Print Jargon

If you are new to print or design then it can seem like we are speaking a whole different language when talking about setting up artwork and design so here are some definitions that might help.

Artwork | Bleed | CMYK | Creep | Die | Die cut | DPI | GSM | Landscape | Leading | Moire | Perfect bind | Portrait | Process colour | Quiet zone | Resolution | RGB | Saddle stitch | Spot colour | Trim size |

Bleed

Printing that extends to the edge of a sheet or page after trimming

What is the point of extending artwork beyond the finished size?

Your artwork gets put up onto large sheets with other jobs on them, then it gets guillotined down to the finish size. The guillotine cuts through hundreds of sheets at a time and therefore there is a tolerance (in our case only 1.5mm*) so if it isn't trimmed exactly to the edges of your finished artwork you could get slithers of white on an edge where there is no printing. If you add bleed it allows for these tolerances and means that if it's not guillotined exactly the background will still go right up to the edge of the paper.

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Creep

In a saddle stitched booklet the bulk of the paper causes the inner pages to extend or creep further out than the outer pages when folded. When trimmed the inner pages are narrower than the outer pages, counteracting the creep.

Creep varies depending on the thickness of the paper and the number of pages. If there is no creep allowance, when pages are trimmed the outer margins become narrower toward the center of the booklet and there is the possibility that text or images may be cut off

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Die

Device for cutting, scoring, perforating.

Die Cut

To cut irregular shapes, or perforations in paper or board using a die.

DPI - Dots-per-inch

Measure of resolution of input devices such as scanners, display devices such as monitors, and output devices such as laser printers, imagesetters and monitors. Abbreviated DPI. Also called dot pitch.

GSM

Grams per Square Meter

Paper is not measured by it's thickness but by weight We print on 80gsm up to 400gsm stock.

Landscape

Artist style in which width is greater than height. (Portrait is opposite.)

Leading

Amount of space between lines of type.

Moire

Undesirable pattern resulting when halftones and screen tints are made with improperly aligned screens, or when a pattern in a photo, such as a plaid, interfaces with a halftone dot pattern. This can happen when scanning images from a magazine or book.

Perfect Bind

To bind sheets that have been ground at the spine and are held to the cover by glue. Also called adhesive bind, cut-back bind, glue bind, paper bind, patent bind, soft bind and soft cover.

Like our Design and Print Buying Guide

Portrait

An art design in which the height is greater than the width.

(Opposite of Landscape.)

Process Colour (Inks)

The colors used for four-color process printing: Cyan Magenta Yellow and Black

Quiet zone

When we talk about a quiet zone this is an area we suggest not to put any important information, design elements (on most products.

When products are guillotined there are tolerances so if you put text right to the edge or you artwork and when it's trimmed it shifts you could lose some of your text. It can also make it quite hard to read if text is put to close to the edge. Please do take any background images or colours beyond the finished size. (read bleed above)

Resolution

Sharpness of an image on film, paper, computer screen, disc, or other medium.

for print you want the resolution to be at least 300dpi at finished size, for the web it can be a lot lower at 72dpi

RGB

Abbreviation for red, green, blue. RGB are web based colours, these can be converted to CMYK however some colours are out of gamut, which means they won't be a perfect match this mostly effects very vibrant blues and greens. If you're designing something to be printed then make sure your colour profile is CMYK.

Saddle Stitch

To bind by stapling sheets together where they fold at the spine, as compared to side stitch. Also called pamphlet stitch, saddle wire and stitch bind.

Spot Colour or Varnish

One ink or varnish applied to portions of a sheet. We don't offer spot colour printing however our "Starmarque" products allow you to have a clear spot varnish on one side.

Trim Size

The size of the printed material in its finished stage (e.g., the finished trim size is 148mm x 210mm).

Undercolour Removal

Technique of making color separations such that the amount of cyan, magenta and yellow ink is reduced in midtone and shadow areas while the amount of black is increased. Abbreviated UCR.