Printing Terms Defined
What is an accordion fold?
An accordion fold is when a sheet of paper is folded in alternating directions – like the steps of a staircase or the bellows of an accordion. Each panel folds the opposite way from the one before it. It’s commonly used for brochures, menus, and maps where you want multiple panels that open and close easily. Calico Creative offers accordion fold brochures as part of our folded print services.
What is aqueous coating on printed materials?
Aqueous coating is a heavy, water-based protective finish applied to printed materials after printing. It works similarly to lamination, providing a durable, moisture-resistant surface that protects against scuffing and fingerprints. It’s available in gloss or matte finishes and is a cost-effective way to add a professional finish to business cards, postcards, and brochures.
What is a barrel fold?
A barrel fold (also called a roll fold) is when a sheet of paper is folded two or more times in the same direction, with each panel wrapping around the one before it. It’s a popular choice for tri-fold and multi-panel brochures.
What is bleed in printing and why does it matter?
Bleed refers to artwork that extends slightly beyond the edge of the final trimmed page. When a printer cuts a sheet to its final size, the cut is never perfectly precise – a small amount of variation always occurs. Bleed ensures that even with slight cutting variation, the ink or color reaches all the way to the edge with no white gaps showing. Standard bleed is 0.125 inches beyond the trim line on all sides. If you’re submitting files to Calico Creative, always include bleed on any design intended for offset or digital printing where color or images run to the edge of the page.
What does CMYK mean in printing?
CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black) – the four ink colors used in most commercial printing processes. By combining these four inks in different percentages, a printer can reproduce a wide range of colors. CMYK is different from RGB (Red, Green, Blue), which is the color mode used by screens. If you’re submitting a print file to Calico Creative, always convert your artwork to CMYK first, since RGB colors can shift when converted during printing.
What does collate mean when printing?
Collating is the process of arranging printed pages in a specific, correct sequence – for example, pages 1, 2, 3, 4 rather than four copies of page 1 followed by four copies of page 2. When you order a multi-page document like a booklet or report, collating ensures each copy is assembled in the right order.
What are crop marks on a print file?
Crop marks (also called trim marks) are small printed lines placed at the corners of a design to show the printer exactly where to cut the final piece. They appear outside the live area of the design and are removed when the sheet is trimmed. If you’re preparing a file for submission to Calico Creative, do not include crop marks in the file export settings.
What is DPI and how does it affect print quality?
DPI stands for Dots Per Inch and measures how many individual ink dots a printer places per inch of paper. The higher the DPI, the sharper and more detailed the printed image. For professional print quality, files should be at least 300 DPI at the final print size. Images pulled from websites are typically 72 DPI, which will appear blurry when printed – always use high-resolution images when submitting files to Calico Creative.
What is dull varnish on printed materials?
Dull varnish is a finishing coating that creates a soft, velvety surface on printed materials. Unlike gloss varnish, it scatters and diffuses light rather than reflecting it, which reduces glare and gives images a subtler, more refined look. Colors appear slightly muted compared to gloss finishes. Dull varnish is a popular choice for high-end brochures, book covers, and marketing materials where a premium feel is important.
What is embossing in print finishing?
Embossing is a print finishing technique that creates a raised, three-dimensional effect on paper or cardstock by pressing the material with a metal die under heat and pressure. The result is a tactile, elevated design element that stands out from the flat surface. Embossing is often combined with foil stamping for even more visual impact, and is commonly used on business cards, invitations, packaging, and book covers.
What does finish mean in printing?
In printing, finish refers to the surface treatment applied to a printed piece after the ink dries. Common finishes include gloss (shiny and reflective), matte (flat and non-reflective), satin (a middle ground between the two), aqueous coating, UV coating, and lamination. The finish affects both the appearance and durability of the final piece. Calico Creative offers multiple finish options depending on the product.
What is foil stamping?
Foil stamping is a print finishing process where a metallic or pigmented foil is applied to a surface using a heated die. The result is a shiny, reflective design element – available in gold, silver, holographic, and hundreds of other foil options. Foil stamping can be combined with embossing for a raised, eye-catching effect. It’s commonly used on business cards, invitations, packaging, and book covers to add a premium look.
What is grayscale printing?
Grayscale refers to images or printing that uses only shades of gray – from pure white to pure black – without any color. It’s different from pure black-and-white (which uses only those two tones with no gradients). Grayscale printing is commonly used for photographs, charts, and documents where color isn’t necessary, and is typically less expensive than full-color CMYK printing.
What is a halftone in printing?
A halftone is a technique used to reproduce continuous-tone images (like photographs) in print using a pattern of tiny dots of varying sizes. Because printing presses can only apply a single density of ink at a time, halftones trick the eye into seeing gradients and shading by varying how large or closely spaced the dots are. Look closely at a newspaper photo and you’ll see the dot pattern – that’s halftone printing.
