Print Glossary
Listed below in our Print Glossary are the common terms used within the printing industry in everyday speak as well as a few definitions and explanations that will be of great help to you. If you ever wondered what is meant when a job 'bleeds' or when a 'dummy' is needed, then here is your chance to wise up on printers' jargon.
Click on the links below to view glossary terms
Calibration |
Using a fixed measurement to ensure accurate performance in a machine or process |
Caliper |
Paper thickness in thousandths of an inch |
Carton |
A container generally made from paper or board delivered by carton manufacturers to a user, either in flat or collapsed form, for assembly at the packaging point |
CMYK |
Abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black), the 4 process colours, which combined together in varying proportions can be made to produce the full colour spectrum; the subtractive primary colours used in four colour printing |
Coated Paper |
Paper which has received a coating on one or both sides. Art papers are coated papers, there are also cast-coated, which are high gloss papers on which the coating has been allowed to harden in contact with a highly finished casting surface. In addition,there are brush coated papers; chromo papers which are clay-coated in a separate operation from papermaking; roller-coated papers; or machine coated papers in which the paper is coated during the papermaking process |
Collating |
Arranging of printed sheets into the desired sequence |
Colour Control Bar |
A coloured strip on the margin of the sheet which enables the platemaker and printer to check by eye or instrument the printing charateristics of each ink layer |
Colour Proofing |
Describes a wide range of techniques which have been developed to reproduce full colour images from the film or digital data available, prior to the actual print run; thus allowing the client or printer to view the proofed result, prior to the actual print run |
Compression |
To decrease the size of a computer file, programs can be run that remove unnecessary information and in so doing, reduce the overall size of the file |
Crease |
To mechanically press a rule into heavy paper or board to enable folding without cracking |
Crop |
To cut off parts of a picture or image |
Crop Marks |
Marks at the edges of an illustration or photograph to indicate the portion to be reproduced; Printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet |
CTP |
Computer to Plate. This is the new technology whereby the digital file is sent directly from the imposition program to a platesetter – thus bypassing the need to output film |
Cyan |
One of four standard process colors – the ‘blue’ color |