Every industry has it’s own language and as print has been around for a long time we’ve developed a dizzying array of terms that are shrouded in mystery, a little like the Masons but without the funny hand shakes.

To help the understanding of print we’ve put together a brief list of common terms from our usual vocabulary

A sizes:

Most common paper size used for general printing, stationery and publications.

B sizes:

Less common paper sizes which are used mainly for bigger jobs. eg Posters, wall charts etc

bleed

Printing where the colour continues right up to the edge of the paper.
What happens when you have a cut!

blind emboss

Process of raising letters or designs on card or tough paper onto which no printed image has been added.

blocking

To impress or stamp a design upon a cover. The design can be blocked in colour inks, gold leaf or metal foil.

C sizes

Paper sizes used for envelopes, designed to take A size paper.

case bound

A hardback book made with a stiff outer covers. Case bound books are usually covered with cloth, vinyl or leather.

CMYK

Letters which stand for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (K).
K is used for black to eliminate confusion with blue. Full colour printed images are made up of these component colours.

colour separation

Process by which an image is separated into the four colours for print production.

creep

When the middle pages of a folded section extend slightly beyond the outside pages.
A bloke who gets on your nerves!

crop marks

Printed lines on the edge of paper indicating where the paper should be cut to produce the correct page size.

deboss

Image pressed into paper so it lies below the surface.

die – cut

A shaped cut out leaflet or brochure.

digital printing

Printing straight from electronic artwork (no plates used as with litho print). Typically printed out of four colour process. It's ideal for short runs up to about the 1,000 mark

digital proofing

Proofing direct from digital files instead of using film.

DPI

Dots per inch which indicate the resolution of images. The more dots per inch, the higher the resolution and the better quality the image.

duplex

Printing on both sides of a sheet of paper. Term applies to digital printing presses.

duotone

An image printed in two colours rather than one.

drilling

Drilling of holes in literature which will allow insertion over rings in a binder

dummy

A sample of a proposed job made up with the actual materials and cut to size to show bulk etc
Also found in shop windows and an idiotic person!

embossing

The process of raising letters or designs on card or tough paper already printed.

EPS

Encapsulated Postscript File. This is a file format which can be read across different programs on MAC or PC computers.

font

A set of letters, numbers and symbols that share a unified design.  The design is called a typeface.

four colour process

Full colour printing using four constituent colours:
Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black.

gsm

Grammes per square metre. Standard measure of paper weight.

grain of the paper
Machine made paper is made up of many fibres, which in general, tend to line up in one direction due to the nature of the process. This produces a preferred direction or grain along which it is easier to fold, bend or tear paper.

hickey

Spots or imperfections in printed items due to dirt on press, dried ink, paper particles etc