In this section we will talk about important terms about printing world and typography.

Printing Terms

Absorbency/absorption The property of a paper or other material to absorb liquids such as ink. In printing, absorption is not only determined by the fiber structure of the paper, but also the constituency of ink and the pressure of the printing plates. Incorrect absorption can lead to printing problems such as strike through and drying failure. Aerate The separation of sheets of paper, prior to printing, either by blowing air or by "riffling" manually.

Antisetoff/anti-set-off sprayer A device attached to a printing press that sprays a film of resinous solution or powder onto the printed paper as it leaves the press, thus preventing setoff by keeping the sheets separate. Apron White space added to the margins of the text area on a page to accommodate a fold out

Back printing Printing on the underside of a translucent material. Also called reverse printing. As distinct from backing up. Back step collation The collation of printed signatures by reference to printed marks on the back fold of each section.

Back(step) mark A black mark printed on a sheet to show where the final fold will be. If the sheet forms a volume made out of several signatures, each back(step) mark is placed in a slightly different position, so when all the signatures are collated the marks form a stepped sequence that indicates whether the signatures are in the correct order or if any are missing. Also called a collating mark.

Back up/backing up The printing of the reverse side of a printed sheet. After backing up the sheet is described as "backed." Also called perfecting. Back-to-back Printing on both sides of a sheet.
Backed A sheet that has had its reverse side printed. Backs Printed sheets to be printed (backed up) on the reverse side. The term also describes the printing plates to be used in backing up.

Backup registration The correct registration of a printed sheet relative to the printing on the other side. Bastard Any aberration or abnormal element in the printing process. Bevel The outer edge of a printing plate that is used to secure the plate to the press.

Bicycling The duplication and transportation of materials, such as film or artwork, to another printer to enable simultaneous production of a job. Black printer The printing plate that prints black ink in four-color process printing, Also called the ìkeyî plate.

Blank An unprinted sheet or page. Bled-off The areas of an illustration, (or any other matter) printed beyond the edges of the page trim. Bleed The margin outside the trimmed area of a sheet that allows for tints, images, or other matter to print beyond the edge of a page. If sheets are printed without bleed, it is generally not possible to print matter up to the edge of the page.

Blind folio Page number used for reference or identification, but not printed on the page. Also called expressed folio. Blind image An image that has printed badly — or not at all — because of excess moisture or other defects on the plate ("blinding").

Book proof Imposed page proofs, folded and trimmed, but usually not stitched or bound, and assembled in book form. Bottom printing Printing on the underside of translucent film or paper so the design reads through the top.

Bring up To place or pack material under a printing surface to raise it to the correct height for making an impression onto paper. Broadside page A page in which the matter has been rotated 90 degrees to print sideways.

Broadside/broadsheet Originally, broadsides, or ìbroadsheets,î were sheets of paper printed on one side only and used for official notices. Today, however, the term is used to describe a variety of large-sheet jobs, which may be printed on one or both sides. Consequently, broadsheet often used to describe a large-format newspaper, as distinct from the smaller tabloid size.

Broken images The printing effect that results from damaged or worn plates. Bulldog A newspaper printer's colloquial term for the first edition of the day.

Cancel A printed leaf of a publication that, containing errors, is cut out and removed from its section and replaced by another appropriately amended.

Cancel-title A replacement title page, often showing a change imprint, such as when a work printed for publication in one country is subsequently prepared for publication in another.

Carbon tissue A semiopaque, gelatin-coated paper, which, when made light-sensitive by treating with alkali dichromate, is used for various methods of photographic reproduction, such as conventional gravure printing and screen printing processes.

Centerfold/spread Facing pages in the center of a section. Center spreads are also called naturals.

Come-and-go-coming and going An imposition scheme in which the top, or head, of the first page is laid to the top of the last page, and so on throughout the section. The signatures are then doubled up will the last head-to-head with the first, finally being separated at trimming: stage, Frequently used in paperback book printing, this method allows two copies to be printed from one set of plates.

Commercial register The degree of tolerance in the register of the inks in four-color process printing, usually as defined by the customer.

Compound printing Printing two or more colors in a single pass. To do so different area: of the form (in letterpress printing) or different sections of the inking system (in offset printing) are separately inked.

Computer-to-plate (CTP) The process of making printing plate directly from digital data, without the need for film. Also known as direct to plate.

Continuous feeder On an automatic sheetfed printing press, the mechanism that supplies the sheets of paper ó and that can be replenished ó without interrupting the printing process.

Contouring A defect in a printed image in which varying tones are distinguished by visible steps rather than gradually. Cylinder Any roller or drum used on a papermaking machine or rotary printing press.

Decal A design, printed on special paper, that can be transferred onto another surface by applying pressure (ìduplex decalî; adhesive decalî) or heat and pressure (ìheat-release decalî), or by soaking it in water so it slides off the paper ("simplex decal").

Depth The difference in height between the printing arid nonprinting surfaces of printing plates.

Designation marks Initial letters (usually corresponding to the title of the book) that were traditionally printed near the "signature" letter of each section for identification purposes prior to binding.

Distribution/distributing roller A cylinder (or series of cylinders) on a printing press that distributes ink to the plate, smoothing it as it does so.

Doctor blade A long, thin, flexible steel blade used variously to remove or apply ink or coating before or after printing. For example, a doctor blade is used in gravure printing to wipe excess ink from the surface of the printing cylinder.

