Glossary
I’ve noticed that mistakes often occur or expectations are not met because the customer wasn’t speaking or understanding the same language as the printer.
Terminology plays a huge roll in what a printer does and how we do it. Getting a word wrong can mean the difference between a spoiled job, or a quote or estimate that’s way too high, or too low, because of a wrong word in a request for quote or in communication.
I recently quoted and was awarded a print project for a twelve page saddle-stitched booklet. The buyer was very excited to call me and tell me I had been awarded the job and in closing our conversation she asked how I was able to do this job so much cheaper than the other printer who had been doing it for years. RED FLAG!
I asked if we could quickly review the specs that she had emailed to me. When we did I found that the 12 pages she was referring in her email, were actually 12 / 8.5 x 11 inch sheets that she had made the dummy from. Each was folded in half, collated together and were then stapled on the fold. Each sheet was actually a four page signature and in fact there were 48 pages in the booklet. The term “pages” had a different meaning to me, as the printer, than it did to her. The incumbent printer knew the specs as he’d seen the project before.
I revised my quote and still got the project. I proceeded to spend some time educating my new client in a way that I was now the resource for any information she needed about printing. I even advised her on a cost savings brand of photo-copy paper that she used a lot of and she was a star in her office and in the eyes of her boss.
Terminology is important. I could spend days and weeks writing a new glossary of printing terms but time is money and that has already been done before. So I’ve linked to what I think is the a pretty good list. It’s from the University of West Florida and you can download a pdf file for the complete list. Heidelberg Glossary of Printing Terms.There are many terms that aren’t on the list yet as the new technology is forever adding to the lexicon.  The page format software applications have their own set of terms and abbreviations. Those are for another day.
Listed here are some of the terms that people seem to struggle with the most. There are more and more people in the position of buying print today that don’t have a printing background. And that’s OK – I like to teach and that’s partly what my job and this website is about.
Aqueous Coating – A water based protective coating applied like ink by a printing press to protect and enhance the printing. Favored by printers for the fast drying time as opposed to oil based varnishes.
Book Paper – Category of paper suitable for books, magazines, catalogs, advertising and general printing needs. Book paper is divided into uncoated paper (also called offset paper), coated paper (also called art paper, enamel paper, gloss paper and slick paper) and text paper.
C1S and C2S – Abbreviations for coated one side and coated two sides. You can’t work and turn or work and tumble a C1S paper.
Cover Paper -Category of thick paper used for products such as posters, menus, folders and covers of paperback books.
Creep – Phenomenon of middle pages of a folded publication extending slightly beyond outside pages. Push out.
Deboss – To press an image into paper so it lies below the surface.
Dot Gain – Phenomenon of halftone dots printing larger on paper than they do on plates, reducing detail and lowering contrast. Also called dot growth, dot spread and press gain.
Drawdown – Sample of inks specified for a job applied to the substrate specified for a job.
Dry Trap – To print over dry ink, as compared to wet trap
Dull Finish – Flat finish on coated paper; slightly smoother than matte. Also know as velvet finish.
Dummy – Simulation of the final product. – Mockup.
Emboss - To press an image into paper so it lies above the surface.
Face – Edge of a bound book or brochure opposite the spine.
Felt Finish – Soft woven pattern in text paper.
Finished Size – Size of product after production is completed, as compared to flat size. Trimmed size.
Flat Size – Size of product after printing and trimming, but before folding, as compared to finished size.
For Position Only – Refers to art used in a file to indicate placement and scaling, but not intended for reproduction. – FPO.
Gang – To reproduce two or more different printed products simultaneously on one sheet of paper during one press run. – Combo run.
Gate Fold – A sheet that folds where both sides fold toward the gutter in overlapping layers.
Grain Direction – Predominant direction in which fibers in paper become aligned during manufacturing. Also called machine direction.
Halftone – Scan a continuous tone image to convert the image into halftone dots.
Imposition – Arrangement of pages so they will appear in proper sequence after press sheets are folded and bound.
Ink Holdout – Characteristic of paper that prevents it from absorbing ink, thus allowing ink to dry on the surface of the paper.
Leading – Amount of space between lines of type.
Leaf – One sheet of paper in a publication. Each side of a leaf is a page.
Page – One side of a leaf in a publication.
PMS – Reference to Pantone Matching System. Pantone colors.
Process Color - The colors used for four-color printing: yellow, magenta, cyan and black.
RGB – Abbreviation for red, green, blue, the additive primary colors.
Saddle Stitch – To bind by stapling sheets together where they fold at the spine. Stitch bind.
Self Cover – A publication not having a cover stock. A publication only using text weight of stock throughout. A sixteen page publication on one wight of stock is a 16 page self cover publication. A sixteen page book with the four page cover on heavier different stock is referred to as a 12 page plus cover.
Sheetfed Press – Press that prints sheets of paper, as compared to a web press.
Sheetwise – Technique of printing one side of a sheet with one set of plates, then the other side of the sheet with a set of different plates.
Shingling – Allowance, made during pre-press, to compensate for creep.
Soy-based Inks – Inks using vegetable oils instead of petroleum products as pigment vehicles. Easier on the environment.
Text Paper – Designation for printing papers with textured surfaces such as laid or linen.
Trim Size – The size of the printed material in its finished stage.
Uncoated Paper – Paper that has not been coated with clay. Offset paper.
Vellum Finish – Somewhat rough, toothy finish.
Work and Tumble – To print one side of the paper, then turn it over from gripper to tail and print the second side using the same plates.
Work and Turn – To print one side of the paper, then turn it over from left to right and print the second side using the same gripper and same plates.
Wove – Paper manufactured without visible wire marks, usually a fine textured paper.
