Introduction
There are currently eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms, which has been updated to Version 3.5. All data bases will be updated from time-to-time in the future.
Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms is highly focused, containing definitions and terms pertinent to the specific categories in the title.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document etc. for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g. click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
Generally the Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip over those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will hopefully be useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all! The references - that were invaluable in this compilation - are given at the end of the glossary.
Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms
AA: Abbreviation for "Author's Alteration".
A, B and C series of Paper Sizes: ISO adopted paper sizes. “A” series intended for all kinds of stationery and printed matter; “B” series as intermediate alternatives and C series for envelopes. All series are trimmed or made up and are given in millimetres (e.g. A0: 1189 x 841 mm; B0: 141 x 1000 mm; C0: 1297 x 917 mm). All sizes are proportionate reduction of basic 0 sheet, sides being in the ratio of 1: 1.4142 (see figure below for A series, where the area of A0 is one square meter).
Abscissa: Co-ordinate running parallel to the x-axis.
Abstract (Noun): Summary of a book, periodical feature, report of learned article.
Abuna-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Risque pictures; they came into fashion in the early 1720's after a government crackdown on more explicit images, shun-ga. They are the closest analogue in Japanese art to the nudes of Western art, and usually capture the subject in a private moment, partially undressed.
Abuna-e for a shunga series, Utamaro.
AC: Abbreviation for "Author's Correction".
Accent: A mark added to a letter to denote pronunciation in a given language. The most common are a boll å, grave è, acute é, cedilla ç, circumflex â, tilde ñ, bar ø, umlaut ä.
Accordion Fold (Concertina fold): Method of folding paper in which each fold is in the opposite direction to previous one.
Acid Free: Material and paper without acidity; also termed "pH neutral".
Acknowledgement: Any statement expressing thanks for contributions to a work from organizations or individuals.
Addendum (plural: Addenda): Latin for “thing to be added”; used to denote item or items added subsequently to text of a book.
Adherography: Trade name for duplicating process in which image is formed by adherence of powder (toner) to sticky, latent image.
Advance: Money paid to an author or other contributor in advance of publication, chargeable against subsequent royalty patent.
Advance Copies, Advances: Copies of a new publication made up in limited quantity for promotional purposes, before delivery of the main print run.
Afterword: Information on a work or its author added at the end of the main text. This may not appear until second or subsequent printing.
Against The Grain: Folding or marking paper at right angles to the grain.
Agate: Type size of 5.5 points.
Agate Line: Measurement of space in newspaper advertising, denoting 0.25 inches depth by one column width.
Air: A large amount of white space in a layout.
Aizuri (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "blue printing"; a later artistic effect in which the color blue (typically the newly introduced imported Prussian blue, also called Berlin blue - hence its Japanese name of berorin burau - which was a brighter and longer-lasting pigment than the fugitive native vegetable blue) predominates. Introduced in part as a response to sumptuary laws which limited the number of colors that could be used in a print, it also was commercially successful, in part because it became fashionable because of the Japanese fascination with new things. Hence aizuri-e, pictures in this technique.
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864) An aizuri-e (blue print) showing the courtesan Hanaogi of the Ogi-ya House parading with her two kamuro.
Akegane (Japanese Woodblock Effect): Copper pigment used to imitate metal copper. It was placed on the blocks with small brushes (hake-hake), and then printed on areas where paste had previously been printed (nori-zuri, literally "starch-printing").
a la Poupee Inking: In color printing, the use of poupee (a rag-stamp, a “doll”, a “puppet” in French) to ink parts of the plate, block, or stone separately. This approach is an alternative to printing multiple plates, blocks, or stones, each inked in only one color and registered on one sheet of paper.
Albion Press: Heavy iron, hand-operating printing press, still used in printing woodcuts and lino cuts.
Album Paper: Antique finish paper made from wood pulp, used mainly for the pages of photograph albums.
Albumen Plate: Lithographic plate with a photosensitive coating, originally made from albumen.
Aligning Numerals: See Lining numerals.
All in Hand: A term referring to a typesetting job when it is in the hands of compositors. No longer relevant in the computing age.
All Up: A term referring to a print job when copy setting is complete. No longer relevant in the age of computers.
Almagest: Medieval textbook, as on astronomy or alchemy.
Almanac: Annual compilation of lists and charts of varied information.
Alphabet/Alphabet Length: A measure derived from the length in points of the 26 alphabet letters set in lower case. Thus 39 Characters have a measure of 1.5 alphabets.
Alphabet lengths of different typefaces (and sizes).
Alphanumeric Set: A full set of letters and figures, possibly also including punctuation marks and certain commonly used symbols.
Alterations: Changes made to the body of a text after proofing.
Ammonia Duplication Process: A form of a “diazo” process in which latent image is made visible by exposure to evaporating ammonia.
Ampersand: The sign (&) used in place of the word "and" as in Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
Anaglyph: A stereoscopic picture made from two superimposed images in complementary colors, viewed by means of spectacles with corresponding color filters in each lens.
Tokyo - 3D Anaglyph.
Anchoring: A method of fixing metal plates to wooden blocks using screws and solder.
Angle of View: See viewpoint.
Animal Sized: Describes paper which has been hardened or sized with animal glue or gelatine, by passing the finished sheet through a bath of glue.
Animation: A method of film-making that produces movement by rapid projection of a series of sequential still images usually using computer aided graphics or drawings etc.
Sleeping Beauty©The Walt Disney Company
Annals: Records and reports of a learned society, field of study, or the like.
Annex: A supplement to a technical publication bound with the main body of the text.
Annotation: (i) A type of label added to an illustration; (ii) Explanatory notes printed in the margin of a text.
Anodized Plate: A plate used in offset printing, specially treated to harden the surface so it will resist wearing down in the press.
Anthology: Collection of writings, as by a single author or on a particular theme.
Antihalation Backing: A protective coat on non-emulsion side of a film or plate that prevent light reflecting back into the emulsion.
Antiqua: (i) Early typeface based on the 11th and 12th Century Italian scripts; (ii) A German word for Roman type.
Antiquarian: The largest known size of handmade paper, 53 x 31 inches (1350 x 790 mm).
Antique Paper: An un-sized or lightly sized material with a rough, matt finish, usually bulky; used mainly for books.
Appendix (plural: Appendices): Part of “end-matter” of a book, usually for the purpose of enlarging on some element in the text or to give support to passages within the book (e.g. statistics etc.)
Aperture: The opening behind a camera lens that allows light to penetrate to a film or recording device. The size of the aperture is variable, governed by the diaphragm and measured by the F-number.
Comparisons of various apertures.
Aperture Card: A card mount for the storage of microfilm.
Appendix: Matter subordinate to the text of a work and printed after it. An appendix may enlarge on information in the text and substantiate it by means of graphs, statistics, glossary etc.
Apron: Extra white space allowed at the margins of the text and illustrations forming a foldout.
Aquarelle: Extremely high quality paper.
Aquatint: (i) An intaglio process that allows reproduction of even or graded tones; (ii) A type of etching in which acid-resistant resin granules are sifted on to a heated plate. When the plate is immersed in acid, the acid etches around the granules adhering to the plate, thus producing a grainy tone when the plate is inked and printed. The value of the tones in aquatint is controlled by the size of the resin grains and the length of immersion.
Jean Claude Richard, Abbé de Saint-Non (French, Paris 1727–1791 Paris).
Medium: Aquatint printed in brown ink.
Arabic Numerals: The numerical symbols:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0. See also Roman numerals.
Aratame (Japanese Woodblock Term): Literally, "examined"; a character found in many censor seals.
Archival: Long term stability and resistance of a material to ageing; generally, it also described by being an acid-free material.
Archival Paper: Paper that resists brown spots and yellowing.
Arc Light: A bright light source used in the preparation of plates for photolithography. The light is made by an electric current leaping in an arc between two electrodes.
Architectural Plan: A line drawing showing the ground or floor plan of a building: an elevation drawing shows the proposed designs of vertical faces and a rendering is an illustration of the proposed appearance of the building.
Arithmetic Scale: A system based on equal measurements e.g. a chart or grid with lines spaced equally on the vertical and horizontal levels and indicating fixed value relationships.
Armorial: Book listing or illustrating coats of arms.
Arrowhead: A symbol shaped like an arrowhead used in illustration to direct a leader line or as a reference in conjunction with a figure or letter to caption material.
Artificial Light: Any light produced by incandescence, fluorescence, phosphorescence or other means than natural radiation.
Artist's Proof: These re additional prints over and above the number of prints in an addition, that remain the property of the artist. They are identitical to the edition prints and usually consist of 10% of the edition.
Art Lined Envelope: Envelope with a plain, colored or patterned lining of extra fine paper.
Art Paper: Paper with a hard, smooth surface caused by an even coating of china clay compound on one or both sides.
Artwork: Matter other than text prepared for reproduction such as illustration, diagrams, photographs and images etc.
As to Press: Term used in production of gravure printed magazines for proofs showing final position of color images.
ASA: Abbreviation for American Standards Association. An ASA number appears on film stock to provide a basic quantity from which the length and F-number of an exposure can be calculated.
Ascender: The section of the lower case letter rising above the x-height, e.g. the upper part of an "h" or "d".
Ascenders are shaded "red".
Aspect Ratio: A term used in computer graphics to denote the ratio of width to height in a figure or letter.
Assembled Negative: Negative of line and halftone copy used in preparing a printing plate for photolithography.
Assembled View: In technical drawing, an illustration showing a whole object assembled, often to accompany an exploded view.
Asterisk: Sign (*) used to indicate a footnote to a text or to give special emphasis in line display.
Atlas (Paper Size): 864 x 600 mm (34 x 26 inches)
Auteur Theory: The view that the artistic quality of a motion picture is mainly the responsibility of the film director, who is the real cinema “artist”.
Author’s Correction (Author’s Alteration): Any correction, deletion or addition to a proof, which is not the result of a printer’s error.
Author's Proofs: Galley proofs checked and marked by the printer's reader to be read by the author, who may then make any necessary correction.
Auto Indent: Instruction entered in a machine for photocomposition indicating that the text should be automatically indented until the command is cancelled.
Autolithography: Printing from an image hand drawn directly on a lithographic stone or plate.
Appassionata from Nikolai Zhukov a Leniniana Autolithographer (1959).
Automated Publication (Print on Demand): Published work of which an electronic copy is kept for future publication.
Autopositive: Photographic materials designed to provide a positive image without a negative being required.
Autospacer: Mechanism in typesetting machine designed to include automatic quaking.
Auxiliary Room Stand: A second stand holding a paper roll in a WEB-FED press, allowing continuous printing while the first row, is replaced.
AVA: Audio-visual aids.
A/W: Abbreviation for artwork.
Axes: (pl. axis) Imaginary line defining the center of an object around which the object rotates or is symmetrical on a flat plane; that is, the central line, real or imaginary, around which parts of a work of art are composed and balanced.
Azure: Term used for lighter tints of blue, “laid” and “wove” papers.
Backbone (of Book): Same as spine.
Back (of Book): That edge of any book at which leaves are secured; also called “spine” or “shelfback” - see above.
Back Jacket Flap: Section of a book jacket folded inside the back cover of a hardback book.
Back Lining: A paper or fabric strip fixed to the back of a book before casing in.
Back Margin: The margin of a page nearest to the spine of the book.
Back Matter: See end matter.
Back Projection: Projection of a transparency on to the back of a translucent screen by bouncing the image off a mirror surface.
Backslanted: Any typeface which inclines to the left.
Back Step Collation: To collate a book by reference to marks printed on the back fold of each section.
Back to Back: Printing on both sides of a sheet. See back up.
Back Up: To print the second side of a sheet of paper. Backed refers to the sheet when it has been backed up.
Backup Archival: A backup which specifically saves previous versions of your backups, thus avoiding the possibility of you losing files which may be deleted and deleted by a mirror image backup.
Backbone: See spine.
Background: In an illustration or photograph, the part of the image that appears furthest from the viewer, or on which the main subject is superimposed.
Background Art: Part of the design, such as pattern or texture, forming a background for type and illustration.
Baedeker: Guidebook, specifically a 19th-Century tourist guidebook.
Balance: In a layout or design, an arrangement that is visually pleasing.
Symmetrical page layout.
Balloon: A circle enclosing copy in an illustration; particularly of cartoons, the areas containing dialogue. Also named a "bubble".
Bar Code: A pattern of vertical lines identifying details of a product, such as country of origin, manufacturer and type of product, conforming to the Universal Product Code (UPC) - there are several different formats for product coding.
Baren (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): The circular flat pad (usually made of a bamboo sheath wrapped around a flat coil of straw and/or bamboo fiber), used to press the print down on the block during the printing.
Bank Paper: A light uncoated paper used for making carbon copies.
Banker Envelope: The most common type of envelope, having a top flap along the longer edge of the rectangle.
Banner: A main headline across the full width of the page.
Banzuke (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Printed programs for public entertainment events, often for the Kabuki theatre; the earliest form of woodblock-printed material associated with Kabuki. Often produced for the kaomise, when they are known as kaomise-banzuke.
A poster for the Ichimura Theatre (Ichimuraza tsuji banzuke), ca. 1715.
Baryta Paper: Special matt-coated paper suitable for “repro proofs”.
Base Alignment: In computer typesetting, the automatic alignment of type of different sizes aligned from a common baseline.
Base Artwork/Black Art: Artwork requiring the addition of other elements, e.g. halftone positives, before reproduction.
Base Film: The basic material for contact film in platemaking for photomechanical reproduction, to which film positives are stripped.
Base Line: (i) The last line of space on a page containing type matter - see base alignment; (ii) An imaginary line on which the bases of uppercase letters, and the bases of the x-heights of lower case letters, rest.
Baseline Grid: In some applications, an invisible grid to which lines of text can be locked so that their baselines align from column to column.
Basic Shaped Tools: In most graphic applications, the tools for drawing basic shapes e.g. lines, squares, rectangles, circle and ellipses.
BAT: Perfect proof passed by an artist as a standard against which prints in an edition will be compared.
Batch Mode: The facility of an application to process data processed in batches as distinct from data which is processed as you input it (interactive mode, or realtime), e.g. when you run a spelling checker through a whole document.
BBS: Bulletin board system/service.
Bed (of Press): Flat surface on which matter to be printed from is laid.
Begin Even: Instruction to the typesetter to set the first line of a piece of text without a paragraph indent, or full out.
Benday Prints: A series of mechanical tints in the form of celluloid sheets that are used in block making and lithography to add texture, shading and detail to line drawings.
Beni-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "pink pictures"; hand-colored prints using a pink ink produced from the safflower (benibana); most common in the period 1720-40.
Nishimura Shigenaga (ca. 1697-1756) Signature: Gako Nishimura Shigenaga hitsu. Publisher: Omiya Kuhei Hosoban, beni-e, hand-colored woodblock print 1730s.
Benigirai-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "pink-hating pictures"; prints using a muted color scheme, most common in the 1780's - 1790's.
Color woodblock-printed triptych, benigirai-e. Scene in the Nakadaya restaurant in Mukojima, with group of women on balcony; performer playing shamisen in center; view of dyke in background and torii of Mimeguri Jinja.
Benizuri-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "pink printed pictures". Benizuri was an early technique for mass-producing color woodblock prints, reputedly developed in about 1745. It initially used two color blocks: a light green, and a light red, in imitation of the simple red and green color scheme of the hand-colored tan-e prints. Later, a third block and color, usually yellow, was added. Hence benizuri-e, pictures in this technique; most common in the period 1745-55, with the third color appearing in the 1750's.
Mitate no Soga- Juro, Goro, and Yoshihide' (benizuri-e) by Torii.
Best Boy: Assistant to the gaffer.
Bestiary: Medieval collection of animal fables.
Bézier Curve (Bézier Control Handle): In object-orientated drawing applications, a mathematically defined curve between two points (Bézier points). The curve is manipulated by dragging, from an anchored point, control handles which act on a curve like magnets.
Biblio, Biblio Page: Common name for a page in book “prelims” which contains publishing history of book and publisher’s imprint; beware of confusion with “bibliography”.
Bibliography: List of authors, titles and publishers of books and periodicals relevant to a particular subject; it may form a self-contained publication in its own right but it is more normally part of the "end-matter” of another book.
Binder: Adhesive: glue in colorants that holds paints to a surface.
Binding Edge: That edge of a book at which sheets are secured: same as “spine” and “back edge”.
Binding Methods: The most common binding methods are given in the figure below.
Bijin (Woodblock Print Subject): Literally, "beautiful person"; the term for a beautiful woman; from which comes bijin-ga, the term for images of bijin, often geishas or courtesans, that being one of the original canonical forms for woodblock prints.
Biopic: Biographical film.
Black Letter: Heavy style of typeface based on broad nib script, also called Old English (US) and Gothic (UK).
Black Patch/Out: A piece of black (or red) material used to mask the image area on base artwork or positive film, leaving a window in the negative for stripping in a halftone image.
Black Printer: Used in film which provides the image to print in black ink in the four-color printing process.
Blanket: Sheet of felted wool used to distribute pressure evenly on the printed paper, when the "sandwich" of the press bed, inked plate, printing paper and three blankets passes between the etching press rollers.
Blanket Cylinder: In offset, one which takes ink image from the plate cylinder and transfers it to paper or other printing materials by means of thick sheet of rubberized fabric.
Bleed: The part of an image that extends beyond the trim marks on a page.
Bleed Edge: A printed image that comes to the edge of the paper, having no border.
Blind Emboss: To make an impression without foil or ink.
Blind Folio: Page of a book which does not have a page number (folio) but which is included in pagination (e.g. title page).
Blinding: It is a poor surface condition on an apparently sound printing plate that causes a sub-standard image.
Blind P: The character, ¶, is used to indicate new paragraphs. Also called "paragraph mark" or "reverse P".
Block In: To sketch in the main areas and reference points of an image as preparation for a drawing or design.
Block in "Hands".
Blocking: Stamping image onto the case of a book or pack by means of blocking, or binder’s brass; may be inked, foiled or left blind (i.e. without either). Known in USA as stamping.
Block Letter: A term used to describe large display sans-serif characters, deriving from letters cut in wooden blocks, which were used for embossing or printing.
Block Out: A masking material used to cover areas of the screen that are not to be printed.
Block Printing: Wood, linoleum, rubber, metal or compositional blocks etc., are used for reproducing designs on textiles.
Indian wooden block printing set - Trees & Leaves.
Blotch Printing: A process in which an open screen is used, where the dyestuff covers the entire surface of the fabric.
Blotch Print.
Blues, Blueprint: Low quality proofs, usually produced by the printer rather than the origination printing house for a final check before printing.
Blurb: Brief summary of contents of a book and/or the biography of an author printed on the jacket or soft cover.
Bockingford: Economical paper, with an interesting texture, caused by the pressure applied by woolen blankets in a cylinder mould machine.
Bockingford Watercolour Paper.
Body Copy/Matter: Printed matter, forming the main part, usually text, of a work.
Body Type: The actual type used in setting the main part of a text.
Bokashi (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): A shading or gradation in the depth of the color, produced by a number of different techniques, such as:
* wiping the blocks after the application of the ink;
* using brushes with varying color intensity and moisture level;
* rubbing the block with a damp cloth before applying the ink.
Bold Face: Heavy thick-lined type presenting an emphatic black appearance.
Bolt (Printing): Any folded edge of a printed section (signature) which is to be trimmed (i.e. not back folded).
Bond Paper: Grade of paper made for writing and typewriting, but which can also be used for printing; lighter weights are called “banks”.
Top Quality Bond Paper Sheets.
Book: Any leaved work which is bound; parts of a typical book are given in the figure below.
Bookbinding:
Book Face: Old term for a particular typeface, but now used to mean any type suitable for the text of a book.
Book Jacket (Dust Jacket): Printed paper outer, wrapped around cased cover of hard-backed book; also known as a “dust jacket” or “wrapper”.
Book Makeup: The collation and identification of copy prepared for printing of a book.
Book Paper: A general classification of papers suitable for book printing.
Book Proofs: Sheet proofs made up in a book form for final approval.
Border: Design around the edge of a panel, wall or floor. It may be stenciled, printed or painted free hand.
Black Flower Page Borders Design.
Bottom Out: To arrange a text so there are no unsuitable breaks at the bottom of a page, or so that the page does not end with a widow.
Bounding Box: In some applications, a box enclosing an item.
Bowl: The curved part of a type character that encloses the counter.
Box: In some applications, a frame into which text or pictures can be inserted.
Box Feature/Story: Information in a book or publication presented separately from the running text and illustrations and either surrounded by a box rule or underlaid with a tint patch. Also called a sidebar.
Boxhead: In a table arranged in columns, the heading to each column appearing under the main heading.
Box Rule: A rule or border surrounding an item of type or other graphic matter.
BP Chromo: Special grade of “chromo” paper used for block-proofing.
Bracketed Type: Type in which the serif is joined to the main stem in an unbroken curve.
Brass (Printing): Engraved plate used by bookbinder for blocking; known in the USA as binder’s die.
Brayer: Rubber faced roller with a handle designed to spread ink on a relief printing surface.
Breve: A mark indicating pronunciation of a short vowel, e.g. the accent above each letter - Ă ă Ĕ ĕ Ĭ ĭ Ŏ ŏ Ŭ ŭ.
Breviary: Prayer book and hymnal for Roman Catholic clergymen.
Bridging: The ability of a coating to span gaps between the threads of the mesh to form a stencil: over-heavy coatings of a screen filler applied during a reversal process can also be described as "bridging" when they form an impenetrable film over painting fluid.
British Gum: It is also known as Dextrin and is often employed as a resist under other prints; it will produce some interesting cracked print effects when used as a resist paste under some dyes.
George Bernard Shaw.
Photograph: Alvin Langdon Coburn (British, Boston, Massachusetts Wales).
Date: ca. 1907.
Medium: Gum bichromate over platinum print.
British Pharmacopoeia (B.P.): When these letters follow the name of a material they indicate that the material conforms to the specifications of the British Pharmacopoeia, and that it is approved for use in medicinal preparations. This grade is usually below C.P. grade in absolute chemical purity, but of more than adequate purity for average technical use. Corresponds to the American U.S.P.
Broadside, Broadsheet: Any sheet in its basic, uncut size; one which is printed on one side only.
Bromide: (i) A photographic print on a paper coated with a light-sensitive silver bromide emulsion; (ii) General term for a high quality output from an imagesetter, made on photographic paper rather than film.
Major Greenwood by Walter Stoneman. Bromide print, 1931.
Buffing: The final polishing of a reproduction plate before etching.
Bullet: A large dot used to precede listed items, separate items of text or to add emphasis to particular parts of text. It is available on keyboards by keying Option-8 - "•".
Bundle: Two reams of paper (1,000 sheets).
Burnisher: A smooth curve metal tool used for removing rough spots from printing plates.
Oval Burnisher with Wood Handle.
Burnout: The masking of copy being exposed in a reproduction process, to make space for new insertions.
Butcher Paper: Low grade paper that is often used as an absorbent in processes such as to wrap up silk prior to steaming.
©: The mark agreed by the Universal Copyright Convention to sign, when accompanied by the date of publication and copyright owner's name, that an item is protected by international copyright laws.
Calendering: A finishing process using heat and pressure in order to render surface effects.
Calenders: Metal rollers through which paper is pressed in order to give it smoothly polished (calendered) surface during the paper making process.
Caliper: Thickness of a sheet, especially of a board, measured in microns (millionith of a meter) or mls (thousands of an inch).
Calligraphic: Pertaining to the art of beautiful writing as in scripts in Persia, China and Japan; an artistic style characterized by graceful, flowing curves.
Squirrel font.
Calligraphy: The art of fine writing, the term derived from the Greek words meaning "beautiful hand writing".
Above are some common Chinese calligraphy scripts.
Callout: A piece of explanatory text, separated from the main body and linked, usually by a leader line, to an illustration.
Cambist: Manual of exchange rates and conversion charts for weights and measures.
Cameo: A term for typefaces in which the characters are reversed to show white on a dark ground.
Cameo Role: Brief but dramatic appearance of a well-known actor.
Camera-Ready Art(work): Copy or any material that is ready for photographic reproductions. Also called "mechanicals".
Cap, Capital: The term for upper-case letter, deriving from style of inscription at the head, or capita, of a Roman column.
Capital "A".
Cap Height: The height of a capital letter measured from its baseline.
Cap Line: An imaginary horizontal line running across the tops of capital letters.
Caps and Smalls: Type consisting of capitals for initials and small caps in place of lower-case letters.
Caption: Strictly speaking, the descriptive matter printed as a headline above an illustration, also called a "cutline", but more generally used to refer to information printed underneath or beside a picture.
Carbon Arc Lamp: A strong light source used in some forms of photomechanical platemaking.
Carbro: A color printing process using sensitized gelatin matrices carrying the printing colors separately and transferred by impression.
Carbro Print: Frida Kahlo on White Bench (1939).
Caret: (i) Arrow head mark indicating to the typesetter where material is to be inserted; (ii) Circumflex accent.
Carragheen: The seaweed carragheen, is commonly used as an emulsifier in food, can also be used to thicken the floating bath for marbling techniques.
Carry Forward/Over: Jump; take over.
Cartogram: Map which incorporates statistical information.
Carton: Container design to lie flat until required for use, as distinct from rigid box.
Cartoon: A full-scale preparatory drawing for a painting, mural or tapestry; a humorous sketch or caricature or series (as in a comic script) usually made for a newspaper or magazine.
Cartridge: A hard disk in a casing like a floppy disk, which is inserted into a peripheral storage device and is capable of transporting large amounts of data between a personal computer and a graphic design house. They are available in different storage capacities (e.g. 100 MB, 1Gb etc.)
Cartridge Paper: Cartridge paper comes in several weights (e.g. 130 - 150 g) and is often used to apply paint or dye to it. It is good for collaging or intercutting into other designs, as it is flat and untextured.
Jasart 110gsm A1 Cartridge Paper 250 Sheet Pack.
Case: (i) The stiff cover of a book, consisting of two boards, a hollow and a binding material; (ii) A box with separate compartments in which pieces of type are kept. This is the origin of the terms "upper case" and "lower case", referring to two areas of each case received for capital and small letters.
Casein: A substance obtained from curled milk, used as an adhesive in the manufacture of coated paper and sometimes as a binder for paint.
Cast Coated Paper: Art paper with an exceptional glossy, enamel finish.
A high gloss, mirror-like surface, one side or two sides. Allowing the coating to harden while in contact with chromium polished surfaced coats cast coated paper.
Casting Off: Estimating amount of space the manuscript will occupy when typed set in cetain typeface and measure.
Catchline: The temporary heading for the identification at the top of a galley proof.
Catchword: Word printed at the top of the page or column, as in a dictionary, to indicate its entries.
Catechism: Instruction manual containing a series of questions and answers, especially on Christianity.
CCITT: Consultative Committee on International Telephony and Telegraphy, a data compression standard.
Cellophane: Transparent cellulose acetate film that is thin and very flexible.
cf: Abbreviation for "Confer"; Latin for “compare” and is used in footnotes.
Chalking: A printing fault caused by ink soaking into paper leaving pigment deposited on the surface.
Chapbook: Booklet or pamphlet of popular poems, ballads, religious homilies, or the like.
Chancery Cursive: Style of calligraphy with a contemporary look. Less formal lettering.
Chancery cursive calligraphy alphabet.
Chancery Italic: A 13th Century style of handwriting on which italic type designs were based (see above).
Character Assembly: An alternative term for typesetting, especially in reproduction methods not using metal type.
Character Attribute: The complete specification of a character, including font, size, color, style, scale, kern etc.
Character Set: The complete repertoire of letters, figures and other symbols in a font.
Character set for Sketchnote Text Bold.
Character Space: The distance between characters, based on the values allocated by the font designer.
Chase: Metal frame that holds type for printing or platemaking.
Checkbox: A square box in dialog boxes that, when clicked on, shows an "x", indicating that an option is enabled. When the box is empty, the option is disabled.
Chemical Pulp: Process wood pulp used in high quality printing papers.
Choke: A method of altering the thickness of a letter or solid shape by over-exposure in processing or by means of a built-in option in electronic devices.
Chop: Embossing or printing stamp applied by hand to finish prints; normally specific to the printer or studio, they identify the provenance of the print.
Title: Made To Order IV.
Prints on paper.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Embossed: Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
Chromo: One-sided art paper used mainly for proofing.
Chromolithography: Lithographic printing in several colors by traditional techniques. A color lithograph made for commercial or reproductive purposes. Chromolithography was especially important in the nineteenth century in Europe and America.
Chromolithography began to gain popularity in 1840 in the US. It is used to print images and type for various industries, including packaging labels, greeting cards, and posters, as well as scientific and medical texts. Stone or zinc plates can be used planographic printing. Images are printed from a flat surface, rather than incised (intaglio) or raised (relief) surface. It led to development of lithotints (in which the oil-based medium is applied with a brush). It allowed for cheaper illustrated texts. It was important for creating medical texts. It allowed for cheap color printing for the first time in history. It enabled irregular dot pattern present in prints. William Sharp was first American to use chromolithography. Offset printing replaced chromolithogrpahy in the 1930s.
Process: Artist created watercolor sketch design. It was transferred to Bavarian limestone slab designs drawn in black oil-based medium (such as crayon, or pencil). Reversed lithograph artist had to determine how colors would be created by interactions of various layering gradient colors. It was made by over-printing; over-printing creates tonal shift. Lithographic stones needed to be registered accurately in order to recreate design registration. It is a process by which several different lithographic images are lined up, so that different layers of color printing print correctly. After printing was complete, the stone was washed off to be reused.
cicero: Didot equivalent of pica as unit of measurement: 4.500mm.
Cinéma-Vérité: Films or filming intended to represent life very realistically.
Circumflex: See accent.
Clapperboard: Hinged board bearing the take number clapped in front of the camera to synchronise sound and picture prints.
Clean Proof: A typesetter's or printer's proof which is free from correction marks.
Clip Art: Libraries of copyright-free illustrative or design material, of widely varying quality, available either in a book form or in various files formats at computer sites or on disks.
Texas clipart vector graphics 2.
Clipping: Limiting a drawing to within the boundary of a particular area.
Clipping Path: In some drawing applications, a closed path into which an element can be pasted as a fill.
Clone: A device made by one manufacturer that imitates the operation of, and is sometimes compatible with another, made by a different manufacturer.
Close Up: An instruction to delete a space, e.g. to bring characters closer together.
Club Line: A short line ending a paragraph, which should not appear at the top of a page or column.
CMC7: A character set used in magnetic ink character recognition.
Coarse Screen: Any halftone screen up to 85 lines to an inch (34 lines to a centimeter).
Coated (Art) Paper: A paper having covering of coating slip made from chinaclay; maybe machine, blade or cast coated.
Cocked Up Initial: Raised cap(ital).
Cock Up Figure/Letter: Superior figure/letter.
Cockling: Warping of printed-paper.
Codet: Color control bar.
Collage: From the French coller - “to paste”; any artistic composition made by gluing assorted materials (cloth, newsprint, wood veneers) to a flat surface, usually a canvas or a panel.
Hannah Höch's Collage.
Collage Blocks: The basic principle of relief printing, in which the design is formed by contrast between positive (raised) areas of a printing block and negative cut-away sections. The blocks are constructed from a range of materials and are assembled on a flat base to form a relief block with different surface levels.
Collage Blocks Equipment: Buttons, wood shavings; pulses, yarn and pasta or other low relief items; PVA adhesive; scissors; craft knives; fabric and/or paper .
Collation: In printing, to check correct order of printed sections (signatures) after gathering.
Color Bars: In four-color processing, proofs should contain standard sets of bars devised to show strength of ink across plate, register etc.
Litho print color bar.
Color Break: The edge between two areas of color in an image.
Color Burnout: Deterioration in the color of printing ink caused by chemical reactions in mixing or drying.
Color Chart: Chart used in color printing to standardize and select or match color inks or tints used.
Color Coder: An instrument capable of comparing the intensity of printed colors, ensuring correct reproductions.
Color Correction: The adjustment of color values used in reproduction to obtain a correct image.
Color Extraction Device: A photoelectronic device which "reads" relative densities of primary colors in full-color copy to make color separations.
Color Positives: Set of screened four-color separations with positive image, used for deep-etched litho-platemaking.
Color Scheme: A plan using color that has purposely designed built-in restrictions.
20D8 – Deep Blue; 20E8 - Lapis Lazuli (Blue); 20F8 – Blackish Blue.
Note: The notation such as 20D8 is Methuen Color Index (CI) Classification System.
Color Separation: The process of creating a stencil for each color of an image.
Color System: A specific means of obtaining color effects. Complementary and analogous systems, for example, produce different effects.
Wheel with complementary color scheme.
Column: (i) A section of a vertically divided page, containing text or other matter; (ii) A vertical section in tabulated work.
Column Inch/Centimeter: A measure of space used to define text areas or advertising matter in a newspaper or magazine.
Column Rule: A light-faced rule used to separate columns in a newspaper.
Combination Line and Halftone: Halftone and line work combined into one set of films, plates or artwork.
Commissary: Cafeteria in a film studio.
Commonplace Book: Personal journey containing ideas, reflections, and quoted extracts.
Comp: (i) Compositor; (ii) Comprehensive, a mock-up showing how a finished design or publication will look.
Compilation Film: Film using some real-life documentary sequences.
Compose: To put together type and rules by hand or machine or computer.
Composing Stick: Small, hand-held adjustable tray in which type is set before fitting in the galley.
Composite Artwork: Artwork that combines a number of different elements.
Composition Size: Term used to describe any type up to a size of 14 points, these being the sizes that, traditionally (in hot metal), could be set on a composing machine.
Compositor: The person who sets type, originally by hand, but now by any method.
Concertina Fold: Method of folding paper in which each fold is in opposite direction to previous one; same as accordion fold.
Concordance: Index recording all the occurrences in context of the words in a text.
Condense Type: A typeface with an elongated, narrow appearance; a condense font that will have been specifically designed so that the anomalies of optical condensing are eliminated.
Condition of Japanese Woodblock Prints: Woodblock prints have their condition rated on a scale which usually includes 'poor', 'fair' (sometimes 'moderate'), 'moderately good', 'good', 'very good', and 'fine'. This gradation is applied to several different aspects of the print:
Color: How clear and bright the colors of the print are today; in part this refers to fading of the dyes, but it may also refer to yellowing or browning of the whole print, etc. Many prints are printed in vegetable dyes which are subject to potentially severe fading if exposed to sunlight; others (particularly in later prints) use chemicals which sometimes degrade on exposure to air.
Impression: How good an impression the print was when new; i.e. (principally) how worn were the blocks, but also how much care was used in registering the different colors, how careful the printer was with printing, and effects like bokashi, etc.
General Condition: This includes both impression and color, but also takes into account such things as: whether the print is trimmed (removing not only the margins, but in many cases censor, publisher, date and other seals); whether the print has been repaired; whether the print is soiled; whether the print has any stains; whether the print is worn from handling; whether the print has creases from being folded; and whether the print has any wormholes or other damage.
Toned: This term is used to refer to paper that has turned brownish. Toning can be caused in a number of ways; most commonly, it is caused by a faint acid residue acting on the paper of the print, over a period of time. The acid may be present for one of two reasons; either the print itself is printed on non-acid-free paper (generally this is only seen in prints from the early Meiji period), or the print was mounted in a frame using materials which were not acid-free. (If the toning is caused by acid, the acid will also tend to make the paper friable.) Toning may also be caused by exposure to sunlight, or by cigarette smoke.
Constrain: In some applications, the facility to contain one or more items within another item, e.g. a text or picture box within another text or picture box.
Constrain Item: An item that is constrained within another.
Constraining Box: An item that has others constrained within it.
Contact Screen: A halftone screen made on a film base, which has a graded dot pattern. It is used in direct contact with a film or plate to obtain a halftone negative from a continuous tone original. They provide better definition than the conventional glass screen.
Contiguous: Adjoining, next in order such as computer memory etc.
Continuity: Detailed script for ensuring consistency from scene to scene.
Continuous Fold: System of folding paper from a roll in a series of concertina folds – see folding methods.
Reddest by Pat Hodson (Continuous Fold Book).
Continuous Tone, Contone: An original illustration which contains continuous shades between the lightest and darkest tones without being broken up by the dots of a halftone screen or reduce to a single shade as in a line illustration.
Contrast: The degree of separation of tones in an image from black to white.
Controlling Dimension: The width of height of an image taken as the basis for enlargement or reduction.
Control Point: In some drawing and graphics application, a point in a line or path by which you can control the shape or characteristic - see Bézier curves.
Converging Verticals: Familiar visual phenomenon in which parallel vertical lines appear to converge as when a tall building is viewed from below (see photograph below).
Copy: (i) Manuscript, typescript, transparency, artwork from which a printed image can be prepared; (ii) To make an exact duplicate.
Copyfitting: (i) Calculating the amount of space typeset copy will fill when set in a specific font, size and measure; (ii) Forcing typeset copy to fit within a given area by modifying it, e.g. cutting or adding words, increasing or decreasing character space, horizontal scaling etc.
Copyright: The right of the creator of original work to control the use of that work. The degree of enforcement and limits vary from country to country. Ownership of copyright does not necessarily mean ownership of the actual work (or vice versa) nor does it necessarily cover right to that work throughout the whole world.
©: Copyright mark, used to conform with Universal Copyright Convention, 1952.
Copywriting: A term applied to the writing of copy specifically for use in advertising and promotional work.
Corner Marks: The marks on a printed sheet acting as trim marks, and also sometimes as register marks.
Corner Radius: The roundness of corners of a rounded cornered rectangle expressed in the currently defined unit of measurement.
Corporate Identity/House Style: The elements of design by which any organization establishes an appropriate, consistent and recognizable identity through communication, promotion and distribution material.
Corrigendum (plural: Corrigenda): Latin for “things to be corrected”; used to describe item or items corrected subsequent to printing main part of book.
Cotman: An inexpensive grainy paper and a good alternative to cartridge and expensive watercolor papers.
Counter: The enclosed or partially enclosed area of a type character, e.g. the center of an "o" or the space between the vertical strokes of an "n".
Counterproofing: In printmaking, taking an impression from another impression before the ink has dried. This allows the artist to see the image in the same direction it was drawn in order to correct mistakes, or to achieve visual effects made possible by printing the image twice.
Cover: The outer layer of paper, board, cloth or leather to which the body of a book is secured by any binding method.
CPI: Characters per inch. In copy fitting, the number of type characters per inch.
CPL: Characters per line. In copy fitting, the number of type characters per line.
Crayon Manner: An eighteenth century intaglio process (also called “chalk” manner) that employed spiked wheels (roulettes) to established grainy areas on an etching ground. The etched areas imitated chalk (crayon in French) marks when printed. Crayon manner was used primarily to reproduce sanguine chalk drawings popular in the eighteenth century.
Credit/Courtesy Line: A line of text accompanying an illustration giving the name of an individual or organization which supplied it.
Credits: List of performers and workers in the making of a film.
Creep: Effect when a printed mark spreads on the substrate.
Crop, Cropmark: The part of an image that is discarded after it has been trimmed.
Cross-Head(ing): Subsection, paragraph heading or numeral printed in the body of text, usually marking the first subdivision of a chapter.
Cross-line Screen: Same as halftone screen.
Cross-Section: View of an object showing it as if cut through to expose its internal characteristics.
Crown (Paper Size): 508 x 381 mm (20 x 15 inches).
Crow Quill: A term referring to a very fine pen, derived from the original use of a cut crow's quill.
Crow Quill Dip Pen Set.
Cuneiform: Ancient Middle Eastern script using wedge-shaped characters.
Early writing tablet recording the allocation of beer, probably from southern Iraq, Late Prehistoric.
Cut: Contraction of “woodcut”; later applied to any illustration from relief printing plate or block; now common in USA as synonym for “block”.
Cut Dummy: Cut proofs of illustrations used in sequence as a guide to the make up pages.
Cut-In: Inserted shot, typically a still close-up, interrupting a running sequence of a film.
Cutline: USA term for a caption under an illustration.
Cut Marks: See corner marks.
Cut Out: (i) An illustration from which the background has been removed to provide a silhouetted image; (ii) A display card or book cover from which a pattern has been cut by means of a steel die.
Cyrillic Alphabet: Used throughout USSR and Bulgaria; descended from Greek, devised in the 9th century to incorporate characters expressing sounds peculiar to the Slav tongue; not used for printing types until the 18th century.
DA: Desk accessory.
Dagger: Type character used as second order or reference marks in footnotes; sometimes called "obelisk" or "long cross", e.g. ( † )
Daguerreotype: An early photographic process (1839) named after L. Daguerre, employing silver salts, iodine and mercury vapor in developing a picture.
Dai-ban or Keyblock (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): The first block carved in the process of creating a woodblock print; it prints the thin black outlines, and prints pulled from this block are used in the creation of the blocks for printing the colors.
Dampening: Necessary process in lithography of dampening the printing late to prevent ink spreading.
Dash: A punctuation mark known as an em dash/rule (—) or en dash/rule(–) as distinct from a hyphen (-). Do not mistake the em dash (—) for the slightly narrower en dash (–) or the even narrower hyphen (-).
Data: Any information.
Data Interchange Format: DIF.
Datum: The singular of data, although data is now commonly accepted as a singular noun in computer usage.
Daylight Bulb: An incandescent bulb with a blue coating that serves to neutralize the warm color temperature of the filament.
Led light bulbs daylight.
DCA: Document content architecture, a file format for transferring partially-formatted text documents.
Deadline: The final date set for completion of the job.
Dead Matter: Any leftover matter that is not used in camera-ready art or page make-up.
Decal: A printed transfer image.
Deckle: The ragged edge on hand-made paper.
Handmade Deckle Edge Pastel Paper in Ivory.
Decoupage: Method of decorating walls and objects with paper cut-outs protected by a clear glaze or vanish.
Rice paper - decoupage paper, scrapbooking sheets ballet.
Dedicated: Term used of a system or equipment with a unique function that can be used only for that purpose and is not otherwise adaptable, e.g. dedicated word processor.
Deep-Etch Halftone: A halftone image from which unwanted screen dots have been removed, so that areas of plain paper will be left on the printed sheet.
Deep Etching: The removal, by etching, of unwanted material on halftone plates to give a white background.
Degrease: The process of removing oil from screen mesh; new screens require degreasing before use, although degreasing may occasionally be needed throughout a screen's life.
Delimit: To indicate the end (limit) of a line to separate one field or record from another by using a specially defined character. The standard characters.
Demy (Paper Size): 572 x 444 mm (221 x 17.5 inches).
Densitometer: An electronic precision instrument used to measure density and other properties of color and light in transparencies, film, reflection copy or computer monitors.
Density: (i) The amount and compactness of type set within a given area or page; (ii) The weight of tone of color in any image. A printed highlight can be no lighter in color than the surface it is printed on, while the shadow can be no darker than the quality and volume of ink the printing process will permit.
Descender: The part of the lower-case letter that falls below the baseline of the x-height as in "g", "q" and "p".
Descenders are in "red".
Detail Paper: Thin, hard, semi-transparent paper used for sketches and layouts.
Devanagari: Syllabic script used in Sanskrit texts and Hindi and other Indian languages.
Devanagari alphabet: Consonants.
Develop: To treat with an agent so that color appears.
Diacritical Mark: A mark indicating the particular value or pronunciation of a character, e.g. cedilla, tilde, circumflex, or macron etc.
Diapositive: A photographic transparency in which the image is positive.
Diazo (abbr. Diazonium): A method of reproducing in limited quantities from a transparent or translucent original on paper, cloth or film. The image is exposed onto a light-sensitive coating of diazo salts and dyestuff and the print may be blue, black or another color.
Main Street, Kendall Square (Diazo paper, 4x5 exposure).
Didot Point: Typographic measurement system establish in 1775 by French typographic type founder Francois Didot, now used in most European countries as an alternative to the American point system. Didot point is now accepted as 0.375 mm.
Die: An intaglio engraved stamp used for impressing a design.
Die-Stamping: A process of impressing the form or ornament of a manufactured object by means of a metal stamp (die).
DIF: Dta interchange format, a file format for transferring (without text formatting) database and spreadsheet.
Differential Spacing: The spacing of each character of type according to its individual width.
Digital Image: An image generated and stored in electronic form.
Digitize: To convert anything, e.g. an image or a sound, into a form that can be electronically processed, stored and reconstructed.
