An electronic image made up of pixels that are either on or off, white or black, with no variations of gray.

A folding magnifying glass that enlarges images by a magnification factor of 10.

A magnifying glass that enlarges images by a magnification factor of 22.

An image composed of three 8-bit channels of color – typically red, green and blue (RGB) – in order to create a full color image; 8 Bits x 3 colors = 24-Bit image.

An image composed of four 8-bit channels of color – typically cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK) – in order to create a full color image; 8 Bits x 4 colors = 32-Bit image. 

An electronic image made up of pixels that in turn are made up of 16 x 16 grids or halftone cells. Each square within this grid can be either black or white and dependent upon how these two colors are used, this creates an illusion of gray for that pixel. Each 16 x 16 grid is capable of creating 256 different levels of gray when defining the image.

Corrections made at proofing that are not caused by printer error.

A rendering intent that determines how a file’s color values will be remapped from the current color space into the target color space; in this case any color that is not outside of the target color space (usually that of an output device) is remapped to an exact match; however, out-of-gamut colors are moved to the nearest edge of the target color space, which means they will be clipped. All colors, including white, will be remapped relative to the white point of the current color space.

A binding term for two or more parallel folds that open like an accordion. Brochures and maps often use accordion folds.

Acronym for Address Correction Requested.

Refers to the three primary colors of light; red, green, and blue. They are called “additive” colors because their way of producing color involves light waves that are added together at varying strengths to produce the colors we see on monitors and TVs.

A pixelated or stair-step appearance that can occur when printing a low resolution image (i.e. below 200 pixels per inch) or outputting a file and/or image on a low-resolution device.

A method of screening used in printing whereby tonal values are determined by the size of the of printing dots (“amplitude modulation”); the frequency of the dots does not change. This method of screening is used to produced halftone screens, which consist of a certain number of rows of dots for each color. 

The dot area of a printed halftone, which is measured and defined by a densitometer on a percentage scale of 0 – 100% (solid). The reason it is called “apparent” dot area is due to the measurement corresponding to how the human eye perceives the dot size. Dot area is typically determined by taking a measurement from a screened one-color patch (i.e. 50% cyan) on a press sheet’s color bar. It is a comparative measurement that is derived by comparing a screened patch to its corresponding solid patch (i.e. 50% cyan patch to a solid cyan patch).

Typically accessed via a dialog box within which you configure how the application will carry out its color management capabilities, including its default profiles and color conversion routines. These settings tell the application how you want it to manage color when opening any document as well as importing images and art files into it.

All original copy, including type, photos and illustrations, intended for printing.  

The portion of a lower case letter that extends above the body of the letter; such as b, d, f, etc.

A file encoded in the industry-standard representation for text, ASCII (acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange; pronounced “ask-e”). An ASCII file contains only plain text and basic text formatting. The ASCII character set of a microcomputer usually includes 256 characters or control codes. The most consistent ASCII characters are those that can be seen on the keyboard; they fall in the range from ASCII 32 to 127 and are called “plain ASCII.” Any computer can read plain ASCII.

Terminology particular to Adobe applications (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator) which refers to applying a profile to a document or imported image. It is possible to assign a profile regardless of whether or not the document or imported image already has a profile associated with it (also referred to as being “tagged” or having an “embedded” profile). 

Terminology particular to Adobe applications (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator) which refers to applying a profile to a document or imported image that does not have a profile associated with it (also referred to as being “untagged”). Assuming a profile employs the default profile, as configured in the application’s color settings, as the “source profile” when converting an image or document from one color space to another (i.e RGB to CMYK).

A software that performs the process of scaling Type 1 fonts to the requested size.

A visible stair-stepping of shades in a gradient or blend, rather than a smooth transition from one color or tonal range to another.

A series of varied length vertical bars used to determine zip code.

In composition, the line on which the bottoms of letters rest, exclusive of descenders that fall below the baseline.

An adhesive component of paper designed to hold the paper together.

Includes any insert that is bound into a publication.

A narrow (usually 3" to 4") extension of a saddle stitch insert necessary for the actual stitching process. It allows the insert to straddle the gathering mechanism for stitching.

An extension (usually 1/4" to 1/2") on a 4-page saddle stitched insert that allows it to be mechanically opened during binding. There are two kinds of laps, see high folio lap and low folio lap.

Portion of an insert card (usually 1/4" or 1/2") that fastens into a perfect bound publication. It is the distance from the spine to a vertical perforation on the bind-in.

Abbreviation for binary digit. The smallest unit of information in a binary system, a bit is the fundamental unit of information used in computers. A bit element is a “1” signaling On or a “0” signaling Off in a data string. Most computers work with 8-bit strings called bytes.

A computerized image made up of pixels. While satisfactory for pixel-based screen displays, bitmap images give a jagged appearance on paper or film if their resolution – pixels per inch (PPI) – is not high enough. Generally, digital photos or scans require a resolution of 300 PPI while line art requires 800 PPI for high quality reproduction on press.

Method in which the black channel is created when converting from RGB to CMYK (also referred to as color separations) or from CMYK to CMYK (re-separating a color image that had already been converted into CMYK). Depending upon which method was employed, the black channel will either contain a light, medium or heavy amount of black used to make up the total amount of tonal values in the image. 

Changes made to the black plate only (usually codes and text) and thus do not affect the printed document’s color appearance.

A fabric-reinforced sheet of rubber used on offset presses to transfer the impression from the plate onto the paper.

Printed colors that run to the edge of a the paper. To accommodate the bleed, the printer must make the bleed image area larger than the final trim size. The page is trimmed through the bleed area.

Page numbers not printed on the page.

Any loose insert that is not physically bound into a publication.

Also called value, one of the three attributes of color (the other two are hue and saturation). Brightness describes differences in the amount of light reflected from or transmitted through an image regardless of its hue and saturation. This can be a confusing word to use in directing color correction edits as it is used to indicate both the addition and subtraction of color. Correctly used, it refers to the amount of light that is apparent in an area. In terms of paper, brightness is the light reflectance or brilliance of the paper at a specific wavelength, often perceived as whiteness. Generally, the higher the brightness rating, the better quality the paper.

Postage paid reply cards.

There are 8 bits in one byte; often referred to as the number of bits used to represent a character. 

Abbreviation for cyan in four-color process printing.

Paper with a coating of clay or other substances that improves reflectivity and ink holdout on one side only.

Paper coated on both sides.

Calibration involves adjusting a device—whether it be a monitor, scanner or printer—to perform at an agreed upon and known standard. It is mainly concerned with establishing correct white and black points while creating true neutrals to prevent the device from giving the displayed or printed image a color cast that was not already in the image. Devices should be calibrated periodically in order to consistently produce the same color and tonal values as defined in the device’s profile.

Also called cover stock. A stiff paper often used for postcards, catalog covers and other items that require rigidity. Card stock is described by point sizes that give the thickness of the sheet in thousandths of inches.

Common element in scanners that measures light reflected off or transmitted from the original. 

An optical storage device used by computers to write\read electronic data. 

Abbreviation for Compact Disc, which is an optical disk used to store data. It is “write-once” media, meaning it can only be written to once, after which it cannot be used for further data storage; it cannot even be erased.

Abbreviation for Compact Disc–Rewritable, which is an optical disk used to store data. Unlike a CD, it can be written to more than once for further data storage.

The number of characters that fit within a linear inch in a particular font.