Jargon
Glossary of design terms
Want to know what all that 'jargon' actually means?
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
| b | Binding, Burst |
|---|---|
| a method of binding pages to a cover similar to, but more durable than perfect binding, where the spine of each section is perforated so the glue has a better grip when the cover is drawn on (good for a larger page count, >60-70pp) | |
| Binding, Casebound | |
| a method of binding that produces a hard back book | |
| Binding, Half Canadian | |
| a method of spiral binding, but bound at the back only, so there is a printable spine that hides the wire | |
| Binding, Perfect | |
| a method of binding pages where the spine of each section is cut off and roughened before gluing to the cover (good for a larger page count, >60-70pp) | |
| Binding, Saddle Stitch | |
| a method of binding where pages are stapled to the cover through a central fold (good for smaller page counts, <60pp) | |
| Binding, Spiral | |
| a method of binding with a spiral wire threaded through holes along the binding edge | |
| Bitmap | |
| a type of image (eg from Photoshop) with each pixel assigned a colour value (tends to result in larger file sizes), usually with the JPEG or TIFF file format | |
| Bleed | |
| the print area that extends beyond the trim line, essential to avoid white edges after trimming if the print area goes to the edge of the page | |
| Brief | |
| the information gathering session usually undertaken to develop the nature and scope of a design project | |
| c | Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) |
| used to define the look and format of (primarily) web sites. Useful for consistency across a web site and makes formatting changes easier and more efficient | |
| Celloglaze | |
| a thin plastic coating similar to lamination. Often used on books, reports and some stationery to protect and enhance the print. Available in matt, satin or gloss finishes | |
| CMS | |
| see Content Management System | |
| CMYK | |
| (aka four process colour) Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black: the standard four inks used in the full colour print process, from which all other colours are created | |
| Coated Stock | |
| (stock = paper or board to be printed onto) paper that has a thin layer of clay applied to enhance print and colour reproduction. Available as matt, satin and gloss (with variants), and a range of weights or thicknesses (measured in grams per square meter or GSM) | |
| Content Management System (CMS) | |
| a tool for building web sites that allows approved users to update the site themselves, without any HTML knowledge | |
| Crop Marks | |
| crossed lines placed at the corners of a printed page to indicate where to trim | |
| d | Digital Print |
| a print method where the image is sent directly to the printer using digital files. Useful and economical for short, and on-demand print runs. Quality tends to be less than traditional offset print, but is much faster. Price per unit doesn’t usually reduce with larger print quantities | |
| Domain | |
| a dedicated and unique web address for a web site and associated email | |
| DPI (Dots Per Inch) | |
| the resolution of a printer, ie a measure of how many dots of ink or toner used by any printing device. In general, the more dots, the better the image quality. Also used as a measure of the number of pixels in an image to define image quality (see Resolution) | |
| e | Embossing |
| the process of creating a raised (or lowered: debossing) design on a sheet of paper | |
| EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) | |
| usually refers to a vector file format, such as generated by Adobe Illustrator. Best used for linework and logos and similar, not so good for full colour photos | |
| f | Font |
| a specific style and size of a typeface within a type family | |
| FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) | |
| a non-profit organisation that sets certain high standards to make sure that forestry is practiced in an environmentally responsible and socially beneficial manner. Products (inc printed documents) labelled as FSC Certified means the product has met the requirements of the FSC | |
| FTP (File Transfer Protocol) | |
| the way web site content is transferred from a desktop computer to the web site hosting server | |
| g | Gif (Graphics Interchange Format) |
| a bitmap image format used for web images (note: low resolution and NOT suitable for printing) | |
| Gloss | |
| coated paper/stock, or a varnish, with a shiny finish, as opposed to matt or satin | |
| Graphic Design | |
| visual communication by the creative and skillful combination of text and imagery | |
| GSM (Grams per Square Meter) | |
| used to define the weight, or thickness of paper/stock | |
| GUI (Graphical User Interface) | |
| the look and feel of an interactive digital presentation, typically referring to a web site | |
| h | Hosting Service |
| provision of space on a server to allow access to your web site via the internet | |
| HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) | |
| a ‘programming’ language used to build web pages and set up hypertext links between pages | |
| i | Imposition |
| the arrangement of a printed product’s pages on the sheet of paper to maximise speed, simplify binding and reduce paper waste | |
| INDD | |
| the native file format of Adobe InDesign documents | |
| ISP (Internet Service Provider) | |
| simply provides access to the internet. Not to be confused with a hosting company (although some companies do provide both services) | |
| j | JPEG |
| a method of compressing an image to reduce file size, common for web/internet delivery of images. Best suited to photographic images rather than line drawings, logos etc. Note this is a ‘lossy’ format, ie image information is irretrievably discarded to reduce file sizes. Each time a JPEG image is saved, more information is lost resulting in a gradual deterioration in quality (akin to making photocopies of photocopies) | |
