Glossary

Achromatic: Without colour.
Adjacency: Refers to a colour placed next to a light colour that appears darker than when that same colour is placed next to a light colour.
Additive primaries: Red, green, and blue colour (RGB), where the colours combine to form the entire spectrum or white. Also known as transmissive primaries.
B2B: Business to business. Commerce that takes place between companies using Internet-connected technologies.
B2C: Business to consumer. Commerce that takes place between a business and a consumer using Internet-connected technologies.
Basis weight: The weight of 500 sheets of a paper at a specific size, known as the “parent” sheet size, designated in pounds
Brainstorm: A strategy for developing solutions where a number of ideas are proposed quickly and without judgment.
Brightness: A measurement of the reflective property of paper, specifically in the blue area of the spectrum at a principal wavelength of 457 nm and 44nm wide designated on a scale of 1 to 100.
Caliper: The measurement of the physical thickness of a paper or substrate.
Chromatic: Containing colour.
Chromatic adaptation: When the mind adjusts the colours seen in an image, based on an assumed tint from a given light source.
CMY or CMYK: Cyan, magenta, yellow or cyan, magenta, yellow, black (process colours). Black is also known as the key colour, and is therefore represented by the letter K. See subtractive primaries.
Colorimeter: Mimics the three-colour response of our eyes by using red, green, and blue filters to measure the amount of light present in each third of the spectrum.
Colour constancy: How our mind adjusts our colour perception to discount or remove the effects of an overall colour cast due to a coloured illuminant.
Colour profile: A set of data that describes the characteristics of colour for a particular input or output device. Often referred to as an ICC profile.
Comps: Created for presenting the final project to the client for evaluation and approval.
Concept: An idea that supports and reinforces communication of key messages by presenting them in interesting, unique, and memorable ways on both intellectual and emotional levels.
Delta E: The difference between two colours designated as two points in the Lab colour space.
Densitometer: Provides a known volume of light and then records what remainder of that light is returned to the device.
Device dependent (colour): A colour space that is unique to a particular device. Every output device represents colour differently, based on the proportion and types of pigments that are deposited.
Device independent (colour): Colour spaces that exist as a theoretical three-dimensional model (see Lab colour space), and do not rely on the output of a specific device.
Device link profiles: A combination of two output profiles to provide the specific conversion instructions between two particular devices.
Electromagnetic spectrum: All forms of energy, ranging from kilometre-long radio waves at one end, and progressing in shortening wavelengths down through microwaves, infrared waves, ultraviolet waves, X-rays, and finally, gamma waves, with wavelengths of a subatomic dimension.
Energy-cured ink: Ink that stays wet (does not cure) until it is exposed to a particular wavelength of energy, such as ultraviolet light.
Escapement: The value that represents the width of a typeset character such that, when it is placed, adjacent characters don’t overlap it.
Ethnographic: The study of people, society, and cultural phenomena.
Formation: The distribution of fibres, fillers, and additives in paper and how evenly they come together.
FTP: File transfer protocol. A point-to-point method for moving files across the Internet.
Gamut: The total of all of the colours of the spectrum that can be represented by a device, a colour model, or even the human eye. Often represented by a three-dimensional model.
Glyph: A single character from a font.
Grain direction: The predominant alignment of the fibers in a paper.
Grammage: The weight of 1 square meter of a paper designated in grams per square meter (g/m2).
ICC: International Colour Consortium. Established in 1993 by eight industry vendors to standardize colour systems across computer platforms.
ICC profile: Using standards set by the International Colour Consortium, a set of data that describes the characteristics of colour for a particular input or output device. See colour profile.
Iterative: A strategy where a process is repeated to build toward an ever-more refined result.
Kerning: An adjustment to the individual spacing between letters so that they are more visually pleasing.
Lab colour space: A theoretically modelled colour space created by colour scientists, based on the opposing pairs of colours. See device independent colour.
Latent image: the resulting invisible electrostatic charge remaining on the surface of a photoconductor or drum after areas are exposed to a light source.