DIN: Deutsche Industrie-Norm. The cost of standards established in Germany and widely used throughout the world to standardize such things as size, weight or speed-rating of certain materials and manufactured items that depend on universal compatibility.
Dingbat: A decorative font, the modern form of decoration traditionally called printers' flowers, ornaments and arabesques.
Erler Dingbats.
Dink: A half moon-shaped dent in a paper sheet caused by careless handling.
Directional: The term used to describe a word such as "left", "right", "above" and "below", used in a caption to direct the reader to a relevant picture or item.
Direct Stencil: A stencil created by applying a block-out medium directly to the silk screen.
Discretionary Hyphen Character: In some applications, a manually insert character that indicates a word break.
Disc: A flat circular object coated with metal material that stores computer data.
Display Matter/Type: Larger typefaces used for headings, etc., as distinct from smaller types used for text and captions.
Dissolve: Change of scenes, in which one scene fades out as the next appears.
Ditto Mark: A symbol (") indicating repetition of the text matter directly above.
Doctor Blade: A device used in intaglio printing processes to wipe excess ink from the surface of a plate. The blade is made of flexible metal.
Documentary: A photographic, motion picture or television presentation of not posed or uncontrived events; a style in art that seems to report actual events.
Dolly: Low platform on castors for moving a camera about the set.
Dot: (i) The smallest basic element of a halftone; (ii) Alternative term for pixel.
Dot Etching: A method of reducing the size of halftone dots by chemical action in processing, to alter the tonal values of an image.
Dot For Dot: (i) Printing color work in perfect registration; (ii) A method of producing printing film by photographing a previously screened halftone image. Generally, on fine-screen images, a maximum limit of 10% enlargement or reduction is desirable.
Dot Gain: An aberration occurring during the reproduction chain from original to printed image, caused by the tendency of halftone dots to grow in size. This often leads to inaccurate results, but if the dot gain characteristics of a particular printing press are known, compensation can be made during reproduction.
Dot Loss: The devaluation or disappearance of a halftone dot on a printing plate, opposite of dot gain.
Double Burn/Print Down: To use two or more negatives to expose an image on to a sensitive plate - often one for line work and a second for halftones.
DPI: Dots per inch.
DPSI/DPI2: Dots per square inch.
Driving Out: Arranging the spaces in a line of type to fill the measure.
Drop: (i) A gap, usually at the top of a page or column, before the printed image starts; (ii) Of text, the number of lines in a column as permitted by the page grid.
Drop Cap: Dropped capital. A large, sometimes decorative, initial at the beginning of a text or paragraph that drops into the lines of type beneath.
Drop Folios: The numbers printed at the bottom of each page, generally referred to simply as folios.
Drop Folio (yellow) on opening page of a chapter.
Drop-Out: (i) During reproduction, to use filters or other means to prevent an item from appearing on final negative or positive of film; (ii) Reverse to "onto".
Drop Out Blue/Color: Pencil or other marker, used to write instructions on artwork, which makes a mark that does not reproduce.
Dropped Out Halftone: Areas removed from a halftone negative, positive or plate by masking.
Dropped-Out Type: Type that is reversed out of its background.
Drop Shadows: A shadow behind an image designed to bring the image forward.
Dry Offset: Same as letterset.
Drypoint: An intaglio printmaking technique in which a needle is used to scratch a plate, typically copper. The ink rests in the grooves until the plate in pressed into the paper.
Stanisław Masłowski, ca 1905.
Portrait of Artist's Wife.
Technique: Drypoint.
Drypoint Equipment: Combined drypoint needle and burnisher drypoint needle; combined scraper and burnisher; zinc and copper plates.
Dry Transfer Lettering: Characters transferred to a page by rubbing them off the back of a sheet.
Franklin Gothic 48pt Letraset Rub on Transfers.
Dub: Add a new soundtrack, especially a translation of dialogue.
Dummy: (i) The prototype of a prosed book or publication in the correct format, binding, paper and bulk, but with blank pages; (ii) A mock-up of a design showing the position of herding, text, captions, illustrations and other details.
Duotone: Technically, two halftones made from the same original to two different tonal ranges, so that when printed - in different tones of the same color - a greater tonal range is produced than is possible with a single color. However, the term is generally used, wrongly, to describe a duplex tine.
Duplex Board: One consisting of two layers of different color and/or quality, pasted together.
Duplex Halftone: Two halftones made from the same original, but printed in two different colors. Generally called a duotone, although this is technically incorrect.
Heinrich Kühn - Venice, duplex halftone reproduction.
Durometer: The term describing the level of hardness of a squeegee blade.
Edition: The total number of identical, original prints made from one image, number sequentially and signed by the artist.
Title: Made To Order I.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Technique: Screen prints using ten colors and the artist's innovative multiplex technique.
Edition Series: The second print from an edition of four prints (2/4).
Eggshell Finish: The rough finish found on drawing paper and notepaper as a result of omitting calendering.
E-goyomi (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "calendar picture"; surimono which gave identity of the long and short months for that year (the Japanese year was divided into months of 29 and 30 days, in a pattern which changed every year). Since production of calendars was a monopoly of the government, one denied to general publishers, this information was usually woven into the design in some cunning manner.
Keisai Eisen: shunga / e-goyomi.
Egyptian: A collective term for a group of display typefaces with heavy slab serifs and little contrast in the thickness of strokes.
E-Hon (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "picture book"; the general name for illustrated bound works such as albums and illustrated book. Often used as part of the title of such a work.
A Country Genji by a Fake Murasaki - Nise Murasaki inaka Genji. Eehon series volume cover.
Electroplating: A process of coating an object with a thin layer of chromium, silver etc., by means of electrolysis (the chemical reaction produced by passing an electric current through an electrolyte).
Copper Electroplating.
Electrotype: A duplicate of a slate or block (especially a wood-graving block) produced by the use of electrolysis to coat a mold of the block with a thin layer metal; invented in 1839, the electrotype supplanted the stereotype.
Element: In some drawing applications, any object such as a shape, text or image.
Elephant (Paper Size): 711 x 584 mm (28 x 23 inches).
Ellipse/Oval Tool: In many graphics applications, a tool for drawing ellipses and circles.
Ellipsis: A sequence of three dots(...) indicating that part of a phrase or sentence has been left out.
em: A unit of linear measurement, 12 points or 4.5 mm.
Embossing: A calendaring process used to create three-dimensional design effects.
Title: The Rise - In the Beginning the Wollemi Pine.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Edition Series: The "fourth" print from an edition series of four prints (4/4).
Note: Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd is embossed on the image of the print.
em dash/rule: A dash one em wide, the actual width depending on the size of type being set.
em-quad: Type space which is square of type size.
em-rule: One used to indicate omission of word, or - by some - to open and close parenthetical phrase, as an alternative to space "en-rule".
em space: A space one em wide, the actual width depending on the size of the type being set.
Emulsion Side: The matt side of photographic film which holds the emulsion and which is placed in direct contact with the emulsion of another film or a plate when printing down to ensure a sharp image.
en: A measurement half the width of em, used in casting off.
Enamel Paper: One-sided highly finished coated paper used for box covers and color proofing.
en dash/rule: A dash half the width of an em dash.
end/back matter: The final pages of a book, following the main body, such as the index. Also called "postlims".
end even: Instruction to end a paragraph or section of copy with a full line.
Engine Sizing: A method of sizing paper by the addition of emulsified resin to clean paper pulp.
Engraving: An intaglio printmaking technique in which a wedge-shaped implement called burin is pushed with considerable force, carving a deep and regular groove into a plate, typically copper, into which the ink is pushed and held until printing. In summary, the design or lettering etched on a plate or block and also the print taken from such a plate.
en-quad: Type-space half width of "em-quad".
en-rule: One use to denote "and" as in "man-machine interface”, "to" as in "Paris-London flight" or - when spaced - to open and close parenthetical phrase.
en space: A space half an em wide, the actual width depending on the size of type being set.
EPS(F): Encapsulated PostScript (file), a standard graphics file format based on vectors (information giving both magnitude and direction).
Erratum (Plural: Errata): Item omitted from publication, acknowledged by subsequent inclusion of erratum/errata slip.
Estampes Galantes: French: “gallant or gay prints”. Eighteenth century reproductive prints (usually combinations of etching and engraving) after the Rococo painters. They were generally amorous or erotic in their subject-matter.
Etching: A metal plate treated with acid and with certain parts protected by the application of a ground. It is also a print taken from the etch plate.
Landscape under Trees, etching by Paula Modersohn-Becker, ca. 1902.
Etching Equipment: Hard ground; soft ground; stopping-out varnish; liquid hard ground; zinc and copper plates; leather-covered dabber; burnisher; etching needle; scraper; feathers for cleaning acid bubbles from plates; clamp for holding plate during smoking.
Etching Press: A press for printing intaglio plates, which are only a few millimetres thick.
et seq: Abbreviation for et sequins; Latin for "and the following".
Even Smalls: Small capitals used without an initial full capital at the beginning of a word.
Even Working: A printed work divided into a number of sections of equal size, e.g. 16,32,48 pages.
Exception Dictionary: A list of user-defined word breaks that are exceptions to the standard breaks contained within an application's hyphenation dictionary.
Exotic: A traditional term for a typeface with characters of a language not based on Roman letterforms, e.g. Hebrew.
Hebrew Font.
Expanded/Extended Type: A typeface with a flattened, stretched out appearance. An expanded font will have been specifically designed so that the anomalies of the optical expansion are eliminated.
Exploded View: Drawing of an object showing its component parts separately but arranged in such a way as to indicate their relationships within the object when assembled.
Extenders: Substances blended with inks to create a more transparent quality in prints.
Fabriano: Easy to work on paper that is durable.
Fabriano Artistico Watercolour Paper.
Face: Traditionally, the printing surface of any type character. It now means a group or family to which any particular type design belongs, as in typeface.
Face/Fade Out Blue: Drop-out blue.
Facetted Classification: System of identifying elements in a collection of information - such as in a book - in order that they can be compared with elements defined by the person seeking information (as distinct from less flexible classification systems such as Dewey).
Facing: Facing is due to the partial discharge of the unprinted areas of the dye ground occurring mainly in roller printing. It is also called scumming.
Facsimile: abbr. FAX. An exact reproduction or copy usually associated with reproduction via electronic scanning.
Fadeback: Ghosting.
Fade-In, Fade-Out: Gradual appearance or disappearance of an image or sound.
Family: A group of printing types in series with common characteristics in design, but of different weights such as italics, bold etc.
Fan-Fold: Mechanical folding method for continuous stationery.
Fashion Boards: Simple body boards lined with good rag paper on one side, and thin paper on the other side to prevent warping.
Fat Face: A typeface with extreme contrast in the widths of thin and thick strokes.
Fat Matter: A term for copy with a large proportion of spacing. Dense copy is known as lean matter.
Fatty: In conventional reproduction, the name given to a piece of film placed between the negative (or positive) film and a plate in order to create traps - the slight spread of two adjacent colors to achieve perfect registration.
FAX: Derived from facsimile. Slang for electronically transmitted images produced by scanning the original. Becoming obsolete.
Feathering, Carding: Adjustment of spacing between lines to fill the column exactly.
Feet/Foot Margin: The white area at the bottom of a page between the image and trimmed area.
Festschrift: Book of essays by scholars and compiled as a tribute to a learned colleague.
Figure (Book): Traditional term for a line illustration incorporated within text pages of a book; often abbreviated as "fig" (plural "figs").
Figure Number: The reference number given to an illustration.
File: In computing, a collection of data with a filename stored on an electronic device.
Fill: In most graphics application, the color, tone or pattern applied to the inside of a closed path or shape.
Fill Character: In some applications, the user-defined character that is inserted between specified tab stops.
Filler Stencil: The use of a liquid that is painted directly onto a screen mesh in order to fill parts of a mesh which acts as a resist to the printing process.
Fillet: An embossed line used as a decorative device on a book cover.
Film a Clef: Apparently fictional film based on facts, but with the names of places and characters change.
Film and Filming Terms:
Film Assembly/Stripping: The process of assembling film negatives or positives in correct position for preparation of printing plates.
Film Former: Any fluid material or ingredient, which when applied over a surface, will set to a solid continuous layer of film and perform the function of a paint vehicle, medium or varnish.
Film Speed: The rating given to photographic film so that an exposure can be calculated.
Filter: (i) Import/export filter; (ii) A feature in many paint and image-editing applications that enables you to apply pre-defined (but sometimes editable) visual effects to an image.
Final Draft: Copy ready for typesetting or printing.
Final Film: The positive or negative used for plate making, incorporating all corrections and in which the halftones are made with a hard dot.
Fine Screen: Any halftone screen of 40 lines to the centimeter or finer.
Finished Artwork: Artwork in final stage ready for printing.
Finished Rough: Mock-up.
Finishing: All operations after printing.
First Generation Copy: A copy of a photograph or other item made directly from the original, as distinct from a copy made from another copy of the original.
Fisheye: Unwanted open area in a photo-stencil, which prints with the appearance of an eye of a fish.
Fit: (i) Letterspace/letterfit; (ii) The alignment and register of individual areas of color or images within a printed page, as distinct from the register of colors on an entire printed sheet. Errors of fit occur in film stripping, whereas errors of register occur in printing.
Fixed-Size Font: Bitmapped font.
Fixed Word Spacing: A standard space between characters and words, used for unjustified typesetting, as distinct from the variable spacing required for justified setting.
Flash: A second exposure in conventional halftone processing that reinforces the dots in dark areas. These would otherwise run together and print solid.
Flat: (i) An assembly of composite imposed film, used in preparing plates for printing; (ii) A halftone of insufficient contrast.
Flat-Bed Cylinder Press: Printing machine using impression cylinder as distinct from "plate press" and having a flat printing surface as distinct from "rotary press".
A flatbed cylinder proofing press.
Flat Finish: Matt, non-glossy finish.
Flat Plan: A diagrammatic plan of the pages of a book used to establish the distribution of color, chapter lengths, etc. Also called a flowchart.
Flat Side: Side of a screen frame on which mesh is glued.
Flat-Tint Halftone: Matching halftone with flat tint to print under it in a separate color.
Halftone Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign pattern fills & textures look like real ink!
Flexography: Relief printing process using curved plates of rubber or soft plastic; used mostly for packaging and paper bags.
Flexo-rollers.
Flong: Paper-maché sheet used for making stenotype holds; mould made of this.
Flooding: Overfilling the mesh with printing mixture, usually leading to imperfect printing.
Flop: To reverse an image from left to right (horizontal flop) or top to bottom (vertical flop). Sometimes called flip.
Flowchart: See "Flat Plan".
Flowers: See "Dingbats".
Flush: See "Clear".
Flushing: The production of burred edges and loss of fine detail around a white discharge printing.
Flush Left, Right: Range left, Range right.
Flush Paragraphs: Paragraphs in which the first word is not indented but aligns with the left edge of the text.
Fly Leaf: That part of an end paper at the front of a book, which is glued to the first text leaf.
Foil: (i) Paper coated with metallic leaf or powder used in box making and in textiles; (ii) Clear, stable film used as a backing during film assembly.
Folder: (i) Piece of print which is folded but not bound; (ii) Container for loose items of print.
Folding Methods: As displayed in the diagrams below.
Fold-Out: Leaf of a book extending beyond page width, so that it must be folded one or more times; also called "throw-out" or "pull-out". See diagram below.
Foliation (of a Book): Numbering leaves rather than pages - as distinct from pagination.
Folio: (i) Cut or folded sheet, which is half of a basic sheet size; (ii) Also used as a synonym for "page number".
Follow Copy: Instruction to a typesetter to follow the spelling and punctuation of a manuscript even if unorthodox, in preference to the house style.
Follow On: Run on.
Fond: Font family descriptor. The log of a font family (all sizes and styles of a typeface) kept in a suitcase in your System file.
Font: A corruption of "fount". It is a complete supply of a typeface.
Font Family: The set of all the characters of a typeface designed in all sizes and styles.
Gilroy Font Family.
Font/Type Series: The identification of a typeface by a series number, e.g. Universal 55.
Font Usage: In some applications, a facility that lists all the fonts used in a document.
Foolscap (paper Size): Standard size paper 343 x 431 mm (13.5 x 17 in).
Foot: Bottom of a book. Also known as "tail".
Footage: Sequence or portion of film.
Footer: A running headline that appears on the bottom of a page.
Footnotes: Short explanatory notes, printed at the foot of a page or at the end of a book.
Fore-Edge:, Edge of a book, opposite back or spine.
Formulary: Book of prayers; book listing medical drugs, pharmaceutical formulas, and the like.
Foreshorten: In illustration to depict the apparent distortion of perspective in a receding form or plane. Alternatively, the representation through drawing of the three-dimensional forms on a flat surface to create the illusion of depth, as of an arm and hand extended toward the viewer.
Foreshortening image.
Format: (i) Dimensions of a trimmed sheet, page or book; (ii) Also a general term for size, style and treatment of a page etc.
Format and Orientation of Japanese Woodblock Prints: Harimaze: Prints of two or more (usually three to five) images on one sheet; originally intended to be cut out and displayed separately.
Hashira-e: A tall, narrow print used on pillars, on a special size paper, hashira-eban.
Kakemono: A hanging scroll, with a long and narrow format; hence kakemono-e, a tall, narrow format, often composed of two ōban-sized prints, one above the other in a vertical diptych.
Uchiwa-e: Prints intended to be used to decorate non-folding fans (uchiwa); usually in the shape of a rectangle with the longer axis horizontal, with rounded corners, and a cutout at the bottom.
Tateban: Also tate-e and tat-eye (the latter transliteration now obsolescent); vertical (i.e. portrait) orientation.
Yokoban: Also yoko-e and yok-oye (the latter transliteration now obsolescent); horizontal (i.e. landscape) orientation.
For Position Only: An instruction to layouts and artwork that an item is displayed only as a guide for positioning.
Forty-Seven Ronin (Woodblock Print Subject): The story of the Forty-Seven Ronin (a ronin is a masterless samurai) is perhaps the most-known story of Japanese history, described by one noted Japan scholar as the country's "national legend". It concerns a group of samurai who were left masterless in 1701 by the execution of their master. After over a year of patient waiting and plotting, they succeeded in avenging him by killing the court official who has caused his death. The story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, dedication and honor which all should reach for in their daily lives. It was eventually turned into a Kabuki play, the Kanedehon Chūshingura (literally, "Treasury of Loyal Retainers"). It quickly became (and remains) one of the staples of the Kabuki repertoire, and remains one of the two most popular Kabuki plays.
47 Ronin.
Foul Bite: An etching term, which describes the speckles and dots created by unwanted corrosion of the etching plate.
Example of foul bite in acid etching.
Found Object: Any organic material, such as leaves and feathers, or inorganic material such as plastic or lace. In traditional printmaking these items are inked and printed directly on paper or combined in collage artwork.
Fountain: (i) A reservoir for ink supply when using a silk screen; (ii) On offset-litho machines, reservoir for supply of fountain solution (water, acid, gum) to dampening rollers.
Four Color Process: A method of printing in full color by color separation, producing four plates for printing in cyan, yellow, magenta and black.
FPD: Full-page display.
FPO: For position only.
Frame: In screen printing, the rectangular support made of wood across which a screen is stretched.
Freeze Frame: Repeated single frame, producing the impression of a static picture.
French Curves: Flat plastic shapes with combinations of curves, used for tracing. See figure below.
French Fold: Right angle fold, when used for invitations or similar items of print in order to have print on inside and outside with only one printing.
French Sewing (of a Book): Method using only thread, with no cord or tape support.
Fringe: A halo seen to surround halftone dots in the early stages of processing.
Frontally: The full face or head on presentation of the human figure; planarity in the organization of forms, that is, emphasis on forms parallel to the frontal lane.
Two cats with their tails up walking frontally.
Frontispiece, Frontis: Illustration on preliminary page of a book, usually facing the title page.
Frontispiece and title page of Matthias Klostermayr's biography (1722).
Frottage: Taking a rubbing from an embossed or textured surface, such as wood or stone, using hard chalk, crayon, pastel or other medium on paper.
Leaf Frottage Lino.
Fugitive Colors: Colors or inks, which are not permanent and change or fade when exposed to light.
Fugitive Ink: One which fades or changes color on exposure to light, as distinct from "light-fast" or "permanent in".
Fūkei-ga (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Images of landscapes.
Fūkeiga, Library of Congress.
Fuki-bokashi (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "blowing-shading"; an alternative name was fuki-e, literally "blown picture". A method of stippling color onto early hand-colored prints by blowing pigment through a small tube, while masking the areas to be left uncoloured.
Full Shadow: A heavy outline to a letter or line of type.
Full Word Wrap: The transfer of a whole word to the following line to avoid a word break.
Futhark: Alphabet of runes.
The Runic alphabet is also known as Futhark, a name composed from the first six letters of the alphabet, namely f, u, th, a, r, and k. In this way, "Futhark" is analogous to the word "alphabet", which is from alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. And why were the letters ordered in such a way. Nobody knows the answer, but it might been some form of mneumonic function that was not preserved.
Gaffer: Electrician or lightening technician on a production crew.
Galley: Metal tray in which set type is held before pagination; printer's proof from such type.
Galley Proof: Rough proof before it is made up in page.
Gang Up: (i) To print two or more jobs on the same sheet, which would then be divided appropriately; (ii) To place a group of originals of the same proportions together for reproduction.
Garland: Sometimes used to describe books of poems or prose extracts.
Gathering (Paper): Arranging sheets or sections in correct order so as to make up a book.
Gelatin Process: A duplication method, using gelatin as the medium for transferring a carbon image as in gravure printing.
Silver Gelatin Print.
Genji (Woodblock Print Subject): The great novel of classical Japanese literature, 'The Tale of Genji', detailing the lengthy and complex love adventures of Prince Genji; written in the late Heian period. A perennial source for Japanese arts, it was a favourite subject of ukiyo-e artists of the nineteenth century, hence Genji-e, or illustrations of the Genji story. A number of parodies of the original novel were also popular during this period, especially the Nise Murasakai Inaka Genji, or 'Imitation Murasaki and the Rustic Genji' (sometimes shortened to Inaka Genji). Each chapter has its own special glyph, the Genji-mon, which notionally are in the form of connected bundles of incense sticks.
Genji Playing Card.
Geneva: A system font that is a bitmapped version of the typeface Helvetica. Like Chicago, it is built into Read Only Memeory (ROM) of your computer.
Geometrical Shapes:
Ghost: Faint stain (often relating to image forms) in screen mesh caused by incorrect cleaning or by certain printing mixtures (e.g. haze).
Ghosting: (i) To decrease the tonal values of the surrounding parts of an image in order to make the main object stand out more clearly; (ii) In illustration, particularly technical illustration, to depict parts of an image that would not normally be visible, e.g. parts of an engine covered by its casing.
Gigabyte: Abbreviated to Gb. Measure of storage, where 1Gb is equal to 1024 megabytes.
Gilding: Method of giving a surface a metallic finish by the application of a metal leaf or paint.
Gin (Japanese Woodblock Effect): Tin pigment used to imitate silver. It was placed on the blocks with small brushes (hake-hake), and then printed on areas where paste had previously been printed (nori-zuri, literally "starch-printing").
Glagolitic Alphabet: Early Slavonic alphabet.
Glagolitic alphabet.
Glassine: Transparent, glazed paper used for wrappings and window envelopes.
Glitter Paints: Suitable for all surfaces, including paper, glitter paint is available in the large range of colors. It remains on the surface of the fabric and so can be used on darker backgrounds.
Glossary: An alphabetical list giving definition of terms, usually related to a special subject - read this post!
Gloss Binder: On its own, gloss binder creates a shiny almost plastic print on a fabric, similar to acrylic gloss. It can be mixed directly with pigment color, but can clog up silk screens because of its thick consistency.
Gloss Ink: A printing ink consisting of a synthetic resin base and drying oils. These inks dry quickly without penetration, and are suitable for use on coated papers.
Glyphic: A typeface originating from carved rather than scripted letters.
g/m2/gsm/grams per square meter: A unit of measurement indicating the substance of a paper on the basis of its weight, regardless of the sheet size.
Gofun (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): A white power substance composed of ground and burnt seashells; it is often applied by hand to prints when a powdery look is needed. It is also used by painters, mixed with other materials, in a variety of ways: as a gesso-like undercoating, as the colorant in white paint, and also to build up painting surfaces.
Gold Binder and Metallic Colors: To produce pigment colors in gold, silver, bronze and so on, a specialist metallic binder and metallic powder color will need to be employed.
Goldenrod (Paper): Opaque, pre-ruled paper used for litho "flat".
Golden Section: A formula for division of a line or area supposed to give harmonious proportions. If a line is divided unequally, the relationship of the smaller section to the larger section should be the same as that of the larger section to the whole. It is in practice a ratio of about 8:13.
Gold Leaf: (i) Very thin sheets of gold obtained via hammering. Note: It should not be confuse with metal leaf the latter of which may have a gold coloring; (ii) Sheets of gold beaten to a wafer thinness used in gilding.
Gothic: See black letter.
Ancient German Gothic Font UPPERCASE.
Gradation/Graduation: (i) The smooth transition from one tone of color to another; (ii) The range of values between black and white.
Graining: The process by which a lithographic plate is given a moisture-retaining surface. Abrasive powder and either glass or steel marbles are used. Mechanical agitation produces the required surface.
Grammage: See g cm-2
grams per square meter (g cm-2): Method of denoting paper by weight.
Graphic: (i) A typeface originating from drawn rather than scripted letter forms; (ii) A general term describing any illustration or design.
Graphic Art: Also the graphic arts; from the Greek word for drawing and writing. Applied to engraving, etching, woodcut, linocut, lithography; any method of printmaking or communication through line, especially when reproduced in books, magazines, posters and by electronic transmission.
Graphic Design: Design based on or involving two-dimensional processes (e.g. illustration, typography, photography and printing methods etc.)
Graphic Design House: Also called a service bureau. A graphics business that offers a number of services to platemakers, graphic artist, desktop publishers, and users of personal computers. A graphic design house can print high resolution bromides and lith film on imagesetters from files supplied on digital electronic devices; they have high resolution scanners for digitizing photographs, artwork, transparencies, photographic negatives as well from other analaog or digital devices.
Graphic Tablet: Also called a digitizer or digitizing pad, This is a peripheral input device that allows a natural drawing style with a special pen and pad. The pressure simulated strokes and marks activates the pad and converts these into electronic information.
Graticule: A linear grid placed over an image giving reference to points on the image (e.g. lines of latitude and longitude on a map).
Gravure: An intaglio printing process.
Principle of Gravure Printing.
Grayscale: Tonal scale of grays from white through increasingly darker grays to black. Often used as a standard to monitor the quality of photographic reproductions.
Greek Alphabet: See below.
Greek(ing): To indicate type by substituting rules or a grey tint for the actual letters. This is common practice when preparing rough visuals or scamps.
Grid: (i) A measuring guide used in a book and magazine designed to ensure consistency. The grid usually shows such things as column widths, picture areas, trim sizes, etc. (ii) In some applications, a background pattern, usually invisible, of equidistant vertical and horizontal lines to which elements such as guides, rules, type boxes, etc. can be locked or "snapped", thus providing greater positional accuracy.
Grip: Member of a production crew who adjusts the set and shifts the camera equipment.
gsm: See gram per meter square.
Guarding: Method of attaching a single leaf to a section of a book or periodical, as a more secure alternative to "tipping in/on". See figure below.
Gum Arabic: Gum from the acacia tree. Constituent of water-based inks , lift ground, and gum etched in lithography. Watercolor artist add it to paint to enhance color.
Gutter: White space between pages, including trim, when imposed in form (see "imposition").
The example below shows the appropriate use of “gutter” for the text along the top, left and bottom edges of the design.
Gutter Bleed: An image allowed to extend into the fold, or to extend unbroken across central margins, of a double page spread.
Hairline Rule: Traditionally the thinnest line that it is possible to print. In applications that list it as a size option for rules, it is about 0.25 point thick.
Hairlines: The very thin strokes of a typeface.
Hairspace: Traditionally used of letter spacing, the term generally refers to a very narrow space between type characters.
H&J, H/J Hyphenation and justification.
Half-Title: (i) The title of a book as printed on the recto leaf preceding the title page; (ii) An image reproduced by the halftone process.
Halftone: (i) The process by which a continuous tone image is stimulated by a pattern of dots of varying sizes; (ii) An image reproduced by the halftone process.
Halftone Effect Background.
Left: Halftone, 72dpi, 8-bit; Center: Halftone 300 dpi, 8-bit; Halftone Conventional Reproduction.
Halftone Screen: Conventionally a sheet of glass or film cross-ruled with opaque lines. Also called a crosslink screen or contact screen. It is used to translate a continuous tone image into halftone dots so that it can be printed.
Half Up: A term that describes artwork prepared at one-and-a-half times the size at which it will be reproduced. Artwork that is drawn half up will need to be reduced by one third, to 66%, to print at its intended size.
Haloing: A white ring that resembles a "halo" around a colored discharge print. This is caused by migration of the soluble reducing agent around the printed design.
Handles: (i) In applications which feature drawn lines and boxes, text boxes or picture boxes, the small black squares positioned at each corner (and sometimes at other places) that enable you to resize those items; (ii) As in Bézier curve.
Hand Press: A printing press in which the plate is inked and the paper/cloth is fed and removed by hand.
Hang: See bomb.
Han-ga (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): Literally "printing-block image"; the Japanese term for a woodblock print.
Hanging Cap/Capital: An initial character that is larger than the text to which it belongs and which is positioned outside and to the left of the paragraph.
Hanging Indent: An arrangement in typeset text where the first line of each paragraph is set full out to the column measure and the remaining lines are indented to the right of the first line.
Hanging Punctuation: Punctuation marks allowed to fall outside the measured piece of text.
Hanshita-e (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): Literally, "base block picture", a copy of the artist's original drawing, made on very thin, translucent paper, and then glued down to the keyblock to provide a guide to the carver. They were prepared by specialists called hanshita-e-shi, literally "hanshita-e master".
Hard-Back Book: One with a stiff board cover.
Hard Copy: Typed duplicate to check accuracy of input before printing.
Hard Disc: Part of a computer forming a permanent magnetic memory. Consists of several plates for storing data.
Hard Dot: A halftone dot in the second or third stage of processing, with good density and sharpness.
Hard Hyphen: The term sometimes given to a hyphen that will not permit the hyphenated word in which it appears to break at the end of a line.
Hard Space: The term sometimes given to a space that will not permit two words between which it is placed to separate at the end of a line. A hard space can sometimes be generated by pressing Option-Spacebar on a computer keyboard.
Hardware: The parts of a computing system consisting of equipment, such as peripheral devices, the monitor, central processing unit, and hard disk which together comprise the computer.
Hatching: A drawing or printmaking technique; a kind of shading in which fine lines placed closed together create a tone that models form; in painting a series of parallel strikes (as in Cezanne) that create the appearance of planes or facets of form.
Cross hatching by MXDVS.
Haze: Generalized faint staining of screen mesh caused by photo-stencils, screen filters, printing mixtures, and varnishes (e.g. ghost).
Head Bolt: Thickening of sheet at last (head) fold before trimming. See figure below.
Header: In some applications, particularly word processing programs, the facility to place text and numbers automatically at the top of the printed page.
Heading: The title introducing a chapter or subdivision of text. A cross-heading, or cross-head, appears in the body of text.
Headless Paragraph: A paragraph set apart from other text but without a separate heading.
Head to Head/Foot/Tail: In page imposition, the placement of the heads and tails of pages on either side of a sheet to suit the requirements of binding.
Heavy: Of type, an alternative term for bold or, sometimes, type heavier than bold.
Blaktur is a heavy metal typeface by House Industries.
Hectography: A duplication process based on the use of gelatin plates.
Hera: Spatula used for applying resist paste through a stencil.
Japanese Okonomiyaki Teppanyaki Spatula Hera Stainless Steel Made in Japan.
Herbal: Textbook on plants, especially useful plants.
Hickie/Hickey/Bull's Eye: A common printing defect, visible as a spot surrounded by a blank halo, caused by a speck of dirt pushing the paper away from the printing plate.
Hieroglyphics: Ancient Egyptian picture writing.
Egyptian hieroglyphics chart.
High Contrast: An image or stencil made with black ink on white paper, or film, having no shading or grey tones.
High contrast images - Pop Art.
High Key: A photographic image exposed or processed to produce overall light tones.
Highlight: The lightest tones of a photograph, illustration or image.
Hinting, Hints: The set of instructions contained within Type 1 fonts which modifies character shapes so that they appear better when displayed or printed at low resolution.
HLS: Hue, lightness and saturation.
Holder: The handle for holding the nib of a writing pen.
Holding Line: See keyline.
Hologram/Holograph Image: One which gives a three-dimensional illusion without use of a camera: a laser beam (known as "coherent light") is split so that diffraction patterns are produced digitally; these reconstitute image of a subject when illuminated by light from a similar laser produces a hologram.
Holograph (Publishing): Manuscript written in the author's own hand.
Honing: A technique of removing image areas from a printing plate by mechanical means.
Horizontal Dimension: The width of an image, sometimes controlling reduction or enlargement in printing.
Horizontal Scaling: In some applications, the facility to condense or expand type. By retaining the exact attributes of the source font, horizontal scaling distorts its appearance and, while the facility can be a bonus, you may prefer to use a specially designed condense or expanded version of the font.
Hornbook: Elementary textbook introducing a subject, primer.
Hot-wire Cutter: An electrical device consisting of a nichrome wire stretched across a frame. A heating element heats up the wire so it will cut foam plastic materials without requiring a sharp cutting edge. Can be used to edge cut textiles.
House Organ: A publication produce to give information about a company to its own employees or customers.
House Style: (i) The style of spelling, punctuation and spacing used by a publishing house to ensure a consistent standard and treatment of text throughout its publication; (ii) Corporate identity.
h/t: Abbreviation for halftone.
Hyphen: A mark (-) used to divide broken words or to link two words.
Hyphenate: To divide a word between syllables at the end of a line of text or to create a compound form from two or more words, using a hyphen.
Hyphenation and Justification (H&J, H/J): The routine of an application that distributes spaces correctly in a line of type to achieve the desired measure in justified text. When this cannot be done without breaking words at the end of a line, hyphens will be introduced at a position determined by the application's built in dictionary or H&J rules.
Hyphenation Exceptions: The facility, in some applications, for you to modify, add or delete words that can be hyphenated.
Hyphenation Zone: In some applications, a (sometimes) user-definable area, at the right of the column in which type is being set, in which words can be hyphenated.
ibid: Abbreviation for ibidem; a Latin term meaning "in the same place". It is used in notes to a publication to repeat a reference.
Icon: A graphic representation of an object, such as a disk, file, folder or tool, or of a concept message.
Ideal Format: A size of photographic film measuring 60 x 70 mm (2.3 x 2.7 in).
idem: A Latin term meaning - "the same" - and used as a reference in footnotes.
ideogram: Character which symbolizes an idea by representing an associated object, but does not express sounds of its name; many Chinese characters are ideograms.
i.e.: Initials of id est; Latin for "that is".
Ideography: System of symbolic characters to represent entire words or ideas, as in Chinese etc.
Ideographic Writing.
Illuminate: To decorate manuscript with gold or silver or with brilliant colors or with elaborate designs (scrolls) and miniature pictures.
Francesco Marmitta - Leaf from Rangoni Bentivoglio Book of Hours. (Note: How the page is illuminated).
Illustration: A drawing, painting, diagram, image or photograph reproduced in a publication to explain or supplement text.
A crowd of hungry people reaching for food.
Image: The subject to be reproduced as an illustration.
Ian McCausland's Rolling Stones Australia Visit Poster.
Image Area: (i) In design, the space within which a particular image is to fit; (ii) The printing or ink carrying area of a litho plate.
Image Master: A film based font.
Imagesetter: An output device that prints high-resolution images from a file on a disk on to bromide or film as film negatives or positives. The early imagesetters worked by projecting light through tiny negativers to photosensitive bromide film. Modern imagesetters incorporate a computer called a raster imaging processor (RIP) which converts image and text on a file into a computer language , usually POstscript. Printing is digitally controlled and performed by as laser beam which "rakes" across photosensitive flm.
Imperial (Paper Size): 762 x 559 mm (30 x 22 inches).
import: To bring text, pictures or other data into a document. Some applications allow you to import material in a variety of file formats scubas ASCII or EPS.
Import/Export Filter: In some applications, a file that enables the translation of a file format to or from another application.
Impose: To arrange type and other printed matter in pages and lock up as forme printing.
Imposed Proof: Proof taken from frome; also called "sheet proof".
Imposition: Arrangement of pages to printed on sheet in unit called "forme" so that they will be in correct sequence when folded to form a section (signature); simplest imposition is 4 pages. See diagram below.
Impression: Any printed copy made from type matter or plates, and physical action which produces it; also, by extension, whole print run (used in connection with number of copies printed).
Imprimature: A Latin term meaning - "let it be printed". It used to be a statement to show that permission to print a work had been given by the appropriate authority.
Imprint: (i) The printer's imprint is the name of the printer and the place of printing. It is required by law if the paper or book is meant to be published. The publisher's imprint is the name of the publisher with place and date of publication; (ii) Journal of Printmakers Council of Australia.
Imprint Page: Reverse of title page of book; used for information about copyright conditions, printing history and printer; also called "biblo" page.
Incunabulum (plural: incunabula): Latin for - "from the cradle"; used to describe an early book, especially one printed before 1501.
Divina Commedia 1491.
Indent: To leave blank space at the beginning of line of type; usually first line of a paragraph.
Index: Alphabetical list of subjects dealt with in a book, with relevant page numbers.
Index Letter/Number: A character or number used to key a reference between an illustration and the caption or text.
Indian Ink: Conventional term for black drawing inks, carefully made of lampblack with aqueous binders. Various kinds contain additions to improve color and working properties. Permanent. The color of black ink used in drawing, painting etc., which is produced from carbon; related to carbon black, pitch black, jet black, ink black etc.
Indirect Stencil: A stencil created away from the silk screen and then attached prior to printing.
Inferior Character: Letters or numbers set smaller than the text and set on or below the baseline, as in H2O the letter "2".
Initial Cap/Capital: (i) Instruction to set the first letter of a word or phrase as a capital; (ii) The initial letter of a paragraph that may be enlarged and set as a drop, hanging or raised cap.
Ink Black: The color of black ink or India ink (1814).
Ink Drier: A chemical agent added to ink to speed drying and to prevent smudging.
Ink Duct: Ink reservoir on printing machine from which supply of ink is regulated; also called "fountain" and "slit duct".
Ra105 ink duct cleaning.
Ink Duplicating: Simple plano-graphic printing process for up to 1,000 copies, using a negative stencil master produced by drawing or typing; also known as "mimeo-graphy" after trade name.
Mimeograph Machine.
Inking Roller: That art of a printing machine used to transfer ink from ink supply to printing surface.
Ink Squash: Printing characteristic, particularly letterpress, in which the ink spreads beyond outline of impression surface.
Inline Lettering: Any type face with a white line inside the shape, that follows the outline of the character.
Inner Forme: One which includes pages forming innermost spread of folded section.
In Pro: Abbreviation for "in proportion". A term used to direct the enlargement or reduction of the original image.
Insetting: Placing of a unit of a book or periodical into another; "inserted work". See diagram below.
Intaglio, Gravure: A jewel or semi-precious stone into which a recessed image has been cut. In printmaking, any of several techniques in which lines are cut or corroded into a plate and which then print positively – the artist’s mark is what appears in the print, rather than the surface the artist left untouched.
Banknote portrait pattern made with intaglio printing.
Intaglio Printing Equipment: Mixing slab; intaglio inks; palette knife; coarse and fine wiping canvas (scrim); tinned intaglio ink; powder pigment; copperplate oil; blotting paper and tissue; rollers.
Flat Stamping Intaglio Presses.
Interactive: Term describing the immediate and reciprocal action between person and machine.
Intercut/Cross Cut: Insert a shot or scene into a sequence, as for dramatic contrast.
Intercutting: A method of combining different paper images in order to intercut the images of one design to replace areas of another design.
Interleaving: The process in which everyday objects are plaited from many types of grass, leaves and fibers.
Interlock: To run type characters into each other by reducing character space.
"Interlock" - SWEET font by Ed Benguiat.
Internal Sizing: Part of the paper making process, which describes the addition of glue (size) to the paper pulp so that the resulting paper contains a homogeneous mix of size within each sheet, increasing its strength and impermeability of water.
International Paper Sizes: See A, B and C series.
'A Poster' depicts the international paper sizes. Designed by Purpose UK.
International Phonetic Alphabet: Agreed code for spelling out letters of words over the telephone.
Interpolation: The term describing the technique of recreating color values of pixels in bitmapped images, which have been modified (e.g. by rotating or skewing).
Invisible Characters/Invisibles: The term used to describe characters that may be displayed on a screen but do not printed, e.g. paragraphs symbols (¶) etc.
Iro-ban or Color-block (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): The blocks carved later in the process of creating a woodblock print; they are used to prints the areas of solid color. They are created using special prints pulled from the keyblock after it is carved.
ISBN: abbr. International Standard Book Number.
Ishizuri-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "stone-printed picture"; a print using white lines on a black ground, in imitation of stone rubbings.
From an untitled series of ishizuri-e harimaze-e, From an untitled series of ishizuri-e harimaze-e, ca. 1850's. Monochrome woodblock print.
iso: Prefix meaning "same" (as in "isometric").
ISO: Abbreviation for "International Standards Organization".
Isometric Projection: Axonometric projection in which axes are arranged at 120o to each other and all dimensions along axes are in the same scale ratio.
Isometric drawing is another way of presenting designs/drawings in three dimensions. The example above has been drawn with a 30 degree set square.
ISSN: International Standard Serial Number. A unique eight-figure number that appears on magazines and journals and which identifies the country of publication and title.
Italic: The specially designed sloping version of a roman typeface deriving from handwriting and calligraphic scripts, intended to be distinctive from, but complementary to, that face. A version of italic, often called oblique or sloped Roman, can be generated electronically.
Itame-mokuhan (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "imitation woodgrain"; the use of a densely grained woodblock which has been soaked in water to emphasize the pattern of the grain. It was used in some prints to print areas of woodwork portrayed in the print.
ITC: International Typeface Corporation, a type foundry.
Jogging: Aligning edges of a stack of paper sheets using vibration.
JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group, a data comprehension standard.
Jump: In a publication, printed matter carried over to continue on a succeeding page.
Justified (of type): Lines of type set so as to fill "measure"; less accurately, but more usefully, lines of type that range visually on both sides.
K: Key! Used to describe the process color black, deriving from the key, or black, printing plate in four color process printing. Using the latter K rather than the initial B avoids confusion with blue, even though the abbreviation for process blue is C (cyan).
Kacho-ga, Kacho-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Images of birds and flowers.
Early 1900s Matsumoto-Do Japanese Kacho-e Bird Flower Woodblock Print.
Kana: Either of two Japanese syllabic scripts - hiragana or katakana.
Kanji: Japanese syllabary based on Chinese characters.
Kappazuri-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "stencil printed picture"; the outlines are printed from a block, in the normal manner, and the color is applied with stencils.
Yûrakusai Nagahide (active c, 1799-1842) represents a curious case of an artist who worked with the stencil-print (kappazuri-e) method long after it had been supplanted by full-color printing (nishiki-e or brocade-print).
Kara-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "empty printing"; an embossed printing effect, a technique called gauffrage in the West. It was produced by hard pressure with a hard polisher (often a boar's tusk) on an un-inked block, with the print dampened, leaving whatever pattern is carved in the block embossed into the paper. Especially deep patterns, called kikekomi, were impressed with a gutta percha hammer.
Keep Standing: Instruction to printer to keep type matter ready for possible reprinting.
Keep Up: Instruction to printer: keep type in caps.
Kento (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): The registration marks (one right angle, into which the corner of the paper fits, and one straight one, along one of the adjoining edges) used to ensure registration of the different colors in nishiki-e print.
Kern: Part of a piece of type sticking out to one side of a body so that it overlaps onto the adjacent piece. See diagram below.
Kerning: Adjusting the space (usually reducing it) between a pair of type characters to optimize their appearance. Traditionally, in metal type, kerned letters were those that physically overhang the metal body of the next character and were particularly important in italic typefaces - the roman version of most metal fonts being designed so that they did not require kerning. As distinct from tracking, which is the adjustment of space over several characters.
