How many times have we gone to a store, talked to an "expert" and ended up more confused than when we started? I know most of us here at Midland have. This often can be because of lack of terminology understanding on a particular subject. Hopefully this wont happen when you call us. We should be able to get our point across so our customers fully understand what we are talking about. However, this page can be useful to you when you talk with us or any other printing company for that matter. On this page, you will find printable pdf files of data sheets and a list of terms used in the printing industry with their meaning. I apologize for not having these in alaphbetical order, I enter them as I think of them. We will always be updating this page.
Terms:
PMS Colors = Oh how we get in trouble with this one! It stands for Pantone Matching System. It is a standard format that printers use to pick out, mix and produce spot colors. So if we ask for your pms color or colors, please do not take ofense! We are just doing our job.
Spot Color = Refers to one color of ink. Yes black is a color of ink.
4 Color Process = This is the process used to produce colored pictures and multi colored artwork such as paintings etc.We use 4 ink colors in a combination of very small dots. The 4 inks are cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
Bleeds = Ink running off the edge of a printed piece.
Screens = Often confused with a watermark. It is 99% - 1% of an ink color toned down to look lighter using a pattern of dots. You can print a 1 color job, add screens and have it look several colors. 5%-10% screens are a good guide to use if you want something in the middle of your letterhead but you can still laser type over it and have it be read.
Watermark = Most people often confuse this with a screen. A watermark is made in the paper manufacturing process. If you hold paper up to the light you can see if a sheet has a water mark. It usually has something to do with the papers name, manufacting company or paper contents. It is right in the paper and is not done during the printing process.
Offsetting = It is an UGLY problem! This happens when ink transfers from one side of a sheet to the next sheet. It can happen durning running or the bindery process. It is mostly due to ink being to wet.
Slip Sheets = Sheets of paper put between printed sheets that are two wet to cut. It will stop offsetting and let us get the job cut. We dont like to have to do this. It takes major time.
Hicky = Well....we have another term for these nasty little things. _ _ _ holes. This is a very small circle on a print job where no ink has formed to the paper. They can often ruin a pressmans day.
Negative Or Film = These two terms are starting to become extinct in the printing world with all of todays new technology. It is a plastic type material that light is burned through to produce a metal printing plate. We image your artwork on this material and make our plate.
Paper Plates = These plates are often used when there is no 2 inks touching or close to each other, heavy ink coverage, screens or photos and short runs . They are tossed in the garbage once the job is done. Again these plates are becoming the old world. They are made from a laser print of your art work and shot from a camera type device that producess this plate.
Metal Plates = These plates are used when printers have colors touching, heavy solids, screens or photos, 4 color process jobs or long runs. They hold up well and are made out of aluminum.
Stripping = No......get you mind out of there.......This is what printers do to position the negative for burning on a plate. You tape the negative to another sheet so it fits properly on the printing plate.
Direct to Plate Or CTP = This is a realitively new process for the printing industry. It takes away having to strip, burn and chemically treat a plate. The plate material is imaged on to a almost paper plate type material right from your computer.
Thermography Or Raised Ink = I have often heard this confused with embossing. This process raises ink above the paper. Special chemicals are added to the ink and then the ink is heated causing it to rise. Much like baking bread.
Embossing = This can apply a few different ways. You are pushing a metal foil into the paper or you are pushing out the paper from behind to give it a rasied effect. (blind embossing) There are several levels but these are the general two.
Die Cutting = The process of cutting out a pattern in paper or some other material. A term you will here if you need pocket folders for example. They must be die cut to be made from the press sheet into a folder.
Die = This is what is used to die cut or emboss your printed piece.
Press Sheet= Printers will often run jobs on sheets much larger than the final size of a printed piece, We can get more of just one printed piece on a sheet of paper. This is called a press sheet. If it is a very simple job, we can run the job right to its final size. Simple letterhead jobs are often run this way.
Gripper = The amount of space a press needs to pull a sheet of paper through it so it does not touch ink. Press's have grippers that pull the sheets through the press. Gripper space can vary depending on the type of press a person has.
Color Bars = This is a set of small color squares in a row used to help guide the pressman when they are running a 4 color process job. Like gripper space, we need space on a press sheet for these as well.
One over one, two over 2, two over one = A lot of times you will here printers talk this way. They are talking about the number of ink colors on each side of a sheet of paper. For example, one over one means one color on one side and another color or the same color on the other side.
Score = This is a bindery term. It is slicing a sheet of paper but not all the way through so it can be folded more easily. It is almost always done to cover stocks.
Perf = Punching a series of small slits in a sheet of paper so one can tear off a section. Just like your check book.
Carbonless Paper = 2 part, 3 part , 4 part. This is the number of sheets in a set. It lets the user image the orginal writting on top of a form to the other sheets. In the old days, you used to have to stick a sheet of carbon between sheets of paper to make this happen.
Dylux = Yes another term that is fast fading in our industry. This is a type of proof for your project. It is made by using the negatives. Instead of burning a printing plate, we burn the image on a special light sensitive sheet. The exposed area turns blue and shows your design. Because of pdf files , laser and ink jet printers, we do not have to do many of these any more. Printers with DTP OR CTP technology can not even do these types of proofs anymore.
