AO to A6: Trimmed paper sizes in the ISO international paper size range.

Art: A paper coated with china clay and size to leave a very smooth surface. Finish can be matt or gloss.

BO to B6: Trimmed paper sizes in the ISO international paper size range (larger than A sizes).

Bank: Lightweight papers (under 60 gsm).

Bitmap: A scanned image that is made up of a series of pixels.

Blanket: Drum covered with rubber surface in an off-set litho press which transfers the ink/image from the plate to the paper.

Bleed: Printed area outside of final trim marks. Bleed printing achieves a clean edge where colour is run to the full height or width of page.

Blind Embossing: A relief design stamped/pressed into paper without ink.

Bond: Heavier papers often used for letterheads.

BRE: Business Reply Envelope.

Bromide: Photographic paper used in reproduction on which an opaque image is created (as opposed to film). Can be positive or negative.

Bulk: Degree of thickness of paper.

Burst Binding: Form of perfect binding that allows the book to be opened flat.

Choke: Small increase to inside edge, usually applied to a lighter colour enclosing a darker colour, to force an overlap. A form of trapping.

CMYK: Short term for four colour process referring to Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (Black). CMY are subtractive colours (100% values of each equate to black). See RGB.

Concertina: Alternating folds in a single sheet.

Cromalin: An off-press proof (made direct from the film separations).

Cutout: Area/shape removed from within trim area. Image without a background.

Cutter: Used to cut pre-determined shapes in paper.

Cyan: One of the 4 process colours (‘Blue’).Die-Cut: Process using sharpened metal strips set in a base form to cut shapes out of a sheet of paper.

Diestamp: A method of printing from engraved steel dies producing a raised impression. Can be coloured or left blind (without ink).

Dot Gain: Enlargement of half-tone dot during printing which needs to be allowed for in reproduction.

DPI: Dots Per Inch. Measure of resolution, i.e. how many separate dots a printing device con produce per linear inch.

Duotone: Two colour halftone produced from a single colour original to produce a subtly coloured image.

Emboss: Raised lettering or impression rising above the flat paper/material.

EPS: File format used for images and graphics - short for Encapsulated Postscript File.

Film: Copy supplied as separation film for plate-making.

Fit: Refers to exact register of each colour used on film, proof or plate.

Foil Blocking: Process by which a metallic foil image can be transferred on to paper.

Full Colour: Four colour process print using Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK).

Gatefold: Page in magazine which folds out.Gloss Art: Shiny art paper (as opposed to matt art).

GSM: Short for grams per square metre, measuring the weight of paper.

Gutter: The inner, binding margin of a book, or space between printed areas.

Halftone: Illustration created by dots of varying size, resulting in the appearance of continuous tone.

Imagesetter: High resolution output device used for producing bromide, final film or even plates containing graphics, text and scanned images.

Justify: Spacing words to a predetermined width.

JPEG: Technique used to compress files to allow easier transfer of data. This causes a degradation of the image.

Kerning: Spacing letters of a word so that they are either closer together or further apart.

Laid: A form of paper with marks through the paper, as opposed to wove which is smooth.

Laminate: Adding a transparent plastic film to the surface of the printed matter to enhance its appearance and increase durability.

Leading: Spacing between lines of text, depth of which is measured in points.

Litho: Lithography. A method of printing whereby the ink is transferred from a chemically treated flat plate to paper.

LPI: Lines Per Inch (see DPI). Measurement of definition of halftone screen to be applied.