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Thompson Rivers University
Thompson Rivers University

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A
Accordion fold
Series of parallel folds in paper, in which each fold opens in the opposite direction from the previous fold, like an accordion

Adhesive binding See perfect binding

Against-the-grain Folding paper at right angles to the grain or flow of paper or cover weight fibres

B
Binding Keeps your document together; refers to how the spine of your document is finished

Bleed An extra amount of printed image which extends beyond the trim edge of the sheet or page

Blind Embossing Design which is stamped without metallic leaf or ink, giving a bas-relief effect

Blowup Photographic enlargement

Blueline (dylux) Proofing material of stripped-up negatives used for checking before plates are made for printing

Bond paper Grade of writing or printing paper where strength, durability and permanence are essential requirements; used for letterheads, business forms, etc.

Book paper General term for coated and uncoated papers

Brochure A pamphlet bound in booklet form

C
Camera-ready Copy which is ready for photography or in a more modern sense RIP Ready

Cerlox Binding Removable plastic ring binding coil

Choke The opposite of spread in platemaking

CMYK Cyan, magenta, yellow, black; subtractive primary colors used for process color reproduction

Coated Paper Having a surface coating which produces a smooth finish, varying from eggshell to glossy

Collate In binding, the gathering of sheets or signatures by hand, digital machines are able to collate in the machine

Color keys Pre-press color proofing method using film overlays

Color Separation In photography, theprocess of separating color originals into the primary printing color components in negative or positive form

Contact Print Photographic print made from a negative or positive in contact with sensitized paper, film or printing plate

Continuous Tone Photographic image which contains gradient tones from black to white

Contrast The tonal gradation between the highlights, middle tones and shadows in an
original or reproduction

Copy Any furnished material (typewritten manuscript, pictures, artwork, etc.) to be used
in the production of printing

Corner-stitch A single staple in the top left corner of the pages (also known as portrait stitch)

Crop To eliminate portions of the copy, usually on a photograph or plate, indicated on the original by crop marks

Curl In Paper The distortion of a sheet due to differences in structure or coatings
from one side to the other, or to absorption of moisture on an offset press

D
Densitometer An instrument having a light-sensitive photoelectric eye which measures density, used by the camera operator to get the correct exposure when shooting copy, and by the printer to control the quality of the presswork. There are two types of densitometers: reflection and transmission.

Die-cutting The process of using sharp steel rules to cut special shapes for labels, boxes and containers, from printed sheets, done on either flatbed or rotary presses Digital printing Printing by plateless imaging systems that are imaged by digital data from prepress systems.

DocuTech Xerox production printer connected to computers via a network or internet

Dot The individual element of a halftone, may be many shapes.

Dots per inch (dpi) A measure of the resolution of a screen image or printed page (spots per inch (spi) is a more appropriate term)

Double burning To expose the images of two or more films onto a new film or a printing plate, thereby creating a single image

DTP Acronym for Desk Top Publishing

Dummy Preliminary layout showing the position of illustrations and text as they are to appear in the final reproduction, or a set of blank pages made up in advance to show the size, shape, form and general style of a piece of printing.

Duotone In Photomechanics a two-color halftone reproduction from a one-color Photograph, or a full color photograph converted to 2 colour tones

Duplex Paper With a different color or finish on each side or printing a different image on either side of a sheet or a term for printing / copying on both sides of a sheet.

E
Electronic Printing Any technology that reproduces pages without the use of traditional ink, water or chemistry (though Ink and chemistry is involved)

Embossing Impressing an image in relief to achieve a raised surface; either overprinting or on blank paper (called blind embossing)

Envelope-stuffer (also called envelope enclosure) Any small printed promotional piece that can be inserted into envelopes with statements or business letters, used to present selected features of products or services

F
Flat-bed Press A letterpress containing a flat metal bed on which locked-up forms of type and plates in a chase are positioned for printing: to print, the paper is forced against the printing surface by an impression cylinder

Flooding In printing, an excess of ink on the printing plate

Format The size, style, type page, margins, printing requirements, etc., of a printed
piece

