Glossary of Promotional Product Terms
- Bleed
- When an image extends off all four sides of the paper.
- Border
- The area between the image and the edge of the paper. Similar to a picture frame.
- Camera Ready
- A layout that is created by a client and submitted as one hundred percent black ink on white paper. It is then scanned and turned into plates for printing. Usually contains text and logos in finished form.
- CMYK
- (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) The standard color model used in the printing process. It is often called four color printing.
- Color Bar
- A tool used to judge color accuracy of an image when shooting film for output.
- Color Correction
- Adjusting an image to improve overall color.
- Color Match
- Matching a color to formulated ink colors used for communicating color.
- Color Separations
- The process of separating CMYK into film layers, each layer is then printed separately one on top of the other to give the impression of full color.
- Continuous Tone
- An unlimited range of color and shades of grays.
- Contrast
- An image with light tones (highlights) and dark tones (shadows).
- Copy
- Any words, sentences or paragraphs that appear on the item being printed.
- Crop
- To trim or remove unwanted portions from the image in order to make it the proper proportion to the paper.
- Crop Guide
- A tool used to show how an image may be cropped in proportion.
- Die Cut
- The cutting of special shapes from printed or un-printed material.
- DPI (Dots Per Inch)
- A measurement of how many dots can fit into one inch. The higher the amount of dots the sharper the image will be.
- EPS (Encapsulated Postscript File)
- A file format that transfers easily between computer systems. This format is often used for high-resolution images that will be added to another document. (Example: Illustrator is a commonly known EPS format.)
- File Format
- Each different type of file has a different format. A file format specifies how information is organized. (Example: EPS is a standard format supported by many programs.)
- Four Color Process
- CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) The standard color model used in the printing process. Same as full-color process.
- FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
- The process of copying files between computers over the Internet.
- Full-Color Process
- CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) The standard color model used in the printing process. Same as four color process.
- Grayscale
- The use of many shades of gray from white to black to represent an image.
- Halftone
- Black and white dots that vary in pattern to simulate shades of gray in an image.
- High-Res
- The resolution (Res) of an image indicates the number of dots per inch (dpi). High resolution is usually anywhere from 300 dpi to 2,500 dpi.
- JPEG or JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
- A file format used for color images. It retains a higher degree of color but files are smaller, but remember the more you compress a JPEG file the more detail and color is lost.
- Line Art
- Black and white artwork that does not contain any halftone screens.
- Low-Res
- The resolution of an image indicates the number of dots per inch (dpi). Low resolution is usually anywhere from 72 dpi to 250 dpi.
- PDF (Portable Document Format)
- A popular way of formatting documents so they can be viewed and printed on multiple platforms the way you intended. You use Adobe Acrobat Reader to view a PDF.
- Pantone Color
- A popular color matching system used by the printing industry to print spot colors.
- PostScript
- Is a language for printing, meaning it treats fonts, images and graphics as geometrical objects and stores it into one document.
- Primary Colors
- Are made up of RGB - Additive Primaries (which create white light) and CMYK - Subtractive Colors (which are used for printing).
- Process Colors
- CMYK colors used for printing.
- Proof
- A digital representation of artwork on a product delivered to you by email or fax.
- Quality
- Absorbent, Ink.
- Resolution
- The quantity of pixels that can fit into one inch determines the sharpness and quality of an image. This is the image's resolution. (Example: 72 dpi is low-res, 355 dpi is high-res.)
- Reverse
- Type appearing in white or other light color on a black or dark background. Sometimes called a knockout if the type is the color of the paper.
- RGB (Red, Green, Blue)
- When mixed together these colors create a white light. (Example: televisions and computers display color in RGB.)
- Screen Printing
- Method of printing by forcing ink through a mesh stencil.
- Spot Colors
- Refers to a method of specifying and printing colors in which each color is printed with its own ink.
- TIFF (Tagged Image File Format)
- A TIFF is the most widely supported file format for storing images on a computer. It can handle a range from one bit to 24 bits of photographic image color with equal ease. A TIFF can be black and white, grayscale or color.
- Typesetting
- To layout words, text and logos.
- Vector Image
- Are more flexible than bitmapped images because they can be resized / stretched and placed over other images without a white block. (Example: an Illustrator EPS is a vector image.)