Dot slur(ring) The “skidding,” or elongated smudging of a halftone dot caused by excessive movement between plate and paper during printing. Dot-for-dot Printing color work in perfect register.

Double image A printing aberration caused by additional or duplicated halftone dots. Doubling A printing aberration causing a faint duplication of a halftone image.

Draw A printing aberration in which halftone dots appear larger near the tail end of a printed sheet, caused by misregister. Drum An alternative term for the cylinder of a printing press or papermaking machine.

Dry printing Multicolor printing in which each successive ink color is allowed to dry before the next is applied. Duct The reservoir in a printing press from which ink is distributed to the inking system used by the press. Also called an ink fountain.

Dwell When an impression is made, the brief moment of time when printing surface makes contact with paper.

Even working A work printed in any number of sections of equal size.

Flood coating In screen printing, a coating of ink applied to the entire surface of the screen to make sure there is even distribution. Flying paster The facility on a web press to replace one reel of paper with another without stopping the press. Also called autopaster.

Full bleed A printed sheet on which an image extends to all four edges.

Gang up To print two or more pages or jobs on the same sheet.

Gear marks Regular, alternating tight and dark marks, appearing as bands in solids and halftones, parallel to the gripper edge of a printed sheet. Gear marks are always uniformly spaced. Gear streaks Unwanted, equally spaced parallel streaks on a printed sheet.

Ghost A printing defect whereby unwanted faint impressions of an image or text appear on printed sheets. Gloss ghosting An unwanted condition that sometimes occurs during sheetfed printing, when Ink from freshly printed sheets interacts with printed matter on the reverse of the sheet or on adjacent sheets, resulting in unwanted faint images. Also known as fuming ghosting or chemical ghosting.

Gripper edge The edge of a sheet of paper that is held by the grippers of a printing press. Also known as the feeding edge. The opposite of the leaf edge.

Gripper margin Extra space on a sheet of paper where it is held by the grippers of a printing press that is later trimmed off.

Gripper(s) The metal, fingerlike clamps on the impression cylinder of a printing press that hold a sheet of paper and guide it through the press.

Hairline register The maximum permissible deviation (0,003 inch/0.08mm) between printed colors in four-color process printing.

Half sheet A sheet, half the size of the normal ("normal" being the size of sheet required for the job). For example, if a job constitutes 144 pages in total, printing in 32-page sheets, a half sheet will be required to complete the job (32 x 4 = 128 + 16= 144). g 2751 work and turn.

Hickie/hickey A common printing defect, visible as a spot of ink surrounded by a halo, caused by a speck of dirt forcing the paper away from the printing plate. Also called a bull's eye.

Honing The technique of mechanically removing parts of the image area on a printing plate.

Image area The ink-carrying area of a printing plate. Image twist A crooked printed image, resulting in misregister, caused by the plate being mounted out of alignment.

Imposed proof A printed proof of imposed pages prior to the final print run, Also called a sheet proof. Impression All the copies of a publication or job printed at one time.

Impression cylinder The cylinder on a rotary press that holds the paper as it is brought into contact with the type, plates, offset roller, or blanket cylinder. Also called a back cylinder.

Ink distribution rollers The rollers on a printing press that manage the printing ink from the ink duct until It reaches the plate in a fine, even film. Also called inkers.

Inking system The arrangement of ducts and rollers on a printing press that control automatic distribution and delivery of ink to a substrate. Also called the inking mechanism.

Iph abb impressions per hour The speed at which a printing press prints each sheet.

Jobbing General, nonspecialist printing, usually comprising short runs. The term originally described any printed job that could be achieved from a single sheet of paper, such as letterheads, business cards, menus, invitations, and so on. Also known as quick printing.

Keep standing An instruction to keep printing plates in readiness for a possible reprint. Key A printing plate ó usually the black (traditionally called the "key plate") ó that acts as a guide for positioning and registering other colors.

Kiss impression In printing, the lightest possible pressure required to make a perfect impression, particularly important when printing on coated papers.

Lap lines A printing aberration of fine lines between images caused by two adjacent pieces of film touching each other when assembled prior to platemaking, Also called butt lines.

Lay edges The two edges of a sheet that are placed flush with the side and front (the "front lay edge") marks ("lay gauges") on a printing machine to make sure the sheet will be removed properly by the grippers and have uniform margins when printed.

Lay sheet The first of many sheets passed through a press to check such things as register. Leaf edge The edge of a paper sheet opposite the gripper edge.

Leak(s) The tiny gaps that may occur when adjoining colors misregister during printing. Live matter Any matter, such as type or plates, that is waiting to be printed.

Machine proof A final ink proof made on a press similar to the one on which it will be printed. Also called a press proof. Machine sheet Any printed sheet coming off a press.

Mackle A printing fault resulting in blurring or a double impression, caused by movement of the paper while printing.

Make-ready The process of preparing a printing press before a new run, to establish register, ink density consistent impression, and so on. Master cylinder The cylinder of a printing press that transfers ink from reservoir to plate.

Mechanical ghosting An aberration in printing when the density of ink film varies dramatically caused by large areas of color consuming too much ink and not leaving enough for other areas. Also called ink starvation ghosting.

Monk The traditional term for an ink blot or splash on a printed sheet. Mordant Any fluid used to etch a printing plate.

Mottle/mottling A printing fault appearing as a random, uneven, blotchy effect, caused by too much pressure or unsuitable paper or ink.

Nip The point of contact between cylinders on a press. Nongear streaks Marks that appear on a printed sheet, parallel with the printing.