TERMS
Print Terms and Definitions for JOU 497 Download Printable Document Here

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

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Achromatic
The non-colors: - black, white and gray.
Agate
A type size of 5 ½ points. See also Agate Line.
Agateline
In newspaper classifieds, a measurement denoting ¼-inch depth by one column width. There are 14 agate lines in one column inch.
Air
Large white areas in a design layout
Airbrush
A compressed air tool that dispenses a fine mist of paint or ink. It is used in illustration and photo retouching.
Alignment
The position of type and or art materials as they are aligned on a horizontal or vertical line.
Alphabetlength
The measured length (in points) of the lowercase alphabet of a certain size and series of type.
Annualreport
A booklet or book that describes the progress and accomplishments of an organization during a specific time period.
Arms
Those elements of letters that branch out from the stem of a letter, such as: “K” and “Y”.
Arrowhead
A symbol shaped like an arrowhead that is used in an illustration to direct a leader line.
ArtDirector
The artist who is responsible for the overall look and conceptual development of a piece or package of pieces. The Art director makes all creative decisions and recommendations.
Art lined envelope
An envelope that is lined with an extra fine paper; can be colored or patterned.
Art paper
A paper evenly coated with a fine clay compound, which creates a hard smooth surface on one or both sides.
Art work
Any material or image that is prepared for graphic reproduction.
Artwork
All illustrated material, ornamentation, photos and charts, etc. that is prepared for reproduction.
Ascender
Any part of a lower case letter which rises above the main body of the letter such as in “d”, “b” and “h”.


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Background
That portion of a photograph or line art drawing that appears furthest from the eye; the surface upon which the main image is superimposed.
Backslant
Any type that tilts to the left or backward direction; opposite of italic type.
Balance
A term used to describe the aesthetic or harmony of elements, whether they are photos, art or copy, within a layout or design.
Balloon
In an illustration, any line that encircles copy or dialogue.
Bank paper
A thin uncoated stock used for making carbon copies.
Banker’s flap envelope
Also called wallet flap; the wallet flap has more rounded flap edges.
Banner
The primary headline usually spanning the entire width of a page.
Base line
The imaginary horizontal line upon which stand capitals, lowercase letters, punctuation points, etc.
Bastard
Any non-standard or abnormal element, i.e. a font that is different than the set of fonts in which it appears.
Bauhaus
A design school in Germany where the Sans Serif font was originated.
BF
An abbreviation for boldface, used to determine where boldface copy is to be used. See also boldface.
Bible paper
A thin but strong paper (opaque), used for bibles and books.
Bleed
Any copy, art illustration, photo, color, etc. that extends past the edge of the printed page.
Blind emboss
A design or bas relief impression that is made without using inks or metal foils.
Block in
To sketch the primary areas and points of reference of an illustration in preparation for going to final design or production.
Blueline proof
A photographic process whereby flats are exposed to blacklight and processed to create blue lines of copy that are proofread before a project goes to press. Also called “DYLUX.”.
Body
The main shank or portion of the letter character other than the ascenders and descenders.
Body copy
Refers to the small type containing the bulk of the message in an ad or a publication.
Body size
The point size of a particular type character.
Boldface
Any type that has a heavier black stroke that makes it more conspicuous.
Book
A general classification to describe papers used to print books; its standard size is 25x38 inches.
Book
A printed work that contains more than 64 pages.
Brace
A character “ }” used to group lines, or phrases.
Break for color
In layout design, the term for dividing or separating the art and copy elements into single color paste-up sheets.
Bristol board
A board paper of various thicknesses; having a smooth finish and used for printing and drawing.
Brochure
A pamphlet that is bound in booklet form.
Brownline proof
A photographic proof made by exposing a flat to UV light creating a brown image on a white background. Also referred to as silverprint.
Bullet
A boldface square or dot used before a sentence to emphasize its importance.
Burn
A term used in plate making to describe the amount of plate exposure time.


