Glossary Some of the terms used in the Printing Industry

ai
Adobe Illustrator file format (AI) was developed by Adobe Systems, Incorporated for the Macintosh and Windows platforms primarily a vector-based image.

Bleed
The part of the printed image that extends beyond the edge of the page. The bleed ensures that the final image goes right to the edge of the paper after binding and trimming.

Cello Glaze
A clear plastic applied to the surface of a cover, brochure, presentation folder etc to not only enhance the appearance of the product but also offers protection to maintain the life of the product. It comes in a range of finishings, such as gloss, matt and linen.

CYMK
A colour mode in which colours Cyan, Yellow, Magenta and Black are used for four colour process printing. CMYK printing produces true blacks and a wide colour and tonal range to produce the best output.

DPI/Resolution
A measure of a printer's resolution in dots per inch. The amount of detail that an image file contains, or that an input, output, or display device is capable of producing. Low resolutions can result in a grainy appearance; high resolutions can produce higher quality images but result in larger file sizes.

Embedding
The process of placing an object created in one application into a document created in a different application. Embedded objects are included entirely in the current document; they are not linked to their source files.

eps
An Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file is a metafile supported by most illustration and page layout programs.

Font / Typeface
A set of characters with a single style (such as italic), weight (such as bold), and size (such as 10 point) for a typeface such as Times New Roman.

FTP
File Transfer Protocol - Electronic method of moving files between two computers that are too large to email.

GIF
A graphic file format designed to use a minimum of disk space and be easily exchanged between computers. This format is commonly used to publish images to the Internet - This format is not acceptable quality for commercial printing.

Grayscale
A colour mode that displays images using 256 shades of gray. Thus being referred to as one colour.

JPEG
A format for photographic images that offers compression with some loss of image quality. Because of their compression (up to 20 to 1) and small file size, JPEG images are widely used in Internet publishing. For commercial printing jpegs MUST be supplied in high-resolution.

Linking
The process of placing an object created in one application into a document created in a different application. A linked object remains connected with its source file. Therefore the original file will also need to be supplied with the artwork for output/printing.

PMS/Spot Colour
Pantone Matching System colour mode or spot colour - In commercial printing, a solid ink colour that prints individually, one plate per spot colour.

Process Colour
In commercial printing, colours that are produced from a blend of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. This is different from a spot colour, which is a solid ink colour printed individually as in PMS Colour system where you can run a 1 colour, 2 colour, 3colour or 4 colour job however usually a 4 spot colour would be converted to 4 colour process, but this is not necessary and a 4 spot colour job can be produced.

RGB
A colour mode in which the three colours red, green, and blue are used for Monitor and Internet, NOT printing as it does not have a true black and therefore does not reach the standard of CYMK.

Trim/Registration
These are marks required by the printer to firstly line up the colour plates by using the registration marks, and the trim or cut marks are used to trim the finished job to the final size required which will remove the bleed and leave the colour running of the edges instead of the colour falling short.