Here are some of the most common terms used in our industry. If you can't find what you're looking for perhaps we can help you!
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an image or printed color that runs off the trimmed edge of a page. Bleeding one or more edges of a printed page generally increases both the amount of paper needed and the overall production cost of a printed job. Bleeds are created by trimming the page after printing.

A computer graphics format "Bitmap IBM format" not generally used in professional printing.

Type and/or artwork that has been pasted into position, laser prints, or other artwork to be photographed for plate ready film.

Abreviation for the four process color inks: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

having an unbroken range of intensities, as found in black and white photographs. Continuous tone images have not been screened, and contain gradient tones from black to white. see also halftone, screen, stochastic. Our photographic prints display continuous tone technology.

the degree of difference between light and dark areas in an image. Extreme lights and darks give an image high contrast. An image with a wide tonal range has lower contrast.

The written information and other text used in advertising and printed material.

A group of legal rights granted to the author or creator of written or visual work. All work appearing with the © symbol or the word "copyright" is protected by its creator or his heirs. For more information, contact your attorney.

The process of creating a digital output of an illustration, photographic image, computer file or other computer generated materials. Output media can be film, paper, transparencies, vinyl and other materials.

A type of printing which uses digital imaging process that transfers the image directly onto plain paper imediately, without traditional offset rollers and plates.

the number of dots that fit horizontally and vertically into a one- inch measure. Generally, the more dots per inch, the more detail is captured, and the sharper the resulting image. see also halftone, lines per inch, screen.

a two-color halftone of the same imaegs created with two screens, two plates, and two colors. Most halftones are one-color halftones, printed with black ink on white paper. By blending the black of the tiny ink dots and the white of the paper, the human eye sees shades of gray. Duotones are made by printing an image with two colors, generally black and a second color. The full range of tones are printed black and the middle range of tones are printed in the second color. The result is a striking image with more richness and depth that a one-color halftone. The image can be further enhanced by printing a tritone or a quadratone; these are also reproductions of black and white images, perhaps with a touch of color. The cost of printing tritones or quadratones may be as high as or higher than four- color process printing. see also four-color process, halftone, quadratone, screen, tritone.

a method that uses dots of magenta (red), cyan (blue), yellow, and black to simulate the continuous tones and variety of colors in a color image. Reproducing a four-color image begins with separating the image into four different halftones by using color filters of the opposite (or negative) color. For instance, a red fil- ter is used to capture the cyan halftone, a blue filter is used to capture the yellow halftone, and a green filter is used to capture the magenta halftone. Because a printing press can't change the tone intensity of ink, four-color process relies on a trick of the eye to mimic light and dark areas. Each halftone separation is printed with its process color (magenta, cyan, yellow, and black). When we look at the final result, our eyes blend the dots to recreate the continuous tones and variety of colors we see in a color photograph, painting, or drawing. see also color separation, continuous tone, dots per inch, halftone, screen subtractive color, touchplate..

An eight bit (256 colors or shades of grey) or less computer file format by Compuserve. Commonly used to post photographic images to computer bulletin boards and the internet, GIF files are almost never used for professional printing.

a printed picture that uses dots to simulate the tones between light and dark. Because a printing press cannot change the tone of ink, it will only print the ink color being used on press. This works well for printing text or line art: the press simply puts a full dose of ink for each letter or line on the paper, creating small solid areas of ink. But black-and-white photographs are continuous tone images, and printing a photograph this way would have the same result: large solid areas of ink. White areas of the photograph would have no ink; black areas would have black ink; and gray areas would have black, not gray ink. The halftone mimics the continuous tone of a black-and-white photograph by converting the picture to dots. Photographing a continuous tone image through a screen creates a duplicate image made of dots. Darkers areas of the photograph have bigger dots and lighter area of the photograph have smaller dots. To the human eye, the black of the dots blend with the white of the paper to create shades of gray. The result is strinkingly similar to the continuous tone of a photograph. see also continuous tone, duotone, four-color process, quadratone, screen, tritone.

capacity to accept or absorb ink. see also absorbency, ink holdout.

Joint Photographic Electronic Group. A common standard for compressing image data.

the number of lines in an inch, as found on the screens that create halftones and four-color process images (for example, "printed 175-line screen"). The more lines per inch, the more detailed the printed image will be. With the demand for computer-generated imagery, the term "dots per inch" (which refers to the resolution of the output), is replacing the term "lines per inch." see also dpi, four-color process, halftone, screen.

a custom-blended ink that matches a specified color exactly. Match colors are used to print line copy and halftones in one, two, three, or occasionally more colors. The specified colors are chosen from color systems. The most widely used systems are the PATONE MATCHING SYSTEM, Colorcurve, and Toyo. see also Colorcurve, PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM, Toyo.

a pattern created by printing several repetitive designs on top of each other. In four-color process printing, four screens of colored dots print on top of each other. If the angles of the halftone screens of each of the four colors are not properly aligned with each other, an undesireble, blurry pattern, called "moire" appears in the final image; the term is from the watery or wavy pattern seen on moire silk. see also four-color process, halftone, rosette, screen.

(Offset lithography) Currently the most common commercial printing method, in which ink is offset from the printing plate to to a second roller then to paper.

the most widely used system for specifying and blending match colors. The PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM identifies more than 700 colors. It provides designers with swatches for specific colors, and gives printers the recipes for making those colors. PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM was developed by neither a commercial printer nor an ink manufacture, leaving the choice of ink brand up to the printer. see also Colorcurve, match color, Toyo.

(Pantone Matching System) A proprietary color system for choosing and matching specific spot colors. Almost all printers worldwide use this system for color matching.