LED: Light emitting diode. A semiconductor that emits light.
Make ready: The process of setting up a print device for a production run.
MIS: Management information system. An integrated software solution that tracks and tabulates information and data on all of the steps in the manufacturing process.
Opacity: The degree to which light is prevented from traveling through an object.
Oversetting: When text content exceeds the space allocation of a text block.
Perfect binding: A book binding style where the pages are stacked together, glue is applied to the spine, and the cover wraps around the book.
POD: Print on demand. A print job that is manufactured on demand, and only for the exact amount needed, without pre-printing or warehousing.
Preflight: Checking a file before trying to print it, in order to catch costly or time-consuming errors further along in the production process.
Process colour: see CMYK.
Proportional font: A font whose character widths differ depending on the character shape itself and its relationship to other characters.
QR code or Quick Response Code: A popular 2 dimensional bar code characterized by the use of grid of small squares within a larger square rather than bars.
Raster image: An image represented by a grid of pixels that denote colour and tone.
Reflective primaries: See subtractive primaries.
RGB: Red, green, blue. See additive primaries.
Rhetoric: The study of effective communication through the use and art of persuasion through discourse.
RIP: Raster image processor. Computer hardware and software that converts image files into the final format required by a particular print device. Note: Can also stand for raster image processing.
ROI: Return on investment. A measure of the financial benefit that results from expenditure of resources.
Roughs: Renderings of thumbnails that explore the potential of forms, type, composition, and elements of a designer’s best concepts.
SaaS: Software as a service. Computer software offered over the Internet through a purchasing licence. The software is typically not stored locally but accessed wholly online.
Saddle stitching: A book binding style where the sheets of a book are folded and stacked inside each other, then stapled (stitched) in the middle (spine) of the book.
Spectro: See spectrophotometer.
Spectrophotometer: Records spectral data from incremental slices of the range of wavelengths included in visible light. Sometimes shortened to spectro.
Spot colour: Colours that are made of mixed inks and that must each be applied independently to the printing surface.
Substrate: The surface to be printed upon.
Subtractive primaries: Cyan, magenta, yellow (CMY), where the colours combine to absorb all light and produce black. Also known as reflective primaries.
Target audience: In design and communications, the predefined group of people that the communication is intended to appeal to.
Temperature (of light): Relative warmness to coolness of the colour of light, measured in degrees Kelvin. Typical daylight ranges from 5000 to 6500 degrees Kelvin.
Thumbnails: Small, simple hand-drawn sketches presenting minimal information. These are intended for the designer to help inspire and guide the design process.
Total ink coverage: See total ink limit.
Total ink limit: A percentage that represents the upper threshold that the sum of the four process inks can total. Usually resides between 240% and 400%.
Transmissive primaries: See additive primaries.
Trans-promotional: Transactional documents such as invoices and statements incorporating promotional messages or offers, often based on customer specific data or trends.
Trapping: Slightly overlapping colours that fit together without any white space showing between them. Also refers to the layering of ink on a printing press so that the inks lay down on, or ‘stick’ properly to, the previous layer of ink.
Triboelectric effect: An electrical charge that builds up from friction between different contacting materials.
Typographic hierarchy: Imposing order through a system of titles, subtitles, sections, and subsections.
Vector (image): An image created with vectors: points connected by straight or curved lines.
VDP: Variable data printing. Refers to templated products that can be ordered online, such as business cards, as well as jobs where the image changes for every product, such as an addressed envelope or direct mail.
Whiteness: The measurement of the reflective properties of a paper across the entire visible spectrum of light.
Workflow: A set of working procedures that is implemented to provide consistency and reliability to a workplace process.
WYSIWYG: What you see is what you get. Refers to imagery that will reproduce consistently on any output device.
XML: Extensible Markup Language. A computer programming language that adheres to rules for a concurrent human and machine-readable document structure.
XYZ: a device independent colour space similar to Lab colour space.