Kerning Pair: Any two characters that normally require kerning or to which a kerning value has been applied - see above.
Kerning Table: In some applications, the table describing the automatic kerning values of a font which you can modify.
Kerning Value: The space between kerning pairs.
Identical kerning values can be applied when pairing letters.
Key: The block or plate containing the main outlines of the design. It acts as a guide for position and registration of the other colors.
Keyboarding: A term referring to the first procedure in typesetting, that of inputting copy.
Key Letters/Numbers: Letters or numbers forming a reference link, between elements of an illustration and their description in a caption.
Keyline: An outline drawing in artwork that shows the size and position of an illustration or halftone image.
Keyline View/Preview: In some graphics applications, the facility to view an outline item without showing any fills that may have been applied.
Key Plate: In color printing, that plate which is to print first, providing the key for registering subsequent colors (also called "first color down").
Keyword Index (Keyword-from-title Index): One of the significant word or words in the title of a written work by which it may be identified for retrieval, especially from computer memory store.
Kilobyte: Abbreviated to KB. A unit of memory describing the amount of data stored on a computer or on any digital device. 1KB is equal to 1024 bytes and equivalent to approximately seventy words.
Kiri (Japanese Woodblock Effect): Brass pigment used to imitate gold. It was placed on the blocks with small brushes (hake-hake), and then printed on areas where paste had previously been printed (nori-zuri, literally "starch-printing").
Kira-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "mica printing"; the use of fine mica flakes scattered on the print while the ink is wet, which produces a subdued sparking effect. The mica was made to adhere by using a glue consisting of either egg-white, or rice-paste. For large areas, the glue was applied with a special block, and the mica brushed on with a soft brush, using a stencil.
Kiri-fuki (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Also known as fuki-botan; a method of stippling color onto prints, two techniques were used. In one, pigment could be sprayed off a stiff brush, either by shaking, or drawing a thumb across the end of the brush. Pigment could also be sprayed, either directly from the mouth, or by blowing through a right-angled small tube with a hole at the vertex, thereby using a Venturi effect to draw up pigment.
Kiss Impression: In letterpress, ideal impression whereby the image is rich and well inked, but the paper shows no sign of an embossing effect.
Kiwame (Japanese Woodblock Term): Literally, "approved"; a character found in many censor seals.
Klieg Light: Carbon arc lamp producing intense light.
Kleinmeister: German meaning “little master”. Engravers who followed Albrecht Durer and were known for small, Italianate engravings prized by collectors.
Knockout: The term describing an area of black-ground color that has been overlaid or "knocked out" by a foreground object, and therefore does not print.
Kraft Paper: Tough, brown paper used for wrapping.
Brown Kraft Paper.
Kuchi-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Frontispiece illustrations for novels and literary magazines around 1900; many of the leading woodblock artists of the Meiji era produced them. The primary subjects are bijin, which kuchi-e displayed in the idealized depiction that was usual throughout most of the history of ukiyo-e, although by then, influenced by western art, a more realistic style was also appearing.
Kufic: Early Arabic script, still undeciphered.
Kufic script, 8th or 9th century (Surah 48: 27–28) Qur'an.
Lacuna: Missing portion of a text resulting from damage to a manuscript or book.
Laid Paper: Uncoated paper that shows a faint pattern of ribbed lines - "laid" lines and "chain" lines - when looked at through light and slight corrugations on one side (known as "wired-side") that is caused during its production.
Antique Laid Business Paper.
Laminating: To protect paper or card or fabric and give it a glossy surface by applying a transparent plastic coating through heat or pressure.
Landscape Format: Image format in which the width is greater than the height (e.g. as opposed to portrait format).
Lap: Overlap of two colors to avoid registration problems.
Lapping Plate: Flat surface such as a thin sheet of steel or old cookie tin used to hold abrasives for smoothing cut surfaces of bottles.
Large Screen Emulation: A feature of certain utilities to provide a larger screen size than you may already have.
Laser Font: A scalable outline font.
Renegado Laser Font UPPERCASE.
Laser printer: An output device often attached to a personal computer, whereby the image is transferred to paper by means of a laser.
Lasso: The lasso-shaped tool used mainly by many drawing applications to select an item.
Lateral Reversal: The transposing of an image from left to right as in a mirror reflection.
Latin (of typefaces): In general, all typefaces derived from Western European letterforms, as distinct from say, Arabic or Hebrew.
Latin Wide by Jason Castle, 1993.
Lay Edges: Those edges of a sheet of paper which are presented to side "lays" of a printing machine; front edge is usually called the "gripper" edge, though "front lay" edge is equally correct.
Layer: In some applications, a level to which you can consign an element of the design you are working on.
Layout: An outline or sketch, which gives the general appearance of the printed material, indicating the relationship between illustration(s) and/or text.
Page layout.
Layout Grid: Pre-printed sheet with lines showing a basic pattern to be followed in designing layouts or preparing paste-up artwork.
LCD/lcd: (i) Liquid crystal display; (ii) Lowest common denominator.
Lead: (i) Metal; (ii) Thin strips of metal used to separate lines of type - made in standard thickness of 1pt, 1.5pt, 2pt, 3pt, 6pt and 12pt.
Leaded: Type which is set with space, or leads, between lines.
Leader: A group of dots, usually three (...)
Leader Line/Rule: A line on an image, usually keying elements of the image to annotation.
Leading: Spacing between lines.
Leaf: Two backing pages of a book.
Lectionary: Book of a scriptural lessons for reading at religious service.
Left-aligned/Justified: Ranged left or flushed left.
Legend: Synonym of caption.
Letter Fit: In type design, the way in which the impression is taken from raised surfaces of type matter or blocks; also called "relief" or "typographic process".
Letterhead(ing): Strictly speaking, the heading - a name, address and telephone number of a business or individual - on any item of stationary, but more generally used to describe the item of stationary specifically used for writing letters.
Letterpress: A printing process. The image is raised and inked to produce an impression.
Letterpress Book: Used to describe a book which is printed by whatever process as distinct from a stationery book.
Letterpress Printing: Term usually applied to commercial relief printing process, whereby the raised surface of metal type, a block, or plate is inked and the image transferred to paper under pressure.
Letterset: Rotary letterpress which transfers image from a wraparound plate of offset cylinder, as with offset-litho.
Letter-spacing: Inserting spaces between letters within a word, as distinct from word spacing.
Lexicon: Dictionary, especially of an ancient language.
lhp: Abbreviation for "left-hand page".
Library: A feature of some applications to provide a facility for storing frequently used items or attributes (such as colors) that you have created so that you can access them immediately from within any document.
Library Binding: One of strength and durability suited to frequent handling of books over long periods of time.
This style of binding incorporates double fan leaf attachment, rounding units over ½” thick, trimmed edges, and up to 5 lines of lettering on F grade.
Library Congress Number: A reference number given to the American edition of a book and recorded at the Library of Congress. This is a common practice not required by law.
Lifted Matter: Text, already typeset, that is taken from one job to be used in another.
Lift-Grounding Etching: A form of aquatint etching in which an artist paints the design on a plate with sugary liquid. The plate is covered with an acid-resistant varnish and submerged in water, which causes the sugary area to lift off. The exposed parts are then aquatinted and etched. The aquatint ground can be also laid on the plate before the sugar-lift is applied.
Sugar lifted print.
ligature: Two or three characters joined together as one. See diagram below.
Light Level: The degree of ambient light, the intensity of which may be high or low.
Light, Light Face: Type with an inconspicuous light appearance. It is based on the same design as medium, or roman, weight type in the same type family. The opposite to bold.
Tacite Light is an elegant, characterful new typeface recently released by Amsterdam-based designer.
Light Table/Box: A table or box with a translucent glass top lit from below, giving a color-balanced light suitable for viewing color transparencies and for color-matching transparencies to proofs.
Limitcheck Error: An error you may encounter when printing a complex document, caused by an illustration containing too many line segments for PostScript to handle. Some applications may allow you to reduce the number of line segments in an illustration for printing purposes.
Limp Binding: One with a flexible cover made of paper, cloth or plastic; usually called "soft biding" or "soft cover" in the USA.
Medium Leather Journal - Medieval Limp Binding by Bluelisamh.
Line-and-Halftone Plate: Line and halftone images combined on one plate; known in USA as "combination plate" or "combo".
Line Art(work): Artwork or camera-ready copy consisting only of black on white, with no intermediate tones and thus not requiring halftone reproduction.
Left: Line Art, 72dpi, 1-bit; Centre: Line Art, 300 dpi, 1-bit; Right: Line Art, 800 dpi, 1-bit.
Linear: In line. For example, a linear polymer is a polymer that is like a line, having no branches such as trees that have long side-groups. Also one of Wolfflin’s categories stressing the creation of form by outlines or contour lines - a main trait of graphic arts.
Linear A: Ancient Cretan script, still undeciphered.
Linear B: Ancient script used in Crete and mainland Greece, deciphered in 1952.
Line Block: A printing plate made of zinc or copper consisting of solid areas and lines. It is reproduced directly from a line drawing without tones. It is mounted on a wooden block to type height.
Line Conversion: Transforming halftone original into a line image by elimination of all middle tones; sometimes called "drop-out".
Line Copy: Line art(work).
Line Gauge: Type scale.
Line Incriminate: The smallest allowable increase in the basic measure between typeset lines.
Line Interval: Vertical distance between the base line of one line type to the base line of next; basic line interval corresponds to "body size" of metal type.
Line Original: One that is intended for line reproduction.
Line Pattern: The sequence of dots, dashes and spaces in a rule.
Lines per inch (lpi): Refers to the screen ruling or frequency of halftone film. It is the unit of measurement describing the dots on halftone film which form regular lines. It is related to but independant of dpi (or dots per inch).
Line Tool: In graphics applications, the tool that you use to draw lines and rules. If the tool can only draw horizontal and vertical rules it will usually be called an "orthogonal" line tool.
Line Type: Method of size measurement for wooden type, one "line" being 12 points.
Line Up: The arrangement of two lines of type, two illustrations, or a line of type and an illustration, to touch the same imaginary horizontal line.
Line Weight: The thickness of a line or rule.
Lines per Inch: The measurement used to describe the resolution, or coarseness, of a halftone, being the number of rows of dots to each inch. The range in common use varies between around 85 lpi for halftones or more for art papers. The default setting on laser printers is usually 60 lpi.
Lining: (i) Refers to any used on the back of a shell; (ii) Technique for outlining the shape of a surface with one or more decorative lines.
Lining Figures/Numerals: A set of numerals aligned at the top and bottom. Sometimes called "modern" numerals.
Lining Paper: Plain, flat wallpaper used to line the walls of a room, often over imperfect plaster. It can be painted if first sealed with diluted undercoat.
Lining Up/Lineup Table: A table used for preparing and checking paste-up, flats, etc. It will be generally comprised of a gridded, illuminated surface with movable scales.
Linking: In some frame-based page layout applications, the facility for connecting two or more text boxes so that the text flows from one box to another.
Linocut: A relief printing surface of linoleum on which the background to the design is cut away with a knife, gouge or engraving tool.
Linocut Artists - Scott Minzy.
Linocut Equipment: Palette knife and push knife for mixing inks; tap knife for cutting lino; spoon for hand-printing rollers lino; gouges; V-tools; baren, a purpose made tool for hand-printing.
Linocut tools.
Linoleum Block: Linoleum surfaced block used for block printing. Image to be printed is carved on the surface of the linoleum.
Linotype: Type composing machine which produces a line of type (slug) in one piece, similar to Intertype.
Linotype Hell: A German type foundry and manufacturer of typesetting equipment (such as the Linotronic series imagesetters), supply Postscript and TrueType fonts. The original linotype machine was the first keyboard operated composing machine to employ the principle of "matrix", and cast type in solid lines, or "slugs". It was invented by the German-born American engineer Ottmar Mergenthaler and patented in 1884. The Monotype machine was invented almost simultaneously, in 1885.
Linting: In off-set lithography, accumulation of loose bits of uncoated paper on the surface of a blanket cylinder, affecting print quality.
Literal: Spelling error due to wrong or omitted letter in typesetting: known as typo (typographical error).
Literary-Minded: Derogatory term applied by some graphic designers to others who show concern for such factors as "readability".
Lith: A high contrast and high quality photographic emulsion used in graphic reproduction.
Lithography: A planographic (flat-surfaced) printmaking technique invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798, employing limestone slabs, or alternatively zinc plates, and chemical antagonism of grease and water. An artist draws on the stone with any greasy medium. The stone is “etched” with a mixture of nitric acid and gum arabic to set the image, and then wetted down, inked and printed. In other words, printing from a dampened, flat surface using greasy ink, based on the principle of the mutual repulsion of oil and water.
Lithography Equipment: Lithographic stick ink; lithographic crayons; pencil and graphite sticks; lithographic drawing inks; printing inks; large inking roller; zinc litho plate; expandable sponge.
Loading (of paper): Substance added to pulp of paper to improve opacity and allow a high finish (e.g. china clay).
Location: Site for filming that is outside the studio.
Loc cit: Abbreviation for "loco citation"; a Latin term for "in the place named". It is used as a reference in footnotes.
Lock: In some applications, the facility for securing, or fixing, an item so that it cannot be moved or modified.
Locus: Path described by point moving according to a given law (e.g. point moving at a constant distance from a second point traces the locus which is circular).
Logo: Abbreviation for "Logotype". A word or image cast as one unit that symbolizes corporations.
Logo of Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
Designer: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Logogram: Sign or character standing for a word (e.g. Chinese characters).
Long Cross: Same as "dagger".
Long Page: A page with the type area extended by one or two lines to avoid an inconvenient break.
Look-/See-/Show-Through: The term used when describing the opacity of a paper, as indicated by the degree to which an image or type on one side of the sheet may be visible on the other.
Look-Through: Appearance of paper when viewed against a light: also called "see through" in the USA.
Look-through paper: foil on vellum slip sheet with stamped/letterpress pattern on second piece.
Loose-Leaf: One which permits leaves to be removed at will.
Single sheet of Loose Leaf.
Lower Case: abb. "lc". Small letters in typeface (e.g. a,b,c,d) as distinct from upper case/caps and small caps.
Cursive Serif Font - lowercase.
Low Relief Screen Printing (LRSP): This technique was developed by Marie-Therese Wisniowski. It enables the printing of low relief textured surfaces with fabric paint and acrylic print paste using a silk screen. In LRSP the technique builds on previous screen colors, melding and then intermixing with the next color. The amount of prints created using the LRSP technique can be endless (as long as your relief items are durable). You can print six or six hundred prints by continually changing colors with each successive print.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Technique: LRSP employing fabric paints using found plastics and leaves on fabric substrate (detail).
lpm: Initials of "lines per minute". Rate at which a computer output device will print.
Luminance: A term used to describe the strength of a greyscale video signal.
Machine Composition: Any operation producing type matter by means of keyboards and composing machines.
Machine-Finished Paper: Uncoated paper polished to a high gloss on one side but left rough on the other; suitable for posters.
Machine Proof: A final proof made on a machine similar to the one on which it will be printed (if not that actual machine).
Machine Sheet: Any printed sheet off printing press during a run.
Mackle: Blur or double impression on a printed sheet.
Macron: Horizontal line over vowel indicating that it is long (as in "makrón").
Major Key: The organization of values in a work that produces high contrast.
Magenta: The special shade of red that is one of the four process colors used in four-color printing, sometimes called process red. Theoretically, magenta contains no blue (cyan) or yellow.
Acid-dyed Magenta.
Main Exposure: The first exposure in the conventional processing of a halftone image.
Make-Up: (i) The sheet indicating the position of various items on a page; (ii) The final prepping assembly whether it be on paper, film or on a computer, of all items to be printed.
Make Ready: The term describing the process of preparing a printing press before a new run, to establish register, evenness of impression.
Manifold: Very thin "bank" paper, used when large number of carbon copies is required.
787*1092mm Carbon less paper and color - manifold paper.
Manilla: Strong, buff-colored paper used for envelopes and folders, made from fibrous hemp.
Manilla Folder.
Manuscript: Abbreviated as "MS". Any written matter intended for typesetting.
Marbling (Paper): Decorative paper used for binding books, and sometimes the book edges. It is done by dipping the sheet in a bath of color floating on a surface gum. The colors do not mix but can be combined into patterns with the use of a comb, and transfer readily to the paper surface.
Paper marbling.
Margin: Perimeter of mesh adjacent to the frame of screen: this non-printing area is closed during printing either temporarily or permanently to protect the mesh and to be used as a printing reservoir.
Margin Guides: In some applications, non-printing guides used to indicate the edges of a pre-defined text or image area.
Marked Proof: A proof that has any necessary corrections marked on it before it is given to the author.
Mark-Up: (i) To specify, to anyone in the reproduction process, every detail of a job that the person may require to carry out the job properly; (ii) The actual item produced to put (i) into effect.
Marquee: In some applications, a moving dotted line drawn using the pointer or some other tool, to select the area within.
Mask: (i) A material used to block out part of a layout; (ii) A photographic image modified in tone or color.
Masking: (i) Applying a protective layer to a part of a layout in order for it to resist a following process(es); (ii) A technical method of adjusting values of color and tone in a photomechanical reproduction; (iii) Covering a surface to provide a barrier against a layer of paint.
Brown Masking Paper.
Masking Film: Transparent film in various colors with a plastic backing used to cut stencils for photo-emulsion process.
Clear Masking Film sheet.
Masking Paper: In plastic work, the protective paper placed over the surface of a plastic sheet.
Roll of masking paper.
Masking Tape: Used to mask out areas, hold on stencils etc.
Masking Tape.
Master Page: In some applications, the page to which certain attributes, such as the number of text columns, page numbers, the style etc., can be given which can then be applied to any other page in the document.
Master Proof: Galley proof or page proof containing printer's corrections and queries, to which author's corrections are added, which is returned to the printer.
Masthead: Information about publishing house which appears above editorial of newspaper or on contents page of a periodical.
Mathematical Signs/Symbols: Type symbols used as a shorthand for mathematical concepts and processes, e.g. "+" (add), etc.
Matrix: Metal plate for casting type faces.
Matrix Formatting Screen Printing (MFSP): This technique was developed by Marie-Therese Wisniowski. It involves creating a number of images that are then spliced together to form a matrix. The base unit is overlaid by the components of the matrix during the screen printing process. This gives the works an underlying symmetry, which projects a real sense of vibrancy.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Title: Cultural Graffiti VIII (Full View) - Prints On Paper.
Technique: Matrix formatted silkscreen prints employing dyes and metallic foil on Pescia.
Edition: Edition of 3.
Size: 76 cm (width) x 56 cm (length).
First Exhibited: Selected in 2006 to participate in the "2006 Swan Hill Print and Drawing Acquisitive Awards", Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia.
Sold on Inspection, Private Collection, New South Wales, Australia.
Matte: Having a dull, almost non-reflective surface; the opposite of glossy. Matte varnishes protect a painting without glossiness.
Matter: Traditionally, manuscript or copy to be printed or type that has been set.
Mattoir: In intaglio printmaking, a hand-held instrument with blunt spiked head that achieves tone by stippling the plate.
Opus Mallei (Mattoir) 15mm diam.
Mean-Line: Upper limit of the x-line; imaginary line running along the tops of lower case characters which do not have ascenders.
Measure: The width of a setting, usually measured in 12 pt (pica) ems.
Mechanical: Camera-ready art(work).
Mechanical Binding: One in which the leaves are fastened by inserting metal or plastic units into holes punched or drilled through them; may be permanent as in spiral binding, or loose leaf, as in a ring binder.
Mechanical Binding.
Mechanical Pulp: Basis of newsprint and other cheap printing papers being untreated chemically; known in the USA as "groundwood".
Mechanical Tints: Tints consisting of dot or line patterns that can be laid down on artwork before or during reproduction process.
Mechanical Tint and Halftone: The montaged images on this multi-view postcard were printed in halftone, but the colored spaces in between were filled in with mechanical dots. A slight overlap was calculated in to the composition to avoid white lines if they were not printed in perfect register.
Medium: (i) A standard size printing paper (457 x 584 mm or 23 x 18 inches); (ii) The liquid usually linseed oil, in which the pigment of a printing ink is dispersed; (iii) An alternative name for benday tint; (iv) Weight of a typeface between light and bold; (v) The mode of expression employed by an artist: cloth, canvas, etching, painting, sculpture etc. (vi) In communication industry, the means whereby information is conveyed: book, movie, newspapers, magazines, periodicals, radio, TV and the internet.
Megabyte (MB): unit describing the amount of data stored in a computer or a digital device. One megabyte is equal to 1024 kilobytes, and equivalent to approximately 175,000 words.
Meisho-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Meisho (literally, "place with a name") are famous locations, often with literary and historical connections, which sometimes led to standardized poetic connotations; seasonal associations were often also present. Hence meisho-e, prints of famous places.
Famous views of Edo (Meisho Edo Hyakkei) Ukiyo-e woodblock print series by Utagawa Hiroshige.
Melange Printing: The printing of carded sliver in a striped pattern to produce subtle color effects in the yarn.
Memory: The capacity of a computer to recall and remember information. Read only memory (ROM) is memory which stores information for running the computer. Random Access Memory (RAM) is the memory available for aan screen activities and is only available when the computer is active. A third form of memory is permanent memory or storage memory where information from RAM is saved on a digital device.
Merge: A facility in some applications to combine data from two documents.
Mesh: The woven polyester fabric of a screen.
Metal Halide Lamp: Photographic light source with rating up to 5,000 watts, consisting of a very small discharge seal encased in an outer bulb.
Metallic Ink: A printing ink, which produces an effect of gold, silver, copper or bronze.
Metrics: Font information, e.g. character width, kerning, ascent and descent.
Glyph Metrics.
Mezzotint: An intaglio method of printmaking based on tone rather than line, in which the artists works from dark to light. The plate is first scored all over with a rocker (at this stage, the plate would print totally black after inking). Then the scoring is smoothed out in varying degrees to arrive at lighter values. Mezzotint was widely used in England as a reproductive printmaking technique (hence its alternate name - “the English manner”).
Head of Medusa (Still Attached) - mezzotint print.
Mezzotint Equipment: Coarse mezzotint rocker; fine mezzotint rocker; copper plate; burnisher; curved scraper.
mf: Initials for "more follows".
Microfiche: Microform recording medium in which many images are arranged in rows on sheet of film and space is left for eye-legible title - see diagram below.
Microfilm: Used in data processing and for documentation and record compilation; material is often filmed onto 16 mm ("cine" or "comic" formats) for use as reels - is now obsolete.
Millboard: Hard, tough well rolled board with good finish; used for covers of account books and some case-bound printed books.
Mill Ream: 472 sheets of handmade or mold-made paper.
Minor Key: The organization of value in a work that produces low contrast.
Low contrast image.
Minuscules: An alternative term for lower case letters.
Minus Leading/Linespacing: Negative leading.
Mirrored Image: A pattern where the images are mirror reflections of themselves horizontally or vertically, or both at the same time.
Mirrored floating trees by Traci Griffin.
Missal: Prayer book, specifically for the Roman Catholic Mass.
Mitate-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Mitate (literally, "likened") are contemporary recreations of well-known scenes from history or myth, often with a parody in mind; hence mitate-e, prints in this mode.
Color woodblock chuban print, mitate-e. Parody of 'Narihira's Journey to the East': young couple pausing on journey to admire Mt Fuji in distance across Suruga Bay.
Mizu-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "water picture"; woodblock prints printed in a pale vegetable blue, or with a colored instead of black outlines, from the 1760's; very rare.
Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
Title: Water: the Drifting Boat--Genji and Two Companions Watching Ducks in Snowy River (Mizu-e: Ukifume), from the series The Five Elements (Mitate gogyo). Date: ca. 1850.
Mock Up: The rough visualization of a publication or packaging design showing size, color, type etc.
Business stationery mock-up.
Modeling Tool: In foil, tooling an instrument with a smooth spoon end used to raise the design.
Modern Numerals: See lining figures/numerals.
Moiré: An aberration occurring in halftone reproduction when two or more colors are printed, giving a halftone image an appearance rather like that of watered silk. This is caused by two or more dot screens being positioned at the wrong angles or, sometimes, by the re-screening of an image to which a halftone screen has already been applied. The angle at which screens should be positioned depends upon the number of colors being printed, but the norm for four-color process printing, and thus the default settings for most software applications that support four color separation, is: cyan 105o; magenta 75o; yellow 90o; black 45o.
Mokume-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "wood-eye printing"; the use of the natural grain in a woodblock to produce effects such as the appearance of waves on water, or of raked lines on sand-beds.
Monetary Symbol: A type of symbol denoting a unit of currency, e.g. US dollar "$".
Monochromatic: Pertaining to a single color or hue; composition organized around tonal variations of one color.
Building a monochromatic palette out of shades, tones, and tints results in a versatile spectrum with color options for every part of the design.
Monochromatic Color Scheme: A color scheme using (variations of) the one hue.
Monochrome: An image made up of varying tones but in only one color.
Monochrome: Any image or reproduction made in a single color.
Monochrome black & white stone print cotton fabric.
Monograph: Publication dealing with a single object or person.
Monoprint: The result obtained from printmaking methods that yield only one unique print.
Bryan Wynter, 'Path Through Wood' (1950).
Monoprint Equipment: Brushes; papers or cloths; mixing slabs; block-printing inks; palette knife; rollers.
Monospace: Description of typewriter type fonts in which all characters are of equal width, as distinct from the more usual proportionally spaced fonts.
Monotype: A form of printmaking that produces only one or two images; a plate or glass sheet (or virtually any surface) is painted with ink or paint and paper pressed against this surface. A traced monotype is made by drawing on a top sheet placed over another sheet containing some sort of pigment, thus transferring the image to a sheet on the bottom.
Noa Noa 2 (Transfer Monotype).
Montage: Assembling portions of several images to form a single original. In other words, a method of composition in photography, cinema and television; the technique of combining imagery from various sources to create a unified visual presentation; film editing; superimposition, intercutting, overlapping etc.
Digital Montage.
Mottling: An uneven impression, especially in flat areas.
ms: (i) millisecond; (ii) manuscript.
Multifilament: Fabric woven from strands made up of multiple threads; used in making screen mesh.
Multi-media: The activity of integrating text, graphics, sound and video for (mostly) presentational purposes, and the applications that enable you to do this.
Multi-Plex Screen Printing (MPSP): This technique was developed by Marie-Therese Wisniowski. It is titled, "Multi-Plexing", and employs the use of transparent inks. The technique involves multi-complex layering of transparent inks and visuals using block out medium to create painterly effects of great depth, movement and rich transparent layers to the silk screened image.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Title: Federation on Hold - Call Waiting; Press Four - Refugees.
Technique: Multi-PLex Screen Printing.
Multi-Selectable Items: In some applications, the selection of two or more items so that they can be modified or moved as one.
MultiSperse Dye Sublimation (MSDS): Developed by Marie-Therese Wisniowski, the MSDS technique employs disperse dyes and involves hand printing multiple resists and multiple overprinted layers employing numerous color plates, mixed media and low relief plant materials. The completed works are rich in color, light, shade, contrast, movement and depth. The multiple layers also imbue a painterly aesthetic and textural, three-dimensional quality to the finished ArtCloth works. Each print is unique and cannot be replicated.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Title: Flames Unfurling.
Technique: MSDS.
Multitasking: The facility to run two or more applications at the same time.
Musha-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Originally, paintings of historically important warriors; also includes warrior prints.
Torii Kiyomine (鳥居清峯) (artist) Nishimuraya Yohachi (西村屋与八) (publisher) warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre).
Music Font: A font which is used for musical notation, sometimes exclusively within music computer programs or applications.
MYC System: A pigment system in which magenta, yellow and cyan are the primary colors.
Nameplate: Heading in a magazine or newspaper's main page.
Nanushi (Japanese Woodblock Term): Literally, "mayor" (of a village or town); the name for a group of censors who examined woodblock prints in the period 1842-1853.
Necker's Cube: One of several drawn figures used by perceptual psychologist to demonstrate visual ambiguity, pointed out by L.A. Necker in 1832; the cube may be thought of as viewed either from above or below.
Needle File: One using "edge-notched cards".
Negative: The reverse of an image, where the areas shown as dark appear as light. In screen-printing, printing the negative space means printing the background rather than the image itself.
Negative image.
Negative Leading/Linespacing: In text, a line interval smaller than the point size of the type.
All three are negative leading.
New Line Character: In some applications, a character that you can insert to start a new line without starting a new paragraph (e.g. pressing Shift-Return key on a computer).
New Wave/Nouvelle Vague: French cinema movement of the 1960s that cut down on the standard narrative and filming techniques in favour of improvisation, simple settings, and symbolism.
Nib: Metal tip of a lettering pen, which holds ink supply; point of lettering, which touches the writing surface.
Nick (of type): Groove in shank of type.
Nishiki-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "brocade picture"; the final stage of development of woodblock prints printed in multiple colors, first produced in Edo in 1764-65.
Suzuki Harunobu (about 1724-70), "Parading Courtesan with Attendants", Late 1760, Nishiki-e (brocade print) V&A Museum no. E.1416-1898.
NLQ: Near Letter quality, describing a type of low-quality printer.
Nomogram (Nomograph): Arranging three scales so that the straight-edge joining known values on two scales is extended to a third scale to provide the desired value.
A nomograph screen shot.
Nonbreaking Space: Hard space.
Non-Impact Printing: Print work produced without a plate or cylinder, e.g. by the writer head of a plotter.
Non-Lining Figures and Numerals: A set of old-style numerals designed with descenders and ascenders, therefore not of standard height and alignment, as are lining figures.
Non-Printing Characters: Invisible characters such as pilcrow (¶) - the paragraph mark.
np: Initials of "new paragraph"; used in proof correction.
Numbering Format: A term generally used to describe the style of numbering used for page numbers, e.g. 1,2,3; I, II, III; etc.
Numerator and Denominator (Typefaces): Used for fractals.
Nunome-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "fabric printing"; another embossed printing effect. Produced by hard pressure on a piece of muslin or silk fabric wrapped around an un-inked block, with the print dampened, leaving the pattern of the fabric embossed into the paper.
Object Color: A colored foreground item that is printed against a background color.
Object Orientated: Of graphic applications, those that allow selection and manipulation of individual, but self-contained, portions of an illustration or design, as distinct from a bitmapped graphics which are edited by modifying pixels or tuning them off or on. An object-orientated application uses mathematical points, based on vectors (information giving both magnitude and direction) to define lines and shapes. Strictly speaking, these points are the "objects" referred to here (as distinct from an illustration or graphic, as an object) - an object in computing programing being a database of mathematical formulae. The data for each shape is stored in these points, each one a database, which in turn passes information from one to another on how the paths between them should be described - as straight lines, arcs or Bézier curves. This means that the quality of the line between each point is determined entirely by the resolution of the output device - a line produced by an imagesetter will be very much smoother than the same line output on a Laserwriter.
Oblique Roman: In typography, same as "sloped" Roman.
Morison and Gill originally considered for Perpetua a sloped roman, in which the letterforms are slanted but not otherwise modified (top).
OCR: Optical character recognition.
Text sample with the banking fonts OCR-A and OCR-B.
Octavo: Cut or folded sheet, which is one-eighth of a basic sheet size.
An octavo sheet printed in work and turn operation.
Offcut: Paper cut to waste when sheet is trimmed to size.
Offprint: A feature or portion of a publication made available separately from the whole work, specially for use of the author; may be either a "run on" of main printing or a subsequent reprint.
Offsetting: The process by which an area of wet printing mixture or other substance (such as a screen filler) is applied to a surface, then lifted from it by contacting it with another flat surface (e.g. a sheet of glossy paper), and then printed (offset) onto a third surface (or into another position on the first surface).
Offset Photolithography (Offset-litho, Offset): Usual commercial form of photolithography, in which an inked image is first transferred to a rubber blanket and then to paper.
Ogham: Ancient angular Celtic alphabet and script, used mainly in Ireland.
The Ogham alphabet.
Ōkubi-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "large head picture"; a bust portrait showing just the head and shoulders of the subject.
Ōkubi-e of kabuki actor Matsumoto Kōshirō IV as Tsurunosuke, a woodblock print by Katsukawa Shunkō I.
Old Face/Style: A typeface characterized bye diagonal stress and asleep, bracketed serifs. Garamond is an example of an old face.
Monotype Old Style Bold Outline.
Omnibus: Book assembling any related studies, or many writings by a single author.
One-and-a-Half Up: Artwork prepared at one and a half times the size it will eventually be reproduced at. It will need to be reduce by one third or to 66% to be the correct size.
Onion Skin: Highly glazed, very thin, translucent paper.
Opacity: The term used to describe non-transparency in printing.
Opaline: Fine, translucent paper with high glaze, used for greeting cards.
Op cit: Abbreviation for "opera citation". A Latin term meaning "in the work quoted"; used as a footnote reference.
Open Bite: In printmaking it describes large areas on metal plates which are etched away by acid and retain little ink.
Open/Standing Time: Unused production time due to a break in the schedule.
Optical Alignment: Arranging certain characters, such as the T below, to project into the left-hand margin so as to give a better appearance. See below.
Optical Center: A point within a rectangle, slightly higher than the actual geometric center, at which an object or image appears to be centrally place.
Opticals: Trick techniques such as wipes and dissolves.
Optical Spacing: In typesetting, arranging letter spacing within a line of caps to give a more even effect.
Optical Type Font: A font used in optical character recognition.
Optical illusion typeface first made in 1974 at the Central School of Art and Design in London, and digitized in 2013 with the aid of Jasper Terra.
Ordinate: Coordinate parallel to the y-axis in a coordinate graph.
Origami: Japanese art of paper folding.
Origami flowers.
Origin: The fixed, or zero, point of the horizontal and vertical axes or of the rulers displayed in some applications, from which measurements can be made.
Original: Any image, artwork or text matter intended for reproduction.
Origination: A term used to describe any or all of the reproduction processes that may occur between design and printing.
Ornament: Dingbat.
Orphan: A short line, usually the first line of a paragraph, that falls at the bottom of a page or column.
Orthochromatic: Photographic materials sensitive to green and yellow as well as blue light.
Outer Forme: One which includes the outermost pages of a folded section.
Outline Font: A typeface formed from an outline which can be scaled or rotated to any size or resolution. Outline fonts, often called printer fonts or laser fonts, are generally used for printing by laser printers and imagesetters, but both PostScript and TrueType font outlines can also be used for screen display. As distinct from bitmapped fonts which are comprised of dots.
Collegiate Heavy Outline font.
Outline Letter: A type design in which the character is formed of outlines rather than a solid shape - see above.
Output Device: A hardware device that displays data in a visual form; the monitor, printers, and imagesetters are all output devices.
Outtake: Series of frames discarded from the finished version of a film.
Outwork: Printing operations which cannot be done by main printer and are sub-contracted out.
Overflow: In some applications, the term given to excess text when it will not all fit into its allocated space. Traditionally called "overmatter".
Overhang Cover: One which extends beyond trimmed leaves of a book.
Overhead: A term describing space in a document that is occupied by formatting data rather than by the actual content you have created or need to access.
Overlay: Translucent or transparent material laid over a piece of artwork or other original copy, on which instructions may be shown; also one of a series of separations in artwork drawn for color reproduction.
Overlaying Color: The color printed on top of part or on all of another color; an overlaying color might also be printed to correct a poorly printed or unsatisfying underlying color.
Color overlay.
Overlaying Technique: Collage method in which smaller illustrations are pasted over a background illustration.
Collage portrait.
Overmatter: The traditional term for typeset matter which will not fit within the space allocated for it.
Overprint: Printing over an already printed area.
Overrun: The term describing words that move from one line to the next, possibly for several successive lines, as a result of a text insertion or correction. The opposite of run back.
Overs, Overruns: Any part of a print run in excess of quantity ordered, usually by intention to allow for spoils.
Ozalid: A proprietary name describing a copy made by the diazo process and often used to refer to the pre-press proofs of an imposed publication.
1950s Designs for Donald Duck. This is a studio ozalid print model sheet used in the making of this classic TV cartoon.
p, pp: page, pages.
Page: One side of a leaf book, sub-divided as below.
Page(d) Proof: Proof from print matter after it has been made up into pages.
Page Break: In continuous text, the place between two lines where the text is interrupted so that it fits on a page.
Page Layout: See layout.
Page Templates.
Page Layout/Makeup Application: Any application that assists you to carry out all (and more) of the functions normally associated with layout and make-up.
Page Preview: A facility to view a page before it is printed, necessary in some applications such as word processors and databases.
Page Proofs: Proofs of pages which has been paginated. traditionally, the term refers to the secondary stage in proofing, after galley proofs and before machine proofs, although there may be other stages of proofing both before and after page proofs, such as "blues" used to check imposition.
Proofing marks.
Pages-to-View: Number of pages appearing on one side of sheet; thus 16 page section would normally be "8 pages-to-view".
Paginate: To number pages of a book consecutively.
Painters Tape: Low-tack masking tape.
Paint(ing) Application/Program: Painting applications can be defined as those which use bitmaps as distinct from drawing applications which tend to be object-orientated, although some applications combine both.
Palette Knife: Knife with flexible steel blade and no cutting edge. Used to mix colors, apply thick paint, papier mache or other soft materials used in arts and crafts.
5-Piece Painting Knife Set.
Pan: Swing the camera sideways, across a scene, to follow a mocking object or produce a panoramic effect.
Panchromatic: Photographic material which is sensitive to all visible colors and to ultraviolet light.
Color spectrum for color and panchromatic film.
Pantograph: Device consisting of articulated rods, pointer and pen, used to copy any image to a reduced or enlarged scale. Becoming obsolete.
Paperback: Book with paper cover, also known as "softback" or "soft cover" and in USA (if of a small format) as "pocketbook".
Paper Sizes (except for A, B, C Series): Most common paper sizes used for printing are as below.
Paper Stencil: The paper is firmly attached to screen mesh and so acts as a resist to the printing process. Any cut out portions of the paper creates an image onto the substrate that the screen mesh is positioned on top of.
Freezer paper stencils.
Papier-Mâché: A sculptural material made of pulped paper or strips of paper mixed with paste; can be pressed, molded or modeled when moist; dries hard.
Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico.
Papyrus: Writing material made from pressed stalks of large reeds; used in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.
Light Egyptian Papyrus.
Paragraph Format: See format.
Paragraph Mark: Type character indicating beginning of a new paragraph; usually as alternative to indention; also used as a sixth order of "reference marks".
Parallax Error: The difference between what is seen through a viewfinder and what is recorded on a film or an electronic device.
Parallel: (i) Type character used as a fifth order of “reference marks" used for footnotes; (ii) two lines that are perfectly aligned to each other in order that they can never cross.
In three-dimensional space, parallel lines are (still) lines which lie on the same plane and do not intersect.
Parallel Fold: Folding sheet once, then again along a line parallel to the first fold.
Parallel Projections: Drawing projections in which the observer is considered to be at infinity, so that "visual rays" (called "Projectors") are parallel to each other.
Parchment: Goat or sheep-skin, scraped and dressed with lime and pumice and used for writing on.
Wrinkled Parchment Paper.
Parked: Description of a drive's read/write heads when they are at rest enabling you to move the drive.
pars pro toto: Latin for - "the part standing for the whole"; common device in graphic communication (also known as “synecdoche").
Partitive Mixing: It is the same as optical mixing.
Pass: One cycle of an operation through printing machine; may involve more than one impression or transfer of image.
Pass for Press: Endorsement that a job has had all the corrections made and is ready for press. Also called "OK press".
Passim: Latin for - "here-and-there"; used in footnotes.
Pasteboard: In some applications, the non-printing area around the page on which items can be stored or modified.
Pastel Manner: The color form of the crayon manner in printmaking, used primarily to reproduce pastels.
Tête de Flore, 1769 Head of Flora Louis-Marin Bonnet Pastel-manner etching and engraving printed in colors from eight plates, after François Boucher.
Paste-Up: Any copy prepared for reproduction which comprises of several elements assembled and pasted as one; in addition, may refer to layout assembly used as a guide to a printer, not for reproduction.
Paste-Up Poster by Donk.
Path: A line, or segment of a line, drawn in an object-orientated application.
Patterned Fill/Line: In some applications, the facility to select a pattern from a palette and use it to fill a shape or rule.
PD: Public Domain.
PDL: Page Description Language.
Peculiars: See special sorts.
Peer-to-Peer: A network system in which data is spread around different users, who access it directly from each other, rather than from a central "client server".
Peintre-Graveur: (French meaning - ”painter-engraver”). Original printmaker, in contradistinction to a professional, reproductive printmaker.
Pentagram: Five-pointed star formed by extending the sides of pentagon - see below.
Perfect Binding: Binding method in which cut backs of leaves of a book are secured by synthetic glue; also known as "thread-less binding" or "unsewn binding".
Perfect Binding.
Perfecting: Printing second, or reverse side of sheet; also called "backing up".
Perfecting Press (Perfector): Rotary press which prints both sides of the paper in one pass through a machine (though not simultaneously).
Perforating at Press: Using a sharpened, slotted rule locked into forme to produce a dot or dash perforation in a sheet.
Peripheral Device: Any hardware device or computing equipment attached to a computer. Input devices are the keyboard, scanner, touch pad and mouse; output devices are printers and imagesetters.
Permanent Font: An "official" term, although a misnomer, for fonts that are manually downloaded to a printer - they are only permanent until you switch off your printer, meaning you have to download them again when switched on. As distinct from a "transient", or automatically downloaded, font, which only lasts in memory while a document is being printed.
Personal Computer: A computer that is a self-contained unit and not attached to a central computing unit located elsewhere. PC is abbreviated from the phrase - personal computer.
Perspective: A system for creating illusions of depth on a flat surface; usually it is within the confines a linear system.
Perspective (Aerial): The technique of making a two-dimensional surface, appear three-dimensional through the use of value, intensity and temperature.
Perspective (Linear): The techniques of making a two-dimensional surface appear three-dimensional through the use of line.
Using Linear Perspective to Create Depth.
Pharmacopoeia/Dispensatory: Official manual listing and describing medical drugs and preparations.
Phonogram: A symbol designed as the written equivalent of a spoken sound, which may or may not correspond to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Photocomposition: See phototypesetting.
Photocopy: Photographic copy from original; "photostat" is one kind of photocopy.
Photocopy Positive: A positive made on acetate or tracing paper using a photocopier.
Photo-direct Lithography: Process using plates made direct from original artwork without intermediate (negative) stage.
A typical system block diagram of DLP direct imaging lithography.
Photo Emulsion: It is a light-sensitive solution used in stencil making - such as producing photographic screens for screen printing.
Photo Emulsion Stencil: A stencil created by exposing a screen coated with light-sensitive emulsion.
Photoengraving: A photomechanical method for producing etched line or halftone plates.
Photo Laser Engraving.
Photo Gelatin Process: Another name for "collotype".
Photogram: Photographic image created without use of camera or film, by exposing photographic paper to light and throwing shadows on it.
Photogram photography by Man Ray.
Photographic Silhouette: A silhouette made by photographing a subject which is lighted from the side opposite the camera. Side facing the camera is on deep shadow and appears grey or black in the printed picture.
Photograph Stencil: A screen printing stencil prepared from light sensitive materials. The image is exposed on the stencil material and the stencil is developed with hydrogen peroxide and water. This treatment dissolves the stencil material over the image area so the ink can pass through.
Photogravure: Photomechanical "intaglio" printing process in which the impression is taken from a pattern of recessed dots (cells) of varying depth - see diagram below.
Photolitho(graphy): Photo-mechanical version of lithography.
Photomechanical: (i) A method of making printing plates that involves photographic techniques; (ii) The full version of the term "mechanical" meaning camera-ready art(work); paste-up.
Photomechanical Transfer (PMT): A method of photographically transferring images onto paper, film or metal litho plates. An image produced by this method is commonly called PMT. Also called diffusion, or chemical transfer, or "velour".
Photomontage: The use of images from different photographs combined to produce a new composite image.
Photopolymer Plates: Relief printing plates with a photo-polymer layer sensitive to UV light. Used extensively in the printing industry in letterpress and flexo-graphic printing applications to print on a great range of advertising materials, such as cardboard boxes, paper, plastic, and metal.
Photo Positive: A positive made photographically on lithium film using dark room techniques.
Photo Print: Used in photocomposition to describe equivalent of repro proof in machine composition.