What is imposition in printing?
Imposition is the process of arranging multiple pages on a single printing sheet in the correct order, orientation, and position so that when the sheet is printed, folded, and cut, the pages end up in the right sequence. A properly imposed sheet means page 1 ends up next to page 2, not page 7, once the booklet is assembled. Imposition is handled by the printer and is especially important for booklets, brochures, and any multi-page document.
What is a JPEG file and is it good for printing?
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a common image file format that uses compression to reduce file size. While JPEGs are widely used for web images and photography, they use lossy compression – meaning image quality is reduced each time the file is saved. For best print results, Calico Creative recommends submitting files as PDFs. If you use JPEGs in your design, make sure it is saved at maximum quality and at least 300 DPI at the final print size.
What is lamination on printed materials?
Lamination is a thin sheet of plastic film applied and heat-sealed to one or both sides of a printed piece. It provides strong protection against tearing, scratching, moisture, and general wear, making it ideal for items that will be handled repeatedly or exposed to the elements – such as menus, ID cards, outdoor signage, and presentation folders. Lamination is available in gloss and matte (dull) finishes. When both sides are laminated it is sometimes called encapsulation.
What is lithography?
Lithography is a printing method based on the principle that oil and water repel each other. A design is applied to a flat surface (typically a metal plate) using an oil-based medium. When ink is applied, it adheres only to the design area and is repelled by the water-dampened non-image areas. The image is then transferred onto paper. Modern offset printing is derived from lithography and is the basis for most commercial print production today.
What is offset printing?
Offset printing is one of the most common commercial printing methods. In offset printing, ink is transferred from a metal plate to a rubber blanket roller, and then from the blanket onto the paper – the plate never touches the paper directly. This indirect process produces sharp, consistent, high-quality results across large print runs. Offset printing is typically used for high-volume jobs like brochures, catalogs, and books, where per-unit cost decreases significantly with quantity.
What is a pica in printing?
A pica is a unit of measurement used in typography and print layout. One pica equals one-sixth of an inch, and one pica contains 12 points (another typographic unit). Picas are commonly used by designers to specify font sizes, line spacing, and column widths in print layouts. If you’re working in Adobe InDesign or similar software, you may see measurements displayed in picas.
What is registration in printing?
Registration refers to the precise alignment of multiple color layers in a printed piece. Because CMYK printing applies each ink color in a separate pass, the plates must be aligned perfectly so the colors overlap correctly and produce a sharp final image. Poor registration results in blurry edges, color fringing, or misaligned artwork. Professional print equipment like that used by Calico Creative maintains tight registration tolerances to ensure clean, accurate color reproduction.
What is the difference between saddle stitching and perfect binding?
Saddle stitching and perfect binding are two different methods for binding multi-page booklets and publications. Saddle stitching staples the pages through the spine – it’s fast, affordable, and works well for booklets, magazines, and catalogs up to about 64 pages. Perfect binding glues the inside edges of the stacked pages to a wraparound cover, like a paperback book or instruction manual – it’s used for thicker publications and gives a more polished, professional appearance. Calico Creative offers both saddle stitching and in-house perfect binding.
What is a typeface?
A typeface is a set of characters – letters, numbers, and symbols – that share a consistent visual design and style. Common examples include Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica. The terms typeface and font are often used interchangeably, though technically a font refers to a specific size and weight within a typeface family (for example, Helvetica Bold 12pt is a font; Helvetica is the typeface). When submitting print files to Calico Creative, outline all fonts or embed them in your PDF to prevent font substitution.
What is UV coating on printed materials?
UV coating is a clear liquid finish applied to printed material and cured instantly using ultraviolet light. The result is an extremely hard, glossy surface that is highly resistant to scuffing, moisture, and fading. UV coating is more durable and produces a higher-gloss finish than standard aqueous coating. It’s commonly used on business cards, book covers, and premium marketing materials. Spot UV – where UV coating is applied only to specific areas of a design – is a popular technique for creating dramatic contrast between coated and uncoated surfaces.
What is a vignette in print design?
A vignette is a design element or image that gradually fades into the background without a hard, defined border or edge. The edges of the image soften and blend into the surrounding area rather than being sharply cut off. Vignettes are commonly used in portrait photography, product images, and decorative design elements to create a soft, elegant look. When preparing files with vignettes for printing, make sure the fade extends into the bleed area to avoid any hard edge appearing at the trim line.
What is a watermark on paper?
A watermark is a translucent design or image embedded into paper during the manufacturing process, visible when the paper is held up to light. Watermarks are typically used to indicate the paper brand or grade, verify authenticity (as in currency and legal documents), or add subtle branding. Unlike a printed watermark effect added in design software, a true watermark is part of the paper itself and cannot be removed.