| m | Matt |
| coated paper/stock or a varnish with a dull finish, as opposed to gloss or satin | |
| o | Offset Print |
| a printing process where ‘plates’ are inked and the resulting image is offset onto a roller before transferring the ink to paper. Much more economical than digital printing for larger print quantities (with a reduction in price per unit the higher the print run) | |
| p | Page Count |
| the number of pages in a document. For print purposes referred to as pp (printed pages, ie numbered pages, NOT sheets or leaves). To suit most types of digital and offset printing, the page count must be a multiple of 4 (better 8, best 16) | |
| Pantone Colour | |
| see PMS Colour | |
| PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) | |
| a programming language used to extend the functionality and interactivity of web sites | |
| Pixel | |
| one of the many tiny dots that make up the picture on a computer monitor, TV etc. Also used as a unit to define the resolution (quality) of an image (pixels per inch) | |
| PMS (Pantone Matching System) Colour, also Pantone Colour, Spot Colour | |
| a set of standard pre-mixed printing inks useful for exact colour matching not usually feasible with the standard process inks. Good for corporate stationery and logos etc, but no good for general full colour printing. Pantone colours can be printed in addition to process colours, but at a cost | |
| PNG (Portable Network Graphics) | |
| a file format for web graphics, similar to GIF but with better compression and transparency support | |
| PP | |
| the number of pages in a document. For print purposes referred to as pp (printed pages, ie numbered pages, NOT leaves). To suit most types of digital and offset printing, the page count must be a multiple of 4 (better 8, best 16) | |
| Pre-press | |
| the preparation of documents and files to suit the print process. Typically a design studio will have a pre-press stage, where files are checked, images are prepped to suit the print process and so on. Commercial printers also have a pre-press stage where files supplied by a design studio are processed (ripped) to suit the proofing and print system of the printery | |
| Press Check | |
| going to a commercial printer and checking the printing of a job actually on the press. Provides an opportunity to check the print quality and make some adjustments to colour reproduction | |
| Printer’s Proof | |
| supplied by a commercial digital or offset printer. Produced from the files given to them. Provides the last opportunity to make sure everything is correct before actual printing (thereby hopefully avoiding costly errors, omissions and therefore reprints) | |
| Process Colour | |
| see CMYK | |
| PSD | |
| the native file format of Adobe Photoshop documents | |
| r | Resolution |
| in image terms, the number of pixels in an image. The higher the number, usually the better the quality. Low resolution (res.) images such as web images typically have a resolution of 72dpi (see Dots Per Inch) and are not suitable for printing. Images to be commercially printed should be at least 300dpi. WARNING: the process of artificially increasing a web images’ pixel resolution (eg in Photoshop) does not result in a better quality printable image | |
| RGB | |
| Red, Green and Blue, the three colours displayed on a computer monitor. All colours are generated by mixing various amounts of these three. WARNING: images built in RGB colour cannot be printed and must be converted to CMYK | |
| s | Satin |
| coated paper/stock or a varnish with a semi-shiny finish, as opposed to gloss or matt | |
| Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) | |
| several techniques employed to improve the ‘findability’ of a web site | |
| Self cover | |
| a print product where the cover is printed on the same stock/paper as the text pages and is included in the page count (pp) | |
| Spot Colour | |
| see PMS Colour | |
| Stock | |
| the paper used in digital and offset printing | |
| Stock Weight | |
| the weight or thickness of paper for printing, measured in GSM | |
| SWF (Shockwave Flash) | |
| the file format of Flash movies for web sites | |
| t | TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) |
| a high quality lossless file compression format for bitmap graphics destined to be commercially printed | |
| Typeface | |
| a set of one or more fonts | |
| u | Uncoated Stock |
| (stock = paper or board to be printed onto) paper that has no additional surface coating. Printing tends to be a little less crisp and duller than when using coated stock | |
| v | Varnish, Dry Trap and Wet Trap |
|
a machine varnish applied over a printed area to help protect the print. Dry trap is applied after the inks are dry (as a separate print run), giving better protection and higher gloss. Wet trap is applied over the wet inks in the same print run, therefore is cheaper, but doesn’t protect quite as well, and has less gloss. Varnishes are available in matt, satin or gloss finishes and can be applied over the entire surface of the printed product, or as a Spot, in specified areas only |
|
| Varnish, Machine | |
| an unpigmented ink applied to a printed product, used for protection, colour enhancement, and emphasis | |
| Varnish, Spot | |
| a machine varnish applied to select areas of a printed product to highlight and emphasise a design or element thereof | |
| Vector | |
| a type of image with mathematically defined edges (and fills) as opposed to a pixel based image. Vector images are typically line work illustrations, logos etc (not photographic style) and tend to have small file sizes | |
| w | W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) |
| an international organisation responsible for developing and managing standards for the WWW | |
| x | XHTML (Extensible Hypertext Markup Language) |
| a spinoff of HTML allowing more control over the appearance and organisation of a web site |
