Printing Terms

Glossary of Printing Terms...
Acid Resist - An acid-proof protective coating applied to metal plates prior to etching designs thereon. Bichromated solutions employed in photoengraving as sensitizers provide acid resist through the action of light on sensitized surface.
Author's Alterations - (AA's) Changes made after composition stage where customer is responsible for additional charges.
Binding - Various methods of securing folded sections together and or fastening them to a cover, to form single copies of book.
Blanket - On offset presses a fabric-reinforced sheet of rubber to transfer the impression from the plate onto the paper.
Bleed - Extra ink area that crosses trim line, used to allow for variations that occur when the reproduction is trimmed or die-cut.
Blind embossing - Embossed forms that are not inked, or gold leafed.
Blind folio - Page number not printed on page.
Blue-Line - Photographic proof made from flats for checking accuracy, layout and imposition before plates are made. Also known as a dylux.
Boiler Plate - Repetitive blocks of type that are picked up and included routinely without recreating them.
Bounce 1 - A registration problem usualy on copiers where the image appears to bounce back and forth. Usualy in one direction depending on how the paper is passing through the machine. This is usualy accented by card stock (especialy if it's over the machine's spec).
Bounce 2 - When a customer refuses a job for whatever reason.
Burnishing - Creating a polished finish on paper by rubbing with stone or hand smooth surface.
Chase - (old) Frame of steel or cast or wrought iron in which type etc. is locked up for printing.
Coated (Paper) - Paper coated with clay, white pigments and a binder. Better for printing get less picking.
Collate - (see Gather)
Collating marks - Black step-marks printed on the back of folded sheets, to facilitate collating and checking of the sequence of book signatures.
Column gutter - Space between two or more columns of type on one page.
Composition - The assembly of characters into words, lines and paragraphs of text or body matter for reproduction by printing.
Continuous tone - Image made of non-discernable picture elements which give appearance of continuous spectrum of grey values or tones.
Cracking - Delamination.
Creep - Result of added thickness of folded sheets being behind one another in a folded signature. Outer edges of sheets creep away from back most fold as more folded sheets are inserted inside the middle.
Crop mark - Markings at edges of original or on guide sheet to indicate the area desired in reproduction with negative or plate trimmed (cropped) at the markings.
Cross-over - Elements that cross page boundaries and land on two consecutive pages (usually rules).
Curl - Not lying flat and tending to form into cylindrical or wavy shapes.
Cutter - Machine for accurately cutting stacks of paper to desired dimensions...can also be used to crease. Also trims out final bound books top size (soft cover).
Cutting Die - Sharp edged device usually made of steel rule, to cut paper, cardboard, etc., on a printing press.
Die - Design, letters or putter cut into metal (mostly brass) for stamping book covers or embossing.
Dot gain - Darkening of halftone image due to ink absorption in paper causing halftone dots to enlarge.
Dog ear -Occurs when you fold into a fold (such as a letter fold) at the side of one of the creases you get an indentation. It may look like a small inverted triangle.
Drop folio - Page number printed at foot of page.
Dry Offset - Process in which a metal plate is etched to a depth of 0.15 mm (0.006 in), making a right-reading relief plate, printed on the offset blanket and then to the paper without the use of water.
Dummy model - Resembling finished piece in every respect except that the pages and cover are blank, used by the designer as a final check on the appearance and feel of the book as a guide for the size and position of elements on the jacket, and as a po
Duotone - Color reproduction from monochrome original. Keyplate usually printed in dark color for detail, second plate printed in light flat tints.
Electronic Composition - The assembly of characters into words, lines and paragraphs of text or body matter with graphic elements in page layout form in digital format for reproduction by printing.
Embossing - To raise in relief a design or letters already printed on card or tough paper by an uninked block or die, in rubber and plastic plate making usually by heat.
Estimator - One who computes or approximates evaluation of cost of work to be done on which quotation may be based.
Finish (Paper) - Dull - (low gloss) also mat or matt gloss.
Flat - In lithography the assembly of photographic negatives or positives or vinyl acetate for exposure in vacuum frame in contact with sensitized metal press plate.
Fogging Back - Lowering density of an image in a specific area usually to make type more legible while still letting image show through.
Fold marks - Markings at top edges that show where folds should occur.
Folder - Machine used to fold signatures down into sections.
Folio or page number - Number of page at top or bottom either centered, flushed left or flushed right often with running headline.
Form - (old) type matter or type and block with its accompanying spacing material secured in the forme called a chase.
Forwarding - In Binding, the process between folding sheets and casing in, such as rounding and backing, putting on headbands, reinforcing backs, etc.
French fold(er) - Folder with printing on one side so that when folded once in each direction, the printing on outside of the folds.
Galley -(old) flat oblong tray into which composed type matter is put and kept until made up into pages in the forme. Also a similar tray on a slug composing machine which receives the slugs as they are ejected. Also a long column of composed text matte
Galley Slave - Old term for compositor.
Gang - Group of frames or impositions in the same form of different jobs arranged and positioned to be printed together.
Gather - To assemble or collect sections into single copies of complete books for binding.
Ghosting - Image which appears as a lighter area on a subsequent print due to local blanket depressions from previous image areas on a letterpress rotary machine as well as on an offset press.
Ghosting - Marring a print by an image on it of work printed on the reverse side which has interfered with its drying so that differences in the trapping frame colors or glass variations are apparent.
Gigo - Garbage in, garbage out.
Gilding - Sticking on gold leaf to edges of books with a liquid agent and made permanent with burnishing tools.
