Application
Computer program: Common page layout applications include Adobe InDesign, QuarkXpress. Associated graphics programs include Photoshop, Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw. Goanna Print supports and prefers these applications.
Backup
Printing on the reverse side of the sheet
Binding - section sewn
A book is printed in sections of 4,8,16 or 32 pages, each section is sewn together in the spine and the sections are 'drawn together' and glued into a cover. This is a very secure and robust binding, suited to larger books such as art catalogues.
Binding - perfect
Burst Bound
A book is printed in sections of 4,8,16 or 32 pages, each section is 'gathered' and glued into a cover.
This is an economical method for books over about 32 leaves.
Binding - saddle stitch
Smaller books of less than 32 leaves are usually printed in 'sections' of 4, 8, 16 or 32 pages (2 pages = 1 leaf), folded and collated and then stapled through the spine.
Saddle stitch
Black magic
Proofing system using a high quality 6 colour inkjet system on special paper stock to produce a colour-match proof of any print job. This proof is calibrated to our press output for cmyk process printing. Its output is not as sharp as the actual print, but it is made from the RIPped files that are actually used to produce the printing plates. These proofs are sent to the client for approval then go to the pressroom as a reference for the pressman so that he can match the client's expectation for colour. No current proofing system is 100% matching to the final product since it cannot be printed on the actual stock using the actual ink, but this system is one of the closest.
Blanket
The intermediate transfer medium in an offset press. The image to be printed is inked on a metal plate, transferred under pressure to the rubber 'blanket' which then transfers the ink to the paper stock.
Bleed
Any colour graphic or photo reaching the edge of the page is required to actually print at least 3mm past the edge of the page to allow a neat trim so that no white margins appear at the page edge.
Celloglazing
A gloss or matte platic coating applied to a printed sheet in a post-printing process to give a very strong clear finish on items such as book covers and business cards.
CMYK (often pronounced 'seemick')
Acronym for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black, the primary colours used in offset printing. The 'K' stands for Key...partly to avoid confusion with Blue or Cyan. It comes from the early days of printing when there were no registration marks and the black 'Key' plate was printed first to allow correct alignment of the other colours to it. These days, all the colours are printed in one pass, with registration marks, but the name has stuck.
Coated stock
A high quality paper or card stock used for fine printing where final appearance is important.
The raw paper is actually coated with chemicals or minerals such as porcelain clay.
Collating
The act of sorting loose leaves or printed sections into a complete book or set.
Colour management
Information regarding control of colour reproduction is passed through the entire preparation and printing process to ensure accurate and predictable colour reproduction. Starting with a colour profile attached to a file from a digital camera or scanner or computer graphics program and continuing through to the printed page, the colour information is converted between devices to maintain its integrity.
Colour profile
Information relating to the device and conditions present when a colour was allocated to a graphic or photograph. Colour profiles are the language of colour management.
Colour separation
A full colour photograph is comprised of four colour separations, each one printed on top of the other to create the effect of a full colour image. The colour primaries in offset printing are Cyan, Magenta and Yellow which combine to create a large spectrum of colours to print most images. A Black image is added to increase contrast and sharpness. (see CMYK)
Concertina fold
Folds in a sheet reverse direction each time, in the shape of a Z.
Creep
Pages in a book tend to be pushed away from the spine near the centre spread and as a result are slightly offset, a creep compensation is applied to move the pages towards the centre spine to give an aligned appearance when trimmed.
Cutting Die / cutting forme
A sharp blade mounted in a carrier for cutting printed paper into irregular shapes that cannot be cut on a guillotine, such as folders and tabbed dividers, dies are made of timber with metal blades. The shape is designed electronically as part of the page layout/design process and the die is created mechanically.
Die cutting
We do die cutting in-house using a letterpress style press which can quickly cut large quantities of specific shapes. We store the dies for re-use, see the link on the home page to our die collection.
Double proof
A backed up, cut up and assembled proof of the job to show the final assembly of the job and backup of pages.
Duplex
Printing on both sides of a sheet, usually used only in reference to digital printing, in offset this is known as 'perfecting'.
Foiling
Special foils can be applied to printed sheets to give a metallic finish.
Folding
Is carried out on a mechanical folder, typically to fold a printed flat of 4, 8 or 16 pages into halves and half again for collating and trimming.
Font
A typeface in electronic form used to set type.
Forme
Normally refers to a cutting die or letterpress plate.
Four colour
See CMYK
FTP
File Transfer Protocol, standards for the transfer of files between remote systems, such as sending or uploading design files to us for printing. FTP requires some computer skill and time to carry out, therefore it is more common to transfer files via email or cd/dvd media.
Full colour
See CMYK
Gamut
Spectrum of colours that can be recognised or reproduced by a specific device or colour space.
Gathering
Grouping together of pages or folded sections prior to gluing or stapling.
Half canadian
A type of binding where a coil holds pages inside a folded cover. The coil also loops through the cover but is concealed when viewed from the front, unlike coil binding where the cover and internal pages are all bound together in a metal of plastic coil.
Jpg/jpeg
A 'lossy' file format, good for reducing the size of a file by eliminating some of the detail or information in the file resulting in a lower quality image than the original image. This format should be used rarely in offset print files, and then only at high quality-mild compression.
