I

Image area
Area of a page that can be printed on

Imposition
Arranging printed pages on a press sheet so they will be folded and trimmed in the correct order

Impression
The pressure of a printing press on paper; image caused by pressure of a press plate on paper

Indicia
Imprint in the upper right corner of the mail indicating postage information or payment

Ink fountain
The reservoir on a printing press that holds and supplies the ink


K

Keyline
An outline drawing to show the placement, content and estimate size of an artwork

L

Laid finish
A ribbed pattern made up of translucent horizontal and vertical lines

Line copy
Pictures without halftones consisting only of black and white; also called line art

Lines per inch (LPI)
The number of lines of dots per inch in a halftone screen; the higher the LPI., the finer the image detail

Lithography  
A method of printing where the image areas of a surface accept ink and non-image areas repel ink.
 

M

Magenta
A shade of bluish-red; also known as process red; one of the 4 basic ink colors in process CMYK or full color printing

Mask
Using an opaque material to block parts of an image from light exposure, also called knockout

Matte
Flat non-gloss paper finish

Micrometer
Instrument used to determine paper thickness or caliper

Middle tones
Tonal values of a photograph or image between highlights and shadows; must be balanced for accurate reproduction

Moire Pattern
An undesirable pattern that occurs when screen patterns overlap due to incorrect screen
alignment or angles

N

Negative
A film which reverses the white and black areas of the original image

O

Offset Lithography or Offset Printing
A common printing process in which an inked image is transferred from a metal plate to a rubber blanket which in turn presses the image onto paper

Offsetting
Transfer of ink from one side of a page to the side of an opposite page

Opacity
The property of paper that refers to how much it can block the ink from showing through

Outline halftone
A halftone image with the background removed from around the subject

Overrun
The quantity of prints produced is more than the ordered quantity
 
Oversampling  
Scanning at more than the ideal sampling rate

P

Page count
Total number of pages in a book or publication

Pantone Matching Systems (PMS)  
A registered name for a color-matching system used by printers and graphic designers to compare and identify ink colors

Perfect Bind
Binding method where pages are held together by grinding down the book’s binding edge and coating it with glue and then attaching it to a cover with adhesive

Perfecting press
A printing press that prints both sides of a sheet at the same time


Perforation  
A series of cuts or holes on a sheet to make tearing easy

Pica
A unit of measure used in the graphic and print industry; 1 pica = 1/6 of an inch

Plate  
A flat sheet of metal that holds the image reproduced during printing

PostScript
A page description language developed by Adobe Systems used for printing documents on laser printers and other output devices

Press Layout  
See Ruleup

Pressure-sensitive paper
Paper material with three layers – the liner, adhesive and facestock; the adhesive on the facestock lets it stick to a surface when the liner is removed and pressure is applied

Process colors
Process of producing color images with a full range of colors by combining 4 basic colors -: Cyan (blue), magenta (process red), yellow (process yellow), black (process black)

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