality printing product in partnership with your client.
- GFST - Gather Fold Stitch Trim, a post print process used on multiple page items.
- PP - Print Page
- 1/3 A4, 6 Page - Also called a DL six page and meaning a double sided sheet of A4 folded twice to create a 6 page leaflet.
- Artwork - The finished article to be printed including text, graphics, photography and in a final layout ready to print.
- Bleed - Normally 3mm added to every edge of a document's content to ensure that any colour or imagery that goes to the page edge will be printed without a gap.
- Colour Separation - The process of separating the original colours supplied into the colours used in printing, namely CMYK.
- CMYK - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (blacK), the 4 colours of ink used in printing. From these colours any other colour (although spot colour is used for exact tones) can be created on a light absorbing surface, so paper rather than screen.
- RGB - Red, Green, Blue, the 3 colours used to create any other colour, including white, on a light emitting surface, so a projector and not paper.
- Spot Colour - An area of colour not printed using a mix of CMYK inks but specific pre-mixed inks such as a Pantone colour.
- Pantone Colour - A colour from the Pantone Matching System, a commercially owned colour chart that ensures colours are uniform whenever used. Useful for use on items printed many times in different formats and different places such as a logo.
- DPI - Dots Per Inch, a measurement of the resolution of an image used to ensure the correct level of detail and desired finish.
- Digital Printing - Printing without any plates, much like a desktop printer where the image is created by computer as it is printed rather than as a plate being prepared and then printed multiple times. Digital printing allows for variations on each print but traditionally has meant a slightly lower quality of image.
- Proof - A proof, used in proofing, can be digital or printed and is used to check for errors before a final print run is started.
- Gutter - The inside area of a page which is kept clear to allow for adjoining pages without interfering with the page content.
- Lamination - A document can be laminated with a clear plastic film to enhance the finish and improve durability of the product.
- Lithographic Printing - Litho' printing is the process of printing using a plate which has areas which repel the inks leaving a blank space. It uses a process akin to rubbing a candle onto paper and then applying water paint; the area with wax is left clear. In Offset Lithographic printing a flat plate which has such areas treated to attract water and repel ink is rolled with ink, the areas to be printed are left coated and a rubber blanket is then used to transfer the image to the paper. It is traditionally the best method to obtain high quality and high quantity together.
- PDF - A Portable Document Format file which has become the standard for transferring files to be printed.
- Pre-press - The actions carried out between having the finished document to be printed and the final plate ready to print.
- Ream - 500 sheets of paper.
- Stock - The selected material for printing, we may use the term 'a heavier stock' to indicate a thinker type of paper.
- GSM - A measure of the weight of paper, gsm means grams per square metre. A heavier gsm indicates a thicker, often higher quality paper although sometimes, such as when printing a leaflet to fold, a lower gsm can be desirable.
- Gloss Finish - A smooth, reflective surface giving a shiny finish.
- Matt Finish - A rougher, non-reflective finish.
- Satin Finish - A slightly glossy paper finish.
You can find more terms and alternative definitions at Bob's Print Guide, which we found on Google
If you can not see what you are looking for or think there is something we should add to this list then please do contact us using any of the methods above. Thank you.