Kinds
When quoting, this means there are similar documents with various sub-types such as business cards for a business with multiple staff names. Each name is referred to as a different 'kind'. Implies that the documents are otherwise the same in size and construction but not necessarily in quantity as each staff might require a different quantity of business cards.
Koolaid
A commercial ink process involving a 'candy apple' effect created by printing a metallic base ink with cmyk printing over the top.
Laser proof
Preliminary proof of a job sometimes used to precheck content of a job before going to a more expensive Black Magic proof. Rarely used, except where design is still in progress or extensive reworking may be required before job is suitable for submission to main production workflow.
Layout
The actual files used for the laying out the job. Usually Adobe InDesign or QuarkXpress.
Letterpress
Obsolete printing process, still used occasionally for die cutting or foiling or embossing.
Metallic
Metallic spot colour inks can be used, see also Koolaid.
Offset printing
In an offset press, the image to be printed is inked on a metal plate, transferred under pressure to the rubber 'blanket' which then transfers the ink to the paper stock.
Passes
Each time a sheet goes through a press, it is called a pass. Printing 4 colours on each side of a sheet via a four colour press requires 2 passes, printing one side on each pass. Printing 4 colours plus varnish usually requires 2 passes, one for the four colours and one pass for the varnish. Alternatively, a 5 colour press might be used.
PDF
'Portable Document Format', a file format well suited to transferring files for printing.
Perfecting
Printing both sides of a sheet in a single machine pass.
Perfing
Perforating, usually done on letterpress machines with a die forme.
Plates
Aluminium plates with a photographic coating one one surface which is imaged using a laser and the non image area removed with a chemical developer. The hydrophobic image area repels water and therefore accepts an oily ink film, which is what is then transferred to the rubber blanket for impression onto the paper stock.
PMS
Pantone Matching System. The most common standard for matching ink colours, usually refers to spot colour printing but can be used in reference to process colours also.
Prepress
The department at a printing house where files are prepared and plates are made.
Process colour
See CMYK
Proof
Before printing, all jobs are 'proofed' with the client to preview the output and printing will not occur until a signed proof is returned to us. Any errors visible on the proof may be printed so it is important to check your proof thoroughly as we will not be responsible for errors not marked up on the proof.
Proof-black magic
See Black Magic
Proof-double
See Double Proof
Proof-laser
See Laser proof
Proof-pdf
Occasionally, it is useful to soft-proof a job as a pdf file. This is not recommended, please talk to prepress about issues with pdf proofing.
Registration
Alignment of the different colours in a job to each other and to the press sheet.
Registration colour
A rich colour comprising solid ink in each separation 100% each of cyan, magenta, yellow and black. This is used only for registration marks and is not suitable for general printing as it will not dry and will 'set off'.
Roll fold
Folded panels (usually 3) fold in towards each other like a letter C. See Z fold also.
Run
The act of printing the job, and the quantity required to pass through. There may be an order for a 'run' of 10,000 brochures requiring 2 'passes' of 10,000 impressions each.
Saddle stitch
collated, folded and gathered sections are stapled through their spine.
Scoring
A crease is applied to a sheet to facilitate accurate folding.
Section sewn
Folded sections are sewn with thread prior to gathering and binding.
The sections are 'stacked' like a burst bound book, rather than nested like a saddle stitched book.
Self cover
A booklet where the cover and internal pages are on the same stock and can be folded in one action before saddle stapling.
Setoff
The unwanted transfer of ink from one printed sheet to another as a smudge. Can be avoided by proper drying and handling.
Spine
The back edge of a book. When laid on a table, cover upmost, the spine text should be upright for reading.
Spiral bind
A wire or plastic spiral coil is punched through the spine of a book.
Spot colour
Ink of a single colour from a tin, or ink mixed to a specified colour like paint as opposed to a cmyk combination. Gives a brighter result in a single impression. Spot and process colour can be combined in one job.
Spot colours are useful where the required colour is outside the gamut of cmyk.
Stock
The paper or card to be used for printing.
Tiff
A bitmap file format commonly used for photographs and graphic images. Normal standards require resolution of 300 dots per inch for offset printing.
Total ink (TIL, TIC)
The combined total ink coverage at any point on a sheet. Usually expressed in percentages, eg. 50% cyan plus 80% black equals 130% total ink load (TIL). Does not refer to the amount of paper covered with ink.
Varnish gloss
A sealing varnish that dries to a glossy finish, can be overall or in particular areas such as on a photo or graphic element.
Varnish matt
As for gloss varnish but dries to matt finish.
Varnish uv
As per the other varnishes, but thicker and stronger.
Vector
A type of electronic file where shapes are represented as mathematical formulas drawn as lines. This is how type and some graphics are represented so that they may be scaled and remain sharp at any size.
Wire/Wiro bind
A wire binding passed through the spine in a spiral or coil fashion.
Work and tumble
Printing a double sided job with a large sheet with one front and one back printing in one pass and the sheet is then tumbled end over end and the same printing on the other side, the result being 2 complete items to be cut out in this example.
Work and turn
As for work and turn except the sheet is flipped side to side for second pass.
Zed fold
Usually of brochures, where the folds reverse like the letter Z. (As distinct from C-fold or Roll-fold)