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Camera ready
A term given to any copy, artwork etc., that is prepared for photographic reproduction.
Cap height
The height from the baseline to the top of the uppercase letters in a font. This may or may not be the same as the height of ascenders. Cap height is used in some systems to measure the type size.
Cap line
An imaginary horizontal line running across the tops of capital letters.
Caps & lower case
Instructions in the typesetting process that indicate the use of a capital letter to start a sentence and the rest of the letters in lower case.
Caps & small caps
Two sizes of capital letters made in one size of type.
Centered
Text placed at an equal distance from the left and right margins. Headlines are often centered. It is generally not good to mix centered text with flush left or flush right text.
Choke
In order to compensate for minor misalignments on the printing press it is sometimes necessary to slightly overlap touching colors. Choke is one process where a lighter color surrounds and overlaps a darker color.
Clip art
Art prepared for use in numerous applications, usually copyright free. Clip art is available in printed books, and on computer software. It is less expensive than custom illustrations or photographs.
Coated art paper
Printing papers used for printing projects that require a special treatment of detail and shading.
Coated stock
Any paper that has a mineral coating applied after the paper is made, giving the paper a smoother finish.
Color bars
This term refers to a color test strip, which is printed on the waste portion of a press sheet. It is a standardized (GATF-Graphic Arts Technical Foundation) process that allows a pressman to determine the quality of the printed material relative to ink density, registration and dot gain. It also includes the Star Target, which is a similar system designed to detect inking problems.
Collage
The combination of several images to a single surface to create a piece of art. Can be done with original images or in a digital format.
Color separating
The processes of separating the primary color components for printing.
Color transparency
Transparent film containing a positive photographic color image.
Condensed (type)
A narrow, elongated typeface.
Comprehensive or comp
A layout illustrating a proposal depicting what a finished piece will look like.
Continuous-tone
Art or a photograph that has a range of values from dark to light.
Contrast
The degree of tonal separation or gradation in the range from black to white.
Copy
Refers to any typewritten material, art, photos etc., to be used for the printing process.
Copyfitting
The process of adjusting the size and spacing of type to make it fit within a defined area of the page.
Copyright
The exclusive right to the publication or distribution of a work of art.
Corner marks
Marks on a final printed sheet that indicate the trim lines or register indicators.
Cover stock
A term used by paper manufacturers for a heavy paper that is suitable for covers and folders.
Crop
To eliminate a portion of the art or copy as indicated by crop marks.
Crossmarks
Marks of fine lines, which intersect to indicate accurate alignment of art elements.
Cyan
A shade of blue used in the four-color process; it reflects blue and green and absorbs red.


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Deckle edge
The rough or feathered edge of paper when left untrimmed.
Delete
An instruction given to remove an element from a layout.
Descender
A term that describes that portion of lower case letters that extends below the main body of the letter, as in “p”.
Design
The arrangement of elements, both text and visuals, to visually and creatively communicate an idea or message.
Designer
An artist trained to present information visually in a clear and creative manner. Most designers have a traditional fine arts background as well as skills in commercial art.
Desktop publishing
Setting type and arranging elements using a computer and software designed for this purpose. (Warning: often not done well by lay people!)
Die
An engraved stamp used for impressing an image or design.
Die cutting
A method of using sharp steel ruled stamps or rollers to cut various shapes i.e. labels, boxes, image shapes, either post press or in line.
Die Cutting
The process of cutting paper in a shape or design by the use of a wooden die or block in which are positioned steel rules in the shape of the desired pattern.
Dingbats
Typefaces that consist of symbol characters such as decorations, arrows and bullets.
Digital
A piece of information recognizable and therefore manipulatable and storable on a computer.
Digital Proof
Color separation data is digitally stored and then exposed to color photographic paper creating a picture of the final product before it is actually printed.
Display type
Any type that stands out from the rest of the type on a page that attracts attention of the reader.
Dot
The smallest individual element of a halftone.
Dot gain
Terms to describe the occurrence whereby dots are printing larger than they should.
Dpi
An abbreviation for dots per inch. Refers to the resolution at which a device, such as a monitor or printer, can display text and graphics. Monitors are usually 100 dpi or less, and laser printers are 300 dpi or higher. An image printed on a laser printer looks sharper than the same image on a monitor.
Drop cap
A design style in which the first capital letter of a paragraph is set in a larger point size and aligned with the top of the first line. This method is used to indicate the start of a new section of text, such as a chapter.
Drop shadow
A shadow image placed strategically behind an image to create the affect of the image lifting off the page.
Dry mount
Pasting with heat sensitive adhesives.
Dummy
A term used to describe the preliminary assemblage of copy and art elements to be reproduced in the desired finished product; also called a comp.
Duotone
A two-color halftone reproduction generated from a one-color photo.


