Jargon Buster

Common Printing Words and What They Mean

Here's a simple explanation of some of the words you'll hear most often in printing:

• Artwork: This is your design file, ready for printing. It includes all the text, pictures, and graphics.
• Bleed: This is an extra bit of your design that goes slightly beyond the edge of what will be trimmed. It makes sure that when your item is cut to size, you don't get any white lines around the edges. Usually, it's about 3mm extra.
• CMYK: This stands for Cyan (blue), Magenta (pinky-red), Yellow, and Key (Black). These are the four colours printers use to make all the other colours for things like brochures and posters. It's different from the colours you see on a screen (RGB).
• Coating (Paper Coating): This is a layer put on paper to make it look nicer, feel different, or be stronger. Common types are shiny (gloss), silky (silk/satin), or dull (matt).
• Creasing/Scoring: This is making a dent or line in thick paper or card before you fold it. It stops the paper from cracking and helps you get a neat, sharp fold.
• Crop Marks (Trim Marks): These are little lines printed in the corners of your design. They show the printer exactly where to cut your item to its final size.
• Die-Cutting: This is a special way of cutting paper or card into custom shapes, not just straight lines. Think of a cookie cutter for paper.
• Digital Printing: A modern way of printing straight from a computer file. It's great for smaller print jobs, when you need things quickly, or if each item needs slightly different text or pictures.
• DPI (Dots Per Inch): This measures how clear and sharp a picture will look when printed. The more dots per inch, the clearer the picture. For good quality printing, you usually need 300 DPI.
• Duplex (Duplex Printing): Simply means printing on both sides of a piece of paper.
• Embossing/Debossing:
  • Embossing: Makes part of your design stick up from the paper, like a raised pattern.
  • Debossing: Makes part of your design press down into the paper, creating an indented look.
• Finishing: These are all the extra things done to your printed item after the ink is dry. This could be cutting, folding, binding (like for a book), laminating, creasing, or adding foil.
• Foiling: This is when a thin, decorative layer (often shiny metallic like gold or silver, or even a solid colour) is applied to specific areas of your print. It's used to add a touch of luxury or to make parts of your design stand out. (Please note: There are different methods of foiling. We primarily use digital foiling, which uses heat to apply the foil directly from a digital file.)
• GSM (Grams per Square Metre): This is how we measure how thick and heavy paper is. The higher the number, the thicker the paper (e.g., 80gsm is like normal printer paper, while 300gsm is thick card).
• Laminating: Putting a thin, clear plastic film over your printed item. It protects it and can make it look glossier, matt, or feel soft.
• Offset Printing (Lithography): A traditional printing method, best for really big print runs (lots of copies). It's very high quality and gets cheaper per item when you print huge amounts.
• Overprinting: This is a setting where one colour is printed directly on top of another, without leaving a gap underneath. It's sometimes used to make sure colours meet perfectly or for certain design looks, especially with black text over colours. You need to be careful as colours can mix in unexpected ways.
• Pagination: Simply means the numbering of pages in a book or document.
• Pantone (PMS - Pantone Matching System): This is a worldwide system of specific colours. Printers use it to make sure a colour is exactly the same every time it's printed, often for brand logos.
• Perfect Binding: A common way to bind books or thick magazines. Pages are glued together at the spine and then glued into a cover. Think of a paperback novel.
• PDF (Portable Document Format): A common file type that keeps your design looking exactly the same on any computer. It's the standard file type to send to printers.
• Proof: A sample or test copy of your printed item that you check and approve before the main printing job starts. It can be a digital picture (soft proof) or a physical print (hard proof).
• RGB (Red, Green, Blue): These are the colours used for screens (like your computer monitor or TV). Designs made in RGB need to be changed to CMYK for printing, which can sometimes make the colours look slightly different.
• Resolution: How clear and detailed a picture is. For printing, it's usually measured in DPI.
• Run-on Rate: This is the lower price you pay per item when you order more copies after an initial print run. It's cheaper to print a few extra at the same time than to start a whole new job later.
• Saddle Stitching: A simple and cheap way to bind booklets or thin magazines. The folded pages are put inside each other and then stapled through the middle fold.
• Spot Colour: A specific, pre-mixed ink (often a Pantone colour) used to get an exact colour that might be hard to make with just CMYK. Good for brand colours or special effects like metallic inks.
• Substrate: This is just a fancy word for whatever you're printing on, like paper, card, vinyl, or fabric.
• UV Coating (Spot UV): A liquid coating that's dried with special UV light, giving a very shiny, strong finish. "Spot UV" means it's only put on certain parts of your design to make them stand out.
• Varnishing: A clear liquid coating put on printed material for protection or to change how they look (glossy, matt, or satin).
• Weight (Paper Weight): Refers to how thick and stiff paper is, measured in GSM.