Glossary of Printing Terms


Here you can find the explanations to professional terms of modern Printing inductry:

Bastard title
The one before the main title. Title on the first pages of the book.

Books
Bound books in an advanced processing of cut print sheets or singular sheets by thread or wiring to be united in one product.

Chopping-off
Chopping-off used on the last stage of preparing a printing product. After the circulation is printed the crossed print sheets are put in a stack for further processing. Before you are able to continue our work (stamping, binding, book stacking) print sheets shall be cut.

CMYK
Abbreviation for colours names in colour print: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. With the help of Ink application of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow colours in theory it is possible to get black colour. In practice dirty brown is also used. These 3 basic colours allow getting various tones of black colour. CMYK is a normative colour model in Print industry.

Colours separation
Colours separation allows the ink mixture of basic colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow or Black) to reproduce in various tone scales of a dot element image or coating. It was produced for the reproduction of printing on 4 tapes of 4 colours - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black(CMYK). These coulours earlier were produced with the help of colour filter, now they can be obtained by computer.

Creasing
Working primer of an advanced processing where creasing is used for deep stamping on paper, carton. Working material wil be stamped and creased. Creasings help to avoid rupturing of the material by stretching or hitting.

Desktop Publishing (DTP)
Desktop Publishing is a general definition for the technologies using PC and various Hard- and Software to prepare Texts, to process layout and for various initial processing.

Display
Means of Laserdisplays reproduce the indicated pages on tape or on paper.

Face print
Printing only on a face side of two-side prints.

Flat print
Printing from bigger flat surfaces in all printing methods.

Folding test
Method to define machine directing of paper.

Folds
Folding together print sheets of consequent pages that later pass through a cutting machine are separated from each other. There is cross folding, parallel folding, and combined folding (the combination of the first two types). Parallel folding can be also classified as follows: double parallel folding, fan folding, zigzag folding (accordion folding), roll folding, plate folding.

Golden ratio
Parts formatting for book printing and etc.

Grey scale
Gradation of optical densities of an object from glass, film or carton with grey boarders for analysis and measuring by gradation reproduction by photo means and copying.

Gripper edge
Thin area on an edge of printed production that stays print free while the printing cylinders are keeping print sheets tightly.

Imposing
Montage: imposing is the process of distribution of a whole page on a tape to produce a Printing form. On a printing sheet numerous pages can be placed. The set pages will be so organized in a printing form that they getting through pressing and cutting devices of a printing sheet that they are printed in necessary sequence.

Laserdisplay
Output device for Electronically processed text, graphics, DTP-data with the resolution to 2500 dpi. If necessary the output can be arranged on paper. Laser Display control can be made upon already printed pages Post-Script.

Neutral wedge
A body from glass or film which optical density in long run is continuously increasing.

Moiré
A relief regularly repeated imaging or decoration of a paper.

Odd jobs
Printing of, for example, advertising folders and adverts to the contrary of book and paper printing. It comprises work with variuor primers (fonts) and sizes.

Offset printing
Photolythographic flat printing method. Offset print is the most important flat printing methods. Typically for offset print it is to have a sequence of pages on a print form and ready printed picture  to the contrary of a mirror reflection of classic graphics method. Offset print comprises of  accidence print, periodicals, maps, reprints, music printing with high circulations.

Opacity
Light transparence due to high reflection of light beams.

Paper directioning
The paper is directed by a special machine while printing and it is very important to have the right directioning of paper according to formats. The operator of the printing machine set specifically where and of which format paper should be delivered.

Print density
The ratio of print filled area to free area.

RGB
Abbreviation for: Red, Yellow and Blue. Red, Yellow and Blue  are the ground colors for RGB-colour system of ink mixture additives which are used for image frames for example. That means that all colours of an image frame are actually based and produced on these 3 added to a mixture.  If you mix all this free colours in 100% mixture you get a white colour.

Resolution
Number of Pixels within an image boundaries or a device as well the number of lines or points on one tape or print plate. Resolution properties allow reprofilms (reprotapes) to reproduce tiniest lines per mm of display layer.

Reverse print
Printing on both side of the printing material by two-sided press.

Stacking
Paper of a set format, for example, DIN A 1. is assembled in sheet stacks of a corresponding format.

Stamping
Working stage when stamp knife or a stamp form is used, of irregular shape to stamp on already cut printing products.

Substance
The weight of paper sheets with the size of 100 x 100 cm.

Unit weight
The weight of 1000 sheets of an indicated format.

Waste paper
Because of defects paper that could not be send to the Customer.