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Electronic Proof
A process of generating a prepress proof in which paper is electronically exposed to the color separation negatives; the paper is passed through the electrically charged pigmented toners, which adhere electrostatically, resulting in the finished proof.
Elliptical dot
Halftone screens in which the dots are actually elongated to produce improved middle tones.
Ellipsis
A punctuation character consisting of three dots, or periods, in a row. It indicates that a word or phrase has been omitted.
em, em space, em quad
A common unit of measurement in typography. Em is traditionally defined as the width of the uppercase M in the current face and point size. It is more properly defined as simply the current point size. For example, in 12-point type, em is a distance of 12 points.
em dash
A dash the length of an em is used to indicate a break in a sentence.
Embossed
A method of paper finishing whereby a pattern is pressed into the paper when it is dry.
Embossing
The molding and reshaping of paper by the use of special metal dies and heat, counter dies and pressure, to produce a raised image on the paper surface.
Engraving
A printing process whereby images such as copy or art are etched onto a plate. When ink is applied, these etched areas act as small wells to hold the ink; paper is forced against this die and the ink is lifted out of the etched areas creating raised images on the paper.
Estimate
The form used by the printer to calculate the project for the print buyer. This form contains the basic parameters of the project including size, quantity, colors, bleeds, photos etc.


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Face
One of the styles of a family of faces. For example, the italic style of the Garamond family is a face.
Family
Also known as a font family. A collection of faces that were designed and intended to be used together. For example, the Garamond family consists of roman and italic styles, as well as regular, semi-bold, and bold weights. Each of the style and weight combinations is called a face.
Fan fold
Paper folding that emulates an accordion or fan, the folds being alternating and parallel.
Fat face
Type that is quite varied in its use of very thin and very wide strokes.
Filling in
A fault in printing where the ink fills in the fine line or halftone dot areas.
Film coat
Also called wash coat; any thinly coated paper stock.
Finish
The surface quality of paper.
Fit
The registration of items within a given page.
Flat
The assemblage of negatives and positives that are used as a composite image to create the printing plate.
Flyer
A one-sheet advertisement that is usually inexpensively produced.
Flush
A column of type aligned vertically either on the left and/or right side. Includes flush right, flush left or flush right and left, which would be called “justified.”
Flush left
Text that is aligned on the left margin is said to be set flush left. If the same text is not aligned on the right margin, it is said to be set flush left, ragged right. The term ragged right is sometimes used alone to mean the same thing.
Flush right
Text, which is aligned on the right margin, is said to be set flush right. If the same text is not aligned on the left margin, it is said to be set flush right, ragged left. The term “ragged left” is sometimes used alone to mean the same thing.
Foils
Papers that have a surface resembling metal.
Font
The characters which make up a complete typeface and size.
Font family
Also known as family. The collection of faces that were designed together and intended to be used together. For example, the Garamond font family consists of roman and italic styles, as well as regular, semi-bold, and bold weights. Each of the style and weight combinations is called a face.
Format
The shape or style of a print piece (i.e. a brochure vs. booklet) or the type of communication used (i.e. a website, video or brochure).
Four-color process
The four colors of ink used by an offset printer to create the entire spectrum of colors. The process colors are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (often abbreviated to CMYK). The printer makes a separate press plate to print each color. Together the four colors blend to reproduce the art as it appears.


