Against the grain

at right angles to the direction of the paper grain; opposite of paper grain direction


Bead

a border of lamination material that extends beyond the edge of the printed piece; standard border is 1/8 inch


Black

K:  one of the four colors of the CMYK printing process, black in color. Also referred to as the Key color.


Collate

a finishing term for gathering paper in a precise order


Crop marks

printed lines showing where to trim a printed sheet


Customer's Originals

print ready copy


Cyan

C: one of the four process colors used in the CMYK printing process; blue in color


Foamcore

strong, sytrofoam-like board to which printed material is applied or mounted


Grain

the direction in which the paper fiber lie


Halftone

converting a continuous tone to dots for printing


Head-to-head

right-reading sheets with the head on top that, when duplexed, heads run together on the front and back of sheet; the back sheet is right-side up


Head-to-toe

right reading sheets with head on top, that, when duplexed, heads run opposite on front and back of sheet. The back sheet is upside down


Make-ready

all the activities required to prepare a press for printing


Matte finish

dull paper, ink, or laminate finish


Negative

the image on a film that inverts color


Offset Paper

term for uncoated paper


Opacity

the amount of show-through on a printed sheet.  The thicker the paper, the lesser amount of show-through; the thinner the paper, the more amount of show-through.


Overlay

transparent cover sheet on artwork often used for instructions


Page count

total number of pages in a book including blanks


Pantone Matching System

(PMS) Industry standard for ink mixing


Pica

unit of measurement. One pica = 1/6 inch


plate

a metal plate imaged in a setting machine for each color separation; required for offset printing


Plate gap

The area where the grippers hold the sheet as it passes through the press


Right-Angle fold

two folds at right angles to each other


Sample

rough layout of a printed piece showing position and finished size


Signature

a sheet of printed pages that when folded become part of a publication (i.e., book, magazine, etc.)


Stack by page or subset

to keep each piece separate or independent


staple

added to a printed packet or book, commonly in the upper left corner or along the left side of a booklet


Step-and-repeat

the process of placing the same image on a single sheet or page of a document multiple times


Tape Bind

a type of binding that uses a strip of durable tape to hold a book together


Trapping

used to expand the dominant ink to be printed larger than the less-dominant ink; used to help tighted registration on offset printing


UV Coating

protective liquid coating applied to printed sheets (similar to varnish), bonded and cured with ultra-violet (UV) light


Watermark

distinctive design created in paper at the time of manufacture that can be easily seen by holding the paper up to a light


Work and tumble

using the same plate and same guide, printing one side of a sheet, and flipping it from gripper to tail to print on the back of the sheet. Similar to perfecting but 2 passes.


Work and turn

using the same plate and common guide, printing one side of a sheet, and flipping it from left to right to print on the back of the sheet