G
Gathering In binding, the assembling of folded signatures in proper sequence

Ghosting A condition in which the printing image appears faint where not intended, caused by an abrupt change in ink take-off on the rollers; often occurs when printing flat borders, L-shaped solids, and circles and can generally be avoided in design by making sure the solid areas are well separated to permit a more even distribution of ink by the form rollers

Grain In papermaking, the direction in which most fibers lie, which corresponds with the direction the paper is made on a paper machine

Gutter The blank space or inner margin from printing area to binding

H
Hairline Register Register 2 or more colours closely together

Halftone The reproduction of continuous-tone artwork, such as a photograph, through a contact screen, which converts the image into dots of various sizes

Hard copy The permanent visual record of the output of a computer or printer, also the material sent to a typesetter in typed form for conversion into typeset material

L
Labeller Pressure sensitive labeller that automatically transfers pressure sensitive labels from a continuous backed strip to a variety of envelopes, mail pieces, brochures, or similar products

Letterpress Original printing method used woodblocks or type: based on relief printing, or raised image area, the image was inked by a roller and transferred directly to the paper by pressure Master Plate for a duplicating machine

N
NCR Carbonless paper used primarily for forms requiring several carbon copies, but coated to transfer data without the messy carbon sheet

Negative In photography, film containing an image in which the values of the original reversed so that the dark areas appear light and vice-versa (see positive)

O
Offset (see set-off) In printing, the process of using an intermediate blanket cylinder to transfer an image from the image carrier to the substrate; short for "offset lithography"

Opacity That property of paper which minimizes the show-through of printing from the back side or the next sheet

P
Padding Glue applied to a group of sheets to form a note pad

Pantone Matching System (PMS) Color matching system used extensively in the graphic design and printing industries; Pantone colors are carefully graded so that exact colors can be matched throughout the design, reprographic and print process; Pantone produce a range of markers, colored papers and films, and printing inks, as well as software versions of their color system for use in graphics and DTP applications

Paste-up Mechanical (hand) pasting of copy onto sheet; rarely done now as all copy compilations are created using computer software

Perfect Bind Relatively inexpensive method of binding in which the pages are held together and fixed to the cover by means of flexible adhesive; widely used for paperbacks, manuals, textbooks and telephone books

Perforate Regular series of punched holes for easy tearing

Photocopy Reproduction made on a photocopier using Xerography technology

Plate Metal plate used in the offset printing process

Platen Flat metal plate or rotating cylinder that presses paper against inked type

PMS Acronym; see Pantone Matching System

Positive In photography, film containing an image in which the dark and light values are the same as the original; the reverse of "negative"

Post-consumer recycled content Refers to paper in which content includes post-consumer waste from newspapers, printed papers, computer printouts, etc.

Poster Single sheet printed on only one side

PostScript Popular page description language introduced by Adobe Systems in the mid-1980s

Pre-press All working steps leading up to the printing process

Press run The length of the run or the number of sheets to be printed

Pressure-sensitive paper Sticky label stock with removable protective backing

Printing ink Fluid or viscous material that is transferred from the printing plate to the paper or other surface, resulting in an impression; printing inks may be any color, even metallic or fluorescent.

Printing plate Surface, usually made of metal, that has been treated to carry an image; the plate is inked and the ink is transferred to the paper or other surface by a printing press; printing plates are also made of rubber, synthetic rubber, and plastics; plates are classified as originals or duplicates depending on their origin

Printing press Machine that transfers lettering or images through contact with various types of inked surfaces onto paper or other material, fed into the machine in various ways

Process colour In printing, the subtractive primaries: yellow, magenta and cyan, as well as black in four-color process printing

R
Ream Typically Five hundred sheets of paper of text weight or two hundred fifty sheets of cover weight.

Register In printing, the fitting together of two or more printing images in exact alignment with each other

Register marks Crosses or other targets applied to original copy prior to photography, used for positioning films in register, or for register of two or more colors in printing

Resolution In electronic imaging, the quantification of printout quality using the number of spots or dots per inch

Right-angle fold In binding, folds that are at 90o angles to each other

S
Saddle stitch Common, inexpensive way of binding pamphlets and booklets if they are not too thick (usually less than 1/8 inch); pages are bound together by wire staples inserted through the backbone, or folding line, and into the center spread where they are clinched; the folding sheets or pages are placed over a saddle to ensure proper positioning

Score To impress or indent a mark with a string or rule in the paper to make folding easier

Self cover Cover of the same paper as the inside text pages

Set-off In presswork, when the ink of a printed sheet rubs off or marks the next sheet as it is being delivered (also called offset)

Set-up time The time required to ready a job to run: to load the program, load and ready input/output devices, etc.