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Galley proof
A proof of text copy before it is pasted into position for printing.
Ganging
The bundling of two or more different printing projects on the same sheet of paper.
Gatefold
A brochure folded so the front opens like two double doors.
Glassine
A strong transparent paper.
Gloss ink
Quick drying oil-based inks with low penetration qualities, used on coated stock.
Glyphic
A carved as opposed to scripted typeface.
Grain
Paper fibers lie in a certain direction, this direction is called the grain.
Grained paper
A paper embossed to resemble various textures, such as leather, alligator, wood, etc.
Graphic design
The creation of material&Mac226; using art and type that communicates a message to be reproduced by television, printing, or other visual communication media.
Grid
Horizontal and vertical rules used to plan the placement of text and graphics on the page
Greeking
Rules or dummy Latin text used to show the look of a page without having to actually typeset the words.
Gutter
The blank space or margin between the type page and the binding of a book.


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Hairline Register
Printing registration that lies within the range of plus or minus one half row of dots. It is the thinnest of the standard printers’ rules.
Halftone
The use of screening devices to convert a continuous tone image (such as a photo), into a reproducible dot pattern, which can be more easily printed.
Halftone paper
A high finish paper that is ideal for halftone printing.
Halftone screen
A sheet of film or glass containing ruled right-angled lines, used to translate the full tone of a photo to the halftone dot image required for printing.
Hanging indent
A document style in which the first line of a paragraph is aligned with the left margin, and the remaining lines are all indented an equal amount. This is sometimes referred to as outdenting. This is an effective style for displaying lists of information.
Hard dot
The effect in a photograph where a dot has such a small degree of halation that the dot shows quite sharp.
Headline
The short lines of emphasized text that introduce detail information in the body text that follows. Also the category of faces that are designed to work best in headline text.
Headline font
A font that has been designed to look good at large point sizes for use in headlines. Headline fonts generally do not contain a complete set of characters since they do not require a full set of special symbols and punctuation.
Head margin
That space which lies between the top of the printed copy and the trimmed edge.
Hickey
A term used to describe the effect that occurs when a spec of dust or debris (dried ink) adheres to the printing plate and creates a spot or imperfection in the printing.
High contrast
A piece of art containing both extremely light and dark contrasts.
Highlights
The lightest tones of a photo, printed halftone or illustration. In the finished halftone, these highlights are represented by the finest dots.


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Identity Package / Identity Suite
A group of materials designed and developed to represent the essence of your organization. These packages usually include some or all of these elements: a logo design, letterhead (stationary) and business cards, as well as other collateral pieces such as brochures or newsletters.
Illustration
A picture or diagram created to explain or clarify a concept. Illustrations can be conceptual, abstract or realistic.
Image area
That portion of the printing plate that carries the ink and prints on paper.
Index bristol
A relatively thick paper stock; basis size---25 ½ x 30 ½.
Indicia
Markings pre-printed on mailing envelopes to replace the stamp.
Industrial papers
A term used to denote papers such as janitorial, sanitary or heavy packing papers.
Initial cap
A capital letter set at the beginning of a block of type in a point size larger than the other type.
Insert
A piece of printed material that is prepared for the purpose of being inserted into another piece of printed material, such as a magazine.
Iridescent paper
A coated stock finished in mother-of-pearl.
Italic
Text that is used to denote emphasis by slanting the type body forward.


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Justified
A block of text that has been spaced so that the text aligns on both the left and right margins. Justified text has a more formal appearance, but may be harder to read.


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Kerning
The narrowing of space between two letters so that they become closer and take up less space on the page.
Key plate
The printing plate that is used as a guide for the other plates in the color printing process; it usually has the most detail.
Keying
The use of symbols, usually letters, to code copy that will appear on a dummy.
Keyline
Lines that are drawn on artwork that indicate the exact placement, shape and size of elements including halftones, illustrations, etc.

Knockout
A knockout is a portion of an image that has been removed. When two colors overlap, they don't normally print on top of each other. The bottom color is knocked out of - not printed - in the area where the other color overlaps.
Kraft
A coarse unbleached paper used for printing and industrial products.