Photostat (stat): Trade name, now accepted as general, for thin photocopy used as part of paste-up layout or presentation visual.
Phototypesetting: Alternate term for photocomposition.
Pica: The old name for 12 points, the unit of measurement used in setting.
Picking: Break-up of small portions of a paper surface during printing, caused by tackiness of ink; also known as pulling or plucking.
Pictogram/Pictograph: Pictorial sign; that is, one resembling the thing it stands for - see figure below.
Picture Skew: See skew.
Pinhole: An unwanted small open area on a photo-stencil that prints as a dot or a spot.
Pixel: Abbreviation for picture element. Pixels are dots of light on a computer screen which when illuminated represents the image. The higher the number of pixels the better the definition of the image.
Plano Graphic: Said of printing process such as lithography, in which printing surface is neither raised (relief) nor incised (intaglio).
Plate: A sheet of metal or paper bearing a design from which an impression is printed.
Plate (Book): Illustration on a different page from that used in text.
Plate Cylinder: In Offset lithography, one which carries inked plate, as against a blanket cylinder.
Platemaker: A professional working in the printing industry who converts artwork into printing plates using photographic processes.
Plate (Printing): Metal, rubber or plastic surface from which impression is taken.
Platen Press: Letterpress machine in which paper is pressed onto type matter from a flat surface called a platen; one which has a flat impression as distinct from a cylindrical one. See diagram below.
Plate Tone: The background tone of prints produced in intaglio techniques, imparted by the ink left on the surface of the plate after wiping.
Plotter: An output device that uses an inked pen, or assembly of pens, to produce large format prints. Plotters are mostly used in CAD/CAM industries.
Canon imagePROGRAF iPF770 Printer - 36" inch A0 CAD Plotter / Poster Printer.
PMS: Initials of "Pantone Matching System"; prefix attached to color samples and specifications which employ that system.
Pochoir: The method of making an individual printing by brushing through a stencil.
Pocket Envelope: One with an opening and flap on shorter side, as distinct from "banker envelope".
Point: Basic unit of typographic measurement: 0.351 mm; 12pts = 1 pica em.
Point (Didot): 0.375 mm; 12 Didot points = one cicero or corps douze.
Polychromate: Made of many colors, as in painted statuary or the multi-colored ceramic sculpture of the Della Robbia family.
Polychrome: Multi-colored.
Polygon Tool: A tool in some applications with which you can draw polygonal, to which text, pictures or fills may be applied.
POP: (i) Post Office Preferred - approval of size of envelopes etc.; (ii) Post Office Protocol - a standard protocol for delivering email to personal computers; (iii) Point of Purchase; (iv) Point of Presence - a place where an internet service provider can be accessed - such as a local telephone number.
Portrait Format: Image format in which the height is greater than the width.
Pos (Pozzy): Slang for positive transparency, with particular reference to those used in platemaking process.
Postal Trap: Any mailed piece (e.g. unsealed envelope) which may trap another during collection, sorting or delivery.
Posterization: Separating range of tones in continuous-tone original into flat, graded tones, using several negatives, one for each grade, then making a composite print of them all; also called tone separation.
PostScript Font: See outline font.
PP, P: Abbreviation for "pages, page", respectively.
Prelims: Short for preliminary pages - those pages of a book preceding main body.
Prepared for Printing: Fabric that has been scoured, degummed and bleached.
Pre-Press: See origination.
Preprint: Part of a publication printed before main production, usually as loose sheet intended to be dropped into bound copies.
Presentation Visual: Careful representation which may be drawn, photo-printed, typeset or an amalgam of these, to show intended effect of printed job; known in USA as comprehensive or comp.
Looking for error in a press proof.
Press Proof: Last proof to be read before giving to OK to print.
Pressure Sensitive: Used to describe transfer lettering.
Primary Arc: Any arc consisting of hues that fall between a pair of primary hues on a hue circle; for example, an arc of hues between red and yellow in an RYB hue circle.
Primer: Introductory book, especially a language-teaching book.
Printability: The degree to which an original, material or other intended component will contribute to an effective piece of print.
Printer's Flowers: Type ornament in the form of small flower or plant - see below.
Printer Font: A font used for printing, as distinct from a font that can be down-loaded to a printer.
Printer's Ornament: Generic term covering all type of matter intended to create decorative effects, such as borders, arabesques and flowers.
Printer's Reader: One who corrects proofs at printer's before they are sent to the author.
Printing Processes: The main classes of printing processes are intaglio, plano graphic, relief, stencil. All these rely on the contact of surfaces under pressure.
Printmaking: A term referring to printing processes used in making fine-art prints or print editions.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Title: Veiled Curtains - Benazir.
Technique: Multi-plex silkscreen print on paper.
Print Origination: Preparatory work of print job up to proofing stage.
Print-Out Computer output via printing device; print out may be alphanumeric or graphic.
Print Run: Action of printing prescribed quantity of copies; quantity itself.
Print Run Checklist.
Print-To-Paper: Instruction to printer to use all available supply of paper rather than precisely specified number of copies.
Process Blue: Cyan.
Process Color: CMYK - cyan, yellow, magenta and black.
Process Color Printing: The printing that uses the four process color inks - cyan, magenta, yellow and black - to create full-color images. Halftone screens are used to break up continuous tone images into tiny dots which, when printed in each of the process inks overlap to form most colors, though by no means all.
Process Engraving: The name given to several photomechanical methods of producing relief blocks or late for printing.
Engraving Process.
Process Inks: Those used in four color and three color processors.
Process Printing: Separating color-image into a set of halftone positives each representing a translucent color (normally cyan, magenta, yellow or black). When these separations are screen printed in perfect register, the color image will be resembled.
Process Red: Magenta.
Process Yellow (Y): The special shade of yellow which is one of the four process colors used in four color printing.
Pro Forma: Invoice or statement rendered before supply of goods or services, usually to meet a budget deadline.
Progressives: A series of proofs showing each plate of color set in a sequence individually and in registered combination.
Proof: Test print (often on newsprint or cartridge but sometimes on editioning paper), which may consist of one or more, or all, stages of a printed image.
Proof Correction Marks: A standard set of signs and symbols commonly understood by all those involved in preparing copy for publication.
Proof Reader: Any person who reads proofs for the purpose of checking or revising before printing.
Proof Readers' Marks: Agreed set of signs used by editors and others concerned with copy preparation and proof correction.
Proofing Press: The bed of the press accommodates the height of the type blocks so it is ideal for printing woodcuts blocks and wood-mounted lino The paper is fitted to the cylinder, which is then rolled over the inked block.
Offset proofing press.
Proportional Dividers: Device for enlarging or reducing dimensions for drawing or making conversions such as feet to meters.
Axminster Proportional Dividers.
Proportional Lining (Typefaces): Standard numeral set. These figures look best with capital letters.
Proportional Oldstyle (Typefaces): Classical figures with ascenders and descenders. This set can be used for both lower case and capital letters.
Proportional Scale: A simple device for scaling photo and artwork.
Proportional Spacing: A method of spacing characters so that letters and numbers occupy an appropriate amount of space for their design, to accommodate, for example, difference in the width between "m" and "i".
Protractor: A drawing instrument for measuring angles.
Proud: Type matter standing away from a general body of matter on a page is said to be "proud" or "standing proud".
Prove: To make a proof.
Psalter: Book of psalms for use in religious service.
Public Domain: Description of any item of "intellectual property" that is free all copyrights, thus freeing it for use by anyone for any purpose, either because its copyright period has lapsed or because, as is sometimes the case with computer software, its creator has deem it so.
Publisher's Ream: One containing 516 sheets also known as a perfect ream.
Puff Binder: A water-based pigment that can be mixed with standard color, and expands under heat to create 3D effects with a rubbery texture.
Dyed Puff Binder.
Pull: See Proof.
Pulp: The basic material used in paper making broken down mechanically or chemically.
Punching Shapes: Those available for various mechanical binding forms, both loose-leaf and permanent. See below.
Punctuation Marks:
Puree (Pwree): Crude Indian yellow.
Put Down/Put Up: Instruction to printer: change to lower-case/change to caps.
Put To Bed: When letterpress formes, litho-plates or gravure plates are secured to presses ready for printing, they are said to "put to bed".
PVC Sheet: Genotherm, rigid, gloss, clear sheet: a transparent substrate manufactured for the printing industry.
Flexible PVC Sheets.
PVT: Initials of "Page View Terminal".
QED: abbr. Quod erat demonstrandum, a Latin term meaning "a thing which has been proved".
Quad: In conventional typesetting, a space whose width is normally that of its height, thus "to quad", or "quadding", is to fill out a line with quad spaces.
Quadding: Driving abnormal space (e.g. "em-quad" or "en-quad") between words in order to fill out line; also used in reference to ranging left and right ("quad left/ quad right") and centering ("quad center") in linecaster composition and photocomposition.
Quantity Sizes: Dozen (doz.) = 12; Score = 20; Gross = 144 (or a dozen's dozen); Ton (USA) = 907.19 kg.
Quarto (4to): Cut or folded sheet, which is one quarter of a basic sheet size.
Quartz Iodine Lamp: See "tungstan halogen lamp".
Quilling: Art of rolling and bending narrow strips of paper into artistic shapes.
Quilling Tool: Small round tool which has one hollow end (forming a cylinder). Paper is attached to cylinder end via a small slot and wrapped into a "quill".
Quilling Tool Set.
Quire: One twentieth of a ream; usually 24 or 25 sheets.
Quoin (pron: coyn): In letterpress, an expandable device used to take up space and lock up "forme" ready for press.
qv: abbr. Quod vide, a Latin term meaning "which see"; used to accompany a cross-reference term.
Qwerty: The standard type-writer-based keyboard layout used by most, although not all, devices that require the use of a keyboard. The name derives from the arrangement of the first six characters of the top row of letter keys.
®: The mark attached to a trade mark indicating that it is registered and cannot be used by any other person or organization.
Radial Fill: A fill pattern comprising of concentric circles of graduated tints.
Ragged Left/Right: Setting lines of type so that, though they are all set to standard measure, word spaces are not adjusted to make both edges align vertically.
Rag Paper: One made largely from rag pulp; used for best quality writings.
KHADI paper - White Rag Paper.
Raised Cap(ital): A bold face capital that projects above the line of type. Also called a "cocked up initial".
Raised Point/Dot: Full point raised from usual position on base line to position halfway up cap height usually as a decimal point.
Ranged Left/Right: A style of typesetting in which the lines of unequal length line up on either the left or right of a column of text so that they are vertically flush with each other, leaving the opposite ends of the lines uneven or "ragged".
Ranging Figures: See lining figures/numerals.
RA Paper Size: The designation of untrimmed paper sizes in the ISO A series of international paper sizes.
Real Time: The term is used to describe the actual time in which events occur as opposed to past or future events.
Ream: Standard quantity of paper containing 472, 480, 500, 504 or 516 sheets, according to the nature of material. In Europe it is standardized to 1,000 (mille).
Receding Color: Planes of color in a design that appear to move away from the viewer. Usually cool colors in a work have this characteristic but the effect depends on the color usage.
Rectangle Tool: See square corner tool.
Recto: Any right-hand page of a book; one which is odd numbered.
Recycled and Handmade Papers: Handmade papers can be embedded with floral, leaves and other plant fibers to yield interesting textures and colors. Photocopy paper may be used as pulp as it is cheap and stable, and any vegetable skins, flora and fauna can be used to give the paper a unique organic look.
Reduction Glass/Tool: See magnifying glass.
Reduction Printing: (i) Screen filler stencil process using a single open area: a series of stencils are made (and printed) which progressively reduce the printing area; (ii) A method of printing using only one screen for every color in the image. Each color is printed after applying a block out medium to the screen, with no block-out being removed. The open or unprinted areas of the screen become increasingly smaller during the process.
Reduction printing.
Reference Marks: Those type of characters, which key footnotes to the text above, usually appearing in the order as given below.
Reflected Color: Wavelength of light that reflects from a surface and so gives that surface its distinctive color.
Reflection Copy: Any flat item which is reproduce by photographic means, using light reflected from its surface.
Reflection Tool: In some applications, a tool by which you transform an element into its mirror image, or make a mirror-image copy of an element.
Reflow: The term describing the automatic reposting of running text and a result of editing.
Register: Two or more print impressions in their correct relationship on a sheet; hence "in register" and "out of register".
Registered Design: One which has been accepted by a Patent Office as a uniquely shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article by any industrial process or means.
Register Marks: Marks on a printed sheet appearing outside of a job area, when trimmed to size, used to ensure accurate register.
Registration: A method used to ensure that colors line up correctly and are printed in the right place on each piece of paper or fabric in the edition.
Registration Tabs: Stops or guides attached to the base of the screen frame in screen printing. Their purpose is to position the paper accurately during printing.
Relief Printing: Printing methods in which the image is obtained from a raised surface.
The basic concept of relief printing. A is the block or matrix; B is the paper; the thick black lines are the inked areas. (The thickness of the ink is greatly exaggerated for illustration.)
Remainders: Copies of book which is no longer selling at its original published price, reduced to clear stock.
Repeat Printing: Printing an image more than once on the same piece of fabric or paper. Often refers to printing in measured increments along a length of fabric, assembly-line style.
Full Drop.
Reprint: Make subsequent printing (impression) of publication; reprints of single features or distinct portions of publication are known as "separates" or "offprints" (though these might also be part of the first impression).
Repro, Repro Proof: Proof from image or typed matter, made with great care on special proofing press using best quality coated paper, for use in photochemical reproduction.
Left: Color, 300dpi, 24-bit; Right: Color, Conventional Repro.
Reproduction Copy: See camera ready art(work).
Reprographic Printing: Techniques of copying or duplicating printed material.
Reprotyping: Typing intended for photomechanical reproduction.
Resident Font: A font stored in the "Read Only Memory" (ROM) usually of a printer.
Resin-coated Paper: Photographic material in which sensitized paper is sandwiched between polyethylene ayers; also known as PE or RC paper.
Resist Printing: Application to a fabric in a pattern or image of a substance, which prevents dye uptake, resulting in a white or non-dyed pattern or image on a dyed ground.
Resolution: The ability of any device to reproduce fine detail accurately.
Rest in Pro(portion): See RIP.
Retarder: An ingredient added to ink to slow the drying process and prevent the ink from clogging the screen while printing.
Retouching: Methods of altering the image of artwork to make corrections, improve or change the character of the image.
Retree: Name of sub-standard batch paper.
Retroussage: The term given to flicking a soft rag lightly over a wiped intaglio plate, to draw out the ink slightly and give a softer line. In other words, a technique of wiping an etching plate so that ink is drawn up out of lines, thus producing softer, richer effects.
Reversal: Term used in screen printing to describe how all areas that are open (and which print) become closed (non-printing) and vice versa.
Reverse B to W: Reverse black to white. Instruction to reverse out an image or type.
Reverse Indent: See hanging indent.
Reverse L to R: Instruction to reverse an image from left to right.
Reverse Out: To reverse the tones of an image or type so that it appears white (or another color) in a black or colored background. Also called "drop-out", "save out".
Reverse P: See blind P.
Reverse Reading See wrong reading.
Reversed Type: See reverse out.
Revise (Proof): Additional proof to show that corrections from earlier proof have been properly made.
RF: In cartography, initials of "representative fraction", used to denote scale relationship between distance shown on a map and actual distance on the ground (e.g. 1/50,000).
RGB: Red, green, blue.
Rice Paper: Japanese papers of various types and finishes made for artists' use, including those made from mulberry fiber, are commonly grouped under this name.
Rich Text Format: RTF
Right-aligned/justified: Ranged right - see ranged left.
Right-Angle Fold: Folding piece of paper in half, then in half again at right angle; standard fold for book sections.
Right-Reading, Emulsion-Side-Down: Description of a negative film on which the text, if any, can be read as normally, i.e. from left to right, and in which the photographic emulsion is on the underside.
RIP: Initials of "rest in proportions"; instructions to indicate that all elements are to be reduced or enlarged in the same proportions.
River:An aberration in typeset text, in which a series of word spaces formed a linked or continuous stream of white space down a page. Often caused by badly justified type.
Rocker: A hand-help, spiked instrument used in mezzotint that scores the plate when rocked over it. The scoring is then smoothed out to produce values ranging from dark to light when the plate is inked and printed.
Roller: Tool with a revolving cylinder covered in various materials and used for applying paint.
Roller Printing: Application of pigment or dye to a fabric in a pattern or image by mean of engraved metal rollers.
Roller Printed Skirt ca. 1810-1820. English Costume.
ROM: (i) Abbreviations used in proof correction to show that the word of passage should be reset in upright type; (ii) In computer usage, Read Only Memory; part which holds predetermined instructions or program.
Roman: Very general term to cover all typefaces deriving from humanistic manuscripts, as distinct from black letter (gothic); also used to distinguish non-italic letter forms.
Romaji: Roman alphabet as used to transliterate Japanese.
A large romaji chart.
Roman Alphabet: Standard alphabet of most Western and Central European languages.
Roman Numerals: Before the introduction of Arabic numerals, Roman numbers were the norm, but are now only used for chapter headings, lists and dates; capital letters are used - see below.
Rotary Press: Machine in which printing surface is cylindrical; maybe either sheet-fed or web-fed. See below.
Rotational Tool: In some graphic applications, a tool which, when selected, enables you to rotate an item around a fix point.
Rotogravure: Photogravure printing on web-fed rotary press.
Rough: Sketch design for printed material, not always as "rough" as term implies.
Marie-Therese Wisniowski's water color rough of Winter Bolt.
Final Artwork by Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Title: Winter Bolt - Four Australian Seasons.
Technique: Hand painted and heat transferred using disperse dyes on satin.
Size: ca. 1.50 (width) x 2.00 (length) meters.
Held: Artist Collective – not available for purchase.
Artist Statement: The cloud wavelets are not present in the finished artwork due to my Zen "no-mind" state directing the artwork instead of me slavishly following the rough. You will note that in my "no-mind" state I have darkened the background of the artwork as the eye descends and thinned out the liquid sun (that is in the form of a bolt), both elements of which I believe indicate - in a more subtle manner - a wintery/watery feel.
Roulette: A hand-held instrument with spiked wheel that produces a grainy mark over an etching ground or directly on an intaglio plate. It was used in the eighteenth century tonal processes such as crayon and pastel manners.
Round-Corner Tool: In most graphics applications, the tool that, when selected, enables you to draw a rectangular box or shape with rounded corners. You may or may not be able to modify the corner radius.
Rounding and Backing: Shaping of a book after sewing so that the back is convex and foredge is concave and to provide an edge on which to secure cover boards - see below.
Royal (Paper Size): 635 x 508 mm (25 x 20 inches).
Royal Water Color Society Paper: High quality paper that is a mixture of cotton and linen.
RTF: Rich Text Format.
RTP: Perfect print; that is, "right to print".
Rubbing: Method of relief printing in which any textured surface can be the "printing block".
Colosal Carp Original GYOTAKU fish rubbing on heavy white stock.
Rubric: Heading of a book chapter or section, printed in red to contrast with text in black.
Rubylith: A film used in silk screen printing.
Rule: A line. The term derives from the Latin regal meaning "straight stick" and was used to describe the metal strips, of type height, in various widths, lengths and styles, which were used by traditional typesetters for printing lines.
Ruler: In some applications, the feature of a calibrated ruler, in your preferred unit of measure, at the edges of a document window.
Ruler Guide: In some applications, a non-printing guide which you obtain by clicking on the ruler and dragging to the desired position.
Ruler Origin: Origin.
Ruling Pen: Precision drawing instrument suitable for fine artwork - see below.
Runaround: Typesetting in which lines of type are set to fit around illustration or other display matter.
In typography, a runaround is where the ends of lines of text are adjusted to conform to a box or irregular shape, rather than a simple vertical column.
Runback: The term describes words that move back from one line to the previous lines, a result of a text deletion or correction. The opposite of overrun.
Runes: Ancient Germanic carved alphabet script.
Run-in: See run on.
Run-In Heading: A heading leading into the text starting on the same line, as distinct from a heading placed above the text.
Runners: Marginal numbers placed at regular intervals to give quick reference for text lines, especially of poetry.
Running Headline: Type lines above main text, giving book title and/or chapter title.
Running Text: The main body of a text which runs from page to page although it may be broken up by illustrations or other matter.
Run On: (i) Proof correction or manuscript alteration: "do not start new line or paragraph" (US: run in); (ii) An item often listed in print quotations, giving price for increasing print quantity by specified amounts (e.g. $100 per 1000 run on).
Run Ragged: Ragged right.
Run Through Work: Use of special ruling machine to print parallel lines across a sheet from one edge to the other without breaks.
Rush: First, unedited print of a scene.
RYB System: A pigment system in which red, yellow and blue are the primary colors.
Saddleback Book: One having "inserted work" which is secured through back fold by wire or threaded stitches.
Saddlestitch (or Saddlewire): To secure book by means of thread or wire through back fold of insetted work; though "saddle stitch" is often used for wire as well as thread, this is not recommended because of possible confusion.
Safe Area: In TV, that central portion of transmitted picture, which can be guaranteed to remain visible on ordinary domestic receiver (obsolete).
Same-Size (abb: s/s): Instruction to a printer to make the print image the same size as the original.
Sampler: A device that digitises sound so that it can be manipulated by computers.
Sandpaper: Abrasive paper available in varying degrees of coarseness. See wet-dry sandpaper.
Sans Serif, Sanserif: Type face not having finishing strokes at the ends of character elements - see below.
Sansui (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Landscape (literally "mountains and waters"); hence sansui-ga, landscape images.
Floating clouds cover the mountains, misty forest with majestic trees, rugged rock formations, flowing river and waterfall.
Saunders Waterford: Stable and durable paper.
Save Out: See reverse out.
Saw Toothing: The result when photo-emulsion is applied too thinly to the mesh and does not bridge it adequately: this causes printed edges of photo-stencils to "step", resembling the teeth of a saw rather than a straight line.
sc, s caps: small caps.
Scale/Scaling: To determine the degree of enlargement or reduction required to obtain the desired reproduction size of an image.
Scale Drawing: An illustration, which represents an object and its parts in correct proportion to the actual size.
Scaling (Scaling Up): To determine the degree of enlargement or reduction necessary to reproduce an original image within a given area of a design. The scaling may be represented as a percentage of the image area or in figures proportional to the dimension of the original, using a diagonal bisection of the image to govern the increased or reduced measurements.
Scaling Text: See horizontal scaling.
Scamp: A rough sketch showing the basic idea for an advertisement or design.
Advertising Scamp.
Scatter Proof: A proof of illustrations in which all the images are positioned at random and as closely packed as possible, without reference to their final page position. This is done in order to cut proofing costs, particularly when large numbers of illustrations are involved, such as in illustration book work>
Scenario/Screenplay: Script that includes camera directions and scene descriptions.
Scoop Coater: A tool used to apply photo emulsion to the screen.
Dual Edged Emulsion Scoop Coater.
SC Paper: Abbreviation for "supercalendered paper".
Scraperboard: Drawing material with heavy coating of china clay, which can be scraped after covering with black ink to give an effect of "white-line" engraving; also called a "scratchboard" (especially in USA).
Screen: A wooden or aluminum frame with polyester mesh stretched over it; stencils are attached to the screen or created directly on it.
Screen Angle: Angle at which halftone screen is arranged; whenever two or more halftones are to overprint, to avoid screen clash (see below).
Screen Clash: Undesirable pattern resulting from overprinting of two or more halftones at unsuitable screen angles (see image below).
Screen Filler: Liquid applied to a degreased mesh, which dries close areas of mesh, forming a stencil: stopping out.
Screen Landing Pad: Small pad of soft material (a household duster folded in four and taped at the edges), with a length of cord attached for retrieval. It is placed on one of the front corners of the horizontal glass surface of a UV exposure unit. When a screen is placed on the unit, one corner is "touched down" on the pad, allowing the screen to be slid to the back of the unit in a controlled fashion and protecting the glass surface from scratches.
Screenprinting: A printing method that produces prints by using a squeegee to push ink through a screen. That is, a printing through an intermediary surface – the screen mesh. The images of screen prints are formed by various kinds of stencilling techniques, based on blocking out areas of the mesh either with sheet materials such as paper or stencil film or with liquids that fill the mesh. See diagram below.
Screen-printing Equipment: Squeegee; screen; screen-printing inks; palette knife; solvent brush to remove stencils; cleaning rags.
Screen-printing Inks: Most fabric paints can be used for screen-printing, but it is more economical to use a thickening agent or a binder to spread the fabric paint so that it does not appear too thick on the fabric. In general screen printing inks are very concentrated and it is therefore only necessary to use few drops in order to produce a strong color. Always add the color to the binder, as it is difficult to make the color paler once it has been mixed. All printing inks are intermixable and water soluble, so that the printing screen can be washed with clean water.
Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Ink.
Screen Ruling: Halftone screen; screen resolution.
Screen Tester: Device, which if laid on printed halftone and rotated until symmetrical moiré pattern is produced, will indicate screen size.
Screen Type: Of a halftone screen, its pattern, e.g. dot, line etc.
Script (Type): Typeface designed in imitation of writing done with pen or brush, often having characters made to fit closely in joined writing - see figure below.
Scumming: In Lithography, fault in which water-accepting layer is worn away from non-image areas, giving dirty-looking impression.
Secondary Color: A color obtained when two primary colors are mixed.
Section: Sheet of paper folded into four or more pages to make into gathered or in-setted book; also known as "signature", especially in USA.
Section-Sewn Book: One in which gathered sections are secured by sewn thread.
Detail of two types of section sewn casebound books.
Seek Time: See access time.
See-Through: Degree to which image on underlying surface can be seen through a sheet of paper.
Select(ing): To choose a thing (e.g. an icon or a piece of text) so that you can do something to or with it. To alter the state of any item, it first must be made active, or selected.
Selectric: Trade name for popular make of direct impression, or "strike-on", composing machine (obsolete).
Self-Cover: Book cover made of the same material as leaves of a book.
Self-Ends: Endpapers which are a part of the first and last sections of a book.
Sensitive Material: A material with the surface chemically treated to make it receptive to light.
Sensitometry: The science for measuring the properties of photosensitive materials.
Separation: See color separation.
Separation Artwork: Artwork in which a separate layer is created for each color to be printed.
Serif: Finishing strokes or terminals at the ends of type characters.
Droid Serif.
Serigraphy: The term used for fine art screen-printing.
Set: The width of a piece of type; in Monotype machine composition, all characters (including spaces) have "set" width, expressed in units, which are not standard dimensions, like points, but are related to the proportion of type face design; widest character is divided into 18 equal units, other characters are allocated unit values in proportion - see diagram below.
Set Solid: A term describing a type set on its own body size without any leading, e.g. 10pt on 10pt.
Sewn Book: Any book secured with sewn thread.
Sewing together pages in book binding.
Sexto (6to): Cut or folded sheet which is one-sixth of a basic sheet size.
Shaded Letter: Outline letter with a shadow effect running down one side of the strokes - see figure below.
Shadow Font: Letterforms given three dimensional appearance by heavy shadows besides the main strokes.
Sheet: Whole piece of paper, flat or folded; there are many basic sheet sizes in printing.
Sheet Proof: One taken from a frome; also called an imposed proof.
Sheet Stock: Printed sheets held in store for binding up.
Sheet-Wise: Most common printing method in which sheet is printed first on one side, then on the other side to produce a complete section.
Sheet Work: Form of imposition in which pages on one side of the sheet are in one forme and those for the other side are in another forme.
Shin Hanga (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "new prints"; the resurgent Japanese woodblock print movement beginning in the Taisho period, which joined traditional Japanese woodblock subjects and printing techniques, together with Western drawing techniques, to revitalize the traditional woodblock print.
By Hiroshi Yoshida 1876-1950.
Shini-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Prints commemorating the death (Literally, "death pictures") of some important person from the 'Floating World'. Most depicted Kabuki actors, but some prints also commemorated woodblock artists, and on occasion musicians. The deceased is usually portrayed in light-blue robes (associated with death), and the print usually includes the date of the person's death, their age, their posthumous Buddhist name (kaimyo), and the location of their grave. Some also included the death poem of the deceased, or memorial verses written by friends or associates.
Memorial Print (Shini-e).
Shooting Script: Script giving details of a camera work and order of shooting.
Shun-ga (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Erotic images (literally "spring images", a typical euphemism for erotica); another of the classic original woodblock forms.
A Shunga erotic print lovers in a tent, ca. 1785.
Shomen-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "front-printing"; a polishing technique similar to gauffrage, which was used to produce a shiny surface on black areas of some prints, often in intricate patterns; to produce this, a carved block was placed behind the print and the printed surface rubbed with a hard polisher (in addition to a boar's tooth, the usual implement, mention is made of use of the use of porcelain, and also spoons, during the Meiji period).
Short Page: A page containing text to a length shorter than the usual length on other pages, adjusted to improve the layout or accommodate a break.
Show Through: See look/see-/show-through.
Shoulder: Raised edge of a stencil (particularly a paper stencil or thickly applied photo-emulsion).
Shuffling: In some page mark-up applications, a term describing the re-ordering of the pages of a document while retaining a logical numbering sequence.
SIAD: Initials of Society of Industrial Artists and Designers (UK), founded in 1930.
sic: Latin for - "thus"; used within parentheses to confirm accuracy of preceding word, usually because of unorthodox spelling.
Side-Bearing: The letter space assigned to each side of a Postscript type character that, if an application permits, can be adjusted to provide greater or less kerning.
Side Heading: Heading in side margin at the top of a page or paragraph.
Side Stab/Stitch: To secure a book by means of a wire force through side close to back.
Japanese Stab Binding - Tortoise Stitch by Ffion.
SIG: Special Interest Group.
Signature: Letter or number printed at the bottom of the first page of each section of a book, to ensure correct sequence; also (especially in USA) synonym for "section".
Silhouette: A drawing of an object showing simply the outline filled with solid tone or color.
Silhouette of Martha Jefferson.
Silk Papers: A highly textured, sometimes delicate, almost translucent papers, with strands and fibers of silk embedded in the structure.
Silk paper white.
Silk Screen: A stencil used as a resist in printing, once made of mulberry paper on a silk screen, now usually photographically developed on a polyester screen.
Size, Sizing Up: See scale/scaling.
Sizes of Japanese Woodblock Prints:Ōban: By far and away the most common print size; about 15" x 10" (38cm x 25cm).
Ō-ōban: Literally "large ōban"; a rare size somewhat larger than standard ōban, about 23" x 12" (58cm x 32cm).
Chūban: A somewhat common small print size; half an ōban, by division along its short axis; about 10" x 7" (25cm x 19cm).
Aiban: A somewhat rare print size, roughly halfway between chūban and ōban; about 13" x 9" (34cm x 23cm).
Koban: A fairly rare small print size; half an aiban, by division along its short axis; about 9" x 7" (23cm x 17cm).
Vertical Koban: A fairly rare small print size; half an koban, by division along its long axis; about 9" x 3" (23cm x 9cm).
Hosoban: A fairly rare narrow print size; about 13" x 6" (33cm x 15cm). It was more common in older actor prints of the eighteenth century, although still used for kacho-ga in the nineteenth.
O-hosoban, O-tanzaku: Literally, "large hosoban", a fairly rare narrow print size; about 15" x 7" (38cm x 17cm). This size was often used for kacho-ga prints by Hiroshige.
Nagaban: A rare large print size first used around 1800; about 22" x 10" (56cm x 25cm).
Yokonagaban: A very long format (i.e. horizontal nagaban, hence the name), used for some surimono in the early 1800's; sometimes about 15" x 22" (38cm x 53cm), more often 8" x 22" (21cm x 56cm).
Shikishiban: A mostly square format, usually of heavy paper, often used for surimono; about 10" x 9" (26cm x 23cm).
Hashira-eban: The size for hashira-e; it varies depending on the time period, but normally it was about 29" x 5" (68-73cm x 12-16cm). In later times, this was produced by gluing together two hosoban sheets, one vertically above the other.
Habahiro hashira-e: The size for extra-wide hashira-e; varies, but normally it was about 29" x 10" (68-73cm x 26cm).
Chū-tanzaku: A very rare long print size; half an ōban, by division along its long axis; about 15" x 5" (38cm x 13cm).
Ō-tanzaku: A very rare long print size; two-thirds of an ōban, by division along its long axis; about 15" x 7" (38cm x 18cm).
Ko-tanzaku: A very rare long print size; one third of an aiban, by division along its long axis; about 13" x 3" (34cm x 8cm).
Yotsugiri: A fairly rare small print size; half a chūban, by division along its short axis; about 7" x 5" (19cm x 13cm). Prints of this size were often obtained by printing 4 prints from a single ōban-sized block.
Mitzugiri: A very rare small print size; one third of an ōban, by division along its short axis; about 10" x 5" (25cm x 13cm).
Ko-yotsugiri: A very rare small print size; half a koban; about 7" x 5" (17cm x 12cm).
Sixteen-MO (16mo): Cut or folded sheet which is one sixteenth of a basic sheet size.
Sixteen Sheet: Poster size of 120 x 80 inches (305 x 203 cm).
Sketch Book: An exercise book design to assist in the collation of source sketched materials.
Skew, Skewing: In some applications, a feature enabling you to slant an item, such as a picture or word.
Skyline (of a newspaper): Banner headline running above the nameplate.
Slab-Serif: Typeface with markedly square-ended serifs, which may or may not be bracketed - see below.
Slash: See solidus.
Slip-sheeting: See interleaving.
Sloped Roman: Correct term for many typefaces, which are generally known as italics even though they are not cursive.
Romulus roman and its italic [sloped roman], 1931.
Slur: Fault in printing caused by movement during making of impression.
Slurred Dot (Type): Termination of certain characters, resembling distorted dot - see below.
Small Capped Numerals (Typefaces): A numeral set used with small caps. Most typefaces do not have this set, but the old style numerals can also be used in combination with small caps.
Smart Quotes: The term sometimes given to facilities provided by some applications to convert quotation marks from straight "pecks" (" ') to typesetting, or curley ones - see below.
Smoking (Etching): Wax tapers are burnt yielding a dark smoke that deposits carbon on the ground during an etching process.
Smoothing: A term describing the refinement of a bitmapped images by rounding off corners of the square dots, or pixels.
Smoothing Tool: Hand tool used to flatten background in foil tooling.
Paracord Smoothing Tool (Stainless Steel).
Snap: The action of the mesh lifting away from the wet print, determined by the height of the gap between the mesh and the press bed (when the press frame is down).
Soft Back: Paperback.
Soft Copy: Typeset copy used for checking a text before camera-ready art is produced.
Soft Cover: On made from a stiff board.
Soft Dot: A halftone dot on film that is less dense at the edge than at the center and is thus easier to etch for correction purposes.
Solidus: Oblique stroke, thus "/" used to denote alternatives, ratios and fractions; also called "slash" or "oblique".
Solus Position: Advertisement space on page where there is no other advertisement.
Somerset: Inexpensive quality paper.
Somerset : Printmaking Paper.
Source Document: A document from which items have been copied, as distinct from the document an item is being copied to - the "target", or destination document.
Sort: Single character type.
Sosaku Hanga (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "creative prints"; a Japanese woodblock print movement of the 20th century which utilized Western concepts of art; both in the production, in which the artist was more involved in the production of the prints (often undertaking the entire process on their own), and in the subject matter and presentation, which was that of modern art.
Title: Ashinoko (Hakone). Date: Apr. 1940.
SP: Initials for - "station point".
Space: An invisible, graded unit for spacing out a line of text.
Spec. (pronoun: Speck or Spess): Slang for "specification", which is definition of data and procedures required to execute a task.
Special Character: A type character supplied as part of a font, or character set, but generated by pressing modifier keys.
Special Sorts: Type characters not normally included in a font, or character set, e.g. fractions, musical notations, etc. Also called "peculiars" or "pi characters".
Specimen Page: A proof of a page as an example of a proposed style of design, paper quality, printing, etc.
Spelling Checker: A means of checking a document for spelling errors by way of a special dictionary, built in to most word-processing applications, but also available as stand-alone utilities. Spell checkers may be of batch or interactive mode varieties.
Spine: That edge of a book at which leaves and covers are secured; also called "back" and "backbone".
Book-spines.
Spiral Binder: One in which leaves are secured by spiral wire wound through small, pre-drilled holes; sometimes, but totally inaccurately, applied to plastic comb binder - see below.
Spirit Duplicating: Simple plano-graphic printing process for up to 100 copies by means of aniline dye transfer printing onto plane sheets moistened with spirit solvent.
AB Dick Model 217 Spirit Duplicator "Ditto Machine".
Splayed "M": See below.
Split Dash/Rule: One like below.
Split-Screen: Referring to the technique in which two or more images appear simultaneously on different parts of the same screen.
Spoils, Spoilage: Sheets which are badly printed and so not included in delivered quantity of job; printers usually allow for this by printing "overs".
Spot Color: The term used to describe any printing color that a special mix of colors, and not one of the four process colors.
Spread: Pair of facing pages, left-hand and right-hand; often considered as design unit even though pages may be printed in different sections.
Square Corner/Rectangle Tool: In most graphics applications, the tool that enables you to draw a rectangular box or shape.
Squared-Up (Halftone): Normal form of halftone in which edges are straight and regular.
Squares (of Book): Bookbinders' term for overhanging edges of "cased book".
Square Serif: See slab serif.
Square serif typeface was usually used in advertisement to capture the attention of potential costumers.
Squeegee: A long polyurethane blade attached to a wooden handle used for screen-printing; this tool pushes the ink through the screen. It usually consists of one or two rubber blades mounted on a flat wooden handle.
Foldaway squeegee.
Squeegee Support: Water proofed cardboard wedge, which is parcel-taped to the mesh behind the image area and used to rest the squeegee on during hand printing.
SRA Paper Sizes: See "A, B and C Series".
S/S: Abbreviation for "same size".
Stacking Order: In graphics applications, the position of an item relative to other items in front or behind it.
Staircasing: Baggie.
Standard Character Set: See character set.
Standing Time: See open time.
Starburst: (i) A photographic effect of radiating lines from a highlight, provided by a filter that diffuses light from a strong, concentrated source; (ii) In some applications, the name given to the shape that the pointer assumes when certain transformation tools are selected.
Stationary: A document which serves as a template - when opened, it is automatically duplicated, leaving the original in tact.
Stem: Main vertical, or near vertical, part of type character.
Stencil: A blocking material with a series of open areas through which ink can pass to produce an image underneath.
Lotus on Reusable Laser-Cut Stencil by PearlDesignStudio.
Stencil Brush: Short-haired brushes designed to hold small amounts of paint for stencilling. Available in a wide range of sizes and with long and short handles.
Stencil Brush Set.
Stencil Card: Stout oiled manila card, from which shapes are cut in order to make stencils.
Stencil Card.
Stenciling: Method of decoration in which paint or dye is applied through a cut-out design to create images on a surface.
Stencil or Spray Printing: In stencil or spray printing the color is sprayed, dabbed, brushed or sponged onto a material through a stencil which has been prepared from a substrate (e.g. thin sheet of metal, plastic, cardboard or water proofed transparent paper etc.)
Step and Repeat: To produce multiple copies of an image at different sizes in defined increments.
Step Index: One in which steps are cut out of foredge for greater ease of reference; sometimes called "cut-in" index. See below.
Stereotype: A metal cast of a mold of a wood-engraving block. The duplicate of the original block enabled more efficient printing of images on steam-driven presses. It was invented in 1829.
Stet: A Latin word meaning, "let it stand". It is used in proof correcting to cancel a previously marked correction.
Stiff-Leaves: Endpapers which are glued to the hole of first and last leaves in a book, rather than just being tipped-on.
Stipple: In intaglio printmaking, dotting the plate with various instruments to produce areas of tone.
The dots in stipple engraving, intended to give shading and tone.
Stippling: Making sharp indentations in a surface with a sharp point to provide texture.
Stippling Brush: Rectangular brush used for a stippled finish and for removing excess paint cornices and architraves etc. Available in a variety of sizes.
Sephora Collection Pro Stippling Brush.
Stock: Any material to be used for printing on.
Stone: Surface (once made of stone) on which letterpress formes are imposed before being transferred to bed of press.
Stone Hand: In letterpress printing, one who arranges and secures composed type matte and plates in correct order for printing.
Stop-Cylinder Press: Cylinder press in which cylinder remains stationary whilst printing bed is returned after being moved out of contact for inking, as distinct from two-revolution press.
SPS Vitessa XP. High Speed STOP Cylinder Press.
Stopping Out: Painting screen filler onto the mesh to alter or edit (or create) an image.
Storyboard: Set of preliminary sketches showing how a motion sequence is intended to develop and give idea of timing and content without going into detail.
Some directors recommend using storyboarding to do both out-of-sequence shooting as well as sequenced shoots. Storyboards help in both instances.
Straight Matter: A body of text without break for headings, illustrations, etc.
Stress: The apparent direction of a letterform, giving emphasis by the heaviest part of a curved stroke.
Strike Off: The production of a sample print to prove the accuracy of a printed design and registration of screens or rollers.
Stripping: (i) Assembling two or more images to produce a composite for making final film in photomechanical reproduction; (ii) To insert a typeset correction in film or in camera-ready art; (iii) To glue a strip of cloth or paper to the back of a paperback book or pad as reinforcement.
Stripping Up As One: Assembling two or more images or items of film to combine them as a single piece of film in photomechanical production.
Strobe: Flicker.
Stroke: (i) The outline of any shape or type character, as distinct from the inside area, called the "fill"; (ii) A straight, diagonal part of a typed character.
Style: The term used to describe a stylistic modification of a font, such as italic, shadow, outline, etc.
Style Sheets: In some applications, the facility for applying a range of frequently used attributes, such as typographic and paragraph formats, to elements in a document by using specially assigned commands.
Styling: As used in industrial or product design; superficial change. The stylist alters the appearance of product for marketing rather than functional reasons.
Stylization: The process of making visual representations conform to a conventional model.
Subhead(ing): Any heading for the division of a chapter or section of a newspaper.
Subject: Term for any image, which is to be reproduced or originated.
Sublimation Printing: What is termed "transfer printing" in reality should be termed sublimation printing. Sublimation describes a process that goes from a solid state to a gas state without passing though a liquid state. Dry ice has this property. In sublimation or transfer printing once the dye has been painted on a paper and is dry, the painted side of the paper is placed on top of the fabric surface that is to be dyed. Then heat is applied via an iron or a heat press to the back of the dry dyed paper. The dye vaporizes from the paper and infuses into the surface of the target fabric. The vapor dye reacts with the target fabric surface and adheres to it via dispersion forces and hydrogen bonding. The heat of the iron serves a dual purpose: (a) it vaporizes the dye; (b) it assists the dye to infuse into the fabric surface and adhere to it. That is why the temperature of the iron or heat press is so important since it determines the amount of dye that sublimates and that is finally adhered. The adhesion that the dye forms with the fabric surface is why the fabric automatically becomes color fast, wash fast, light fast and moreover, why it cannot change the hand of the fabric. Furthermore, it is a surface technique and so the reverse side of the fabric is unaltered. Also, image creating objects such as stencils, resist items etc. can be inserted between the paper and fabric surface as well as painted images that were resident on the surface of the original paper can be transferred directly onto the fabric surface.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Technique: Title: Fleeting II (Full View).
Technique and Media: The artist’s signature MultiSperse Dye Sublimation (MSDS) prints and silk screened prints employing disperse dyes, pigment paints and gold foil on synthetic substrate. MSDS uses sublimation printing.
Year: 2016.
Subscriber: Person who subscribes to the delivery of a printed object.
Subscript/Inferior and Superscript/Superior (Typefaces): Sets used for formulas, mathematical expressions and descriptions of chemical compounds or isotopes as in "2" of the water chemical descriptor H2O.
Successive Contrast: The phenomenon of an after image seen after the viewer looks away from color stimulus.
Sugarlift: Tradition etching process which results in a characteristic bold, broken, painted mark. See also lift-ground etching.
Sugar lift print "WIP" by Rikus Oreos.
Sumizuri-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "black-ink printed picture"; sumi is the name for black India ink. Hence sumizuri-e, a print done in black and white, although sometimes one finds shades of grey as well, as in Hokusai's famous and fabulous illustrated book, '100 Views of Fuji'. The first ukiyo-e prints were produced with this technique.
HOKUSAI (1760-1849). 100 views of Mount Fuji.
