Speaking the graphic design
When working with designers it's helpful to speak the same language. When you “don't speak graphic design” it can be a little embarrassing and awkward. Being able to communicate with a professional, and look professional, can be tricky.
There is no shame in 'Googling', but for ease we have put together a list of common terms you may come across when working with graphic designers or printing companies, to help you learn the lingo!
4-COLOUR PROCESS
The process of combining four basic colours (CMYK : cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) to create full colour pictures or colours composed from these four basic colours
A
ARTWORK
All content, excluding text material, like illustration and photography
B
BINDING
To fasten sheets or signatures with wire, thread, glue or by other methods
BLEED
Printing that goes to the edge of the sheet after trimming
BODY
The main text of a work not including headlines
C
COPYRIGHT
Copyright gives protection to the creator of material to prevent others using the content without express permission or acknowledgement of the creator
COPY
The text part of a design
D
DPI
Dots Per Inch : The measurement of resolution for page printers and graphics screens. Eg. 300dpi is suitable for print and 72dpi is more appropriate for website/online use
DROP CAP
A large initial letter at the start of the text that drops into the line or lines of text below
E
EMBOSSING
Pressing a design into paper so that it will create a raised relief
F
FLUSH LEFT / RIGHT
Text aligned along the left or right margin
FOAMCORE
A lightweight mounting material consisting of a layer of stiff foam sandwiched between thin card (see MOUNT below)
FONT
A font is a set of printable or displayable text characters in a specific style and size
G
GIF
Graphics Interchange Format : An image that's been encoded with multiple frames into a single image file so a web browser or other software will play those images back in animated sequence automatically
GRAPHIC DESIGN
The art or profession of using design elements (such as typography and images) to convey information
GREYSCALE
A range of luminance values for evaluating shading through white to black. To me and you 'black and white'
I
ILLUSTRATION
A picture, diagram, or chart serving to clarify, explain or decorate
INFOGRAPHICS
Graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly
J
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group : JPG format is a lossy compressed file format (see LOSSLESS + LOSSY). This makes it useful for storing photographs at a smaller size. For storing line drawings, text and iconic graphics at a smaller file size, GIF or PNG are better choices because they are lossless
JUSTIFY
The alignment of text along a margin or both margins. This is achieved by adjusting the spacing between the words and characters as necessary so that each line of text finishes at the same point
K
KERNING
The spacing between letters or characters in a word
L
LAMINATE
To cover with film, or to bond or glue one surface to another
LEADING
The vertical distance between two lines of text
LOSSLESS + LOSSY
These are terms that describe whether or not, in the compression of a file, all original data can be recovered when the file is uncompressed. Lossy compression reduces a file by permanently eliminating certain information, especially redundant information. Lossless format can reduce a file's size without any loss of the original quality. However, audio and image files compressed using lossless compression, will tend to be larger in size than that of lossy
M
MARGINS
The non-printing areas of a page
MOUNT
To attach materials to a support for display
P
PMS
Pantone Colour Matching System : A registered name for an ink colour matching system. By standardising the colours, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colours match without direct contact with one another
PAGE COUNT
The total number of pages in a book including blank pages
PERFECT BINDING
A common method of binding paperback books. After the printed sections have been collated, the spines will be ground off and the cover glued on
PREPRESS
The preparation of digital files for printing
R
RGB
Red, Green, and Blue : Refers to a system for representing the colours to be used on a computer display. Red, green and blue can be combined in various proportions to obtain any colour in the visible spectrum
RASTER GRAPHICS
Most images you see on your computer screen are raster graphics. Pictures online and photos imported from a digital camera are raster graphics. They are made up of a grid of pixels, commonly known as a bitmap. Raster graphics can typically be scaled down with no loss of quality, however, enlarging a bitmap image causes pixelation and is considered to be lossy (see LOSSLESS + LOSSY)
REVERSE TYPE
In commercial printing, when the type is reversed out of a background, the background is printed in a dark colour while the type is not printed at all, it is just the colour of the paper
S
SADDLE STITCHING
A method of binding where the folded pages are stitched through the spine from the outside using wire staples
SANS SERIF
A typeface that has no serifs (See SERIF)
SCORE
A crease put into paper to help it fold better
SERIF
In typography, a small cross stroke at the end of the main stroke of a letter
SMALL CAPS
A set of capital letters which are smaller than standard and are equal in size to the lower case letters for that typeface
SPINE
The binding edge of a book or publication
SPOT VARNISH
Varnish used to highlight a specific part of the printed sheet
T
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format : A common raster file format, generally associated with greyscale or bitmap data
TEXT
The written or printed material which forms the main body of a publication
TYPOGRAPHY
The style, arrangement or appearance of a typeset
V
VECTOR GRAPHICS
A vector graphic is made up of points, lines and curves related to one another using mathematical formulas. Vector files are small because they contain a lot less data than raster files and are more flexible than raster graphics because they can be easily scaled up and down without any loss to the quality of the image. Vector files such as AI and EPS can remain editable so you can reopen them in Illustrator and edit any elements within the graphic. With raster images that contain text and formatted as a JPG, PNG or GIF, you would not be able to reopen and edit the text