Graduated screen - An area of image where halftone dots range continuously from one density to another.
Grain - Direction of fibers in a sheet of paper governing paper properties such as increased size changes with relative humidity, across the grain, and better folding properties along the grain.
Gutter - Space between pages in the printing frame of a book, or inside margin towards the back or binding edge.
Halftone - Tone graduated image composed of varying sized dots or lines, with equadistant centers.
Hickies - Imperfections in presswork due to dirt on press, trapping errors, etc.
Highlight dot - The highest density of a halftone image.
IBC - Inside back cover.
IFC - Inside front cover.
Image setter - High resolution, large format device for producing film from electronically generated page layouts.
Imposition - Arrangement of pages so that they print correctly on a press sheet, and the pages are in proper order when the sheets are folded.
Impression - Product resulting from one cycle of printing machine.
Inserts - Extra printed pages inserted loosely into printed pieces.
Interleaves - Extra blank pages inserted loosely into book after printing.
Job Number - A number assigned to a printing project used for record keeping and job tracking. Also used to retrieve old jobs for reprints or reworking by customer.
Jogger - Vibrating slopping platform that evens up the edges of stacks of paper.
Lay edge - Edge of a sheet of paper being fed into a printing press.
Leaf - One of a number of folds (each containing two pages) which compose a book or manuscript.
Make ready - Process of adjusting final plate on the press to fine tune or modify plate surface.
Margin - Imprinted space around edge of page. head foredge back margin foot
Mark-up - To write up instructions as on a dummy.
Match Print - Photographic proof made from all color flats and form composite proof showing color quality as well as accuracy, layout, and imposition before plates are made.
Midtone dot - Commonly taken as the area between highlight and shadow area of subjects face in halftone image.
Mull - Coarse muslin glue to back of book or pads for strengthening.
OA of Register - When two sheet passes on a press are misaligned.
OBC - Outside back cover.
OFC - Outside front cover.
Offset - The transfer of ink from one material to another.
Offset Lithography - Indirect printing method in which the inked image on the press-plate is first printed onto a rubber blanket, then in turn offsets the inked impression on to the sheet of paper.
Over run - Surplus of copies printed.
Page Proofs - Proofs made up from pages.
Page - one side of a leaf
Paste-up - Preparation of positive materials into a layout for photographing to film negatives.
Peeling - Delamination.
Perf marks - Markings usually dotted lines at edges showing where perforations should occur.
Perfect binding - Binding process where backs of sections are cut off, roughened and glued together, and rung in a cover.
Perfecting - Printing both sides of the paper (or other material) at the same pass through the printing machine.
Perforating - Punching small holes or slits in a sheet of paper or cardboard to facilitate tearing along a desired line.
Photoengraving - Making printing plates by exposure of line and halftone negatives on sensitized metal, converting the image into an acid resist, and etching the print to the relief required for letterpress printing.
Pica - Standard of measurement, 1/6 inch. 1 pica = 12 points 72 points = 1 inch
Pinholing - Failure of printed ink to form a completely continuous film, visible in the form of small holes in the printed areas.
Plate - Reproduction of type or cuts in metal, plastic, rubber, or other material, to form a plate bearing a relief, planographic or intaglio printing surface.
Platemaking - Making a printing plate from a film or flat includes preparation of the plate surface, sensitizing, exposure through the flat, development or processing and finishing.
Press-Proof - Actual press sheet to show image, tone values and colors as well as imposition of frame or press-plate.
Printers Pairs - Two consecutive pages as they appear on a flat or signature.
Process Inks - Printing inks, usually in sets of four colors. The most frequent combinations is yellow, magenta, cyan, and black, which are printed over one another in that order to obtain a colored print with the desired hues, whites, blacks, and grays.
Proof - Impression from composed type or blocks, taken for checking and correction, from a lithographic plate to check accuracy of layout, type matter, tone and color reproduction.
Pull for position - Guide sheet for the positioning of type, blocks, etc.
Readers Pairs - Two consecutive pages as they appear in printed piece.
Saddle stitching - Stitching where the wire staples pass through the spine from the outside and are clinched in the center. Only used with folded sections, either single sections or two or more sections inset to form a single section.
Score - Impressions or cut in flat material to facilitate bending or tearing. (Bending) fibers compressed so bending happens at desired spot, tearing and material cut half-way through.
Shadow dot - The lowest density of a halftone image.
Side stitching - Stitching where the wire staples pass through the pile of sections or leaves gathered upon each other and are clinched on the underside.
Signature (Section) - Printed sheet (or its flat) that consists of a number of pages of a book, so laced out that they will fold and bind together as a section of a book. The printed sheet after folding.
Spine - Back edge of a book.
Spot color - Small area printed in a second color.
Stabbing - To receive a pile of sections or leaves, the required number of staples is first inserted from one side. The wire feed control is set so that the shank of the staple is not long enough to pass through the underside of the pile.
Stripping - Originally, the removal of the photographic emulsion with its image from individual negatives and combining them in position on a glass plate. Now the use of stripfilm materials, and the cutting, attachment, and other operations for assembling.
Stumping or Blocking - Impressing book covers, etc., by means of hot die, brass types or blocks.
Vandyke - Brown print
Varnish - A clear shiny ink used to add gloss to printed pieces.
Vignette - Fade to white or small decorative design or illustration.
Web Press Cylinder - printing machine in which the paper is fed from a continuous reel, as opposed to sheet fed.
Wire stitching or stapling - To fasten together sheets, signatures, or sections with wire staples. 3 methods...saddle stitching, side stitching, and stabbing.

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