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Lacquer
A clear gloss coating applied to printed material for strength, appearance and protection.
Laid finish
A parallel lined paper that has a handmade look.
Layout
A rendition that shows the placement of all the elements, roughs, thumbnails etc., of the final printed piece before it goes to print.
Leading
Space between lines of type; the distance in points between one baseline and the next.
Ledger paper
A stiff, heavy business paper generally used for keeping records.
Letterpress
Printing that utilizes inked raised surfaces to create the image.
Letterspacing
Adjusting the average distance between letters in a block of text to fit more or less text into the given space or to improve legibility. Kerning allows adjustments between individual letters; letterspacing is applied to a block of text as a whole. Letterspacing is sometimes referred to as tracking or track kerning.
Line art
Art created only in black and white with no grays or colors.
Line copy
Any copy that can be reproduced without the use of halftone screens.
Linen
A paper that emulates the look and texture of linen cloth.
Lino, Linotronic
Professional-quality, high-resolution output printed from files prepared on a desktop system
Logotype
A brand or symbolic image usually developed for a company or person as a business or professional representaion


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Machine finish
A paper finish that results from the interaction of the paper with the Fourdrinier process as opposed to post machine embossing.
Magnetic black
Black pigments containing black iron oxides, used for magnetic ink character recognition.
Make-ready
Paper that is used in the press set-up process before the printing run actually starts.
Margins
The space around the outside of all ad elements on a page including the “top,” “foot,” “outside” and “gutter” margins. The “gutter” is the space between the design elements and the binding, and the “outside” is on the free side of the paper.
Marketing
Promoting a concept to or informing a group of people about a specific service, opportunity or product.
Mask
A photo negative or positive used in the color separation process to color correct.
Masthead
The design of an official heading, containing the name of a magazine, newsletter, or other publication that is released in multiple editions.
Matte finish
A coated paper finish that goes through minimal calendaring.
Measure
The width of type as measured in picas. See also pica.
Mechanical
A term used to describe finished artwork that is camera ready for reproduction, including all type, photos, illustrations, etc.
Moiré
An undesirable halftone pattern produced by the incorrect angles of overprinting halftone screens.
Multimedia / interactive media
A compilation of visual images, sounds, and text information for an electronic media presentation. The visual images may be motion video, digital image capture, or scanned art or photographic sources. The sound may be recorded, or computer created or enhanced.


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Negative
Film that contains the same images as the original print, except that all colors and shades are reversed. See also positive.
Newsletter
A publication developed and distributed to inform about events, progress and recent developments within an organization. It often includes development of a heading design.
Newsprint
A light, low-cost groundwood paper made especially for newspapers.


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Oblique
A slanting version of a face. Oblique is similar to italic, but without the script quality of a true italic. The upright faces are usually referred to as roman.
Offset
The most commonly used printing method, whereby the printed material does not receive the ink directly from the printing plate but from an intermediary cylinder called a blanket that receives the ink from the plate and transfers it to the paper.
Offset paper
A term for uncoated book paper.
Offshore paper
Any papers made outside the US and Canada.
Onionskin
A light bond paper used for typing and used with carbon paper because of its thinness.
Opacity
Quality of papers that defines its opaqueness or ability to prevent two sided printing from showing through.
Opaque
A quality of paper that allows relatively little light to pass through.
Opaque ink
Ink that completely covers any ink under itself.
Overlay
A transparent sheet placed over artwork, in register with the work it covers; this is used to call out other color components of the work, instructions or corrections.
Overlay proof
A process of proof-making whereby the color separations are individually exposed to light sensitive film. This film is then set in registration with a piece of white paper in the background.
Overprinting
Any printing that is done on an area that has already been printed. In most cases, when two objects of different colors overlap they knockout -- they won't print on top of each other. To intentionally print one layer of ink on top of another is to overprint. Overprinting is sometimes used to avoid the need for trapping and avoid gaps between touching colors.
Overrun
Quantities of sheets printed over the requested number of copies.
Overset
Type that is set in excess of the allotted space.