The mechanical process of reproducing a full color image with the three primary subtractive color inks (CMYK/ Cyan, Magenta,Yellow and Black). When viewed under a lupe, the individual color halftone dots can be seen in a process color image.

The process of alignment of the different elements in a printing job. Such as the different colored inks on a print job, so they are correctly printed next to each other or over each other . (i.e. If the inks can be seen to overlap improperly or to leave white gaps on the page, the printing is said to be "out of registration" or "poorly registered".)

Red Green Blue, the colors used by a computer monitor to create color images on the screen. When all three colors are combined over each other the color of light is white.

Single colors applied to printing when process color is not necessary (i.e. one, two and three color printing), or when process colors need to be augmented (i.e. a fluorescent pink headline or a metallic tint).

a booklet containing paper samples and paper specifications for a line of paper. Champion produces individual swatchbooks for each of its fine printing papers.

Tagged Image File Format, a bitmapped file format used for the reproduction of digitally scanned images such as photographs, illustrations & logos.

a black and white image printed with three screens and three colors, such as one black and two grays, used to enrich the contrast between light and dark areas. see also continuous tone, duotone, halftone, quadratone, screen

ink specially formulated to dry quickly with ultraviolet (UV) light while still on press. UV drying improves turnaround time because it eliminates waiting for the first side to dry before printing the second side. This eliminates the need for the paper to pass through the press more than once. see also dry trap, ink, wet trap

made from PVC, pigments, plasticiser and additives. Calendered vinyl films are manufactured by producing a molten mass of vinyl in an extruder, then pulling the molten PVC through polished heated rollers and stretching to proper thickness. Great for banners and general signage

is manufactured using casting paper, PVC resin, automotive grade lead free pigments, polymeric plasticiser, heat stabilisers which resist process heat, UV heat & mold growth, premium grade UV inhibitors, additives and solvent. Recommended for mounting in curves or uneven surfaces such as vehicle graphics; busses, trucks, cars.

the waviness of a sheet of paper generally seen along its edges. Curling is generally the result of physical stresses or changes in humidity, and may occur at the paper mill, in the pressroom, on press, or after binding. Paper tends to curl along, rather than across, the grain of the paper. Recycled and recycled content papers have less tendency to curl than virgin fiber papers because their fibers are shorter. see also grain, relative humidity.

the weight of a sheet of paper or substrate as compared to its bulk. For example, a paper that weighs more than another paper but is thinner has a higher density.

intended for large format, full-color display of photographic or digitally printed content in a controlled, backlit environment, so that light passes through, illuminates and brightens the graphic display. Most common applications uses are backlit displays for retail, airport advertising and various product promotions.

durable lightweight board used to mount graphics. It consists of a core of polystyrene foam bonded on both sides with wood fibers impregnated with resin. This provides durability and rigidity as well as moisture resistance.
General Applications: • Photo Mounting • Sign Painters • Exhibit Builders • Advertising Media • Display Designers

the property that's responsible for laminate's shiny or lustrous appearance; also the measure of a sheet's surface reflectivity.

Polycarbonate used in the graphic industry as an overlaminate or substrate for rollable displays.
A product made by G.E. it is also used for bullet proof windows.

Lustre finish is fingerprint and glare-resistant like matte but has the color saturation of glossy.

a non-glossy coated laminate, generally used to refer to papers having little or no gloss. A matte coated sheet is often specified when there is a lot of type, since it makes for easier reading.

is a unit of length equal to one thousandth of an inch (.001" or 0.0254 millimeter), used, to specify the thickness of materials such as lexan or sintra. For comparison, a regular sheet of copy paper is approximately 4 mil in thickness.

a measure of how opaque a paper is. The more fibers or fillers a paper has, the more opaque it is, and the less it allows "show- through" of the printing on the back side or on the next page. Opacity isn't always determined by thickness or weight; a thinner paper may have more opacity than a thicker paper if opacifying thickeners are used. see also calcuim carbonate, fillers, thickness, titanium dioxide, weight.

transparent film or liquid used for graphic protection over other graphics that protects prints from UV rays, weather, fingerprints, grease, dirt, and graffiti. They can also ensure that items stay smooth and flat, reduce glare from a light source, and change textural appearance. There are specialized types of overlaminates for various functions.

refers to the openness or compactness of the fibers in a paper or substrate. It's measured by the ability of air to pass through the sheet. The more open a paper is, the greater its porosity.

Extruded Acrylic Sheet (aka Plexiglass, Acrylite, Lucite, Optix, Plexi) is an excellent glazing, signage, window or display material that is unaffected by moisture, and offers a high strength-to-weight ratio.

a brand name for rigid PVC (poly vinyl chloride) foam board2, a moderately expanded, closed-cell PVC sheet. Sintra® is available in thicknesses from 1mm to 19mm (but 3mm and 6mm are the most common), and a dozen colors (white is available in all thicknesses, the other colors just in 3mm and 6mm; more about colors later).
* High stiffness * Light weight -- half the weight of solid PVC in gauges of 1 - 6mm, slightly over one third the weight of solid PVC in 10mm and thicker gauges * Resistance to moisture and many chemicals * Smooth solid faces.

critical property of the ink used in lithogra- phy. Because the ink sits on a flat surface, it needs internal cohesion; in other words, it needs to stick to itself so that it doesn't run all over the plate. However, too much tack can cause it to pull the paper apart.

the final size of a printed piece once it's been cut to specification.

a very slick, glossy coating applied to the printed paper surface and dried on press with ultraviolet (UV) light. The slick surface of UV coating makes it eye catching, and therefore very popular for printing the covers of paperback novels. Because UV coating can cause slight variations in match colors, consulting with an ink manufacturer or printer will yield best results.

printed on various weights of material, used with grommets or poles for hanging.