Sumo (Woodblock Print Subject): Sumo wrestling is a Japanese sport with ancient roots; mentions of it are found as early as the 8th Century (although it would have been nothing like today's sumo at that point). It has always had deep connections with Shinto religious rituals and festivals, and even today Shinto priests officiate and serve as referees. Professional sumo dates from around the start of the Edo period.
Wrestler: Mutsugamine Iwanosuke (六ツヶ峰岩之助).
Supercalendered Paper: Glossy (but not coated) paper produced by being passed through supercalender rolls under great pressure.
Supercalendered Papers.
Superior Numeral (Figure) or Letter: Small character set above level of normal characters of typeface (e.g. 43 = 64).
Superscript: The term used to describe figures our letters that are smaller than text size, and which were raised above the cap height as in (2), as distinct from superior.
Surface Mapping: Texture/surface mapping.
Surimono (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "printed things"; privately issued and distributed prints, mostly produced in small numbers. Most had poetry (usually comissioned by private poetry clubs) or calendars on them, and were often used as invitations, notices, holiday and greeting cards, etc. They were usually very finely printed, with elaborate and unusual printing techniques such as use of powdered metals.
Surimono: Prints by Elbow.
Surprinting: See overprint.
Swash Character: One with emphatic flourish - see below.
Swatch: A color specimen.
Swelled Dash/Rule: One like below.
Swell (of book): Extra bulking at the back of book as result of sewing; reduced by "smashing" in bookbinder's press.
SYLK: Symbolic link, a file format for transferring spreadsheet data between applications.
Syllabary: Set of written characters, each representing a syllable.
Cherokee Syllabary.
Symbol: A letter, figure or drawn sign that represents or identifies an object, process or activity.
Tabbing: (i) Arranging copy (typewritten or typeset) in multi-columnar pattern within set measure; colloquialism for "tabulation"; (ii) Forming projecting portions to edges of book so as to make a tab index.
Tab Index: One in which divisions are indicated by projecting tabs on foredge.
Tab Limit: To separate data elements such as records or fields by using the Tab key on a computer.
Tab Stop: The place at which the text insertion point stops when the Tab key is pressed.
Tabular Lining (Typefaces): Same as proportional lining figures, but the kerning is adjusted to stack in the columns (see below).
Tabular Oldstyle (Typefaces): Old style numerals to use in columns.
Tabular Work: Type matter set in columns.
Tabulation: Arranging information in a list or table form.
Tail: Bottom of book; also known as "foot", especially in USA.
Tail Margin: The margin at the bottom of a page, also called "foot margin" or "bottom margin".
Take: Uninterrupted filming of a scene; filmed scene produced in this way, often re-shot several times.
Take Back: An instruction, marked in a proof, to take back characters, words or lines, to the preceding line, column or page.
Take In: An instruction, marked on a proof, to include extra copy supplied.
Take Over: An instruction, marked on a proof, to take over characters, words or lines to the following line, column or page.
Tan-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Hand-colored prints, which used tan (a pigment made from a mixture of red lead, saltpeter and sulphur, which intended to be orange, but turned to blue as it slowly oxidized), and roku (a green pigment produced from ground malachite, which turned black and often ate into the paper as it aged). The earliest colored prints were produced with this technique.
1740 Culture: Japan Medium: Center sheet of a triptych of polychrome woodblock prints; ink and applied color ("tan-e") on paper.
Taper: Of graduated tones and colors, the progression of one tone or color to the next. Graduations may be in equal increments or may be logarithmic (the increments and tones or colors increase from one end of the graduation to the other).
Graduated Tone - direction: darker to light is left to right.
Taper Angle: The direction of the graduated tones or colors - see above.
TeachText: An application that allows you to read "plain text" documents. These are documents that frequently accompany application files to provide instruction for installation, correction to the documents etc.
Tear Sheet: An image, feature or advertisement torn from a periodical and filed as reference material.
Example of a Tear Sheet.
Technical Illustration: A specialist branch of graphic design dealing with illustrations of all types depicting technical machines, systems and processes.
Template: Shape or sheet with cut out forms and designs, used as a drawing aid.
Website Template.
Text Chain: A set of linked text boxes, with text flowing from one to another.
Text Type/Matter: Any type face of a suitable size for printing a body of text, usually in the range of 8pt to 14pt.
Texture/Surface Mapping: A graphic technique of wrapping a two-dimensional image around a three dimensional object.
Thermocopy: A copy produced by the action of heat, rather than light as in photocopy.
Thermography: Technique in which heat-treated ink image produces raised effect (note: not complete printing process).
Breast Thermography.
Thesaurus: Book presenting a specialised vocabulary.
Thick (Space): Commonly used word space in hand setting: 1/3 em of set (see below).
Thin (Space): Commonly used word space in hand setting: 1/5 em of set.
Thirtytwo-MO, 32 MO: Cut or folded sheet which is one thirty second of a basic sheet size.
Thirtytwo Sheet Poster: Poster size 120 x 160 inches (3048 x 4065 mm).
Three Color Process: Similar to four color process except that there is no separate black printing; also called trichromatic system.
Early representation of the three color process (1902).
Threshold Limit Value - Short Term Exposure Limit (TLV - STEL): TVL for short term exposure of film, up to 15 minutes.
Threshold Limit Value - Time Weighted Average (TLV - TWA): TVL for exposure of film during the whole working week.
Throughput: A unit of time measured as the period elapsing between the start and finish of a particular job.
Thumb Index: One in which thumb-sized chunks are cut out of foredge for greater ease of reference - see figure below.
Thumbnail: (i) Rough, miniature layouts of a proposed design or publication, showing a variety of treatments or the orders of chapters, etc.; (ii) In some applications, the facility to view and print pages together on a sheet at a reduced size.
Different stages of a thumbnail sketch Vladimir Putin.
Tied Letter: Ligature.
TIFF: Tagged image file format, a standard and popular graphics file format used for scanned, high-resolution bitmapped images.
Tight: A term referring to a design, or to text, that is very closely-packed and includes little blank space.
Tilde: Diacritical sign.
Mark over the "a".
Tiling: (i) A term used to describe copying an item and repeating it in all directions, thus creating a pattern; (ii) The term used to describe the method of printing a document page that is too large to fit onto a single sheet by breaking it into overlapping portions which, when assembled, form the whole page.
Block Herringbone.
Time-Lapsed: Referring to the technique of photographing a scene at intervals to give a continuous, accelerated view of a slow process, such as flower opening.
Time-Slicing: Multitasking.
Tint: (i) The effect of the admixture of white to a solid color; (ii) The effect achieved by breaking up a solid color into dots and allowing white paper to show through. Tints are specified in percentages of the solid color.
Tint Plate: One used to print color background to type, line or half tone matter.
Tissues: See layout.
Titanium Dioxide (Auxiliary): It is sometimes added to a print paste to act as a buffer, thereby improving the color of the final discharge by giving it a white pigment appearance.
Title Page: That page of a book carrying title, author and publisher.
Title Verso: The page opposite the title page of a book.
Tonality: The feeling of mood that the organization of value in a work produces.
Tonal Range: The total range of values within a work.
Tonal Value: The relative densities of tones in an image.
Tone-Line Process: A technique of producing line art from continuous tone original by combining a negative and positive film image.
Toner: A synthetic organic color that is insoluble and so can be used directly as a pigment. It is much stronger than a lake. It is used in photocopy machines and in printers.
Toner Cartridges.
Tool: A feature of most graphics applications, consisting of a device (tool) which, when selected, turns the pointer into a shape representing that tool, which you then use to perform the designated task, e.g. you use a box tool for creating a box.
Toshidama (Japanese Woodblock Term): Literally, "New Year's jewel"; the seal of the Utagawa school, usually a circle, with a zig-zag in the upper right-hand corner. Sometimes it is enlongated into a vertical oval, and used to contain the artist's signature.
TPD: Two-page display.
Tips: Trimmed page size.
Tracing Materials: Translucent forms of paper, cloth and acetate used as the basis of artwork for direct reproduction.
Tracing Paper and Drafting Film: Materials used to help re-create the effects of sheer translucent fabrics such as georgette, although paint effects may chip off if applied too quickly.
Tracing Tool: Round-point instrument used in tooling foil to trace the pattern and outline the design.
Leather Craft Fabric Serrate Tracing Wheel.
Track: (i) The printing line from the front edge of a plate to the back. Items imposed in track will all be the subject of the same inking adjustments on press; (ii) Move the camera, usually on rails, to follow the action that is being filmed.
Tracking: A term describing the adjustment of space between the characters in a selected piece of text. As distinct from kerning, which only involves pairs of characters.
Tranny: Slang for "transparency".
Transfer Film: A film or acetate sheet bearing an image for transfer to a printing plate.
The new premium inkjet tranfer film works only with pigment inks and is only available as a 24-inch x 100 ft. roll.
Transfer Leaf: Sheets of gold or silver leaf attached to tissue paper used in oil gilding.
22 Carat Gold Leaf Transfer Leaf.
Transfer Printing: There are four distinct processes by which transfer printing can be achieved: melt-transfer; film-release transfer; semi-wet processes; sublimation printing. See each for appropriate definitions. The dye adheres to the hydrophobic fiber molecules via dispersion forces and hydrogen bonding.
Nanotechnology transfer printing.
Transferring (Lithography): Drawing or impressing inked image onto special coated paper and transferring it thence to lithographic printing surface.
Transformation Tools: The name sometimes given to tools that change the location or appearance of an item.
Transitional: Class of typefaces dating from mid-18th Century, having somewhat finer serifs and hairlines than "old-face" but not to extent of "modern" - see below.
Translucent: The description of materials that transmit light but are not fully transparent; that is, an image cannot be seen clearly through the material.
Translucent Blue Acrylic Sheet.
Transpose: To swap the portions of any two items of text, or two images, either by design or because they are wrongly ordered.
Trapping: The method of printing underlying image areas slightly so the overlaying color will overlap and cover the edge of the underlying color, making registration a little easier.
Treatment: Full and detailed version of a script.
Trichromatic System: Color reproduction by three-color, instead of four color separation; same as three color process.
Trim: To cut printed sheets to the required size.
Trim Marks: Those incorporated on sheet when printed, to show how job is to be trimmed, and which are not visible in printed result.
Trimming: Final cutting to size of printed job by guillotine.
Trim Page Size: A term used to describe the size of a printed and bound book, referring to the page size rather than the size including the binding.
TRS: Abbreviation for "transpose"; instructions on manuscript or proof to transpose character, word, phrase or sentence.
TrueType: Apple's on-line font format produced as an alternative to PostScript. A single TrueTye file is used both for printing and for screen rendering - unlike PostScript fonts, which require a screen font file as well as the printer font file. TrueType font files reside in the System suitcase file.
T-Square: Ruler with cross piece at one end, used in conjunction with drawing board when drawing parallel lines.
Tsuya-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "lustre-printing"; an inclusive term for a number of techniques which could produce a surface sheen, among them shomenzuri. One that is seen on occasion is the use of glue to produce a sheen, often on animals' eyes, and areas of blood. At one point, the craze for Western things, the sheen covered the entire surface, in an apparent attempt to emulate Western oil paintings; in some cases, wax was applied over the entire surface to aid this effect.
Tungsten Halogen Lamp: Photographic light source consisting of a special form of tungsten lamp with trace of a halogen gas, smaller and brighter than conventional lamp; sometimes called a "quartz-iodine" lamp, though it might not contain either quartz or iodine.
Tusche: Traditionally a greasy solution used in lithography for painting washes on stones or plates. In water based screen-printing and acrylic resist etching, tusches are specially formulated painting and print making media containing opaque particles, which are used to make autographic positives. Many types of marks can be created, from reticulated washes to soft-ground effects.
Tusche ink. A Dresden church.
Twaddle Scale (abbreviation "TW"): A scale used for expressing specific gravity of liquids.
Twaddle scale Hydrometers.
Twelve-MO, 12 MO: Cut or folded sheet, which is one twelfth of a basic sheet size.
Twice Up: Artwork prepared at twice the size at which it will be reproduced.
Twin Wire Paper: That which is made from machine producing paper, which has no "wire-mark" and so is smooth on both sides.
Type: (i) Piece of metal of standard height having raised image of character or characters on its upper face, assembled with other pieces to form line, which is printed by letterpress (relief) process - see figure below; (ii) Images obtained by printing from this metal; (iii) Images obtained from composition systems, which do not use metal type (e.g. photocomposition).
Type Area: Specified area of page or trimmed sheet which contains body of text matter and illustrations.
Type Effect: The modification of type characters to create a special effect, e.g. outline, zoom etc.
Typefaces:
A selection of typefaces.
Type Family: A term describing all the variations related to a basic typer design, such as Goudy Old Style, Goudy analogue, Goudy Handtooled, etc., as distinct from a typeface.
Type 1 Font: The Adobe PostScript outline font format containing hints. Type 1 fonts were formerly encrypted, meaning that you could not alter them, but Adobe has now made the format available to all in response to the introduction of the open format of TrueType. Type 1 fonts come as two files: an outline printer file and a bitmapped screen file.
Type 3 Font: A PostScript font format which, not being encrypted, was introduced as an alternative to the encrypted Type 1 font format. Type 3 fonts do not contain hints and, in any case, are now virtually obsolete.
Type Height: Standard height of type from bed to printing surface: 0.918 inches in UK and US; also called "height-to-paper".
Type Mark-Up: Typesetting instructions to compositor on manuscript or typescript, accompanied by general specification.
Type Scale/Gauge: Rule marked in ems and points, and often also in inches and millimeters, for use in layout, imposition and proof correction; also called "line gauge" and "pica rule".
Type Series: Those designs and sizes of typeface referred to by manufacturer by same series number.
Type Specimen Sheet: One giving full alphabets, figures and signs, with some text settings, of particular typeface.
Typesetting: (i) The process of converting text into a recognized font and producing it in a form suitable for printing; (ii) The text item produced by (i).
Type Specifications: The characteristic of type used in a design, such as font, size, measure, etc.
Type Style: See style.
Type Synopsis/Specimen Sheet: A printed sample of a font showing the full character set.
Typo: Slang for typographical error; can refer to either typewriting or typesetting mistake (USA term).
Typography: Designed alphanumeric and special characters.
1. Body height, or em height; 2. Cap height; 3. Base line; 4. Ascender height; 5. x Height; 6. Descender depth; 7. Character width; 8. Body width; 9. Left side bearing; 10. Right side bearing; 11. Character origin; 12. Stem; 13. Arm; 14. Beak; 15 Ascender; 16. Tail; 17. Descender.
18. Apex; 19. Spine; 20. Stroke; 21. Serif; 22. Bowl; 23. Link; 24. Ear; 25. Counter; 26. Cross-stroke; 27. Horizontal stem or crossbar; 28. Spur; 29. Bracket; 30. Loop; 31. Finial.
Typographer: (i) A person whose occupation is typography; (ii) Compositor.
UC: Upper case.
UCR: Under-color removal.
UDC: Initials of "Universal Decimal Classification": system of classifying areas of knowledge developed as extension of "Dewey Decimal Classification".
Uki-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "floating pictures"; perspective prints, i.e. prints done with the newly introduced Western perspective technique, as opposed to the classical Chinese method of portraying depth.
Okumura Masanobu - Taking the Evening Cool by Ryōgoku Bridge.
Ukiyo-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "floating world picture", often given as "images of the floating world"; a term originally used to describe actor and courtesan prints depicting life in the Epicurean world of the Edo middle-class (the chonin), the so-called 'Floating World'. Now used to describe woodblock prints in general.
Woodblock print, 'Chickens and Asiatic Dayflowers' by Katsushika Hokusai, Japan, 1832.
U/LC: Upper and lower case, an instruction for type to be set in both upper and lower case, as appropriate.
Umlaut: As in "ü" - German accent.
Under-Color Removal (UCR): See UCR.
Underlaying Technique: Method of adding a small illustration within a larger one by sitting the larger illustration and slipping a portion of the smaller one through the slit underneath.
Underline/Underscore: A rule printed beneath a word or portion of a text.
Underlying Color: A color printed first that becomes partially or totally hidden by a subsequent layer of color.
Underpainting: The first stage of indirect painting method; the establishment of the chief shapes, lights, darks and masses, usually with a limited palette or in monochrome.
Undertone: The color effect of a hue when tinted; the result might look like the body tone or it may show a temperature change.
Three types of undertone.
Unit System: In machine composition of type, method of relating character widths to unit measurements, originally developed by Monotype; units are not standard dimensions but vary according to set.
Universal Copyright Convention: An international assembly that, in 1952, agreed protection for the originator of n "intellectual work" - a text, photograph, illustration etc. - to prevent the use of that work without permission from its creator or copyright owner. The work must carry the copyright mark "©", the name of the owner of the copyright and the date of its first publication.
Unjustified: Lines of type which do not align with both the left and right margins, as does justified type. Unjustified type may be range left or ranged right, or it may be entered. The appearance of unjustified type is also called free line fall.
Unsharp Making: The technique of enhancing the details in a scanned image by exaggerating the density of pixels at the edges of a color change (the image is first blurred, hence the term unsharp).
UPC: Initials of "Universal Product Code" (see "bar code").
Upper Case: The capital letters of a type font.
Engschrift Caps Font UPPERCASE.
Upright: Portrait.
Upstroke (of Type): Lighter stroke in the type character, deriving from upward movement of pen in calligraphy - see figure below.
Urushi-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "lacquer pictures", from their use of glue mixed with the black ink which was then burnished after printing, to emulate lacquer; hand-colored prints which were the next stage in the technical development of woodblock prints after tan-e. They used the techniques of laquer-ware, including a number of new colors such as red and yellow, along with gold dust, to produce exquisite hand-colored prints; most common in the period 1720-40.
Woodblock print. Kachoga. Hawk on a perch. Urushi-e on paper.
Uta-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "poem picture"; a print which depicts the setting of a poem or other verse; the text is usually written above or beside the image. In some cases, e.g. in surimono, the image alludes to the poem by skillfully incorporating pictorialized Japanese characters and allegorical images, to form a kind of visual code for the poem, something which is now very difficult to decipher.
Uta-e by Kamisaka Sekka.
UV Curable Ink: Ink used in commercial screen-printing, which is hardened by exposure to UV light.
UV Sensitive Ink: This is a water-based pigment sharing the same binder as a regular pigment, and is charged by ultraviolet (UV) light, which creates a “glow in the dark” effect.
Vacuum Forming: Shaping thin plastic sheeting by means of a vacuum - see diagram below.
Vacuum Frame: A frame for making positive or negative process images by direct contact with an original. The frame is illuminated and creation of vacuum ensures stable contact between surfaces.
Douthitt's Vacuum Frame.
Vacuum Press: Screen-printing press with a perforated bed through which air is removed by a vacuum pump, holding the printing paper (or other substrate) in position during printing.
Components of a Vacuum Frame Press.
Vacuum (Printing) Frame: Illuminated printing frame used to make process negatives and positives; vacuum provides the best contact between surfaces.
Vade Mecum: Ready-refernce manual, typically carried about constantly.
Value: Color value; tonal value.
Color Value Chart.
Vandyke Print: A print or photocopy producing the image as a dark brown print, either negative or positive.
van Dyke brown print © Vernon Trent.
Vanishing Point (abbreviation "VP"): In perspective projections, point at which all parallel lines, which are also parallel to the round plane, converge on the horizon.
Vanishing Point Photograph.
Vapor Diazo: Same as ammonia duplication process.
Variorum: Edition of a text with notes by several scholars.
Vector: Any quantity specifying both direction and magnitude.
Vellum: The treated skin of a calf, kid or lamb, used as a writing surface.
Painting on Vellum.
Velox: Photomechanical transfer.
Venetian (of Typeface): Early form of roman, which retains sloping bar to "e" from calligraphic origin and has less variation between thick and thin strokes - see below.
Verification: A term used to describe the process of testing the integrity of the data.
Verso: Any left-hand page book; one which is even-numbered.
Vertical Alignment: The placement of lines of text in relation to the top and bottom of a page, column or box.
Vertical Dimension: The measurement of an image from top to bottom.
Vertical Justification: The spacing out of a block of text so that it vertically fills a page, column or box.
Vide: A Latin term meaning "see"; used as a reference in footnotes.
Video: Used in reference to all television based products.
Viewpoint: The direction from which an illustrator represents a particular object to provide the best analytical or aesthetic study.
Vignetted Halftone: One in which edges are gradually shaded off into the background - see figure below.
Visual: A mock up of the proposed appearance of a design or layout or presented as a rough drawing, or if more highly finished, as a presentation visual.
viz: abbreviation of videlicet; a Latin term meaning "namely" - used when citing a reference in footnotes.
Voice Over: Commentary of an unseen narrator, or representation on the sound-track of a character's unspoken thoughts.
Wallet Envelope: One with quadrilateral, as distinct from triangular flap.
Wallet Fold: Same as gate fold but may be applied more particularly to wallet-fold cover.
Watercolor Paper: It is expensive but its soaks up dye and paint without cockling. Some watercolor papers have interesting textures, which may add to the designs. Most papers are cotton based and the weights of the paper is usually between 190 and 300g.
Water Cooler Paper Textures.
Watercolor Printing: Printing process using water-based inks a relatively porous paper so that colors are absorbed and can be mixed by overlapping the layers printed.
Finished watercolor leaf print.
Water-Gilding: Technique for applying transfer or loose leaf to a surface.
Watermark: A distinctive design incorporated in paper during manufacture.
"Confidential" is a watermark.
Wax Prints: Wax prints are produced by covering the patterned areas of the fabric with a wax resist and subsequently dyeing the areas left free. The resist agent is usually a rosin obtained from certain pine trees and, like wax, it must be applied in a molten state.
Orange African super real wax prints.
Wedge-Serif Typeface with triangular serifs, also known as "latin" - see below.
Weight (of Typeface): Comparative strength of appearance of any typeface.
Well: The interior portion of the screen where the ink is applied.
Wet-Dry Sandpaper: Abrasive paper that may be used with water to achieve a really smooth finish.
Wet and Dry Sandpaper Mixed Grits.
Wet-On-Wet: Printing technique in which one color is printed on another, whilst the first one is still wet.
Wet on wet screen printing.
WF: Wrong font, a mark used in proof correction to indicate type set in a different font from the one specified.
White Line: A space between lines of type equivalent to the type size, including leading.
Whiteprint: A reproduction method producing copies at the same size of the original by direct contact, the image being formed by a light sensitive dye. The original for this process must be transparent or translucent material.
White Space: Page areas with no text or images.
Top and bottom paragraphs composed using different white spaces between the words.
Widget: A colloquia term for any unspecified device.
Widow: Strictly speaking, a short line at the end of a paragraph that falls at the top of a column or page, but the term is often used to describe a single word at the end of any paragraph.
Wildcard: Textmarker.
Wipe: Changes of scenes, in which a line moves across to obliterate the old scene and bring in the new.
Wire-Side: That side of some uncoated papers (such as antiques) which shows a wire-mark (as distinct from felt-side).
Wire-Stitch/Stab: To secure a book by forcing a wire through back of insetted work or side gathered work.
Woodcut: A relief printing method using the side grain of a wood block. Areas not intended to print are cut away below the surface of the block leaving a raised image that can be inked - see below.
Woodcut Equipment: Side-grain wood blocks; gouges and V-tools; craft knife for fine-line work on block; push knife and palette knife; block printing inks.
Wood Engraving: A relief technique of printmaking using end grain blocks of wood, sometimes bolted together to produce larger surfaces and a burin to cave them. Usually wood-engravings have a highly detailed, white-on-black appearance that required smooth manufactured papers, which could pick up detail. Wood-engravings were used extensively from the late eighteenth century on for journal and book illustrations - see below.
Wood Engraving Equipment: End-grain wood blocks; engraving tools; mixing slab; block-printing inks; palette knife; roller.
Word Break: See hyphen.
Word-Breaking: Splitting words at the end of line of type to avoid "gappy" word spacing:
Word Spacing: In machine composition other than line casting, word spacing conforms to "unit system"; in hand composition, word spaces are provided in the following widths - see below.
Word Underline: See underline.
Work and Turn: To print forme on one side of the sheet, turn it over from left to right and print same forme on reverse, thus producing two identical half-sheets; some common type of half-sheet work - see below.
Work and Tumble: Similar to work and turn, except that the sheet is turned over from gripper edge to back, instead of from left to right - see below.
Work and Twist: To print forme on one side of sheet, then turn it round (not over) and print again from the same forme (particularly suited to work involving crossed rules - see below.
Working: A single operation performed by a printing machine (e.g. embossing, inking).
Working White (WW): A term describing white space in a design or layout which contains no text or images but forms an integral part of the design.
Worksheet: A term sometimes used to describe a spreadsheet template.
Work Up: In letterpress, type space which has been accidentally pushed up.
Wove Paper: Uncoated paper, which has an even, unpatterned look-through.
Sheets of Laid and Wove paper side by side.
Wrap Around: Small printing section (4pp or 8pp) wrapped around another section in gathered work.
Write Enable: The opposite of write-protect.
Write Once Read Many: WORM
Write Protect: To protect a computer disk from erasure, accidental or otherwise.
Writing Head: Read/Write head of a device.
Wrong Reading: The term used to describe copy or film that reads backwards when viewed with the emulsion on the desired side.
WYSIWYG: An acronym for "what you see is what you get", referring to the accuracy of on the screen rendering relative to printed output.
x-axis: horizontal axis in a coordinate graph.
Xerography: A photocopying process in which the image is formed by an electrostatic charge that allows adhesion of powder ink. The ink was sealed by heat processing.
x-height: Mean height of lower case characters, which have neither ascenders nor descenders - see below.
Xerography: Printing process in which image is projected onto late, causing electrostatic charge already imparted to be discharged where light falls, thus allowing applied coating of resinous powder to adhere only to uncharged areas and then transfer to paper; also known as photostatic or dry copying process - see diagrams below.
Light shining on the item to be copied is reflected off a mirror, through a lens, and off a second mirror.
Y: Process yellow.
Yakusha-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Prints of Kabuki actors; one of the first major types of Japanese woodblock prints, and a mainstay of the field down to this day.
Yapp Binding: Binding form in which limp cover overlaps leaves of book (after William Yapp, who devised it for his pocket bibles).
y-axis: Vertical axis in co-ordinate graph.
Zero Point: See origin.
Zig-Zag Book: One made as continuous, concertina fold, usually printed one side only; may be stitched at the back or left unstitched so that it may be opened up, either for display or to reveal printed reverse - see below.
Zinco, Zincograph: A zinc plate used in letterpress line printing.
Félix Edouard Vallotton (French, born Switzerland, The Shower, 1894 Zincograph in black on dark yellow wove paper 227 x 314 mm (image); 325 x 464 mm (sheet).
Zip-A-Tone: Mechanical tints printed off cellophane and used in the preparation of original artwork.
Zip-a-tone Batman by Dan Thompson Comics.
Zone: One part of two or more connected networks.
Zoom: Quick increase or decrease in the size of the image of an object, by means of a special lens.
References:
[1] A. Fritz and J. Cant, Consumer Textiles, Oxford University Press, Melbourne (1986).
[2] P. Lambert, B. Staepelaere and M. G. Fry, Color and Fiber, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Pennsylvania (1986).
[3] N. Hollen and J. Saddler, Textiles, 3rd edition, Collier-Macmillan Ltd, London (1968).
[4] Ed. L.W.C. Miles, Textile Printing, Dyers Company Publication Trust, West Yorkshire (1981).
[5] E.N. Abrahart, Dyes and Their Intermediates, Pergamon Press, Sydney (1968).
[6] A. Kosloff, Textile Screen Printing, The Signs of the Times Publishing Company, Cincinnati (1966).
[7] D.W.A. Sharp, The Penguin Dictionary of Chemistry, Penguin Books Ltd, New York (1983).
[8] A. Stromquist, Simple Screenprinting, Larks Books, New york (2005).
[9] R. Adam and C. Robertson, Screenprinting, Thames & Hudson, London (2003).
[10] A. Campbell, The Designer's Handbook, MacDonald & Co., Sydney (1983).
[11] K.L. Casselman, Craft of the Dyer, University of Toronto Press, Toronto (1980).
[12] E.P.G. Gohl and L.D. Vilensky, Textile Science, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne (1989).
[13] G.H. Aylward and T.J.V. Findlay, SI Chemical Data, John Wiley and Sons, Elwood (1983).
[14] R. Mayer, The Artist's Handbook, 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, Norfolk (1982).
[15] K. Wells, Fabric Dyeing And Printing, Conrn Octopus Ltd., London (2000).
[16] A. Kornerup and J.H. Wanscher, Methuen Handbook of Colour, 3rd Edition, Eyre Methuen Ltd, London (1983).
[17] C. E. Kicklighter and R.J. Baird, Crafts - Illustrated Designs And Techniques, The Goodheart-Willcox, Company, Inc. South Holland (1986).
[18] K. Skinner, The Paint Effects Bible, Gary Allen Pty Ltd, Smithfield, Australia (2003).
[19] E.J. Gawne, Fabrics For Clothing, 3rd Edition, Chas. A. Bennett Co. Inc., Peoria, USA (1973).
[20] M.E. Ratcliffe, Fabric Painting, Salamandar Books Ltd, New York (1988).
[21] Editors A. Jeffs, W. Martensson and and P. North , Creative Crafts Encyclopedia, Octopus Books, London (1984).
[22] L. Wauchope, Silk Painting, Simon and Schuster, Sydney (1992).
[23] E.B. Feldman, Varieties Of Visual Experience, 2nd Edition, Prentice-Hall, New York (1982).
[24] J. Fish, Designing and Printing Textiles, The Crowood Press Ltd., Ramsbury (2005).
[25] A.H. Barr, Cubism and Abstract Art, Arno Press, New York (1966).
[26] D. Piper, The Illustrated History Of Art, Bounty Books (2000).
[27] N. Dyrenforth, The Technique of Batik, B.T. Batsford Ltd., London (1988).
[28] W. Caruana, Aboriginal Art, 3rd Edition, Thames & Hudson, London (2012).
[29] http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/
[30] Reverse Dictionary, The Reader's Digest Association Limited, London (1989).
[31] A. Campbell, The MAC Designer Handbook, Angus & Robertson, Sydney (1992).
[32] M-T Wisniowski, personal communication (2013).
There are currently eight data bases on this blogspot, namely, the Glossary of Cultural and Architectural Terms, Timelines of Fabrics, Dyes and Other Stuff, A Fashion Data Base, the Glossary of Colors, Dyes, Inks, Pigments and Resins, the Glossary of Fabrics, Fibers, Finishes, Garments and Yarns, Glossary of Art, Artists, Art Motifs and Art Movements, Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms and the Glossary of Scientific Terms, which has been updated to Version 3.5. All data bases will be updated from time-to-time in the future.
Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms is highly focused, containing definitions and terms pertinent to the specific categories in the title.
If you find any post on this blog site useful, you can save it or copy and paste it into your own "Word" document etc. for your future reference. For example, Safari allows you to save a post (e.g. click on "File", click on "Print" and release, click on "PDF" and then click on "Save As" and release - and a PDF should appear where you have stored it). Safari also allows you to mail a post to a friend (click on "File", and then point cursor to "Mail Contents On This Page" and release). Either way, this or other posts on this site may be a useful Art Resource for you.
Generally the Art Resource series will be the first post in each calendar month. Remember - these Art Resource posts span information that will be useful for a home hobbyist to that required by a final year University Fine-Art student and so undoubtedly, some parts of any Art Resource post may appear far too technical for your needs (skip over those mind boggling parts) and in other parts, it may be too simplistic with respect to your level of knowledge (ditto the skip). The trade-off between these two extremes will mean that Art Resource posts will hopefully be useful in parts to most, but unfortunately may not be satisfying to all! The references - that were invaluable in this compilation - are given at the end of the glossary.
Glossary of Paper, Photography, Printing, Prints and Publication Terms
AA: Abbreviation for "Author's Alteration".
A, B and C series of Paper Sizes: ISO adopted paper sizes. “A” series intended for all kinds of stationery and printed matter; “B” series as intermediate alternatives and C series for envelopes. All series are trimmed or made up and are given in millimetres (e.g. A0: 1189 x 841 mm; B0: 141 x 1000 mm; C0: 1297 x 917 mm). All sizes are proportionate reduction of basic 0 sheet, sides being in the ratio of 1: 1.4142 (see figure below for A series, where the area of A0 is one square meter).
Abscissa: Co-ordinate running parallel to the x-axis.
Abstract (Noun): Summary of a book, periodical feature, report of learned article.
Abuna-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Risque pictures; they came into fashion in the early 1720's after a government crackdown on more explicit images, shun-ga. They are the closest analogue in Japanese art to the nudes of Western art, and usually capture the subject in a private moment, partially undressed.
AC: Abbreviation for "Author's Correction".
Accent: A mark added to a letter to denote pronunciation in a given language. The most common are a boll å, grave è, acute é, cedilla ç, circumflex â, tilde ñ, bar ø, umlaut ä.
Accordion Fold (Concertina fold): Method of folding paper in which each fold is in the opposite direction to previous one.
Acid Free: Material and paper without acidity; also termed "pH neutral".
Acknowledgement: Any statement expressing thanks for contributions to a work from organizations or individuals.
Addendum (plural: Addenda): Latin for “thing to be added”; used to denote item or items added subsequently to text of a book.
Adherography: Trade name for duplicating process in which image is formed by adherence of powder (toner) to sticky, latent image.
Advance: Money paid to an author or other contributor in advance of publication, chargeable against subsequent royalty patent.
Advance Copies, Advances: Copies of a new publication made up in limited quantity for promotional purposes, before delivery of the main print run.
Afterword: Information on a work or its author added at the end of the main text. This may not appear until second or subsequent printing.
Against The Grain: Folding or marking paper at right angles to the grain.
Agate: Type size of 5.5 points.
Agate Line: Measurement of space in newspaper advertising, denoting 0.25 inches depth by one column width.
Air: A large amount of white space in a layout.
Aizuri (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "blue printing"; a later artistic effect in which the color blue (typically the newly introduced imported Prussian blue, also called Berlin blue - hence its Japanese name of berorin burau - which was a brighter and longer-lasting pigment than the fugitive native vegetable blue) predominates. Introduced in part as a response to sumptuary laws which limited the number of colors that could be used in a print, it also was commercially successful, in part because it became fashionable because of the Japanese fascination with new things. Hence aizuri-e, pictures in this technique.
Akegane (Japanese Woodblock Effect): Copper pigment used to imitate metal copper. It was placed on the blocks with small brushes (hake-hake), and then printed on areas where paste had previously been printed (nori-zuri, literally "starch-printing").
a la Poupee Inking: In color printing, the use of poupee (a rag-stamp, a “doll”, a “puppet” in French) to ink parts of the plate, block, or stone separately. This approach is an alternative to printing multiple plates, blocks, or stones, each inked in only one color and registered on one sheet of paper.
Albion Press: Heavy iron, hand-operating printing press, still used in printing woodcuts and lino cuts.
Album Paper: Antique finish paper made from wood pulp, used mainly for the pages of photograph albums.
Albumen Plate: Lithographic plate with a photosensitive coating, originally made from albumen.
Aligning Numerals: See Lining numerals.
All in Hand: A term referring to a typesetting job when it is in the hands of compositors. No longer relevant in the computing age.
All Up: A term referring to a print job when copy setting is complete. No longer relevant in the age of computers.
Almagest: Medieval textbook, as on astronomy or alchemy.
Almanac: Annual compilation of lists and charts of varied information.
Alphabet/Alphabet Length: A measure derived from the length in points of the 26 alphabet letters set in lower case. Thus 39 Characters have a measure of 1.5 alphabets.
Alphanumeric Set: A full set of letters and figures, possibly also including punctuation marks and certain commonly used symbols.
Alterations: Changes made to the body of a text after proofing.
Ammonia Duplication Process: A form of a “diazo” process in which latent image is made visible by exposure to evaporating ammonia.
Ampersand: The sign (&) used in place of the word "and" as in Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
Anaglyph: A stereoscopic picture made from two superimposed images in complementary colors, viewed by means of spectacles with corresponding color filters in each lens.
Anchoring: A method of fixing metal plates to wooden blocks using screws and solder.
Angle of View: See viewpoint.
Animal Sized: Describes paper which has been hardened or sized with animal glue or gelatine, by passing the finished sheet through a bath of glue.
Animation: A method of film-making that produces movement by rapid projection of a series of sequential still images usually using computer aided graphics or drawings etc.
Annals: Records and reports of a learned society, field of study, or the like.
Annex: A supplement to a technical publication bound with the main body of the text.
Annotation: (i) A type of label added to an illustration; (ii) Explanatory notes printed in the margin of a text.
Anodized Plate: A plate used in offset printing, specially treated to harden the surface so it will resist wearing down in the press.
Anthology: Collection of writings, as by a single author or on a particular theme.
Antihalation Backing: A protective coat on non-emulsion side of a film or plate that prevent light reflecting back into the emulsion.
Antiqua: (i) Early typeface based on the 11th and 12th Century Italian scripts; (ii) A German word for Roman type.
Antiquarian: The largest known size of handmade paper, 53 x 31 inches (1350 x 790 mm).
Antique Paper: An un-sized or lightly sized material with a rough, matt finish, usually bulky; used mainly for books.
Appendix (plural: Appendices): Part of “end-matter” of a book, usually for the purpose of enlarging on some element in the text or to give support to passages within the book (e.g. statistics etc.)
Aperture: The opening behind a camera lens that allows light to penetrate to a film or recording device. The size of the aperture is variable, governed by the diaphragm and measured by the F-number.
Aperture Card: A card mount for the storage of microfilm.
Appendix: Matter subordinate to the text of a work and printed after it. An appendix may enlarge on information in the text and substantiate it by means of graphs, statistics, glossary etc.
Apron: Extra white space allowed at the margins of the text and illustrations forming a foldout.
Aquarelle: Extremely high quality paper.
Aquatint: (i) An intaglio process that allows reproduction of even or graded tones; (ii) A type of etching in which acid-resistant resin granules are sifted on to a heated plate. When the plate is immersed in acid, the acid etches around the granules adhering to the plate, thus producing a grainy tone when the plate is inked and printed. The value of the tones in aquatint is controlled by the size of the resin grains and the length of immersion.
Medium: Aquatint printed in brown ink.
Arabic Numerals: The numerical symbols:1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0. See also Roman numerals.
Aratame (Japanese Woodblock Term): Literally, "examined"; a character found in many censor seals.
Archival: Long term stability and resistance of a material to ageing; generally, it also described by being an acid-free material.
Archival Paper: Paper that resists brown spots and yellowing.
Arc Light: A bright light source used in the preparation of plates for photolithography. The light is made by an electric current leaping in an arc between two electrodes.
Architectural Plan: A line drawing showing the ground or floor plan of a building: an elevation drawing shows the proposed designs of vertical faces and a rendering is an illustration of the proposed appearance of the building.
Arithmetic Scale: A system based on equal measurements e.g. a chart or grid with lines spaced equally on the vertical and horizontal levels and indicating fixed value relationships.
Armorial: Book listing or illustrating coats of arms.
Arrowhead: A symbol shaped like an arrowhead used in illustration to direct a leader line or as a reference in conjunction with a figure or letter to caption material.
Artificial Light: Any light produced by incandescence, fluorescence, phosphorescence or other means than natural radiation.
Artist's Proof: These re additional prints over and above the number of prints in an addition, that remain the property of the artist. They are identitical to the edition prints and usually consist of 10% of the edition.
Art Lined Envelope: Envelope with a plain, colored or patterned lining of extra fine paper.
Art Paper: Paper with a hard, smooth surface caused by an even coating of china clay compound on one or both sides.
Artwork: Matter other than text prepared for reproduction such as illustration, diagrams, photographs and images etc.
As to Press: Term used in production of gravure printed magazines for proofs showing final position of color images.
ASA: Abbreviation for American Standards Association. An ASA number appears on film stock to provide a basic quantity from which the length and F-number of an exposure can be calculated.
Ascender: The section of the lower case letter rising above the x-height, e.g. the upper part of an "h" or "d".
Aspect Ratio: A term used in computer graphics to denote the ratio of width to height in a figure or letter.
Assembled Negative: Negative of line and halftone copy used in preparing a printing plate for photolithography.
Assembled View: In technical drawing, an illustration showing a whole object assembled, often to accompany an exploded view.
Asterisk: Sign (*) used to indicate a footnote to a text or to give special emphasis in line display.
Atlas (Paper Size): 864 x 600 mm (34 x 26 inches)
Auteur Theory: The view that the artistic quality of a motion picture is mainly the responsibility of the film director, who is the real cinema “artist”.
Author’s Correction (Author’s Alteration): Any correction, deletion or addition to a proof, which is not the result of a printer’s error.
Author's Proofs: Galley proofs checked and marked by the printer's reader to be read by the author, who may then make any necessary correction.
Auto Indent: Instruction entered in a machine for photocomposition indicating that the text should be automatically indented until the command is cancelled.
Autolithography: Printing from an image hand drawn directly on a lithographic stone or plate.
Automated Publication (Print on Demand): Published work of which an electronic copy is kept for future publication.
Autopositive: Photographic materials designed to provide a positive image without a negative being required.
Autospacer: Mechanism in typesetting machine designed to include automatic quaking.
Auxiliary Room Stand: A second stand holding a paper roll in a WEB-FED press, allowing continuous printing while the first row, is replaced.
AVA: Audio-visual aids.
A/W: Abbreviation for artwork.
Axes: (pl. axis) Imaginary line defining the center of an object around which the object rotates or is symmetrical on a flat plane; that is, the central line, real or imaginary, around which parts of a work of art are composed and balanced.
Azure: Term used for lighter tints of blue, “laid” and “wove” papers.
Backbone (of Book): Same as spine.
Back (of Book): That edge of any book at which leaves are secured; also called “spine” or “shelfback” - see above.
Back Jacket Flap: Section of a book jacket folded inside the back cover of a hardback book.
Back Lining: A paper or fabric strip fixed to the back of a book before casing in.
Back Margin: The margin of a page nearest to the spine of the book.
Back Matter: See end matter.
Back Projection: Projection of a transparency on to the back of a translucent screen by bouncing the image off a mirror surface.
Backslanted: Any typeface which inclines to the left.
Back Step Collation: To collate a book by reference to marks printed on the back fold of each section.
Back to Back: Printing on both sides of a sheet. See back up.
Back Up: To print the second side of a sheet of paper. Backed refers to the sheet when it has been backed up.
Backup Archival: A backup which specifically saves previous versions of your backups, thus avoiding the possibility of you losing files which may be deleted and deleted by a mirror image backup.
Backbone: See spine.
Background: In an illustration or photograph, the part of the image that appears furthest from the viewer, or on which the main subject is superimposed.
Background Art: Part of the design, such as pattern or texture, forming a background for type and illustration.
Baedeker: Guidebook, specifically a 19th-Century tourist guidebook.
Balance: In a layout or design, an arrangement that is visually pleasing.
Balloon: A circle enclosing copy in an illustration; particularly of cartoons, the areas containing dialogue. Also named a "bubble".
Bar Code: A pattern of vertical lines identifying details of a product, such as country of origin, manufacturer and type of product, conforming to the Universal Product Code (UPC) - there are several different formats for product coding.
Baren (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): The circular flat pad (usually made of a bamboo sheath wrapped around a flat coil of straw and/or bamboo fiber), used to press the print down on the block during the printing.
Bank Paper: A light uncoated paper used for making carbon copies.
Banker Envelope: The most common type of envelope, having a top flap along the longer edge of the rectangle.
Banner: A main headline across the full width of the page.
Banzuke (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Printed programs for public entertainment events, often for the Kabuki theatre; the earliest form of woodblock-printed material associated with Kabuki. Often produced for the kaomise, when they are known as kaomise-banzuke.
Baryta Paper: Special matt-coated paper suitable for “repro proofs”.
Base Alignment: In computer typesetting, the automatic alignment of type of different sizes aligned from a common baseline.
Base Artwork/Black Art: Artwork requiring the addition of other elements, e.g. halftone positives, before reproduction.
Base Film: The basic material for contact film in platemaking for photomechanical reproduction, to which film positives are stripped.
Base Line: (i) The last line of space on a page containing type matter - see base alignment; (ii) An imaginary line on which the bases of uppercase letters, and the bases of the x-heights of lower case letters, rest.