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Page makeup
The assemblage of all the necessary elements required to complete a page.
Paperboard
Any paper with a thickness (caliper) of 12 points (.3mm) or more.
Papeterie
A high-grade soft paper used for personal stationery because it accepts handwriting well.
Paragraph rules
Graphic lines associated with a paragraph that separate blocks of text. Rules are commonly used to separate columns and isolate graphics on a page. Some desktop publishing programs allow paragraph styles to be created that include paragraph rules above and/or below the paragraph.
Parchment
A hard finished paper that emulates animal skin; used for documents, such as awards, that require writing by hand.
Perfecting press
A printing press that prints on both sides of the page in a single pass.
Photomechanical
The platemaking process where plates are coated with photosensitive coatings and exposed to photo negatives or positives.
Photostat
A photographic print creating an image using photography and electrostatic processes; also called a stat.
Pica
A typesetting unit of measurement equaling 1/6th of an inch.
Plate finish
Any bond, cover or bristol stock with an extremely smooth finish achieved by calendaring.
PMT
Photomechanical transfer.
Point
A measurement unit equal to 1/72 of an inch. 12 points to a pica, 72 points to an inch.
Positive
Film that contains an image with the same tonal values as the original; opposite of a negative. See also negative.
Ppi
Pages per inch.
Premium
Any paper that is considered better than #1 by its manufacturer.
Primary colors
In printing the four primary colors are cyan (blue), magenta (red), yellow and black.
Printability
The quality of papers to show reproduced printed images.
Point size
Refers to the measurement of a size of type. The point size of type is measured from the top of the tallest ascender (the tallest letter) to the bottom of the longest descender (the letter that extends below the baseline).
Process color
See four-color process.
Proof
In commercial art and printing, a mockup from the designer or the printer that allows the client to review the final layout and make any necessary changes before the final piece is printed, produced or published on the web.


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There are no entries for this letter.


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Rag paper
Papers with a complete or partial content of cotton fibers.
Ragged left
The term given to right-justified type that is uneven on the left.
Ragged right
The term given to left-justified type that is uneven on the right.
Raised cap
A design style in which the first capital letter of a paragraph is set in a large point size and aligned with the baseline of the first line of text. Compare to a drop cap.
Ream
500 sheets of paper.
Register
The arrangement of two or more images in exact alignment with each other.
Register marks
Any crossmarks or other symbols used on layout to assure proper registration.
Reverse
White on a color background.
Roman
Commonly refers to the upright version of a face within a font family, as compared to the italic version.
Rough layout
A rough sketch of a proposed layout of a print piece or advertisement, usually for approval before continuing the process of creating final art.
Rub proof
That stage of printed ink where the maximum dryness is achieved, and the ink will not smudge.
Rubine
A pigment somewhat redder than true magenta.
Rules
Lines, used as graphics or to represent text
Run-around
A term given to copy that accommodates the lines of a picture or other image or copy.


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Saddle stitch
The binding of booklets or other printed materials by stapling the pages on the folded spine; also called saddle wire.
Safety paper
A paper that shows sign of erasure so that it cannot be altered or tampered with easily.
Sans serif
A typeface that does not have serifs. Generally a low-contrast design. Sans serif faces lend a clean, simple appearance to documents.
Serif
Small decorative strokes that are added to the end of a letter’s main strokes. Serifs improve readability by leading the eye along the line of type.
Satin finish
A smooth, delicately embossed finished paper with sheen.
Scaling
The enlargement or reduction of an image or copy to fit a specific area.
Scanning
A process that uses electronic equipment to create a digital file from any original. BMC can scan negatives and slides in all sizes, flat art pieces or X-rays.
Scoring
To impress paper with a rule for the purpose of making folding easier.
Screen
Gray or other tint created by using a percentage of a color
Screened print
A photo print made by using a halftone negative; also called a velox.
Scum
Unwanted ink marks in the non-image area.
Sharpen
To decrease the dot size of the halftone, which in turn decreases the color strength.
Show through
A problem that occurs when the printing on one side of a sheet is seen from the other side.
Signature
A printed sheet with many pages on it that is folded so that the pages are in their proper numbered sequence, as in a book.
Smoothness
That quality of paper defined by its levelness that allows for pressure consistency in printing, assuring uniformity of print.
Soft dot
An excessively large halo around a dot in a photograph that causes a fringe that diminishes the dot intensity.
Spiral bind
A binding whereby a wire or plastic is spiraled through holes punched along the binding side.
Spread
A film image that is larger than the original image to accommodate ink trapping. In order to compensate for minor misalignments on the printing press it is sometimes necessary to slightly overlap touching colors. Spread is one process where a lighter color spreads out and overlaps a darker color.
2) A spread refers to facing or adjacent pages in a layout or adjacent pages laid out for printing. See also trapping or choke
Step and repeat
A process of generating multiple exposures by taking an image and stepping it according to a predetermined layout.
Stet
A proofreader’s symbol that is usually written in the copy margin, that indicates that the copy, which was marked for correction, should be left as it was.
Stock photography
Photographs of people or things that can be purchased for use in print or on the web.
Storyboard
A series of small, rough sketches that are used to plan the different story scenes in a video production or advertisement. Each scene includes the script and headlines that will be used.


