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Glossary - N-R

Article Index

 

Nested
Signatures of a publication assembled inside one another for binding.

Neutral Gray
Gray with no hue or cast

News Print
Paper used in printing newspapers. Low quality and for short life use.

Newton Ring
Flaw in a photograph or transparency that looks similar to oil on water.

Offset Printing
Printing press that transfers ink from a plate to a blanket, then to paper.

Opacity
Ink or paper that prevents transparency

Over Run
Additional printed material over the ordered quantity.

Overprint
To print on a previously printed image.

Page
One side of a leaf in a publication.

Page Count
Total number of pages in a publication.

Pagination
The numbering of pages in a book.

Parallel Fold
Method of folding. Two parallel folds to a sheet will produce 6 panels.

Perfect Bind
To bind sheets that have been ground at the spine and are held to the cover by glue.

Perforating
Making a line of small dotted holes so part of it can be easily and neatly torn off.

Pica
A unit of measure in the printing industry. A pica is approximately 0.166 in. (4.2mm) There are 12 points to a pica.

Pixel
Short for picture element, a dot made by a computer, scanner or other digital device.

Plate
Piece of paper, metal, plastic or rubber carrying an image to be reproduced using a printing press.

PMS
Stands for Pantone Matching System. The Pantone color matching system is the most popular method for specifying spot colors for printing (not using CMYK process colours).

Point
Paper thickness equal to 1/1000 inch. In type, a unit of measure equaling 1/12 pica and .013875 inch (.351mm).

Portrait
Style where the height is greater than the width. (Opposite of Landscape.)

Post Bind
To bind a publication using a screw and post inserted through a hole in a stack of loose sheets.

Press Proof
Proof made on the press using the plates, ink and paper specified for the job.

Printer Spreads
Pages in a publication made so they are imposed for printing, as compared to reader spreads.

Printing
Any process that transfers to paper or another substrate an image from an original such as a film negative or positive, electronic memory, stencil, die or plate.

Printing Unit
Assembly of fountain, rollers and cylinders that will print one ink color. Also called color station, deck, ink station, printer, station and tower.

Process Color (Inks)
The colors used for four-color process printing: yellow, magenta, cyan and black. Abbreviated to CMYK.

Raster Image Processor (RIP)
Device that translates page description commands into bitmapped information for an output device such as a laser printer or imagesetter.

Reader Spread
Two page spreads as readers would see the pages, as compared to printer spread.

Ream
500 sheets of paper.

Recycled Paper
New paper made from old paper.

Reflective Copy
Products, such as fabrics, illustrations and photographic prints, viewed by light reflected from them, as compared to transparent copy.

Register
All the inks printed on a job are lined up correctly to produce a sharp image

Register Marks
Cross-hair lines that help keep printing in register.

Resolution
The number of pixels an image contains. The higher the resolution, the sharper the image will be.

RGB
Abbreviation for red, green, blue, the additive color primaries

Rule
Line used as a graphic element to separate copy.