Baseline Grid: In some applications, an invisible grid to which lines of text can be locked so that their baselines align from column to column.
Basic Shaped Tools: In most graphic applications, the tools for drawing basic shapes e.g. lines, squares, rectangles, circle and ellipses.
BAT: Perfect proof passed by an artist as a standard against which prints in an edition will be compared.
Batch Mode: The facility of an application to process data processed in batches as distinct from data which is processed as you input it (interactive mode, or realtime), e.g. when you run a spelling checker through a whole document.
BBS: Bulletin board system/service.
Bed (of Press): Flat surface on which matter to be printed from is laid.
Begin Even: Instruction to the typesetter to set the first line of a piece of text without a paragraph indent, or full out.
Benday Prints: A series of mechanical tints in the form of celluloid sheets that are used in block making and lithography to add texture, shading and detail to line drawings.
Beni-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "pink pictures"; hand-colored prints using a pink ink produced from the safflower (benibana); most common in the period 1720-40.
Benigirai-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "pink-hating pictures"; prints using a muted color scheme, most common in the 1780's - 1790's.
Benizuri-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "pink printed pictures". Benizuri was an early technique for mass-producing color woodblock prints, reputedly developed in about 1745. It initially used two color blocks: a light green, and a light red, in imitation of the simple red and green color scheme of the hand-colored tan-e prints. Later, a third block and color, usually yellow, was added. Hence benizuri-e, pictures in this technique; most common in the period 1745-55, with the third color appearing in the 1750's.
Best Boy: Assistant to the gaffer.
Bestiary: Medieval collection of animal fables.
Bézier Curve (Bézier Control Handle): In object-orientated drawing applications, a mathematically defined curve between two points (Bézier points). The curve is manipulated by dragging, from an anchored point, control handles which act on a curve like magnets.
Biblio, Biblio Page: Common name for a page in book “prelims” which contains publishing history of book and publisher’s imprint; beware of confusion with “bibliography”.
Bibliography: List of authors, titles and publishers of books and periodicals relevant to a particular subject; it may form a self-contained publication in its own right but it is more normally part of the "end-matter” of another book.
Binder: Adhesive: glue in colorants that holds paints to a surface.
Binding Edge: That edge of a book at which sheets are secured: same as “spine” and “back edge”.
Binding Methods: The most common binding methods are given in the figure below.
Bijin (Woodblock Print Subject): Literally, "beautiful person"; the term for a beautiful woman; from which comes bijin-ga, the term for images of bijin, often geishas or courtesans, that being one of the original canonical forms for woodblock prints.
Biopic: Biographical film.
Black Letter: Heavy style of typeface based on broad nib script, also called Old English (US) and Gothic (UK).
Black Patch/Out: A piece of black (or red) material used to mask the image area on base artwork or positive film, leaving a window in the negative for stripping in a halftone image.
Black Printer: Used in film which provides the image to print in black ink in the four-color printing process.
Blanket: Sheet of felted wool used to distribute pressure evenly on the printed paper, when the "sandwich" of the press bed, inked plate, printing paper and three blankets passes between the etching press rollers.
Blanket Cylinder: In offset, one which takes ink image from the plate cylinder and transfers it to paper or other printing materials by means of thick sheet of rubberized fabric.
Bleed: The part of an image that extends beyond the trim marks on a page.
Bleed Edge: A printed image that comes to the edge of the paper, having no border.
Blind Emboss: To make an impression without foil or ink.
Blind Folio: Page of a book which does not have a page number (folio) but which is included in pagination (e.g. title page).
Blinding: It is a poor surface condition on an apparently sound printing plate that causes a sub-standard image.
Blind P: The character, ¶, is used to indicate new paragraphs. Also called "paragraph mark" or "reverse P".
Block In: To sketch in the main areas and reference points of an image as preparation for a drawing or design.
Blocking: Stamping image onto the case of a book or pack by means of blocking, or binder’s brass; may be inked, foiled or left blind (i.e. without either). Known in USA as stamping.
Block Letter: A term used to describe large display sans-serif characters, deriving from letters cut in wooden blocks, which were used for embossing or printing.
Block Out: A masking material used to cover areas of the screen that are not to be printed.
Block Printing: Wood, linoleum, rubber, metal or compositional blocks etc., are used for reproducing designs on textiles.
Blotch Printing: A process in which an open screen is used, where the dyestuff covers the entire surface of the fabric.
Blues, Blueprint: Low quality proofs, usually produced by the printer rather than the origination printing house for a final check before printing.
Blurb: Brief summary of contents of a book and/or the biography of an author printed on the jacket or soft cover.
Bockingford: Economical paper, with an interesting texture, caused by the pressure applied by woolen blankets in a cylinder mould machine.
Body Copy/Matter: Printed matter, forming the main part, usually text, of a work.
Body Type: The actual type used in setting the main part of a text.
Bokashi (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): A shading or gradation in the depth of the color, produced by a number of different techniques, such as:
* wiping the blocks after the application of the ink;
* using brushes with varying color intensity and moisture level;
* rubbing the block with a damp cloth before applying the ink.
Bold Face: Heavy thick-lined type presenting an emphatic black appearance.
Bolt (Printing): Any folded edge of a printed section (signature) which is to be trimmed (i.e. not back folded).
Bond Paper: Grade of paper made for writing and typewriting, but which can also be used for printing; lighter weights are called “banks”.
Book: Any leaved work which is bound; parts of a typical book are given in the figure below.
Bookbinding:
Book Face: Old term for a particular typeface, but now used to mean any type suitable for the text of a book.
Book Jacket (Dust Jacket): Printed paper outer, wrapped around cased cover of hard-backed book; also known as a “dust jacket” or “wrapper”.
Book Makeup: The collation and identification of copy prepared for printing of a book.
Book Paper: A general classification of papers suitable for book printing.
Book Proofs: Sheet proofs made up in a book form for final approval.
Border: Design around the edge of a panel, wall or floor. It may be stenciled, printed or painted free hand.
Bottom Out: To arrange a text so there are no unsuitable breaks at the bottom of a page, or so that the page does not end with a widow.
Bounding Box: In some applications, a box enclosing an item.
Bowl: The curved part of a type character that encloses the counter.
Box: In some applications, a frame into which text or pictures can be inserted.
Box Feature/Story: Information in a book or publication presented separately from the running text and illustrations and either surrounded by a box rule or underlaid with a tint patch. Also called a sidebar.
Boxhead: In a table arranged in columns, the heading to each column appearing under the main heading.
Box Rule: A rule or border surrounding an item of type or other graphic matter.
BP Chromo: Special grade of “chromo” paper used for block-proofing.
Bracketed Type: Type in which the serif is joined to the main stem in an unbroken curve.
Brass (Printing): Engraved plate used by bookbinder for blocking; known in the USA as binder’s die.
Brayer: Rubber faced roller with a handle designed to spread ink on a relief printing surface.
Breve: A mark indicating pronunciation of a short vowel, e.g. the accent above each letter - Ă ă Ĕ ĕ Ĭ ĭ Ŏ ŏ Ŭ ŭ.
Breviary: Prayer book and hymnal for Roman Catholic clergymen.
Bridging: The ability of a coating to span gaps between the threads of the mesh to form a stencil: over-heavy coatings of a screen filler applied during a reversal process can also be described as "bridging" when they form an impenetrable film over painting fluid.
British Gum: It is also known as Dextrin and is often employed as a resist under other prints; it will produce some interesting cracked print effects when used as a resist paste under some dyes.
Photograph: Alvin Langdon Coburn (British, Boston, Massachusetts Wales).
Date: ca. 1907.
Medium: Gum bichromate over platinum print.
British Pharmacopoeia (B.P.): When these letters follow the name of a material they indicate that the material conforms to the specifications of the British Pharmacopoeia, and that it is approved for use in medicinal preparations. This grade is usually below C.P. grade in absolute chemical purity, but of more than adequate purity for average technical use. Corresponds to the American U.S.P.
Broadside, Broadsheet: Any sheet in its basic, uncut size; one which is printed on one side only.
Bromide: (i) A photographic print on a paper coated with a light-sensitive silver bromide emulsion; (ii) General term for a high quality output from an imagesetter, made on photographic paper rather than film.
Buffing: The final polishing of a reproduction plate before etching.
Bullet: A large dot used to precede listed items, separate items of text or to add emphasis to particular parts of text. It is available on keyboards by keying Option-8 - "•".
Bundle: Two reams of paper (1,000 sheets).
Burnisher: A smooth curve metal tool used for removing rough spots from printing plates.
Burnout: The masking of copy being exposed in a reproduction process, to make space for new insertions.
Butcher Paper: Low grade paper that is often used as an absorbent in processes such as to wrap up silk prior to steaming.
©: The mark agreed by the Universal Copyright Convention to sign, when accompanied by the date of publication and copyright owner's name, that an item is protected by international copyright laws.
Calendering: A finishing process using heat and pressure in order to render surface effects.
Calenders: Metal rollers through which paper is pressed in order to give it smoothly polished (calendered) surface during the paper making process.
Caliper: Thickness of a sheet, especially of a board, measured in microns (millionith of a meter) or mls (thousands of an inch).
Calligraphic: Pertaining to the art of beautiful writing as in scripts in Persia, China and Japan; an artistic style characterized by graceful, flowing curves.
Calligraphy: The art of fine writing, the term derived from the Greek words meaning "beautiful hand writing".
Callout: A piece of explanatory text, separated from the main body and linked, usually by a leader line, to an illustration.
Cambist: Manual of exchange rates and conversion charts for weights and measures.
Cameo: A term for typefaces in which the characters are reversed to show white on a dark ground.
Cameo Role: Brief but dramatic appearance of a well-known actor.
Camera-Ready Art(work): Copy or any material that is ready for photographic reproductions. Also called "mechanicals".
Cap, Capital: The term for upper-case letter, deriving from style of inscription at the head, or capita, of a Roman column.
Cap Height: The height of a capital letter measured from its baseline.
Cap Line: An imaginary horizontal line running across the tops of capital letters.
Caps and Smalls: Type consisting of capitals for initials and small caps in place of lower-case letters.
Caption: Strictly speaking, the descriptive matter printed as a headline above an illustration, also called a "cutline", but more generally used to refer to information printed underneath or beside a picture.
Carbon Arc Lamp: A strong light source used in some forms of photomechanical platemaking.
Carbro: A color printing process using sensitized gelatin matrices carrying the printing colors separately and transferred by impression.
Caret: (i) Arrow head mark indicating to the typesetter where material is to be inserted; (ii) Circumflex accent.
Carragheen: The seaweed carragheen, is commonly used as an emulsifier in food, can also be used to thicken the floating bath for marbling techniques.
Carry Forward/Over: Jump; take over.
Cartogram: Map which incorporates statistical information.
Carton: Container design to lie flat until required for use, as distinct from rigid box.
Cartoon: A full-scale preparatory drawing for a painting, mural or tapestry; a humorous sketch or caricature or series (as in a comic script) usually made for a newspaper or magazine.
Cartridge: A hard disk in a casing like a floppy disk, which is inserted into a peripheral storage device and is capable of transporting large amounts of data between a personal computer and a graphic design house. They are available in different storage capacities (e.g. 100 MB, 1Gb etc.)
Cartridge Paper: Cartridge paper comes in several weights (e.g. 130 - 150 g) and is often used to apply paint or dye to it. It is good for collaging or intercutting into other designs, as it is flat and untextured.
Case: (i) The stiff cover of a book, consisting of two boards, a hollow and a binding material; (ii) A box with separate compartments in which pieces of type are kept. This is the origin of the terms "upper case" and "lower case", referring to two areas of each case received for capital and small letters.
Casein: A substance obtained from curled milk, used as an adhesive in the manufacture of coated paper and sometimes as a binder for paint.
Cast Coated Paper: Art paper with an exceptional glossy, enamel finish.
Casting Off: Estimating amount of space the manuscript will occupy when typed set in cetain typeface and measure.
Catchline: The temporary heading for the identification at the top of a galley proof.
Catchword: Word printed at the top of the page or column, as in a dictionary, to indicate its entries.
Catechism: Instruction manual containing a series of questions and answers, especially on Christianity.
CCITT: Consultative Committee on International Telephony and Telegraphy, a data compression standard.
Cellophane: Transparent cellulose acetate film that is thin and very flexible.
cf: Abbreviation for "Confer"; Latin for “compare” and is used in footnotes.
Chalking: A printing fault caused by ink soaking into paper leaving pigment deposited on the surface.
Chapbook: Booklet or pamphlet of popular poems, ballads, religious homilies, or the like.
Chancery Cursive: Style of calligraphy with a contemporary look. Less formal lettering.
Chancery Italic: A 13th Century style of handwriting on which italic type designs were based (see above).
Character Assembly: An alternative term for typesetting, especially in reproduction methods not using metal type.
Character Attribute: The complete specification of a character, including font, size, color, style, scale, kern etc.
Character Set: The complete repertoire of letters, figures and other symbols in a font.
Character Space: The distance between characters, based on the values allocated by the font designer.
Chase: Metal frame that holds type for printing or platemaking.
Checkbox: A square box in dialog boxes that, when clicked on, shows an "x", indicating that an option is enabled. When the box is empty, the option is disabled.
Chemical Pulp: Process wood pulp used in high quality printing papers.
Choke: A method of altering the thickness of a letter or solid shape by over-exposure in processing or by means of a built-in option in electronic devices.
Chop: Embossing or printing stamp applied by hand to finish prints; normally specific to the printer or studio, they identify the provenance of the print.
Prints on paper.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Embossed: Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd.
Chromo: One-sided art paper used mainly for proofing.
Chromolithography: Lithographic printing in several colors by traditional techniques. A color lithograph made for commercial or reproductive purposes. Chromolithography was especially important in the nineteenth century in Europe and America.
Process: Artist created watercolor sketch design. It was transferred to Bavarian limestone slab designs drawn in black oil-based medium (such as crayon, or pencil). Reversed lithograph artist had to determine how colors would be created by interactions of various layering gradient colors. It was made by over-printing; over-printing creates tonal shift. Lithographic stones needed to be registered accurately in order to recreate design registration. It is a process by which several different lithographic images are lined up, so that different layers of color printing print correctly. After printing was complete, the stone was washed off to be reused.
cicero: Didot equivalent of pica as unit of measurement: 4.500mm.
Cinéma-Vérité: Films or filming intended to represent life very realistically.
Circumflex: See accent.
Clapperboard: Hinged board bearing the take number clapped in front of the camera to synchronise sound and picture prints.
Clean Proof: A typesetter's or printer's proof which is free from correction marks.
Clip Art: Libraries of copyright-free illustrative or design material, of widely varying quality, available either in a book form or in various files formats at computer sites or on disks.
Clipping: Limiting a drawing to within the boundary of a particular area.
Clipping Path: In some drawing applications, a closed path into which an element can be pasted as a fill.
Clone: A device made by one manufacturer that imitates the operation of, and is sometimes compatible with another, made by a different manufacturer.
Close Up: An instruction to delete a space, e.g. to bring characters closer together.
Club Line: A short line ending a paragraph, which should not appear at the top of a page or column.
CMC7: A character set used in magnetic ink character recognition.
Coarse Screen: Any halftone screen up to 85 lines to an inch (34 lines to a centimeter).
Coated (Art) Paper: A paper having covering of coating slip made from chinaclay; maybe machine, blade or cast coated.
Cocked Up Initial: Raised cap(ital).
Cock Up Figure/Letter: Superior figure/letter.
Cockling: Warping of printed-paper.
Codet: Color control bar.
Collage: From the French coller - “to paste”; any artistic composition made by gluing assorted materials (cloth, newsprint, wood veneers) to a flat surface, usually a canvas or a panel.
Collage Blocks: The basic principle of relief printing, in which the design is formed by contrast between positive (raised) areas of a printing block and negative cut-away sections. The blocks are constructed from a range of materials and are assembled on a flat base to form a relief block with different surface levels.
Collage Blocks Equipment: Buttons, wood shavings; pulses, yarn and pasta or other low relief items; PVA adhesive; scissors; craft knives; fabric and/or paper .
Collation: In printing, to check correct order of printed sections (signatures) after gathering.
Color Bars: In four-color processing, proofs should contain standard sets of bars devised to show strength of ink across plate, register etc.
Color Break: The edge between two areas of color in an image.
Color Burnout: Deterioration in the color of printing ink caused by chemical reactions in mixing or drying.
Color Chart: Chart used in color printing to standardize and select or match color inks or tints used.
Color Coder: An instrument capable of comparing the intensity of printed colors, ensuring correct reproductions.
Color Correction: The adjustment of color values used in reproduction to obtain a correct image.
Color Extraction Device: A photoelectronic device which "reads" relative densities of primary colors in full-color copy to make color separations.
Color Positives: Set of screened four-color separations with positive image, used for deep-etched litho-platemaking.
Color Scheme: A plan using color that has purposely designed built-in restrictions.
Note: The notation such as 20D8 is Methuen Color Index (CI) Classification System.
Color Separation: The process of creating a stencil for each color of an image.
Color System: A specific means of obtaining color effects. Complementary and analogous systems, for example, produce different effects.
Column: (i) A section of a vertically divided page, containing text or other matter; (ii) A vertical section in tabulated work.
Column Inch/Centimeter: A measure of space used to define text areas or advertising matter in a newspaper or magazine.
Column Rule: A light-faced rule used to separate columns in a newspaper.
Combination Line and Halftone: Halftone and line work combined into one set of films, plates or artwork.
Commissary: Cafeteria in a film studio.
Commonplace Book: Personal journey containing ideas, reflections, and quoted extracts.
Comp: (i) Compositor; (ii) Comprehensive, a mock-up showing how a finished design or publication will look.
Compilation Film: Film using some real-life documentary sequences.
Compose: To put together type and rules by hand or machine or computer.
Composing Stick: Small, hand-held adjustable tray in which type is set before fitting in the galley.
Composite Artwork: Artwork that combines a number of different elements.
Composition Size: Term used to describe any type up to a size of 14 points, these being the sizes that, traditionally (in hot metal), could be set on a composing machine.
Compositor: The person who sets type, originally by hand, but now by any method.
Concertina Fold: Method of folding paper in which each fold is in opposite direction to previous one; same as accordion fold.
Concordance: Index recording all the occurrences in context of the words in a text.
Condense Type: A typeface with an elongated, narrow appearance; a condense font that will have been specifically designed so that the anomalies of optical condensing are eliminated.
Condition of Japanese Woodblock Prints: Woodblock prints have their condition rated on a scale which usually includes 'poor', 'fair' (sometimes 'moderate'), 'moderately good', 'good', 'very good', and 'fine'. This gradation is applied to several different aspects of the print:
Color: How clear and bright the colors of the print are today; in part this refers to fading of the dyes, but it may also refer to yellowing or browning of the whole print, etc. Many prints are printed in vegetable dyes which are subject to potentially severe fading if exposed to sunlight; others (particularly in later prints) use chemicals which sometimes degrade on exposure to air.
Impression: How good an impression the print was when new; i.e. (principally) how worn were the blocks, but also how much care was used in registering the different colors, how careful the printer was with printing, and effects like bokashi, etc.
General Condition: This includes both impression and color, but also takes into account such things as: whether the print is trimmed (removing not only the margins, but in many cases censor, publisher, date and other seals); whether the print has been repaired; whether the print is soiled; whether the print has any stains; whether the print is worn from handling; whether the print has creases from being folded; and whether the print has any wormholes or other damage.
Toned: This term is used to refer to paper that has turned brownish. Toning can be caused in a number of ways; most commonly, it is caused by a faint acid residue acting on the paper of the print, over a period of time. The acid may be present for one of two reasons; either the print itself is printed on non-acid-free paper (generally this is only seen in prints from the early Meiji period), or the print was mounted in a frame using materials which were not acid-free. (If the toning is caused by acid, the acid will also tend to make the paper friable.) Toning may also be caused by exposure to sunlight, or by cigarette smoke.
Constrain: In some applications, the facility to contain one or more items within another item, e.g. a text or picture box within another text or picture box.
Constrain Item: An item that is constrained within another.
Constraining Box: An item that has others constrained within it.
Contact Screen: A halftone screen made on a film base, which has a graded dot pattern. It is used in direct contact with a film or plate to obtain a halftone negative from a continuous tone original. They provide better definition than the conventional glass screen.
Contiguous: Adjoining, next in order such as computer memory etc.
Continuity: Detailed script for ensuring consistency from scene to scene.
Continuous Fold: System of folding paper from a roll in a series of concertina folds – see folding methods.
Continuous Tone, Contone: An original illustration which contains continuous shades between the lightest and darkest tones without being broken up by the dots of a halftone screen or reduce to a single shade as in a line illustration.
Contrast: The degree of separation of tones in an image from black to white.
Controlling Dimension: The width of height of an image taken as the basis for enlargement or reduction.
Control Point: In some drawing and graphics application, a point in a line or path by which you can control the shape or characteristic - see Bézier curves.
Converging Verticals: Familiar visual phenomenon in which parallel vertical lines appear to converge as when a tall building is viewed from below (see photograph below).
Copy: (i) Manuscript, typescript, transparency, artwork from which a printed image can be prepared; (ii) To make an exact duplicate.
Copyfitting: (i) Calculating the amount of space typeset copy will fill when set in a specific font, size and measure; (ii) Forcing typeset copy to fit within a given area by modifying it, e.g. cutting or adding words, increasing or decreasing character space, horizontal scaling etc.
Copyright: The right of the creator of original work to control the use of that work. The degree of enforcement and limits vary from country to country. Ownership of copyright does not necessarily mean ownership of the actual work (or vice versa) nor does it necessarily cover right to that work throughout the whole world.
©: Copyright mark, used to conform with Universal Copyright Convention, 1952.
Copywriting: A term applied to the writing of copy specifically for use in advertising and promotional work.
Corner Marks: The marks on a printed sheet acting as trim marks, and also sometimes as register marks.
Corner Radius: The roundness of corners of a rounded cornered rectangle expressed in the currently defined unit of measurement.
Corporate Identity/House Style: The elements of design by which any organization establishes an appropriate, consistent and recognizable identity through communication, promotion and distribution material.
Corrigendum (plural: Corrigenda): Latin for “things to be corrected”; used to describe item or items corrected subsequent to printing main part of book.
Cotman: An inexpensive grainy paper and a good alternative to cartridge and expensive watercolor papers.
Counter: The enclosed or partially enclosed area of a type character, e.g. the center of an "o" or the space between the vertical strokes of an "n".
Counterproofing: In printmaking, taking an impression from another impression before the ink has dried. This allows the artist to see the image in the same direction it was drawn in order to correct mistakes, or to achieve visual effects made possible by printing the image twice.
Cover: The outer layer of paper, board, cloth or leather to which the body of a book is secured by any binding method.
CPI: Characters per inch. In copy fitting, the number of type characters per inch.
CPL: Characters per line. In copy fitting, the number of type characters per line.
Crayon Manner: An eighteenth century intaglio process (also called “chalk” manner) that employed spiked wheels (roulettes) to established grainy areas on an etching ground. The etched areas imitated chalk (crayon in French) marks when printed. Crayon manner was used primarily to reproduce sanguine chalk drawings popular in the eighteenth century.
Credit/Courtesy Line: A line of text accompanying an illustration giving the name of an individual or organization which supplied it.
Credits: List of performers and workers in the making of a film.
Creep: Effect when a printed mark spreads on the substrate.
Crop, Cropmark: The part of an image that is discarded after it has been trimmed.
Cross-Head(ing): Subsection, paragraph heading or numeral printed in the body of text, usually marking the first subdivision of a chapter.
Cross-line Screen: Same as halftone screen.
Cross-Section: View of an object showing it as if cut through to expose its internal characteristics.
Crown (Paper Size): 508 x 381 mm (20 x 15 inches).
Crow Quill: A term referring to a very fine pen, derived from the original use of a cut crow's quill.
Cuneiform: Ancient Middle Eastern script using wedge-shaped characters.
Cut: Contraction of “woodcut”; later applied to any illustration from relief printing plate or block; now common in USA as synonym for “block”.
Cut Dummy: Cut proofs of illustrations used in sequence as a guide to the make up pages.
Cut-In: Inserted shot, typically a still close-up, interrupting a running sequence of a film.
Cutline: USA term for a caption under an illustration.
Cut Marks: See corner marks.
Cut Out: (i) An illustration from which the background has been removed to provide a silhouetted image; (ii) A display card or book cover from which a pattern has been cut by means of a steel die.
Cyrillic Alphabet: Used throughout USSR and Bulgaria; descended from Greek, devised in the 9th century to incorporate characters expressing sounds peculiar to the Slav tongue; not used for printing types until the 18th century.
DA: Desk accessory.
Dagger: Type character used as second order or reference marks in footnotes; sometimes called "obelisk" or "long cross", e.g. ( † )
Daguerreotype: An early photographic process (1839) named after L. Daguerre, employing silver salts, iodine and mercury vapor in developing a picture.
Dai-ban or Keyblock (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): The first block carved in the process of creating a woodblock print; it prints the thin black outlines, and prints pulled from this block are used in the creation of the blocks for printing the colors.
Dampening: Necessary process in lithography of dampening the printing late to prevent ink spreading.
Dash: A punctuation mark known as an em dash/rule (—) or en dash/rule(–) as distinct from a hyphen (-). Do not mistake the em dash (—) for the slightly narrower en dash (–) or the even narrower hyphen (-).
Data: Any information.
Data Interchange Format: DIF.
Datum: The singular of data, although data is now commonly accepted as a singular noun in computer usage.
Daylight Bulb: An incandescent bulb with a blue coating that serves to neutralize the warm color temperature of the filament.
DCA: Document content architecture, a file format for transferring partially-formatted text documents.
Deadline: The final date set for completion of the job.
Dead Matter: Any leftover matter that is not used in camera-ready art or page make-up.
Decal: A printed transfer image.
Deckle: The ragged edge on hand-made paper.
Decoupage: Method of decorating walls and objects with paper cut-outs protected by a clear glaze or vanish.
Dedicated: Term used of a system or equipment with a unique function that can be used only for that purpose and is not otherwise adaptable, e.g. dedicated word processor.
Deep-Etch Halftone: A halftone image from which unwanted screen dots have been removed, so that areas of plain paper will be left on the printed sheet.
Deep Etching: The removal, by etching, of unwanted material on halftone plates to give a white background.
Degrease: The process of removing oil from screen mesh; new screens require degreasing before use, although degreasing may occasionally be needed throughout a screen's life.
Delimit: To indicate the end (limit) of a line to separate one field or record from another by using a specially defined character. The standard characters.
Demy (Paper Size): 572 x 444 mm (221 x 17.5 inches).
Densitometer: An electronic precision instrument used to measure density and other properties of color and light in transparencies, film, reflection copy or computer monitors.
Density: (i) The amount and compactness of type set within a given area or page; (ii) The weight of tone of color in any image. A printed highlight can be no lighter in color than the surface it is printed on, while the shadow can be no darker than the quality and volume of ink the printing process will permit.
Descender: The part of the lower-case letter that falls below the baseline of the x-height as in "g", "q" and "p".
Detail Paper: Thin, hard, semi-transparent paper used for sketches and layouts.
Devanagari: Syllabic script used in Sanskrit texts and Hindi and other Indian languages.
Develop: To treat with an agent so that color appears.
Diacritical Mark: A mark indicating the particular value or pronunciation of a character, e.g. cedilla, tilde, circumflex, or macron etc.
Diapositive: A photographic transparency in which the image is positive.
Diazo (abbr. Diazonium): A method of reproducing in limited quantities from a transparent or translucent original on paper, cloth or film. The image is exposed onto a light-sensitive coating of diazo salts and dyestuff and the print may be blue, black or another color.
Didot Point: Typographic measurement system establish in 1775 by French typographic type founder Francois Didot, now used in most European countries as an alternative to the American point system. Didot point is now accepted as 0.375 mm.
Die: An intaglio engraved stamp used for impressing a design.
Die-Stamping: A process of impressing the form or ornament of a manufactured object by means of a metal stamp (die).
DIF: Dta interchange format, a file format for transferring (without text formatting) database and spreadsheet.
Differential Spacing: The spacing of each character of type according to its individual width.
Digital Image: An image generated and stored in electronic form.
Digitize: To convert anything, e.g. an image or a sound, into a form that can be electronically processed, stored and reconstructed.
DIN: Deutsche Industrie-Norm. The cost of standards established in Germany and widely used throughout the world to standardize such things as size, weight or speed-rating of certain materials and manufactured items that depend on universal compatibility.
Dingbat: A decorative font, the modern form of decoration traditionally called printers' flowers, ornaments and arabesques.
Dink: A half moon-shaped dent in a paper sheet caused by careless handling.
Directional: The term used to describe a word such as "left", "right", "above" and "below", used in a caption to direct the reader to a relevant picture or item.
Direct Stencil: A stencil created by applying a block-out medium directly to the silk screen.
Discretionary Hyphen Character: In some applications, a manually insert character that indicates a word break.
Disc: A flat circular object coated with metal material that stores computer data.
Display Matter/Type: Larger typefaces used for headings, etc., as distinct from smaller types used for text and captions.
Dissolve: Change of scenes, in which one scene fades out as the next appears.
Ditto Mark: A symbol (") indicating repetition of the text matter directly above.
Doctor Blade: A device used in intaglio printing processes to wipe excess ink from the surface of a plate. The blade is made of flexible metal.
Documentary: A photographic, motion picture or television presentation of not posed or uncontrived events; a style in art that seems to report actual events.
Dolly: Low platform on castors for moving a camera about the set.
Dot: (i) The smallest basic element of a halftone; (ii) Alternative term for pixel.
Dot Etching: A method of reducing the size of halftone dots by chemical action in processing, to alter the tonal values of an image.
Dot For Dot: (i) Printing color work in perfect registration; (ii) A method of producing printing film by photographing a previously screened halftone image. Generally, on fine-screen images, a maximum limit of 10% enlargement or reduction is desirable.
Dot Gain: An aberration occurring during the reproduction chain from original to printed image, caused by the tendency of halftone dots to grow in size. This often leads to inaccurate results, but if the dot gain characteristics of a particular printing press are known, compensation can be made during reproduction.
Dot Loss: The devaluation or disappearance of a halftone dot on a printing plate, opposite of dot gain.
Double Burn/Print Down: To use two or more negatives to expose an image on to a sensitive plate - often one for line work and a second for halftones.
DPI: Dots per inch.
DPSI/DPI2: Dots per square inch.
Driving Out: Arranging the spaces in a line of type to fill the measure.
Drop: (i) A gap, usually at the top of a page or column, before the printed image starts; (ii) Of text, the number of lines in a column as permitted by the page grid.
Drop Cap: Dropped capital. A large, sometimes decorative, initial at the beginning of a text or paragraph that drops into the lines of type beneath.
Drop Folios: The numbers printed at the bottom of each page, generally referred to simply as folios.
Drop-Out: (i) During reproduction, to use filters or other means to prevent an item from appearing on final negative or positive of film; (ii) Reverse to "onto".
Drop Out Blue/Color: Pencil or other marker, used to write instructions on artwork, which makes a mark that does not reproduce.
Dropped Out Halftone: Areas removed from a halftone negative, positive or plate by masking.
Dropped-Out Type: Type that is reversed out of its background.
Drop Shadows: A shadow behind an image designed to bring the image forward.
Dry Offset: Same as letterset.
Drypoint: An intaglio printmaking technique in which a needle is used to scratch a plate, typically copper. The ink rests in the grooves until the plate in pressed into the paper.
Portrait of Artist's Wife.
Technique: Drypoint.
Drypoint Equipment: Combined drypoint needle and burnisher drypoint needle; combined scraper and burnisher; zinc and copper plates.
Dry Transfer Lettering: Characters transferred to a page by rubbing them off the back of a sheet.
Dub: Add a new soundtrack, especially a translation of dialogue.
Dummy: (i) The prototype of a prosed book or publication in the correct format, binding, paper and bulk, but with blank pages; (ii) A mock-up of a design showing the position of herding, text, captions, illustrations and other details.
Duotone: Technically, two halftones made from the same original to two different tonal ranges, so that when printed - in different tones of the same color - a greater tonal range is produced than is possible with a single color. However, the term is generally used, wrongly, to describe a duplex tine.
Duplex Board: One consisting of two layers of different color and/or quality, pasted together.
Duplex Halftone: Two halftones made from the same original, but printed in two different colors. Generally called a duotone, although this is technically incorrect.
Durometer: The term describing the level of hardness of a squeegee blade.
Edition: The total number of identical, original prints made from one image, number sequentially and signed by the artist.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Technique: Screen prints using ten colors and the artist's innovative multiplex technique.
Edition Series: The second print from an edition of four prints (2/4).
Eggshell Finish: The rough finish found on drawing paper and notepaper as a result of omitting calendering.
E-goyomi (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "calendar picture"; surimono which gave identity of the long and short months for that year (the Japanese year was divided into months of 29 and 30 days, in a pattern which changed every year). Since production of calendars was a monopoly of the government, one denied to general publishers, this information was usually woven into the design in some cunning manner.
Egyptian: A collective term for a group of display typefaces with heavy slab serifs and little contrast in the thickness of strokes.
E-Hon (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "picture book"; the general name for illustrated bound works such as albums and illustrated book. Often used as part of the title of such a work.
Electroplating: A process of coating an object with a thin layer of chromium, silver etc., by means of electrolysis (the chemical reaction produced by passing an electric current through an electrolyte).
Electrotype: A duplicate of a slate or block (especially a wood-graving block) produced by the use of electrolysis to coat a mold of the block with a thin layer metal; invented in 1839, the electrotype supplanted the stereotype.
Element: In some drawing applications, any object such as a shape, text or image.
Elephant (Paper Size): 711 x 584 mm (28 x 23 inches).
Ellipse/Oval Tool: In many graphics applications, a tool for drawing ellipses and circles.
Ellipsis: A sequence of three dots(...) indicating that part of a phrase or sentence has been left out.
em: A unit of linear measurement, 12 points or 4.5 mm.
Embossing: A calendaring process used to create three-dimensional design effects.
Artist: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Edition Series: The "fourth" print from an edition series of four prints (4/4).
Note: Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd is embossed on the image of the print.
em dash/rule: A dash one em wide, the actual width depending on the size of type being set.
em-quad: Type space which is square of type size.
em-rule: One used to indicate omission of word, or - by some - to open and close parenthetical phrase, as an alternative to space "en-rule".
em space: A space one em wide, the actual width depending on the size of the type being set.
Emulsion Side: The matt side of photographic film which holds the emulsion and which is placed in direct contact with the emulsion of another film or a plate when printing down to ensure a sharp image.
en: A measurement half the width of em, used in casting off.
Enamel Paper: One-sided highly finished coated paper used for box covers and color proofing.
en dash/rule: A dash half the width of an em dash.
end/back matter: The final pages of a book, following the main body, such as the index. Also called "postlims".
end even: Instruction to end a paragraph or section of copy with a full line.
Engine Sizing: A method of sizing paper by the addition of emulsified resin to clean paper pulp.
Engraving: An intaglio printmaking technique in which a wedge-shaped implement called burin is pushed with considerable force, carving a deep and regular groove into a plate, typically copper, into which the ink is pushed and held until printing. In summary, the design or lettering etched on a plate or block and also the print taken from such a plate.
en-quad: Type-space half width of "em-quad".
en-rule: One use to denote "and" as in "man-machine interface”, "to" as in "Paris-London flight" or - when spaced - to open and close parenthetical phrase.
en space: A space half an em wide, the actual width depending on the size of type being set.
EPS(F): Encapsulated PostScript (file), a standard graphics file format based on vectors (information giving both magnitude and direction).
Erratum (Plural: Errata): Item omitted from publication, acknowledged by subsequent inclusion of erratum/errata slip.
Estampes Galantes: French: “gallant or gay prints”. Eighteenth century reproductive prints (usually combinations of etching and engraving) after the Rococo painters. They were generally amorous or erotic in their subject-matter.
Etching: A metal plate treated with acid and with certain parts protected by the application of a ground. It is also a print taken from the etch plate.
Etching Equipment: Hard ground; soft ground; stopping-out varnish; liquid hard ground; zinc and copper plates; leather-covered dabber; burnisher; etching needle; scraper; feathers for cleaning acid bubbles from plates; clamp for holding plate during smoking.
Etching Press: A press for printing intaglio plates, which are only a few millimetres thick.
et seq: Abbreviation for et sequins; Latin for "and the following".
Even Smalls: Small capitals used without an initial full capital at the beginning of a word.
Even Working: A printed work divided into a number of sections of equal size, e.g. 16,32,48 pages.
Exception Dictionary: A list of user-defined word breaks that are exceptions to the standard breaks contained within an application's hyphenation dictionary.
Exotic: A traditional term for a typeface with characters of a language not based on Roman letterforms, e.g. Hebrew.
Expanded/Extended Type: A typeface with a flattened, stretched out appearance. An expanded font will have been specifically designed so that the anomalies of the optical expansion are eliminated.
Exploded View: Drawing of an object showing its component parts separately but arranged in such a way as to indicate their relationships within the object when assembled.
Extenders: Substances blended with inks to create a more transparent quality in prints.
Fabriano: Easy to work on paper that is durable.
Face: Traditionally, the printing surface of any type character. It now means a group or family to which any particular type design belongs, as in typeface.
Face/Fade Out Blue: Drop-out blue.
Facetted Classification: System of identifying elements in a collection of information - such as in a book - in order that they can be compared with elements defined by the person seeking information (as distinct from less flexible classification systems such as Dewey).
Facing: Facing is due to the partial discharge of the unprinted areas of the dye ground occurring mainly in roller printing. It is also called scumming.
Facsimile: abbr. FAX. An exact reproduction or copy usually associated with reproduction via electronic scanning.
Fadeback: Ghosting.
Fade-In, Fade-Out: Gradual appearance or disappearance of an image or sound.
Family: A group of printing types in series with common characteristics in design, but of different weights such as italics, bold etc.
Fan-Fold: Mechanical folding method for continuous stationery.
Fashion Boards: Simple body boards lined with good rag paper on one side, and thin paper on the other side to prevent warping.
Fat Face: A typeface with extreme contrast in the widths of thin and thick strokes.
Fat Matter: A term for copy with a large proportion of spacing. Dense copy is known as lean matter.
Fatty: In conventional reproduction, the name given to a piece of film placed between the negative (or positive) film and a plate in order to create traps - the slight spread of two adjacent colors to achieve perfect registration.
FAX: Derived from facsimile. Slang for electronically transmitted images produced by scanning the original. Becoming obsolete.
Feathering, Carding: Adjustment of spacing between lines to fill the column exactly.
Feet/Foot Margin: The white area at the bottom of a page between the image and trimmed area.
Festschrift: Book of essays by scholars and compiled as a tribute to a learned colleague.
Figure (Book): Traditional term for a line illustration incorporated within text pages of a book; often abbreviated as "fig" (plural "figs").
Figure Number: The reference number given to an illustration.
File: In computing, a collection of data with a filename stored on an electronic device.
Fill: In most graphics application, the color, tone or pattern applied to the inside of a closed path or shape.
Fill Character: In some applications, the user-defined character that is inserted between specified tab stops.
Filler Stencil: The use of a liquid that is painted directly onto a screen mesh in order to fill parts of a mesh which acts as a resist to the printing process.
Fillet: An embossed line used as a decorative device on a book cover.
Film a Clef: Apparently fictional film based on facts, but with the names of places and characters change.
Film and Filming Terms:
Film Assembly/Stripping: The process of assembling film negatives or positives in correct position for preparation of printing plates.
Film Former: Any fluid material or ingredient, which when applied over a surface, will set to a solid continuous layer of film and perform the function of a paint vehicle, medium or varnish.
Film Speed: The rating given to photographic film so that an exposure can be calculated.
Filter: (i) Import/export filter; (ii) A feature in many paint and image-editing applications that enables you to apply pre-defined (but sometimes editable) visual effects to an image.
Final Draft: Copy ready for typesetting or printing.
Final Film: The positive or negative used for plate making, incorporating all corrections and in which the halftones are made with a hard dot.
Fine Screen: Any halftone screen of 40 lines to the centimeter or finer.
Finished Artwork: Artwork in final stage ready for printing.
Finished Rough: Mock-up.
Finishing: All operations after printing.
First Generation Copy: A copy of a photograph or other item made directly from the original, as distinct from a copy made from another copy of the original.
Fisheye: Unwanted open area in a photo-stencil, which prints with the appearance of an eye of a fish.
Fit: (i) Letterspace/letterfit; (ii) The alignment and register of individual areas of color or images within a printed page, as distinct from the register of colors on an entire printed sheet. Errors of fit occur in film stripping, whereas errors of register occur in printing.
Fixed-Size Font: Bitmapped font.
Fixed Word Spacing: A standard space between characters and words, used for unjustified typesetting, as distinct from the variable spacing required for justified setting.
Flash: A second exposure in conventional halftone processing that reinforces the dots in dark areas. These would otherwise run together and print solid.
Flat: (i) An assembly of composite imposed film, used in preparing plates for printing; (ii) A halftone of insufficient contrast.
Flat-Bed Cylinder Press: Printing machine using impression cylinder as distinct from "plate press" and having a flat printing surface as distinct from "rotary press".
Flat Finish: Matt, non-glossy finish.
Flat Plan: A diagrammatic plan of the pages of a book used to establish the distribution of color, chapter lengths, etc. Also called a flowchart.
Flat Side: Side of a screen frame on which mesh is glued.
Flat-Tint Halftone: Matching halftone with flat tint to print under it in a separate color.
Flexography: Relief printing process using curved plates of rubber or soft plastic; used mostly for packaging and paper bags.
Flong: Paper-maché sheet used for making stenotype holds; mould made of this.
Flooding: Overfilling the mesh with printing mixture, usually leading to imperfect printing.
Flop: To reverse an image from left to right (horizontal flop) or top to bottom (vertical flop). Sometimes called flip.
Flowchart: See "Flat Plan".
Flowers: See "Dingbats".
Flush: See "Clear".
Flushing: The production of burred edges and loss of fine detail around a white discharge printing.
Flush Left, Right: Range left, Range right.
Flush Paragraphs: Paragraphs in which the first word is not indented but aligns with the left edge of the text.
Fly Leaf: That part of an end paper at the front of a book, which is glued to the first text leaf.
Foil: (i) Paper coated with metallic leaf or powder used in box making and in textiles; (ii) Clear, stable film used as a backing during film assembly.
Folder: (i) Piece of print which is folded but not bound; (ii) Container for loose items of print.
Folding Methods: As displayed in the diagrams below.
Fold-Out: Leaf of a book extending beyond page width, so that it must be folded one or more times; also called "throw-out" or "pull-out". See diagram below.
Foliation (of a Book): Numbering leaves rather than pages - as distinct from pagination.
Folio: (i) Cut or folded sheet, which is half of a basic sheet size; (ii) Also used as a synonym for "page number".
Follow Copy: Instruction to a typesetter to follow the spelling and punctuation of a manuscript even if unorthodox, in preference to the house style.
Follow On: Run on.
Fond: Font family descriptor. The log of a font family (all sizes and styles of a typeface) kept in a suitcase in your System file.
Font: A corruption of "fount". It is a complete supply of a typeface.
Font Family: The set of all the characters of a typeface designed in all sizes and styles.
Font/Type Series: The identification of a typeface by a series number, e.g. Universal 55.
Font Usage: In some applications, a facility that lists all the fonts used in a document.
Foolscap (paper Size): Standard size paper 343 x 431 mm (13.5 x 17 in).
Foot: Bottom of a book. Also known as "tail".
Footage: Sequence or portion of film.
Footer: A running headline that appears on the bottom of a page.
Footnotes: Short explanatory notes, printed at the foot of a page or at the end of a book.
Fore-Edge:, Edge of a book, opposite back or spine.
Formulary: Book of prayers; book listing medical drugs, pharmaceutical formulas, and the like.
Foreshorten: In illustration to depict the apparent distortion of perspective in a receding form or plane. Alternatively, the representation through drawing of the three-dimensional forms on a flat surface to create the illusion of depth, as of an arm and hand extended toward the viewer.
Format: (i) Dimensions of a trimmed sheet, page or book; (ii) Also a general term for size, style and treatment of a page etc.
Format and Orientation of Japanese Woodblock Prints: Harimaze: Prints of two or more (usually three to five) images on one sheet; originally intended to be cut out and displayed separately.
Hashira-e: A tall, narrow print used on pillars, on a special size paper, hashira-eban.