Sheet-fed Method of applying paper to a press in printing in which the paper is fed into the press as sheets rather than a web

Shrink wrap Finished documents temporarily protected with tear-off plastic

Signature In printing and binding, the name given to a printed sheet after it has been
folded

Soft cover Any non-board cover, but usually a paper cover on a perfect-bound book

Solid In composition, refers to type set with no leading between the lines; in printing, refers to areas that are completely covered with ink or areas that print 100% of a given color

Spiral binding Book bound with wire in spiral form inserted through holes punched along the binding side

Spread Pair of facing pages: also, in photography and platemaking, the enlargement of an image to ensure overlap by producing a film which has been held out of emulsion-to-emulsion contact through the use of a layer of clear film, permitting light to spread as it passes through the layers

Stet Proofreader's mark, written in the margin, signifying that copy marked for corrections should remain as it was

Stock Paper or other material to be printed

Stripping In offset lithography, the positioning of negatives (or positives) on a flat to compose a page or layout for platemaking. This was a journeyman level trade.

T
Tape binding Use of tape to seal the spine of your document

Text The body matter of a page or book, as distinguished from the headings

Text paper General term applied to antique, laid, or woven papers; used for booklets, programs, announcements, and advertising printing

Three hole punch Done to 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper for easy insertion into three ring Binders, usually on a printers drill press

Tint Color obtained by adding white to the solid color; in printing, a photomechanical reduction of a solid color by screening

Tinting In lithography, the discoloration of the background caused by the bleeding or washing of pigment in the fountain solution

Toner Imaging material used in electrophotography, also called dry ink,and some off-press proofing systems; in inks, dye used to tone printing inks, especially black

Trapping In printing, the ability to print a wet ink film over previously printed ink; dry trapping is printing wet ink over dry ink; wet trapping is printing wet ink over previously printed wet ink; in prepress, refers to how much overprinting colors overlap to eliminate white lines between colors

Transparency Term for overhead film material used on overhead projection units

V
Varnishing Finishing process done on press with ink rollers and blank plate or off-press with spray guns or blade coaters; varnish may be added to protect the printed piece or for aesthetic reasons; press varnish can be selectively applied to spots (called spot varnishing) when a press plate is made, to cover only the areas to be varnished (care must be exercised to print the job with inks that are compatible with the varnish)

W
Wash-up The process of cleaning the press: the rollers, the plate, and the fountain; every time the color used in the printing press is changed, a wash-up is necessary

Watermark The slightly translucent design produced in paper during manufacture by a raised pattern made of wire soldered onto the dandy roll; the watermark is usually a distinctive symbol or logo, identifying the brand of paper or the manufacturer

Web printing (also called roll-fed printing) Printing method in which paper is fed into the press from continuous rolls (webs), as opposed to flat sheets as in sheet-fed printing; webs are used in rotary letterpress (for publication printing), rotogravure (for newspaper and magazine presses), and for packaging presses and, increasingly, for offset presses for all types of work

Web-fed General term applied to presses that print from continuous rolls (webs) of paper

Window Clear, usually rectangular or square panel in a litho negative; halftone negatives are positioned (i.e. stripped) in this window, with tape

With the grain Term used to describe the directional character of paper, often applied to the folding of a sheet of paper parallel to the grain; paper folds more easily and tears straighter with the grain than against the grain.

Work and tumble Printing the second side of a sheet by turning it over from gripper edge to back so that a new edge meets the gripper and using the same guide edge; also allows the printer to print both sides of the sheet without having to change the printing plate

Work and turn To print one side of a sheet of paper, then turn it over from left to right and print the second side using the same gripper and plate but opposite side guide

WYSIWYG In electronic publishing, an acronym for What You See Is What You Get, meaning that the composite page viewed on the screen of a workstation essentially represents what the printer will output (Much discussion on that topic between screen preview and actual printed material especially digital process and spot color)

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