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Tabloid
A paper sized at 11x17 inches. Also refers to a print size slightly smaller than a traditional newsletter.
Text
The body copy in a publication, or on a website.
Thermography
A printing process whereby slow drying ink is applied to paper and, while the ink is still wet, is lightly dusted with a resinous powder. The paper then passes through a heat chamber where the powder melts and fuses with the ink to produce a raised surface.
Thumbnail
A small rough layout that shows concept development.
Ticket envelope
Envelopes used mostly for theater tickets, with no other particular usage.
Tint
A halftone screen that contains all the same sized dots.
Tooth
The rough surfaced finish of papers such as vellum or antique.
Tracking
The average space between characters in a block of text. Sometimes also referred to as letterspacing.
Trademark Art
A design that stands as a symbol for a product or company. (See Logo Design.)
Transparent
Inks that do not block out the colored inks that they print over, but instead blend with them to create intermediate colors.
Trapping
The process of printing wet ink over printed ink, which may be wet or dry.
Trim marks
Marks placed on the sheet to indicate where to cut the page.
TrueType
A scalable type technology built into Windows 3.1 and Apple’s System 7.
Type 1
The international type standard for digital type, available on almost every computer platform. Originally invented by Adobe Systems, Type 1 is now the most commonly available digital type format and is used by professional digital graphic designers. More than 30,000 fonts are available in the Type 1 format.
Typeface
The letters, numbers, and symbols that make up a design of type. A typeface is often part of a type family of coordinated designs. The individual typefaces are named after the family and are also specified with a designation, such as italic, bold or condensed.
Typeface family
Also known as family. The collection of faces that were designed together and intended to be used together. For example, the Garamond font family consists of roman and italic styles, as well as regular, semibold, and bold weights. Each of the style and weight combinations is called a face.
Typestyle
A style of type including italic, medium, or bold.
Typographic color
The apparent blackness of a block of text. Color is a function of the relative thickness of the strokes that make up the characters in a font, as well as the width, point size, and leading used for setting the text block.


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Unjustified
Depending on alignment, this term refers to text which is set flush left, flush right, or centered.


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Varnish
The primary component of the ink vehicle. See also vehicle.
Vellum
A finish of paper that is rough, bulky and has a degree of tooth.
Vignette
A photo or illustration, in which the tones fade gradually away until they blend with the surface they are printed on.


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Watermark
A translucent logo that is embossed during the papermaking process while the paper slurry is on the dandy roll. See also dandy roll.
Weight
The relative darkness of the characters in the various typefaces within a type family. Weight is indicated by relative terms such as thin, light, bold, extra-bold, and black.
White space
The space around the elements in an layout allowing the viewer to rest before reading more text and allowing the designer to arrange elements to maximize impact. Designers LOVE white space.
Widow
A single word or two left at the end of a paragraph, or a part of a sentence ending a paragraph, which loops over to the next page and stands alone. Also, the last sentence of a paragraph, which contains only one or two short words.
Width
One of the possible variations of a typeface within a type family, such as condensed or extended.
Word spacing
Adjusting the average distance between words to improve legibility or to fit a block of text into a given amount of space.
Wove
A smooth paper made on finely textured wire that gives the paper a gentle patterned finish.
Wrinkles
The unevenly dried surface of printed inks.
Writing paper
Another name for bond paper.


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Xerographic paper
Papers made to reproduce well in copy machines and laser printers.
X-height
Height of a lowercase letter without its ascender or descender


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There are no entries for this letter.


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There are no entries for this letter.