Kakemono: A hanging scroll, with a long and narrow format; hence kakemono-e, a tall, narrow format, often composed of two ōban-sized prints, one above the other in a vertical diptych.
Uchiwa-e: Prints intended to be used to decorate non-folding fans (uchiwa); usually in the shape of a rectangle with the longer axis horizontal, with rounded corners, and a cutout at the bottom.
Tateban: Also tate-e and tat-eye (the latter transliteration now obsolescent); vertical (i.e. portrait) orientation.
Yokoban: Also yoko-e and yok-oye (the latter transliteration now obsolescent); horizontal (i.e. landscape) orientation.
For Position Only: An instruction to layouts and artwork that an item is displayed only as a guide for positioning.
Forty-Seven Ronin (Woodblock Print Subject): The story of the Forty-Seven Ronin (a ronin is a masterless samurai) is perhaps the most-known story of Japanese history, described by one noted Japan scholar as the country's "national legend". It concerns a group of samurai who were left masterless in 1701 by the execution of their master. After over a year of patient waiting and plotting, they succeeded in avenging him by killing the court official who has caused his death. The story was popularized in Japanese culture as emblematic of the loyalty, sacrifice, dedication and honor which all should reach for in their daily lives. It was eventually turned into a Kabuki play, the Kanedehon Chūshingura (literally, "Treasury of Loyal Retainers"). It quickly became (and remains) one of the staples of the Kabuki repertoire, and remains one of the two most popular Kabuki plays.
Foul Bite: An etching term, which describes the speckles and dots created by unwanted corrosion of the etching plate.
Found Object: Any organic material, such as leaves and feathers, or inorganic material such as plastic or lace. In traditional printmaking these items are inked and printed directly on paper or combined in collage artwork.
Fountain: (i) A reservoir for ink supply when using a silk screen; (ii) On offset-litho machines, reservoir for supply of fountain solution (water, acid, gum) to dampening rollers.
Four Color Process: A method of printing in full color by color separation, producing four plates for printing in cyan, yellow, magenta and black.
FPD: Full-page display.
FPO: For position only.
Frame: In screen printing, the rectangular support made of wood across which a screen is stretched.
Freeze Frame: Repeated single frame, producing the impression of a static picture.
French Curves: Flat plastic shapes with combinations of curves, used for tracing. See figure below.
French Fold: Right angle fold, when used for invitations or similar items of print in order to have print on inside and outside with only one printing.
French Sewing (of a Book): Method using only thread, with no cord or tape support.
Fringe: A halo seen to surround halftone dots in the early stages of processing.
Frontally: The full face or head on presentation of the human figure; planarity in the organization of forms, that is, emphasis on forms parallel to the frontal lane.
Frontispiece, Frontis: Illustration on preliminary page of a book, usually facing the title page.
Frottage: Taking a rubbing from an embossed or textured surface, such as wood or stone, using hard chalk, crayon, pastel or other medium on paper.
Fugitive Colors: Colors or inks, which are not permanent and change or fade when exposed to light.
Fugitive Ink: One which fades or changes color on exposure to light, as distinct from "light-fast" or "permanent in".
Fūkei-ga (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Images of landscapes.
Fuki-bokashi (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "blowing-shading"; an alternative name was fuki-e, literally "blown picture". A method of stippling color onto early hand-colored prints by blowing pigment through a small tube, while masking the areas to be left uncoloured.
Full Shadow: A heavy outline to a letter or line of type.
Full Word Wrap: The transfer of a whole word to the following line to avoid a word break.
Futhark: Alphabet of runes.
Gaffer: Electrician or lightening technician on a production crew.
Galley: Metal tray in which set type is held before pagination; printer's proof from such type.
Galley Proof: Rough proof before it is made up in page.
Gang Up: (i) To print two or more jobs on the same sheet, which would then be divided appropriately; (ii) To place a group of originals of the same proportions together for reproduction.
Garland: Sometimes used to describe books of poems or prose extracts.
Gathering (Paper): Arranging sheets or sections in correct order so as to make up a book.
Gelatin Process: A duplication method, using gelatin as the medium for transferring a carbon image as in gravure printing.
Genji (Woodblock Print Subject): The great novel of classical Japanese literature, 'The Tale of Genji', detailing the lengthy and complex love adventures of Prince Genji; written in the late Heian period. A perennial source for Japanese arts, it was a favourite subject of ukiyo-e artists of the nineteenth century, hence Genji-e, or illustrations of the Genji story. A number of parodies of the original novel were also popular during this period, especially the Nise Murasakai Inaka Genji, or 'Imitation Murasaki and the Rustic Genji' (sometimes shortened to Inaka Genji). Each chapter has its own special glyph, the Genji-mon, which notionally are in the form of connected bundles of incense sticks.
Geneva: A system font that is a bitmapped version of the typeface Helvetica. Like Chicago, it is built into Read Only Memeory (ROM) of your computer.
Geometrical Shapes:
Ghost: Faint stain (often relating to image forms) in screen mesh caused by incorrect cleaning or by certain printing mixtures (e.g. haze).
Ghosting: (i) To decrease the tonal values of the surrounding parts of an image in order to make the main object stand out more clearly; (ii) In illustration, particularly technical illustration, to depict parts of an image that would not normally be visible, e.g. parts of an engine covered by its casing.
Gigabyte: Abbreviated to Gb. Measure of storage, where 1Gb is equal to 1024 megabytes.
Gilding: Method of giving a surface a metallic finish by the application of a metal leaf or paint.
Gin (Japanese Woodblock Effect): Tin pigment used to imitate silver. It was placed on the blocks with small brushes (hake-hake), and then printed on areas where paste had previously been printed (nori-zuri, literally "starch-printing").
Glagolitic Alphabet: Early Slavonic alphabet.
Glassine: Transparent, glazed paper used for wrappings and window envelopes.
Glitter Paints: Suitable for all surfaces, including paper, glitter paint is available in the large range of colors. It remains on the surface of the fabric and so can be used on darker backgrounds.
Glossary: An alphabetical list giving definition of terms, usually related to a special subject - read this post!
Gloss Binder: On its own, gloss binder creates a shiny almost plastic print on a fabric, similar to acrylic gloss. It can be mixed directly with pigment color, but can clog up silk screens because of its thick consistency.
Gloss Ink: A printing ink consisting of a synthetic resin base and drying oils. These inks dry quickly without penetration, and are suitable for use on coated papers.
Glyphic: A typeface originating from carved rather than scripted letters.
g/m2/gsm/grams per square meter: A unit of measurement indicating the substance of a paper on the basis of its weight, regardless of the sheet size.
Gofun (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): A white power substance composed of ground and burnt seashells; it is often applied by hand to prints when a powdery look is needed. It is also used by painters, mixed with other materials, in a variety of ways: as a gesso-like undercoating, as the colorant in white paint, and also to build up painting surfaces.
Gold Binder and Metallic Colors: To produce pigment colors in gold, silver, bronze and so on, a specialist metallic binder and metallic powder color will need to be employed.
Goldenrod (Paper): Opaque, pre-ruled paper used for litho "flat".
Golden Section: A formula for division of a line or area supposed to give harmonious proportions. If a line is divided unequally, the relationship of the smaller section to the larger section should be the same as that of the larger section to the whole. It is in practice a ratio of about 8:13.
Gold Leaf: (i) Very thin sheets of gold obtained via hammering. Note: It should not be confuse with metal leaf the latter of which may have a gold coloring; (ii) Sheets of gold beaten to a wafer thinness used in gilding.
Gothic: See black letter.
Gradation/Graduation: (i) The smooth transition from one tone of color to another; (ii) The range of values between black and white.
Graining: The process by which a lithographic plate is given a moisture-retaining surface. Abrasive powder and either glass or steel marbles are used. Mechanical agitation produces the required surface.
Grammage: See g cm-2
grams per square meter (g cm-2): Method of denoting paper by weight.
Graphic: (i) A typeface originating from drawn rather than scripted letter forms; (ii) A general term describing any illustration or design.
Graphic Art: Also the graphic arts; from the Greek word for drawing and writing. Applied to engraving, etching, woodcut, linocut, lithography; any method of printmaking or communication through line, especially when reproduced in books, magazines, posters and by electronic transmission.
Graphic Design: Design based on or involving two-dimensional processes (e.g. illustration, typography, photography and printing methods etc.)
Graphic Design House: Also called a service bureau. A graphics business that offers a number of services to platemakers, graphic artist, desktop publishers, and users of personal computers. A graphic design house can print high resolution bromides and lith film on imagesetters from files supplied on digital electronic devices; they have high resolution scanners for digitizing photographs, artwork, transparencies, photographic negatives as well from other analaog or digital devices.
Graphic Tablet: Also called a digitizer or digitizing pad, This is a peripheral input device that allows a natural drawing style with a special pen and pad. The pressure simulated strokes and marks activates the pad and converts these into electronic information.
Graticule: A linear grid placed over an image giving reference to points on the image (e.g. lines of latitude and longitude on a map).
Gravure: An intaglio printing process.
Grayscale: Tonal scale of grays from white through increasingly darker grays to black. Often used as a standard to monitor the quality of photographic reproductions.
Greek Alphabet: See below.
Greek(ing): To indicate type by substituting rules or a grey tint for the actual letters. This is common practice when preparing rough visuals or scamps.
Grid: (i) A measuring guide used in a book and magazine designed to ensure consistency. The grid usually shows such things as column widths, picture areas, trim sizes, etc. (ii) In some applications, a background pattern, usually invisible, of equidistant vertical and horizontal lines to which elements such as guides, rules, type boxes, etc. can be locked or "snapped", thus providing greater positional accuracy.
Grip: Member of a production crew who adjusts the set and shifts the camera equipment.
gsm: See gram per meter square.
Guarding: Method of attaching a single leaf to a section of a book or periodical, as a more secure alternative to "tipping in/on". See figure below.
Gum Arabic: Gum from the acacia tree. Constituent of water-based inks , lift ground, and gum etched in lithography. Watercolor artist add it to paint to enhance color.
Gutter: White space between pages, including trim, when imposed in form (see "imposition").
Gutter Bleed: An image allowed to extend into the fold, or to extend unbroken across central margins, of a double page spread.
Hairline Rule: Traditionally the thinnest line that it is possible to print. In applications that list it as a size option for rules, it is about 0.25 point thick.
Hairlines: The very thin strokes of a typeface.
Hairspace: Traditionally used of letter spacing, the term generally refers to a very narrow space between type characters.
H&J, H/J Hyphenation and justification.
Half-Title: (i) The title of a book as printed on the recto leaf preceding the title page; (ii) An image reproduced by the halftone process.
Halftone: (i) The process by which a continuous tone image is stimulated by a pattern of dots of varying sizes; (ii) An image reproduced by the halftone process.
Halftone Screen: Conventionally a sheet of glass or film cross-ruled with opaque lines. Also called a crosslink screen or contact screen. It is used to translate a continuous tone image into halftone dots so that it can be printed.
Half Up: A term that describes artwork prepared at one-and-a-half times the size at which it will be reproduced. Artwork that is drawn half up will need to be reduced by one third, to 66%, to print at its intended size.
Haloing: A white ring that resembles a "halo" around a colored discharge print. This is caused by migration of the soluble reducing agent around the printed design.
Handles: (i) In applications which feature drawn lines and boxes, text boxes or picture boxes, the small black squares positioned at each corner (and sometimes at other places) that enable you to resize those items; (ii) As in Bézier curve.
Hand Press: A printing press in which the plate is inked and the paper/cloth is fed and removed by hand.
Hang: See bomb.
Han-ga (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): Literally "printing-block image"; the Japanese term for a woodblock print.
Hanging Cap/Capital: An initial character that is larger than the text to which it belongs and which is positioned outside and to the left of the paragraph.
Hanging Indent: An arrangement in typeset text where the first line of each paragraph is set full out to the column measure and the remaining lines are indented to the right of the first line.
Hanging Punctuation: Punctuation marks allowed to fall outside the measured piece of text.
Hanshita-e (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): Literally, "base block picture", a copy of the artist's original drawing, made on very thin, translucent paper, and then glued down to the keyblock to provide a guide to the carver. They were prepared by specialists called hanshita-e-shi, literally "hanshita-e master".
Hard-Back Book: One with a stiff board cover.
Hard Copy: Typed duplicate to check accuracy of input before printing.
Hard Disc: Part of a computer forming a permanent magnetic memory. Consists of several plates for storing data.
Hard Dot: A halftone dot in the second or third stage of processing, with good density and sharpness.
Hard Hyphen: The term sometimes given to a hyphen that will not permit the hyphenated word in which it appears to break at the end of a line.
Hard Space: The term sometimes given to a space that will not permit two words between which it is placed to separate at the end of a line. A hard space can sometimes be generated by pressing Option-Spacebar on a computer keyboard.
Hardware: The parts of a computing system consisting of equipment, such as peripheral devices, the monitor, central processing unit, and hard disk which together comprise the computer.
Hatching: A drawing or printmaking technique; a kind of shading in which fine lines placed closed together create a tone that models form; in painting a series of parallel strikes (as in Cezanne) that create the appearance of planes or facets of form.
Haze: Generalized faint staining of screen mesh caused by photo-stencils, screen filters, printing mixtures, and varnishes (e.g. ghost).
Head Bolt: Thickening of sheet at last (head) fold before trimming. See figure below.
Header: In some applications, particularly word processing programs, the facility to place text and numbers automatically at the top of the printed page.
Heading: The title introducing a chapter or subdivision of text. A cross-heading, or cross-head, appears in the body of text.
Headless Paragraph: A paragraph set apart from other text but without a separate heading.
Head to Head/Foot/Tail: In page imposition, the placement of the heads and tails of pages on either side of a sheet to suit the requirements of binding.
Heavy: Of type, an alternative term for bold or, sometimes, type heavier than bold.
Hectography: A duplication process based on the use of gelatin plates.
Hera: Spatula used for applying resist paste through a stencil.
Herbal: Textbook on plants, especially useful plants.
Hickie/Hickey/Bull's Eye: A common printing defect, visible as a spot surrounded by a blank halo, caused by a speck of dirt pushing the paper away from the printing plate.
Hieroglyphics: Ancient Egyptian picture writing.
High Contrast: An image or stencil made with black ink on white paper, or film, having no shading or grey tones.
High Key: A photographic image exposed or processed to produce overall light tones.
Highlight: The lightest tones of a photograph, illustration or image.
Hinting, Hints: The set of instructions contained within Type 1 fonts which modifies character shapes so that they appear better when displayed or printed at low resolution.
HLS: Hue, lightness and saturation.
Holder: The handle for holding the nib of a writing pen.
Holding Line: See keyline.
Hologram/Holograph Image: One which gives a three-dimensional illusion without use of a camera: a laser beam (known as "coherent light") is split so that diffraction patterns are produced digitally; these reconstitute image of a subject when illuminated by light from a similar laser produces a hologram.
Holograph (Publishing): Manuscript written in the author's own hand.
Honing: A technique of removing image areas from a printing plate by mechanical means.
Horizontal Dimension: The width of an image, sometimes controlling reduction or enlargement in printing.
Horizontal Scaling: In some applications, the facility to condense or expand type. By retaining the exact attributes of the source font, horizontal scaling distorts its appearance and, while the facility can be a bonus, you may prefer to use a specially designed condense or expanded version of the font.
Hornbook: Elementary textbook introducing a subject, primer.
Hot-wire Cutter: An electrical device consisting of a nichrome wire stretched across a frame. A heating element heats up the wire so it will cut foam plastic materials without requiring a sharp cutting edge. Can be used to edge cut textiles.
House Organ: A publication produce to give information about a company to its own employees or customers.
House Style: (i) The style of spelling, punctuation and spacing used by a publishing house to ensure a consistent standard and treatment of text throughout its publication; (ii) Corporate identity.
h/t: Abbreviation for halftone.
Hyphen: A mark (-) used to divide broken words or to link two words.
Hyphenate: To divide a word between syllables at the end of a line of text or to create a compound form from two or more words, using a hyphen.
Hyphenation and Justification (H&J, H/J): The routine of an application that distributes spaces correctly in a line of type to achieve the desired measure in justified text. When this cannot be done without breaking words at the end of a line, hyphens will be introduced at a position determined by the application's built in dictionary or H&J rules.
Hyphenation Exceptions: The facility, in some applications, for you to modify, add or delete words that can be hyphenated.
Hyphenation Zone: In some applications, a (sometimes) user-definable area, at the right of the column in which type is being set, in which words can be hyphenated.
ibid: Abbreviation for ibidem; a Latin term meaning "in the same place". It is used in notes to a publication to repeat a reference.
Icon: A graphic representation of an object, such as a disk, file, folder or tool, or of a concept message.
Ideal Format: A size of photographic film measuring 60 x 70 mm (2.3 x 2.7 in).
idem: A Latin term meaning - "the same" - and used as a reference in footnotes.
ideogram: Character which symbolizes an idea by representing an associated object, but does not express sounds of its name; many Chinese characters are ideograms.
i.e.: Initials of id est; Latin for "that is".
Ideography: System of symbolic characters to represent entire words or ideas, as in Chinese etc.
Illuminate: To decorate manuscript with gold or silver or with brilliant colors or with elaborate designs (scrolls) and miniature pictures.
Illustration: A drawing, painting, diagram, image or photograph reproduced in a publication to explain or supplement text.
Image: The subject to be reproduced as an illustration.
Image Area: (i) In design, the space within which a particular image is to fit; (ii) The printing or ink carrying area of a litho plate.
Image Master: A film based font.
Imagesetter: An output device that prints high-resolution images from a file on a disk on to bromide or film as film negatives or positives. The early imagesetters worked by projecting light through tiny negativers to photosensitive bromide film. Modern imagesetters incorporate a computer called a raster imaging processor (RIP) which converts image and text on a file into a computer language , usually POstscript. Printing is digitally controlled and performed by as laser beam which "rakes" across photosensitive flm.
Imperial (Paper Size): 762 x 559 mm (30 x 22 inches).
import: To bring text, pictures or other data into a document. Some applications allow you to import material in a variety of file formats scubas ASCII or EPS.
Import/Export Filter: In some applications, a file that enables the translation of a file format to or from another application.
Impose: To arrange type and other printed matter in pages and lock up as forme printing.
Imposed Proof: Proof taken from frome; also called "sheet proof".
Imposition: Arrangement of pages to printed on sheet in unit called "forme" so that they will be in correct sequence when folded to form a section (signature); simplest imposition is 4 pages. See diagram below.
Impression: Any printed copy made from type matter or plates, and physical action which produces it; also, by extension, whole print run (used in connection with number of copies printed).
Imprimature: A Latin term meaning - "let it be printed". It used to be a statement to show that permission to print a work had been given by the appropriate authority.
Imprint: (i) The printer's imprint is the name of the printer and the place of printing. It is required by law if the paper or book is meant to be published. The publisher's imprint is the name of the publisher with place and date of publication; (ii) Journal of Printmakers Council of Australia.
Imprint Page: Reverse of title page of book; used for information about copyright conditions, printing history and printer; also called "biblo" page.
Incunabulum (plural: incunabula): Latin for - "from the cradle"; used to describe an early book, especially one printed before 1501.
Indent: To leave blank space at the beginning of line of type; usually first line of a paragraph.
Index: Alphabetical list of subjects dealt with in a book, with relevant page numbers.
Index Letter/Number: A character or number used to key a reference between an illustration and the caption or text.
Indian Ink: Conventional term for black drawing inks, carefully made of lampblack with aqueous binders. Various kinds contain additions to improve color and working properties. Permanent. The color of black ink used in drawing, painting etc., which is produced from carbon; related to carbon black, pitch black, jet black, ink black etc.
Indirect Stencil: A stencil created away from the silk screen and then attached prior to printing.
Inferior Character: Letters or numbers set smaller than the text and set on or below the baseline, as in H2O the letter "2".
Initial Cap/Capital: (i) Instruction to set the first letter of a word or phrase as a capital; (ii) The initial letter of a paragraph that may be enlarged and set as a drop, hanging or raised cap.
Ink Black: The color of black ink or India ink (1814).
Ink Drier: A chemical agent added to ink to speed drying and to prevent smudging.
Ink Duct: Ink reservoir on printing machine from which supply of ink is regulated; also called "fountain" and "slit duct".
Ink Duplicating: Simple plano-graphic printing process for up to 1,000 copies, using a negative stencil master produced by drawing or typing; also known as "mimeo-graphy" after trade name.
Inking Roller: That art of a printing machine used to transfer ink from ink supply to printing surface.
Ink Squash: Printing characteristic, particularly letterpress, in which the ink spreads beyond outline of impression surface.
Inline Lettering: Any type face with a white line inside the shape, that follows the outline of the character.
Inner Forme: One which includes pages forming innermost spread of folded section.
In Pro: Abbreviation for "in proportion". A term used to direct the enlargement or reduction of the original image.
Insetting: Placing of a unit of a book or periodical into another; "inserted work". See diagram below.
Intaglio, Gravure: A jewel or semi-precious stone into which a recessed image has been cut. In printmaking, any of several techniques in which lines are cut or corroded into a plate and which then print positively – the artist’s mark is what appears in the print, rather than the surface the artist left untouched.
Intaglio Printing Equipment: Mixing slab; intaglio inks; palette knife; coarse and fine wiping canvas (scrim); tinned intaglio ink; powder pigment; copperplate oil; blotting paper and tissue; rollers.
Interactive: Term describing the immediate and reciprocal action between person and machine.
Intercut/Cross Cut: Insert a shot or scene into a sequence, as for dramatic contrast.
Intercutting: A method of combining different paper images in order to intercut the images of one design to replace areas of another design.
Interleaving: The process in which everyday objects are plaited from many types of grass, leaves and fibers.
Interlock: To run type characters into each other by reducing character space.
Internal Sizing: Part of the paper making process, which describes the addition of glue (size) to the paper pulp so that the resulting paper contains a homogeneous mix of size within each sheet, increasing its strength and impermeability of water.
International Paper Sizes: See A, B and C series.
International Phonetic Alphabet: Agreed code for spelling out letters of words over the telephone.
Interpolation: The term describing the technique of recreating color values of pixels in bitmapped images, which have been modified (e.g. by rotating or skewing).
Invisible Characters/Invisibles: The term used to describe characters that may be displayed on a screen but do not printed, e.g. paragraphs symbols (¶) etc.
Iro-ban or Color-block (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): The blocks carved later in the process of creating a woodblock print; they are used to prints the areas of solid color. They are created using special prints pulled from the keyblock after it is carved.
ISBN: abbr. International Standard Book Number.
Ishizuri-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "stone-printed picture"; a print using white lines on a black ground, in imitation of stone rubbings.
iso: Prefix meaning "same" (as in "isometric").
ISO: Abbreviation for "International Standards Organization".
Isometric Projection: Axonometric projection in which axes are arranged at 120o to each other and all dimensions along axes are in the same scale ratio.
ISSN: International Standard Serial Number. A unique eight-figure number that appears on magazines and journals and which identifies the country of publication and title.
Italic: The specially designed sloping version of a roman typeface deriving from handwriting and calligraphic scripts, intended to be distinctive from, but complementary to, that face. A version of italic, often called oblique or sloped Roman, can be generated electronically.
Itame-mokuhan (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "imitation woodgrain"; the use of a densely grained woodblock which has been soaked in water to emphasize the pattern of the grain. It was used in some prints to print areas of woodwork portrayed in the print.
ITC: International Typeface Corporation, a type foundry.
Jogging: Aligning edges of a stack of paper sheets using vibration.
JPEG: Joint Photographic Experts Group, a data comprehension standard.
Jump: In a publication, printed matter carried over to continue on a succeeding page.
Justified (of type): Lines of type set so as to fill "measure"; less accurately, but more usefully, lines of type that range visually on both sides.
K: Key! Used to describe the process color black, deriving from the key, or black, printing plate in four color process printing. Using the latter K rather than the initial B avoids confusion with blue, even though the abbreviation for process blue is C (cyan).
Kacho-ga, Kacho-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Images of birds and flowers.
Kana: Either of two Japanese syllabic scripts - hiragana or katakana.
Kanji: Japanese syllabary based on Chinese characters.
Kappazuri-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "stencil printed picture"; the outlines are printed from a block, in the normal manner, and the color is applied with stencils.
Kara-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "empty printing"; an embossed printing effect, a technique called gauffrage in the West. It was produced by hard pressure with a hard polisher (often a boar's tusk) on an un-inked block, with the print dampened, leaving whatever pattern is carved in the block embossed into the paper. Especially deep patterns, called kikekomi, were impressed with a gutta percha hammer.
Keep Standing: Instruction to printer to keep type matter ready for possible reprinting.
Keep Up: Instruction to printer: keep type in caps.
Kento (Japanese Woodblock Technical Term): The registration marks (one right angle, into which the corner of the paper fits, and one straight one, along one of the adjoining edges) used to ensure registration of the different colors in nishiki-e print.
Kern: Part of a piece of type sticking out to one side of a body so that it overlaps onto the adjacent piece. See diagram below.
Kerning: Adjusting the space (usually reducing it) between a pair of type characters to optimize their appearance. Traditionally, in metal type, kerned letters were those that physically overhang the metal body of the next character and were particularly important in italic typefaces - the roman version of most metal fonts being designed so that they did not require kerning. As distinct from tracking, which is the adjustment of space over several characters.
Kerning Pair: Any two characters that normally require kerning or to which a kerning value has been applied - see above.
Kerning Table: In some applications, the table describing the automatic kerning values of a font which you can modify.
Kerning Value: The space between kerning pairs.
Key: The block or plate containing the main outlines of the design. It acts as a guide for position and registration of the other colors.
Keyboarding: A term referring to the first procedure in typesetting, that of inputting copy.
Key Letters/Numbers: Letters or numbers forming a reference link, between elements of an illustration and their description in a caption.
Keyline: An outline drawing in artwork that shows the size and position of an illustration or halftone image.
Keyline View/Preview: In some graphics applications, the facility to view an outline item without showing any fills that may have been applied.
Key Plate: In color printing, that plate which is to print first, providing the key for registering subsequent colors (also called "first color down").
Keyword Index (Keyword-from-title Index): One of the significant word or words in the title of a written work by which it may be identified for retrieval, especially from computer memory store.
Kilobyte: Abbreviated to KB. A unit of memory describing the amount of data stored on a computer or on any digital device. 1KB is equal to 1024 bytes and equivalent to approximately seventy words.
Kiri (Japanese Woodblock Effect): Brass pigment used to imitate gold. It was placed on the blocks with small brushes (hake-hake), and then printed on areas where paste had previously been printed (nori-zuri, literally "starch-printing").
Kira-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "mica printing"; the use of fine mica flakes scattered on the print while the ink is wet, which produces a subdued sparking effect. The mica was made to adhere by using a glue consisting of either egg-white, or rice-paste. For large areas, the glue was applied with a special block, and the mica brushed on with a soft brush, using a stencil.
Kiri-fuki (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Also known as fuki-botan; a method of stippling color onto prints, two techniques were used. In one, pigment could be sprayed off a stiff brush, either by shaking, or drawing a thumb across the end of the brush. Pigment could also be sprayed, either directly from the mouth, or by blowing through a right-angled small tube with a hole at the vertex, thereby using a Venturi effect to draw up pigment.
Kiss Impression: In letterpress, ideal impression whereby the image is rich and well inked, but the paper shows no sign of an embossing effect.
Kiwame (Japanese Woodblock Term): Literally, "approved"; a character found in many censor seals.
Klieg Light: Carbon arc lamp producing intense light.
Kleinmeister: German meaning “little master”. Engravers who followed Albrecht Durer and were known for small, Italianate engravings prized by collectors.
Knockout: The term describing an area of black-ground color that has been overlaid or "knocked out" by a foreground object, and therefore does not print.
Kraft Paper: Tough, brown paper used for wrapping.
Kuchi-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Frontispiece illustrations for novels and literary magazines around 1900; many of the leading woodblock artists of the Meiji era produced them. The primary subjects are bijin, which kuchi-e displayed in the idealized depiction that was usual throughout most of the history of ukiyo-e, although by then, influenced by western art, a more realistic style was also appearing.
Kufic: Early Arabic script, still undeciphered.
Lacuna: Missing portion of a text resulting from damage to a manuscript or book.
Laid Paper: Uncoated paper that shows a faint pattern of ribbed lines - "laid" lines and "chain" lines - when looked at through light and slight corrugations on one side (known as "wired-side") that is caused during its production.
Laminating: To protect paper or card or fabric and give it a glossy surface by applying a transparent plastic coating through heat or pressure.
Landscape Format: Image format in which the width is greater than the height (e.g. as opposed to portrait format).
Lap: Overlap of two colors to avoid registration problems.
Lapping Plate: Flat surface such as a thin sheet of steel or old cookie tin used to hold abrasives for smoothing cut surfaces of bottles.
Large Screen Emulation: A feature of certain utilities to provide a larger screen size than you may already have.
Laser Font: A scalable outline font.
Laser printer: An output device often attached to a personal computer, whereby the image is transferred to paper by means of a laser.
Lasso: The lasso-shaped tool used mainly by many drawing applications to select an item.
Lateral Reversal: The transposing of an image from left to right as in a mirror reflection.
Latin (of typefaces): In general, all typefaces derived from Western European letterforms, as distinct from say, Arabic or Hebrew.
Lay Edges: Those edges of a sheet of paper which are presented to side "lays" of a printing machine; front edge is usually called the "gripper" edge, though "front lay" edge is equally correct.
Layer: In some applications, a level to which you can consign an element of the design you are working on.
Layout: An outline or sketch, which gives the general appearance of the printed material, indicating the relationship between illustration(s) and/or text.
Layout Grid: Pre-printed sheet with lines showing a basic pattern to be followed in designing layouts or preparing paste-up artwork.
LCD/lcd: (i) Liquid crystal display; (ii) Lowest common denominator.
Lead: (i) Metal; (ii) Thin strips of metal used to separate lines of type - made in standard thickness of 1pt, 1.5pt, 2pt, 3pt, 6pt and 12pt.
Leaded: Type which is set with space, or leads, between lines.
Leader: A group of dots, usually three (...)
Leader Line/Rule: A line on an image, usually keying elements of the image to annotation.
Leading: Spacing between lines.
Leaf: Two backing pages of a book.
Lectionary: Book of a scriptural lessons for reading at religious service.
Left-aligned/Justified: Ranged left or flushed left.
Legend: Synonym of caption.
Letter Fit: In type design, the way in which the impression is taken from raised surfaces of type matter or blocks; also called "relief" or "typographic process".
Letterhead(ing): Strictly speaking, the heading - a name, address and telephone number of a business or individual - on any item of stationary, but more generally used to describe the item of stationary specifically used for writing letters.
Letterpress: A printing process. The image is raised and inked to produce an impression.
Letterpress Book: Used to describe a book which is printed by whatever process as distinct from a stationery book.
Letterpress Printing: Term usually applied to commercial relief printing process, whereby the raised surface of metal type, a block, or plate is inked and the image transferred to paper under pressure.
Letterset: Rotary letterpress which transfers image from a wraparound plate of offset cylinder, as with offset-litho.
Letter-spacing: Inserting spaces between letters within a word, as distinct from word spacing.
Lexicon: Dictionary, especially of an ancient language.
lhp: Abbreviation for "left-hand page".
Library: A feature of some applications to provide a facility for storing frequently used items or attributes (such as colors) that you have created so that you can access them immediately from within any document.
Library Binding: One of strength and durability suited to frequent handling of books over long periods of time.
Library Congress Number: A reference number given to the American edition of a book and recorded at the Library of Congress. This is a common practice not required by law.
Lifted Matter: Text, already typeset, that is taken from one job to be used in another.
Lift-Grounding Etching: A form of aquatint etching in which an artist paints the design on a plate with sugary liquid. The plate is covered with an acid-resistant varnish and submerged in water, which causes the sugary area to lift off. The exposed parts are then aquatinted and etched. The aquatint ground can be also laid on the plate before the sugar-lift is applied.
ligature: Two or three characters joined together as one. See diagram below.
Light Level: The degree of ambient light, the intensity of which may be high or low.
Light, Light Face: Type with an inconspicuous light appearance. It is based on the same design as medium, or roman, weight type in the same type family. The opposite to bold.
Light Table/Box: A table or box with a translucent glass top lit from below, giving a color-balanced light suitable for viewing color transparencies and for color-matching transparencies to proofs.
Limitcheck Error: An error you may encounter when printing a complex document, caused by an illustration containing too many line segments for PostScript to handle. Some applications may allow you to reduce the number of line segments in an illustration for printing purposes.
Limp Binding: One with a flexible cover made of paper, cloth or plastic; usually called "soft biding" or "soft cover" in the USA.
Line-and-Halftone Plate: Line and halftone images combined on one plate; known in USA as "combination plate" or "combo".
Line Art(work): Artwork or camera-ready copy consisting only of black on white, with no intermediate tones and thus not requiring halftone reproduction.
Linear: In line. For example, a linear polymer is a polymer that is like a line, having no branches such as trees that have long side-groups. Also one of Wolfflin’s categories stressing the creation of form by outlines or contour lines - a main trait of graphic arts.
Linear A: Ancient Cretan script, still undeciphered.
Linear B: Ancient script used in Crete and mainland Greece, deciphered in 1952.
Line Block: A printing plate made of zinc or copper consisting of solid areas and lines. It is reproduced directly from a line drawing without tones. It is mounted on a wooden block to type height.
Line Conversion: Transforming halftone original into a line image by elimination of all middle tones; sometimes called "drop-out".
Line Copy: Line art(work).
Line Gauge: Type scale.
Line Incriminate: The smallest allowable increase in the basic measure between typeset lines.
Line Interval: Vertical distance between the base line of one line type to the base line of next; basic line interval corresponds to "body size" of metal type.
Line Original: One that is intended for line reproduction.
Line Pattern: The sequence of dots, dashes and spaces in a rule.
Lines per inch (lpi): Refers to the screen ruling or frequency of halftone film. It is the unit of measurement describing the dots on halftone film which form regular lines. It is related to but independant of dpi (or dots per inch).
Line Tool: In graphics applications, the tool that you use to draw lines and rules. If the tool can only draw horizontal and vertical rules it will usually be called an "orthogonal" line tool.
Line Type: Method of size measurement for wooden type, one "line" being 12 points.
Line Up: The arrangement of two lines of type, two illustrations, or a line of type and an illustration, to touch the same imaginary horizontal line.
Line Weight: The thickness of a line or rule.
Lines per Inch: The measurement used to describe the resolution, or coarseness, of a halftone, being the number of rows of dots to each inch. The range in common use varies between around 85 lpi for halftones or more for art papers. The default setting on laser printers is usually 60 lpi.
Lining: (i) Refers to any used on the back of a shell; (ii) Technique for outlining the shape of a surface with one or more decorative lines.
Lining Figures/Numerals: A set of numerals aligned at the top and bottom. Sometimes called "modern" numerals.
Lining Paper: Plain, flat wallpaper used to line the walls of a room, often over imperfect plaster. It can be painted if first sealed with diluted undercoat.
Lining Up/Lineup Table: A table used for preparing and checking paste-up, flats, etc. It will be generally comprised of a gridded, illuminated surface with movable scales.
Linking: In some frame-based page layout applications, the facility for connecting two or more text boxes so that the text flows from one box to another.
Linocut: A relief printing surface of linoleum on which the background to the design is cut away with a knife, gouge or engraving tool.
Linocut Equipment: Palette knife and push knife for mixing inks; tap knife for cutting lino; spoon for hand-printing rollers lino; gouges; V-tools; baren, a purpose made tool for hand-printing.
Linoleum Block: Linoleum surfaced block used for block printing. Image to be printed is carved on the surface of the linoleum.
Linotype: Type composing machine which produces a line of type (slug) in one piece, similar to Intertype.
Linotype Hell: A German type foundry and manufacturer of typesetting equipment (such as the Linotronic series imagesetters), supply Postscript and TrueType fonts. The original linotype machine was the first keyboard operated composing machine to employ the principle of "matrix", and cast type in solid lines, or "slugs". It was invented by the German-born American engineer Ottmar Mergenthaler and patented in 1884. The Monotype machine was invented almost simultaneously, in 1885.
Linting: In off-set lithography, accumulation of loose bits of uncoated paper on the surface of a blanket cylinder, affecting print quality.
Literal: Spelling error due to wrong or omitted letter in typesetting: known as typo (typographical error).
Literary-Minded: Derogatory term applied by some graphic designers to others who show concern for such factors as "readability".
Lith: A high contrast and high quality photographic emulsion used in graphic reproduction.
Lithography: A planographic (flat-surfaced) printmaking technique invented by Alois Senefelder in 1798, employing limestone slabs, or alternatively zinc plates, and chemical antagonism of grease and water. An artist draws on the stone with any greasy medium. The stone is “etched” with a mixture of nitric acid and gum arabic to set the image, and then wetted down, inked and printed. In other words, printing from a dampened, flat surface using greasy ink, based on the principle of the mutual repulsion of oil and water.
Lithography Equipment: Lithographic stick ink; lithographic crayons; pencil and graphite sticks; lithographic drawing inks; printing inks; large inking roller; zinc litho plate; expandable sponge.
Loading (of paper): Substance added to pulp of paper to improve opacity and allow a high finish (e.g. china clay).
Location: Site for filming that is outside the studio.
Loc cit: Abbreviation for "loco citation"; a Latin term for "in the place named". It is used as a reference in footnotes.
Lock: In some applications, the facility for securing, or fixing, an item so that it cannot be moved or modified.
Locus: Path described by point moving according to a given law (e.g. point moving at a constant distance from a second point traces the locus which is circular).
Logo: Abbreviation for "Logotype". A word or image cast as one unit that symbolizes corporations.
Designer: Marie-Therese Wisniowski.
Logogram: Sign or character standing for a word (e.g. Chinese characters).
Long Cross: Same as "dagger".
Long Page: A page with the type area extended by one or two lines to avoid an inconvenient break.
Look-/See-/Show-Through: The term used when describing the opacity of a paper, as indicated by the degree to which an image or type on one side of the sheet may be visible on the other.
Look-Through: Appearance of paper when viewed against a light: also called "see through" in the USA.
Loose-Leaf: One which permits leaves to be removed at will.
Lower Case: abb. "lc". Small letters in typeface (e.g. a,b,c,d) as distinct from upper case/caps and small caps.
Low Relief Screen Printing (LRSP): This technique was developed by Marie-Therese Wisniowski. It enables the printing of low relief textured surfaces with fabric paint and acrylic print paste using a silk screen. In LRSP the technique builds on previous screen colors, melding and then intermixing with the next color. The amount of prints created using the LRSP technique can be endless (as long as your relief items are durable). You can print six or six hundred prints by continually changing colors with each successive print.
Technique: LRSP employing fabric paints using found plastics and leaves on fabric substrate (detail).
lpm: Initials of "lines per minute". Rate at which a computer output device will print.
Luminance: A term used to describe the strength of a greyscale video signal.
Machine Composition: Any operation producing type matter by means of keyboards and composing machines.
Machine-Finished Paper: Uncoated paper polished to a high gloss on one side but left rough on the other; suitable for posters.
Machine Proof: A final proof made on a machine similar to the one on which it will be printed (if not that actual machine).
Machine Sheet: Any printed sheet off printing press during a run.
Mackle: Blur or double impression on a printed sheet.
Macron: Horizontal line over vowel indicating that it is long (as in "makrón").
Major Key: The organization of values in a work that produces high contrast.
Magenta: The special shade of red that is one of the four process colors used in four-color printing, sometimes called process red. Theoretically, magenta contains no blue (cyan) or yellow.
Main Exposure: The first exposure in the conventional processing of a halftone image.
Make-Up: (i) The sheet indicating the position of various items on a page; (ii) The final prepping assembly whether it be on paper, film or on a computer, of all items to be printed.
Make Ready: The term describing the process of preparing a printing press before a new run, to establish register, evenness of impression.
Manifold: Very thin "bank" paper, used when large number of carbon copies is required.
Manilla: Strong, buff-colored paper used for envelopes and folders, made from fibrous hemp.
Manuscript: Abbreviated as "MS". Any written matter intended for typesetting.
Marbling (Paper): Decorative paper used for binding books, and sometimes the book edges. It is done by dipping the sheet in a bath of color floating on a surface gum. The colors do not mix but can be combined into patterns with the use of a comb, and transfer readily to the paper surface.
Margin: Perimeter of mesh adjacent to the frame of screen: this non-printing area is closed during printing either temporarily or permanently to protect the mesh and to be used as a printing reservoir.
Margin Guides: In some applications, non-printing guides used to indicate the edges of a pre-defined text or image area.
Marked Proof: A proof that has any necessary corrections marked on it before it is given to the author.
Mark-Up: (i) To specify, to anyone in the reproduction process, every detail of a job that the person may require to carry out the job properly; (ii) The actual item produced to put (i) into effect.
Marquee: In some applications, a moving dotted line drawn using the pointer or some other tool, to select the area within.
Mask: (i) A material used to block out part of a layout; (ii) A photographic image modified in tone or color.
Masking: (i) Applying a protective layer to a part of a layout in order for it to resist a following process(es); (ii) A technical method of adjusting values of color and tone in a photomechanical reproduction; (iii) Covering a surface to provide a barrier against a layer of paint.
Masking Film: Transparent film in various colors with a plastic backing used to cut stencils for photo-emulsion process.
Masking Paper: In plastic work, the protective paper placed over the surface of a plastic sheet.
Masking Tape: Used to mask out areas, hold on stencils etc.
Master Page: In some applications, the page to which certain attributes, such as the number of text columns, page numbers, the style etc., can be given which can then be applied to any other page in the document.
Master Proof: Galley proof or page proof containing printer's corrections and queries, to which author's corrections are added, which is returned to the printer.
Masthead: Information about publishing house which appears above editorial of newspaper or on contents page of a periodical.
Mathematical Signs/Symbols: Type symbols used as a shorthand for mathematical concepts and processes, e.g. "+" (add), etc.
Matrix: Metal plate for casting type faces.
Matrix Formatting Screen Printing (MFSP): This technique was developed by Marie-Therese Wisniowski. It involves creating a number of images that are then spliced together to form a matrix. The base unit is overlaid by the components of the matrix during the screen printing process. This gives the works an underlying symmetry, which projects a real sense of vibrancy.
Title: Cultural Graffiti VIII (Full View) - Prints On Paper.
Technique: Matrix formatted silkscreen prints employing dyes and metallic foil on Pescia.
Edition: Edition of 3.
Size: 76 cm (width) x 56 cm (length).
First Exhibited: Selected in 2006 to participate in the "2006 Swan Hill Print and Drawing Acquisitive Awards", Swan Hill Regional Art Gallery, Swan Hill, Victoria, Australia.
Sold on Inspection, Private Collection, New South Wales, Australia.
Matte: Having a dull, almost non-reflective surface; the opposite of glossy. Matte varnishes protect a painting without glossiness.
Matter: Traditionally, manuscript or copy to be printed or type that has been set.
Mattoir: In intaglio printmaking, a hand-held instrument with blunt spiked head that achieves tone by stippling the plate.
Mean-Line: Upper limit of the x-line; imaginary line running along the tops of lower case characters which do not have ascenders.
Measure: The width of a setting, usually measured in 12 pt (pica) ems.
Mechanical: Camera-ready art(work).
Mechanical Binding: One in which the leaves are fastened by inserting metal or plastic units into holes punched or drilled through them; may be permanent as in spiral binding, or loose leaf, as in a ring binder.
Mechanical Pulp: Basis of newsprint and other cheap printing papers being untreated chemically; known in the USA as "groundwood".
Mechanical Tints: Tints consisting of dot or line patterns that can be laid down on artwork before or during reproduction process.
Medium: (i) A standard size printing paper (457 x 584 mm or 23 x 18 inches); (ii) The liquid usually linseed oil, in which the pigment of a printing ink is dispersed; (iii) An alternative name for benday tint; (iv) Weight of a typeface between light and bold; (v) The mode of expression employed by an artist: cloth, canvas, etching, painting, sculpture etc. (vi) In communication industry, the means whereby information is conveyed: book, movie, newspapers, magazines, periodicals, radio, TV and the internet.
Megabyte (MB): unit describing the amount of data stored in a computer or a digital device. One megabyte is equal to 1024 kilobytes, and equivalent to approximately 175,000 words.
Meisho-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Meisho (literally, "place with a name") are famous locations, often with literary and historical connections, which sometimes led to standardized poetic connotations; seasonal associations were often also present. Hence meisho-e, prints of famous places.
Melange Printing: The printing of carded sliver in a striped pattern to produce subtle color effects in the yarn.
Memory: The capacity of a computer to recall and remember information. Read only memory (ROM) is memory which stores information for running the computer. Random Access Memory (RAM) is the memory available for aan screen activities and is only available when the computer is active. A third form of memory is permanent memory or storage memory where information from RAM is saved on a digital device.
Merge: A facility in some applications to combine data from two documents.
Mesh: The woven polyester fabric of a screen.
Metal Halide Lamp: Photographic light source with rating up to 5,000 watts, consisting of a very small discharge seal encased in an outer bulb.
Metallic Ink: A printing ink, which produces an effect of gold, silver, copper or bronze.
Metrics: Font information, e.g. character width, kerning, ascent and descent.
Mezzotint: An intaglio method of printmaking based on tone rather than line, in which the artists works from dark to light. The plate is first scored all over with a rocker (at this stage, the plate would print totally black after inking). Then the scoring is smoothed out in varying degrees to arrive at lighter values. Mezzotint was widely used in England as a reproductive printmaking technique (hence its alternate name - “the English manner”).
Mezzotint Equipment: Coarse mezzotint rocker; fine mezzotint rocker; copper plate; burnisher; curved scraper.
mf: Initials for "more follows".
Microfiche: Microform recording medium in which many images are arranged in rows on sheet of film and space is left for eye-legible title - see diagram below.
Microfilm: Used in data processing and for documentation and record compilation; material is often filmed onto 16 mm ("cine" or "comic" formats) for use as reels - is now obsolete.
Millboard: Hard, tough well rolled board with good finish; used for covers of account books and some case-bound printed books.
Mill Ream: 472 sheets of handmade or mold-made paper.
Minor Key: The organization of value in a work that produces low contrast.
Minuscules: An alternative term for lower case letters.
Minus Leading/Linespacing: Negative leading.
Mirrored Image: A pattern where the images are mirror reflections of themselves horizontally or vertically, or both at the same time.
Missal: Prayer book, specifically for the Roman Catholic Mass.
Mitate-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Mitate (literally, "likened") are contemporary recreations of well-known scenes from history or myth, often with a parody in mind; hence mitate-e, prints in this mode.
Mizu-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "water picture"; woodblock prints printed in a pale vegetable blue, or with a colored instead of black outlines, from the 1760's; very rare.
Title: Water: the Drifting Boat--Genji and Two Companions Watching Ducks in Snowy River (Mizu-e: Ukifume), from the series The Five Elements (Mitate gogyo). Date: ca. 1850.
Mock Up: The rough visualization of a publication or packaging design showing size, color, type etc.
Modeling Tool: In foil, tooling an instrument with a smooth spoon end used to raise the design.
Modern Numerals: See lining figures/numerals.
Moiré: An aberration occurring in halftone reproduction when two or more colors are printed, giving a halftone image an appearance rather like that of watered silk. This is caused by two or more dot screens being positioned at the wrong angles or, sometimes, by the re-screening of an image to which a halftone screen has already been applied. The angle at which screens should be positioned depends upon the number of colors being printed, but the norm for four-color process printing, and thus the default settings for most software applications that support four color separation, is: cyan 105o; magenta 75o; yellow 90o; black 45o.
Mokume-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "wood-eye printing"; the use of the natural grain in a woodblock to produce effects such as the appearance of waves on water, or of raked lines on sand-beds.
Monetary Symbol: A type of symbol denoting a unit of currency, e.g. US dollar "$".
Monochromatic: Pertaining to a single color or hue; composition organized around tonal variations of one color.
Monochromatic Color Scheme: A color scheme using (variations of) the one hue.
Monochrome: An image made up of varying tones but in only one color.
Monochrome: Any image or reproduction made in a single color.
Monograph: Publication dealing with a single object or person.
Monoprint: The result obtained from printmaking methods that yield only one unique print.
Monoprint Equipment: Brushes; papers or cloths; mixing slabs; block-printing inks; palette knife; rollers.
Monospace: Description of typewriter type fonts in which all characters are of equal width, as distinct from the more usual proportionally spaced fonts.
Monotype: A form of printmaking that produces only one or two images; a plate or glass sheet (or virtually any surface) is painted with ink or paint and paper pressed against this surface. A traced monotype is made by drawing on a top sheet placed over another sheet containing some sort of pigment, thus transferring the image to a sheet on the bottom.
Montage: Assembling portions of several images to form a single original. In other words, a method of composition in photography, cinema and television; the technique of combining imagery from various sources to create a unified visual presentation; film editing; superimposition, intercutting, overlapping etc.
Mottling: An uneven impression, especially in flat areas.
ms: (i) millisecond; (ii) manuscript.
Multifilament: Fabric woven from strands made up of multiple threads; used in making screen mesh.
Multi-media: The activity of integrating text, graphics, sound and video for (mostly) presentational purposes, and the applications that enable you to do this.
Multi-Plex Screen Printing (MPSP): This technique was developed by Marie-Therese Wisniowski. It is titled, "Multi-Plexing", and employs the use of transparent inks. The technique involves multi-complex layering of transparent inks and visuals using block out medium to create painterly effects of great depth, movement and rich transparent layers to the silk screened image.
Title: Federation on Hold - Call Waiting; Press Four - Refugees.
Technique: Multi-PLex Screen Printing.
Multi-Selectable Items: In some applications, the selection of two or more items so that they can be modified or moved as one.
MultiSperse Dye Sublimation (MSDS): Developed by Marie-Therese Wisniowski, the MSDS technique employs disperse dyes and involves hand printing multiple resists and multiple overprinted layers employing numerous color plates, mixed media and low relief plant materials. The completed works are rich in color, light, shade, contrast, movement and depth. The multiple layers also imbue a painterly aesthetic and textural, three-dimensional quality to the finished ArtCloth works. Each print is unique and cannot be replicated.
Title: Flames Unfurling.
Technique: MSDS.
Multitasking: The facility to run two or more applications at the same time.
Musha-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Originally, paintings of historically important warriors; also includes warrior prints.
Music Font: A font which is used for musical notation, sometimes exclusively within music computer programs or applications.
MYC System: A pigment system in which magenta, yellow and cyan are the primary colors.
Nameplate: Heading in a magazine or newspaper's main page.
Nanushi (Japanese Woodblock Term): Literally, "mayor" (of a village or town); the name for a group of censors who examined woodblock prints in the period 1842-1853.
Necker's Cube: One of several drawn figures used by perceptual psychologist to demonstrate visual ambiguity, pointed out by L.A. Necker in 1832; the cube may be thought of as viewed either from above or below.
Needle File: One using "edge-notched cards".
Negative: The reverse of an image, where the areas shown as dark appear as light. In screen-printing, printing the negative space means printing the background rather than the image itself.
Negative Leading/Linespacing: In text, a line interval smaller than the point size of the type.
New Line Character: In some applications, a character that you can insert to start a new line without starting a new paragraph (e.g. pressing Shift-Return key on a computer).
New Wave/Nouvelle Vague: French cinema movement of the 1960s that cut down on the standard narrative and filming techniques in favour of improvisation, simple settings, and symbolism.
Nib: Metal tip of a lettering pen, which holds ink supply; point of lettering, which touches the writing surface.
Nick (of type): Groove in shank of type.
Nishiki-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "brocade picture"; the final stage of development of woodblock prints printed in multiple colors, first produced in Edo in 1764-65.
NLQ: Near Letter quality, describing a type of low-quality printer.
Nomogram (Nomograph): Arranging three scales so that the straight-edge joining known values on two scales is extended to a third scale to provide the desired value.
Nonbreaking Space: Hard space.
Non-Impact Printing: Print work produced without a plate or cylinder, e.g. by the writer head of a plotter.
Non-Lining Figures and Numerals: A set of old-style numerals designed with descenders and ascenders, therefore not of standard height and alignment, as are lining figures.
Non-Printing Characters: Invisible characters such as pilcrow (¶) - the paragraph mark.
np: Initials of "new paragraph"; used in proof correction.
Numbering Format: A term generally used to describe the style of numbering used for page numbers, e.g. 1,2,3; I, II, III; etc.
Numerator and Denominator (Typefaces): Used for fractals.
Nunome-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "fabric printing"; another embossed printing effect. Produced by hard pressure on a piece of muslin or silk fabric wrapped around an un-inked block, with the print dampened, leaving the pattern of the fabric embossed into the paper.
Object Color: A colored foreground item that is printed against a background color.
Object Orientated: Of graphic applications, those that allow selection and manipulation of individual, but self-contained, portions of an illustration or design, as distinct from a bitmapped graphics which are edited by modifying pixels or tuning them off or on. An object-orientated application uses mathematical points, based on vectors (information giving both magnitude and direction) to define lines and shapes. Strictly speaking, these points are the "objects" referred to here (as distinct from an illustration or graphic, as an object) - an object in computing programing being a database of mathematical formulae. The data for each shape is stored in these points, each one a database, which in turn passes information from one to another on how the paths between them should be described - as straight lines, arcs or Bézier curves. This means that the quality of the line between each point is determined entirely by the resolution of the output device - a line produced by an imagesetter will be very much smoother than the same line output on a Laserwriter.
Oblique Roman: In typography, same as "sloped" Roman.
OCR: Optical character recognition.
Octavo: Cut or folded sheet, which is one-eighth of a basic sheet size.
Offcut: Paper cut to waste when sheet is trimmed to size.
Offprint: A feature or portion of a publication made available separately from the whole work, specially for use of the author; may be either a "run on" of main printing or a subsequent reprint.
Offsetting: The process by which an area of wet printing mixture or other substance (such as a screen filler) is applied to a surface, then lifted from it by contacting it with another flat surface (e.g. a sheet of glossy paper), and then printed (offset) onto a third surface (or into another position on the first surface).
Offset Photolithography (Offset-litho, Offset): Usual commercial form of photolithography, in which an inked image is first transferred to a rubber blanket and then to paper.
Ogham: Ancient angular Celtic alphabet and script, used mainly in Ireland.
Ōkubi-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "large head picture"; a bust portrait showing just the head and shoulders of the subject.
Old Face/Style: A typeface characterized bye diagonal stress and asleep, bracketed serifs. Garamond is an example of an old face.
Omnibus: Book assembling any related studies, or many writings by a single author.
One-and-a-Half Up: Artwork prepared at one and a half times the size it will eventually be reproduced at. It will need to be reduce by one third or to 66% to be the correct size.
Onion Skin: Highly glazed, very thin, translucent paper.
Opacity: The term used to describe non-transparency in printing.
Opaline: Fine, translucent paper with high glaze, used for greeting cards.
Op cit: Abbreviation for "opera citation". A Latin term meaning "in the work quoted"; used as a footnote reference.
Open Bite: In printmaking it describes large areas on metal plates which are etched away by acid and retain little ink.
Open/Standing Time: Unused production time due to a break in the schedule.
Optical Alignment: Arranging certain characters, such as the T below, to project into the left-hand margin so as to give a better appearance. See below.
Optical Center: A point within a rectangle, slightly higher than the actual geometric center, at which an object or image appears to be centrally place.
Opticals: Trick techniques such as wipes and dissolves.
Optical Spacing: In typesetting, arranging letter spacing within a line of caps to give a more even effect.
Optical Type Font: A font used in optical character recognition.
Ordinate: Coordinate parallel to the y-axis in a coordinate graph.
Origami: Japanese art of paper folding.
Origin: The fixed, or zero, point of the horizontal and vertical axes or of the rulers displayed in some applications, from which measurements can be made.
Original: Any image, artwork or text matter intended for reproduction.
Origination: A term used to describe any or all of the reproduction processes that may occur between design and printing.
Ornament: Dingbat.
Orphan: A short line, usually the first line of a paragraph, that falls at the bottom of a page or column.
Orthochromatic: Photographic materials sensitive to green and yellow as well as blue light.
Outer Forme: One which includes the outermost pages of a folded section.
Outline Font: A typeface formed from an outline which can be scaled or rotated to any size or resolution. Outline fonts, often called printer fonts or laser fonts, are generally used for printing by laser printers and imagesetters, but both PostScript and TrueType font outlines can also be used for screen display. As distinct from bitmapped fonts which are comprised of dots.
Outline Letter: A type design in which the character is formed of outlines rather than a solid shape - see above.
Output Device: A hardware device that displays data in a visual form; the monitor, printers, and imagesetters are all output devices.
Outtake: Series of frames discarded from the finished version of a film.
Outwork: Printing operations which cannot be done by main printer and are sub-contracted out.
Overflow: In some applications, the term given to excess text when it will not all fit into its allocated space. Traditionally called "overmatter".
Overhang Cover: One which extends beyond trimmed leaves of a book.
Overhead: A term describing space in a document that is occupied by formatting data rather than by the actual content you have created or need to access.
Overlay: Translucent or transparent material laid over a piece of artwork or other original copy, on which instructions may be shown; also one of a series of separations in artwork drawn for color reproduction.
Overlaying Color: The color printed on top of part or on all of another color; an overlaying color might also be printed to correct a poorly printed or unsatisfying underlying color.
Overlaying Technique: Collage method in which smaller illustrations are pasted over a background illustration.
Overmatter: The traditional term for typeset matter which will not fit within the space allocated for it.
Overprint: Printing over an already printed area.
Overrun: The term describing words that move from one line to the next, possibly for several successive lines, as a result of a text insertion or correction. The opposite of run back.
Overs, Overruns: Any part of a print run in excess of quantity ordered, usually by intention to allow for spoils.
Ozalid: A proprietary name describing a copy made by the diazo process and often used to refer to the pre-press proofs of an imposed publication.
p, pp: page, pages.
Page: One side of a leaf book, sub-divided as below.
Page(d) Proof: Proof from print matter after it has been made up into pages.
Page Break: In continuous text, the place between two lines where the text is interrupted so that it fits on a page.
Page Layout: See layout.
Page Layout/Makeup Application: Any application that assists you to carry out all (and more) of the functions normally associated with layout and make-up.
Page Preview: A facility to view a page before it is printed, necessary in some applications such as word processors and databases.
Page Proofs: Proofs of pages which has been paginated. traditionally, the term refers to the secondary stage in proofing, after galley proofs and before machine proofs, although there may be other stages of proofing both before and after page proofs, such as "blues" used to check imposition.
Pages-to-View: Number of pages appearing on one side of sheet; thus 16 page section would normally be "8 pages-to-view".
Paginate: To number pages of a book consecutively.
Painters Tape: Low-tack masking tape.
Paint(ing) Application/Program: Painting applications can be defined as those which use bitmaps as distinct from drawing applications which tend to be object-orientated, although some applications combine both.
Palette Knife: Knife with flexible steel blade and no cutting edge. Used to mix colors, apply thick paint, papier mache or other soft materials used in arts and crafts.
Pan: Swing the camera sideways, across a scene, to follow a mocking object or produce a panoramic effect.
Panchromatic: Photographic material which is sensitive to all visible colors and to ultraviolet light.
Pantograph: Device consisting of articulated rods, pointer and pen, used to copy any image to a reduced or enlarged scale. Becoming obsolete.
Paperback: Book with paper cover, also known as "softback" or "soft cover" and in USA (if of a small format) as "pocketbook".
Paper Sizes (except for A, B, C Series): Most common paper sizes used for printing are as below.
Paper Stencil: The paper is firmly attached to screen mesh and so acts as a resist to the printing process. Any cut out portions of the paper creates an image onto the substrate that the screen mesh is positioned on top of.
Papier-Mâché: A sculptural material made of pulped paper or strips of paper mixed with paste; can be pressed, molded or modeled when moist; dries hard.
Papyrus: Writing material made from pressed stalks of large reeds; used in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome.
Paragraph Format: See format.
Paragraph Mark: Type character indicating beginning of a new paragraph; usually as alternative to indention; also used as a sixth order of "reference marks".
Parallax Error: The difference between what is seen through a viewfinder and what is recorded on a film or an electronic device.
Parallel: (i) Type character used as a fifth order of “reference marks" used for footnotes; (ii) two lines that are perfectly aligned to each other in order that they can never cross.
Parallel Fold: Folding sheet once, then again along a line parallel to the first fold.
Parallel Projections: Drawing projections in which the observer is considered to be at infinity, so that "visual rays" (called "Projectors") are parallel to each other.
Parchment: Goat or sheep-skin, scraped and dressed with lime and pumice and used for writing on.
Parked: Description of a drive's read/write heads when they are at rest enabling you to move the drive.
pars pro toto: Latin for - "the part standing for the whole"; common device in graphic communication (also known as “synecdoche").
Partitive Mixing: It is the same as optical mixing.
Pass: One cycle of an operation through printing machine; may involve more than one impression or transfer of image.
Pass for Press: Endorsement that a job has had all the corrections made and is ready for press. Also called "OK press".
Passim: Latin for - "here-and-there"; used in footnotes.
Pasteboard: In some applications, the non-printing area around the page on which items can be stored or modified.
Pastel Manner: The color form of the crayon manner in printmaking, used primarily to reproduce pastels.
Paste-Up: Any copy prepared for reproduction which comprises of several elements assembled and pasted as one; in addition, may refer to layout assembly used as a guide to a printer, not for reproduction.
Path: A line, or segment of a line, drawn in an object-orientated application.
Patterned Fill/Line: In some applications, the facility to select a pattern from a palette and use it to fill a shape or rule.
PD: Public Domain.
PDL: Page Description Language.
Peculiars: See special sorts.
Peer-to-Peer: A network system in which data is spread around different users, who access it directly from each other, rather than from a central "client server".
Peintre-Graveur: (French meaning - ”painter-engraver”). Original printmaker, in contradistinction to a professional, reproductive printmaker.
Pentagram: Five-pointed star formed by extending the sides of pentagon - see below.
Perfect Binding: Binding method in which cut backs of leaves of a book are secured by synthetic glue; also known as "thread-less binding" or "unsewn binding".
Perfecting: Printing second, or reverse side of sheet; also called "backing up".
Perfecting Press (Perfector): Rotary press which prints both sides of the paper in one pass through a machine (though not simultaneously).
Perforating at Press: Using a sharpened, slotted rule locked into forme to produce a dot or dash perforation in a sheet.
Peripheral Device: Any hardware device or computing equipment attached to a computer. Input devices are the keyboard, scanner, touch pad and mouse; output devices are printers and imagesetters.
Permanent Font: An "official" term, although a misnomer, for fonts that are manually downloaded to a printer - they are only permanent until you switch off your printer, meaning you have to download them again when switched on. As distinct from a "transient", or automatically downloaded, font, which only lasts in memory while a document is being printed.
Personal Computer: A computer that is a self-contained unit and not attached to a central computing unit located elsewhere. PC is abbreviated from the phrase - personal computer.
Perspective: A system for creating illusions of depth on a flat surface; usually it is within the confines a linear system.
Perspective (Aerial): The technique of making a two-dimensional surface, appear three-dimensional through the use of value, intensity and temperature.
Perspective (Linear): The techniques of making a two-dimensional surface appear three-dimensional through the use of line.
Pharmacopoeia/Dispensatory: Official manual listing and describing medical drugs and preparations.
Phonogram: A symbol designed as the written equivalent of a spoken sound, which may or may not correspond to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
Photocomposition: See phototypesetting.
Photocopy: Photographic copy from original; "photostat" is one kind of photocopy.
Photocopy Positive: A positive made on acetate or tracing paper using a photocopier.
Photo-direct Lithography: Process using plates made direct from original artwork without intermediate (negative) stage.
Photo Emulsion: It is a light-sensitive solution used in stencil making - such as producing photographic screens for screen printing.
Photo Emulsion Stencil: A stencil created by exposing a screen coated with light-sensitive emulsion.
Photoengraving: A photomechanical method for producing etched line or halftone plates.
Photo Gelatin Process: Another name for "collotype".
Photogram: Photographic image created without use of camera or film, by exposing photographic paper to light and throwing shadows on it.
Photographic Silhouette: A silhouette made by photographing a subject which is lighted from the side opposite the camera. Side facing the camera is on deep shadow and appears grey or black in the printed picture.
Photograph Stencil: A screen printing stencil prepared from light sensitive materials. The image is exposed on the stencil material and the stencil is developed with hydrogen peroxide and water. This treatment dissolves the stencil material over the image area so the ink can pass through.
Photogravure: Photomechanical "intaglio" printing process in which the impression is taken from a pattern of recessed dots (cells) of varying depth - see diagram below.
Photolitho(graphy): Photo-mechanical version of lithography.
Photomechanical: (i) A method of making printing plates that involves photographic techniques; (ii) The full version of the term "mechanical" meaning camera-ready art(work); paste-up.
Photomechanical Transfer (PMT): A method of photographically transferring images onto paper, film or metal litho plates. An image produced by this method is commonly called PMT. Also called diffusion, or chemical transfer, or "velour".
Photomontage: The use of images from different photographs combined to produce a new composite image.
Photopolymer Plates: Relief printing plates with a photo-polymer layer sensitive to UV light. Used extensively in the printing industry in letterpress and flexo-graphic printing applications to print on a great range of advertising materials, such as cardboard boxes, paper, plastic, and metal.
Photo Positive: A positive made photographically on lithium film using dark room techniques.
Photo Print: Used in photocomposition to describe equivalent of repro proof in machine composition.
Photostat (stat): Trade name, now accepted as general, for thin photocopy used as part of paste-up layout or presentation visual.
Phototypesetting: Alternate term for photocomposition.
Pica: The old name for 12 points, the unit of measurement used in setting.
Picking: Break-up of small portions of a paper surface during printing, caused by tackiness of ink; also known as pulling or plucking.
Pictogram/Pictograph: Pictorial sign; that is, one resembling the thing it stands for - see figure below.
Picture Skew: See skew.
Pinhole: An unwanted small open area on a photo-stencil that prints as a dot or a spot.
Pixel: Abbreviation for picture element. Pixels are dots of light on a computer screen which when illuminated represents the image. The higher the number of pixels the better the definition of the image.
Plano Graphic: Said of printing process such as lithography, in which printing surface is neither raised (relief) nor incised (intaglio).
Plate: A sheet of metal or paper bearing a design from which an impression is printed.
Plate (Book): Illustration on a different page from that used in text.
Plate Cylinder: In Offset lithography, one which carries inked plate, as against a blanket cylinder.
Platemaker: A professional working in the printing industry who converts artwork into printing plates using photographic processes.
Plate (Printing): Metal, rubber or plastic surface from which impression is taken.
Platen Press: Letterpress machine in which paper is pressed onto type matter from a flat surface called a platen; one which has a flat impression as distinct from a cylindrical one. See diagram below.
Plate Tone: The background tone of prints produced in intaglio techniques, imparted by the ink left on the surface of the plate after wiping.
Plotter: An output device that uses an inked pen, or assembly of pens, to produce large format prints. Plotters are mostly used in CAD/CAM industries.
PMS: Initials of "Pantone Matching System"; prefix attached to color samples and specifications which employ that system.
Pochoir: The method of making an individual printing by brushing through a stencil.
Pocket Envelope: One with an opening and flap on shorter side, as distinct from "banker envelope".
Point: Basic unit of typographic measurement: 0.351 mm; 12pts = 1 pica em.
Point (Didot): 0.375 mm; 12 Didot points = one cicero or corps douze.
Polychromate: Made of many colors, as in painted statuary or the multi-colored ceramic sculpture of the Della Robbia family.
Polychrome: Multi-colored.
Polygon Tool: A tool in some applications with which you can draw polygonal, to which text, pictures or fills may be applied.
POP: (i) Post Office Preferred - approval of size of envelopes etc.; (ii) Post Office Protocol - a standard protocol for delivering email to personal computers; (iii) Point of Purchase; (iv) Point of Presence - a place where an internet service provider can be accessed - such as a local telephone number.
Portrait Format: Image format in which the height is greater than the width.
Pos (Pozzy): Slang for positive transparency, with particular reference to those used in platemaking process.
Postal Trap: Any mailed piece (e.g. unsealed envelope) which may trap another during collection, sorting or delivery.
Posterization: Separating range of tones in continuous-tone original into flat, graded tones, using several negatives, one for each grade, then making a composite print of them all; also called tone separation.
PostScript Font: See outline font.
PP, P: Abbreviation for "pages, page", respectively.
Prelims: Short for preliminary pages - those pages of a book preceding main body.
Prepared for Printing: Fabric that has been scoured, degummed and bleached.
Pre-Press: See origination.
Preprint: Part of a publication printed before main production, usually as loose sheet intended to be dropped into bound copies.
Presentation Visual: Careful representation which may be drawn, photo-printed, typeset or an amalgam of these, to show intended effect of printed job; known in USA as comprehensive or comp.
Looking for error in a press proof.
Press Proof: Last proof to be read before giving to OK to print.
Pressure Sensitive: Used to describe transfer lettering.
Primary Arc: Any arc consisting of hues that fall between a pair of primary hues on a hue circle; for example, an arc of hues between red and yellow in an RYB hue circle.
Primer: Introductory book, especially a language-teaching book.
Printability: The degree to which an original, material or other intended component will contribute to an effective piece of print.
Printer's Flowers: Type ornament in the form of small flower or plant - see below.
Printer Font: A font used for printing, as distinct from a font that can be down-loaded to a printer.
Printer's Ornament: Generic term covering all type of matter intended to create decorative effects, such as borders, arabesques and flowers.
Printer's Reader: One who corrects proofs at printer's before they are sent to the author.
Printing Processes: The main classes of printing processes are intaglio, plano graphic, relief, stencil. All these rely on the contact of surfaces under pressure.
Printmaking: A term referring to printing processes used in making fine-art prints or print editions.
Title: Veiled Curtains - Benazir.
Technique: Multi-plex silkscreen print on paper.
Print Origination: Preparatory work of print job up to proofing stage.
Print-Out Computer output via printing device; print out may be alphanumeric or graphic.
Print Run: Action of printing prescribed quantity of copies; quantity itself.
Print-To-Paper: Instruction to printer to use all available supply of paper rather than precisely specified number of copies.
Process Blue: Cyan.
Process Color: CMYK - cyan, yellow, magenta and black.
Process Color Printing: The printing that uses the four process color inks - cyan, magenta, yellow and black - to create full-color images. Halftone screens are used to break up continuous tone images into tiny dots which, when printed in each of the process inks overlap to form most colors, though by no means all.
Process Engraving: The name given to several photomechanical methods of producing relief blocks or late for printing.
Process Inks: Those used in four color and three color processors.
Process Printing: Separating color-image into a set of halftone positives each representing a translucent color (normally cyan, magenta, yellow or black). When these separations are screen printed in perfect register, the color image will be resembled.
Process Red: Magenta.
Process Yellow (Y): The special shade of yellow which is one of the four process colors used in four color printing.
Pro Forma: Invoice or statement rendered before supply of goods or services, usually to meet a budget deadline.
Progressives: A series of proofs showing each plate of color set in a sequence individually and in registered combination.
Proof: Test print (often on newsprint or cartridge but sometimes on editioning paper), which may consist of one or more, or all, stages of a printed image.
Proof Correction Marks: A standard set of signs and symbols commonly understood by all those involved in preparing copy for publication.
Proof Reader: Any person who reads proofs for the purpose of checking or revising before printing.
Proof Readers' Marks: Agreed set of signs used by editors and others concerned with copy preparation and proof correction.
Proofing Press: The bed of the press accommodates the height of the type blocks so it is ideal for printing woodcuts blocks and wood-mounted lino The paper is fitted to the cylinder, which is then rolled over the inked block.
Proportional Dividers: Device for enlarging or reducing dimensions for drawing or making conversions such as feet to meters.
Proportional Lining (Typefaces): Standard numeral set. These figures look best with capital letters.
Proportional Oldstyle (Typefaces): Classical figures with ascenders and descenders. This set can be used for both lower case and capital letters.
Proportional Scale: A simple device for scaling photo and artwork.
Proportional Spacing: A method of spacing characters so that letters and numbers occupy an appropriate amount of space for their design, to accommodate, for example, difference in the width between "m" and "i".
Protractor: A drawing instrument for measuring angles.
Proud: Type matter standing away from a general body of matter on a page is said to be "proud" or "standing proud".
Prove: To make a proof.
Psalter: Book of psalms for use in religious service.
Public Domain: Description of any item of "intellectual property" that is free all copyrights, thus freeing it for use by anyone for any purpose, either because its copyright period has lapsed or because, as is sometimes the case with computer software, its creator has deem it so.
Publisher's Ream: One containing 516 sheets also known as a perfect ream.
Puff Binder: A water-based pigment that can be mixed with standard color, and expands under heat to create 3D effects with a rubbery texture.
Pull: See Proof.
Pulp: The basic material used in paper making broken down mechanically or chemically.
Punching Shapes: Those available for various mechanical binding forms, both loose-leaf and permanent. See below.
Punctuation Marks:
Puree (Pwree): Crude Indian yellow.
Put Down/Put Up: Instruction to printer: change to lower-case/change to caps.
Put To Bed: When letterpress formes, litho-plates or gravure plates are secured to presses ready for printing, they are said to "put to bed".
PVC Sheet: Genotherm, rigid, gloss, clear sheet: a transparent substrate manufactured for the printing industry.
PVT: Initials of "Page View Terminal".
QED: abbr. Quod erat demonstrandum, a Latin term meaning "a thing which has been proved".
Quad: In conventional typesetting, a space whose width is normally that of its height, thus "to quad", or "quadding", is to fill out a line with quad spaces.
Quadding: Driving abnormal space (e.g. "em-quad" or "en-quad") between words in order to fill out line; also used in reference to ranging left and right ("quad left/ quad right") and centering ("quad center") in linecaster composition and photocomposition.
Quantity Sizes: Dozen (doz.) = 12; Score = 20; Gross = 144 (or a dozen's dozen); Ton (USA) = 907.19 kg.
Quarto (4to): Cut or folded sheet, which is one quarter of a basic sheet size.
Quartz Iodine Lamp: See "tungstan halogen lamp".
Quilling: Art of rolling and bending narrow strips of paper into artistic shapes.
Quilling Tool: Small round tool which has one hollow end (forming a cylinder). Paper is attached to cylinder end via a small slot and wrapped into a "quill".
Quire: One twentieth of a ream; usually 24 or 25 sheets.
Quoin (pron: coyn): In letterpress, an expandable device used to take up space and lock up "forme" ready for press.
qv: abbr. Quod vide, a Latin term meaning "which see"; used to accompany a cross-reference term.
Qwerty: The standard type-writer-based keyboard layout used by most, although not all, devices that require the use of a keyboard. The name derives from the arrangement of the first six characters of the top row of letter keys.
®: The mark attached to a trade mark indicating that it is registered and cannot be used by any other person or organization.
Radial Fill: A fill pattern comprising of concentric circles of graduated tints.
Ragged Left/Right: Setting lines of type so that, though they are all set to standard measure, word spaces are not adjusted to make both edges align vertically.
Rag Paper: One made largely from rag pulp; used for best quality writings.
Raised Cap(ital): A bold face capital that projects above the line of type. Also called a "cocked up initial".
Raised Point/Dot: Full point raised from usual position on base line to position halfway up cap height usually as a decimal point.
Ranged Left/Right: A style of typesetting in which the lines of unequal length line up on either the left or right of a column of text so that they are vertically flush with each other, leaving the opposite ends of the lines uneven or "ragged".
Ranging Figures: See lining figures/numerals.
RA Paper Size: The designation of untrimmed paper sizes in the ISO A series of international paper sizes.
Real Time: The term is used to describe the actual time in which events occur as opposed to past or future events.
Ream: Standard quantity of paper containing 472, 480, 500, 504 or 516 sheets, according to the nature of material. In Europe it is standardized to 1,000 (mille).
Receding Color: Planes of color in a design that appear to move away from the viewer. Usually cool colors in a work have this characteristic but the effect depends on the color usage.
Rectangle Tool: See square corner tool.
Recto: Any right-hand page of a book; one which is odd numbered.
Recycled and Handmade Papers: Handmade papers can be embedded with floral, leaves and other plant fibers to yield interesting textures and colors. Photocopy paper may be used as pulp as it is cheap and stable, and any vegetable skins, flora and fauna can be used to give the paper a unique organic look.
Reduction Glass/Tool: See magnifying glass.
Reduction Printing: (i) Screen filler stencil process using a single open area: a series of stencils are made (and printed) which progressively reduce the printing area; (ii) A method of printing using only one screen for every color in the image. Each color is printed after applying a block out medium to the screen, with no block-out being removed. The open or unprinted areas of the screen become increasingly smaller during the process.
Reference Marks: Those type of characters, which key footnotes to the text above, usually appearing in the order as given below.
Reflected Color: Wavelength of light that reflects from a surface and so gives that surface its distinctive color.
Reflection Copy: Any flat item which is reproduce by photographic means, using light reflected from its surface.
Reflection Tool: In some applications, a tool by which you transform an element into its mirror image, or make a mirror-image copy of an element.
Reflow: The term describing the automatic reposting of running text and a result of editing.
Register: Two or more print impressions in their correct relationship on a sheet; hence "in register" and "out of register".
Registered Design: One which has been accepted by a Patent Office as a uniquely shape, configuration, pattern or ornament applied to an article by any industrial process or means.
Register Marks: Marks on a printed sheet appearing outside of a job area, when trimmed to size, used to ensure accurate register.
Registration: A method used to ensure that colors line up correctly and are printed in the right place on each piece of paper or fabric in the edition.
Registration Tabs: Stops or guides attached to the base of the screen frame in screen printing. Their purpose is to position the paper accurately during printing.
Relief Printing: Printing methods in which the image is obtained from a raised surface.
Remainders: Copies of book which is no longer selling at its original published price, reduced to clear stock.
Repeat Printing: Printing an image more than once on the same piece of fabric or paper. Often refers to printing in measured increments along a length of fabric, assembly-line style.
Reprint: Make subsequent printing (impression) of publication; reprints of single features or distinct portions of publication are known as "separates" or "offprints" (though these might also be part of the first impression).
Repro, Repro Proof: Proof from image or typed matter, made with great care on special proofing press using best quality coated paper, for use in photochemical reproduction.
Reproduction Copy: See camera ready art(work).
Reprographic Printing: Techniques of copying or duplicating printed material.
Reprotyping: Typing intended for photomechanical reproduction.
Resident Font: A font stored in the "Read Only Memory" (ROM) usually of a printer.
Resin-coated Paper: Photographic material in which sensitized paper is sandwiched between polyethylene ayers; also known as PE or RC paper.
Resist Printing: Application to a fabric in a pattern or image of a substance, which prevents dye uptake, resulting in a white or non-dyed pattern or image on a dyed ground.
Resolution: The ability of any device to reproduce fine detail accurately.
Rest in Pro(portion): See RIP.
Retarder: An ingredient added to ink to slow the drying process and prevent the ink from clogging the screen while printing.
Retouching: Methods of altering the image of artwork to make corrections, improve or change the character of the image.
Retree: Name of sub-standard batch paper.
Retroussage: The term given to flicking a soft rag lightly over a wiped intaglio plate, to draw out the ink slightly and give a softer line. In other words, a technique of wiping an etching plate so that ink is drawn up out of lines, thus producing softer, richer effects.
Reversal: Term used in screen printing to describe how all areas that are open (and which print) become closed (non-printing) and vice versa.
Reverse B to W: Reverse black to white. Instruction to reverse out an image or type.
Reverse Indent: See hanging indent.
Reverse L to R: Instruction to reverse an image from left to right.
Reverse Out: To reverse the tones of an image or type so that it appears white (or another color) in a black or colored background. Also called "drop-out", "save out".
Reverse P: See blind P.
Reverse Reading See wrong reading.
Reversed Type: See reverse out.
Revise (Proof): Additional proof to show that corrections from earlier proof have been properly made.
RF: In cartography, initials of "representative fraction", used to denote scale relationship between distance shown on a map and actual distance on the ground (e.g. 1/50,000).
RGB: Red, green, blue.
Rice Paper: Japanese papers of various types and finishes made for artists' use, including those made from mulberry fiber, are commonly grouped under this name.
Rich Text Format: RTF
Right-aligned/justified: Ranged right - see ranged left.
Right-Angle Fold: Folding piece of paper in half, then in half again at right angle; standard fold for book sections.
Right-Reading, Emulsion-Side-Down: Description of a negative film on which the text, if any, can be read as normally, i.e. from left to right, and in which the photographic emulsion is on the underside.
RIP: Initials of "rest in proportions"; instructions to indicate that all elements are to be reduced or enlarged in the same proportions.
River:An aberration in typeset text, in which a series of word spaces formed a linked or continuous stream of white space down a page. Often caused by badly justified type.
Rocker: A hand-help, spiked instrument used in mezzotint that scores the plate when rocked over it. The scoring is then smoothed out to produce values ranging from dark to light when the plate is inked and printed.
Roller: Tool with a revolving cylinder covered in various materials and used for applying paint.
Roller Printing: Application of pigment or dye to a fabric in a pattern or image by mean of engraved metal rollers.
ROM: (i) Abbreviations used in proof correction to show that the word of passage should be reset in upright type; (ii) In computer usage, Read Only Memory; part which holds predetermined instructions or program.
Roman: Very general term to cover all typefaces deriving from humanistic manuscripts, as distinct from black letter (gothic); also used to distinguish non-italic letter forms.
Romaji: Roman alphabet as used to transliterate Japanese.
Roman Alphabet: Standard alphabet of most Western and Central European languages.
Roman Numerals: Before the introduction of Arabic numerals, Roman numbers were the norm, but are now only used for chapter headings, lists and dates; capital letters are used - see below.
Rotary Press: Machine in which printing surface is cylindrical; maybe either sheet-fed or web-fed. See below.
Rotational Tool: In some graphic applications, a tool which, when selected, enables you to rotate an item around a fix point.
Rotogravure: Photogravure printing on web-fed rotary press.
Rough: Sketch design for printed material, not always as "rough" as term implies.
Title: Winter Bolt - Four Australian Seasons.
Technique: Hand painted and heat transferred using disperse dyes on satin.
Size: ca. 1.50 (width) x 2.00 (length) meters.
Held: Artist Collective – not available for purchase.
Artist Statement: The cloud wavelets are not present in the finished artwork due to my Zen "no-mind" state directing the artwork instead of me slavishly following the rough. You will note that in my "no-mind" state I have darkened the background of the artwork as the eye descends and thinned out the liquid sun (that is in the form of a bolt), both elements of which I believe indicate - in a more subtle manner - a wintery/watery feel.
Roulette: A hand-held instrument with spiked wheel that produces a grainy mark over an etching ground or directly on an intaglio plate. It was used in the eighteenth century tonal processes such as crayon and pastel manners.
Round-Corner Tool: In most graphics applications, the tool that, when selected, enables you to draw a rectangular box or shape with rounded corners. You may or may not be able to modify the corner radius.
Rounding and Backing: Shaping of a book after sewing so that the back is convex and foredge is concave and to provide an edge on which to secure cover boards - see below.
Royal (Paper Size): 635 x 508 mm (25 x 20 inches).
Royal Water Color Society Paper: High quality paper that is a mixture of cotton and linen.
RTF: Rich Text Format.
RTP: Perfect print; that is, "right to print".
Rubbing: Method of relief printing in which any textured surface can be the "printing block".
Rubric: Heading of a book chapter or section, printed in red to contrast with text in black.
Rubylith: A film used in silk screen printing.
Rule: A line. The term derives from the Latin regal meaning "straight stick" and was used to describe the metal strips, of type height, in various widths, lengths and styles, which were used by traditional typesetters for printing lines.
Ruler: In some applications, the feature of a calibrated ruler, in your preferred unit of measure, at the edges of a document window.
Ruler Guide: In some applications, a non-printing guide which you obtain by clicking on the ruler and dragging to the desired position.
Ruler Origin: Origin.
Ruling Pen: Precision drawing instrument suitable for fine artwork - see below.
Runaround: Typesetting in which lines of type are set to fit around illustration or other display matter.
Runback: The term describes words that move back from one line to the previous lines, a result of a text deletion or correction. The opposite of overrun.
Runes: Ancient Germanic carved alphabet script.
Run-in: See run on.
Run-In Heading: A heading leading into the text starting on the same line, as distinct from a heading placed above the text.
Runners: Marginal numbers placed at regular intervals to give quick reference for text lines, especially of poetry.
Running Headline: Type lines above main text, giving book title and/or chapter title.
Running Text: The main body of a text which runs from page to page although it may be broken up by illustrations or other matter.
Run On: (i) Proof correction or manuscript alteration: "do not start new line or paragraph" (US: run in); (ii) An item often listed in print quotations, giving price for increasing print quantity by specified amounts (e.g. $100 per 1000 run on).
Run Ragged: Ragged right.
Run Through Work: Use of special ruling machine to print parallel lines across a sheet from one edge to the other without breaks.
Rush: First, unedited print of a scene.
RYB System: A pigment system in which red, yellow and blue are the primary colors.
Saddleback Book: One having "inserted work" which is secured through back fold by wire or threaded stitches.
Saddlestitch (or Saddlewire): To secure book by means of thread or wire through back fold of insetted work; though "saddle stitch" is often used for wire as well as thread, this is not recommended because of possible confusion.
Safe Area: In TV, that central portion of transmitted picture, which can be guaranteed to remain visible on ordinary domestic receiver (obsolete).
Same-Size (abb: s/s): Instruction to a printer to make the print image the same size as the original.
Sampler: A device that digitises sound so that it can be manipulated by computers.
Sandpaper: Abrasive paper available in varying degrees of coarseness. See wet-dry sandpaper.
Sans Serif, Sanserif: Type face not having finishing strokes at the ends of character elements - see below.
Sansui (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Landscape (literally "mountains and waters"); hence sansui-ga, landscape images.
Saunders Waterford: Stable and durable paper.
Save Out: See reverse out.
Saw Toothing: The result when photo-emulsion is applied too thinly to the mesh and does not bridge it adequately: this causes printed edges of photo-stencils to "step", resembling the teeth of a saw rather than a straight line.
sc, s caps: small caps.
Scale/Scaling: To determine the degree of enlargement or reduction required to obtain the desired reproduction size of an image.
Scale Drawing: An illustration, which represents an object and its parts in correct proportion to the actual size.
Scaling (Scaling Up): To determine the degree of enlargement or reduction necessary to reproduce an original image within a given area of a design. The scaling may be represented as a percentage of the image area or in figures proportional to the dimension of the original, using a diagonal bisection of the image to govern the increased or reduced measurements.
Scaling Text: See horizontal scaling.
Scamp: A rough sketch showing the basic idea for an advertisement or design.
Scatter Proof: A proof of illustrations in which all the images are positioned at random and as closely packed as possible, without reference to their final page position. This is done in order to cut proofing costs, particularly when large numbers of illustrations are involved, such as in illustration book work>
Scenario/Screenplay: Script that includes camera directions and scene descriptions.
Scoop Coater: A tool used to apply photo emulsion to the screen.
SC Paper: Abbreviation for "supercalendered paper".
Scraperboard: Drawing material with heavy coating of china clay, which can be scraped after covering with black ink to give an effect of "white-line" engraving; also called a "scratchboard" (especially in USA).
Screen: A wooden or aluminum frame with polyester mesh stretched over it; stencils are attached to the screen or created directly on it.
Screen Angle: Angle at which halftone screen is arranged; whenever two or more halftones are to overprint, to avoid screen clash (see below).
Screen Clash: Undesirable pattern resulting from overprinting of two or more halftones at unsuitable screen angles (see image below).
Screen Filler: Liquid applied to a degreased mesh, which dries close areas of mesh, forming a stencil: stopping out.
Screen Landing Pad: Small pad of soft material (a household duster folded in four and taped at the edges), with a length of cord attached for retrieval. It is placed on one of the front corners of the horizontal glass surface of a UV exposure unit. When a screen is placed on the unit, one corner is "touched down" on the pad, allowing the screen to be slid to the back of the unit in a controlled fashion and protecting the glass surface from scratches.
Screenprinting: A printing method that produces prints by using a squeegee to push ink through a screen. That is, a printing through an intermediary surface – the screen mesh. The images of screen prints are formed by various kinds of stencilling techniques, based on blocking out areas of the mesh either with sheet materials such as paper or stencil film or with liquids that fill the mesh. See diagram below.
Screen-printing Equipment: Squeegee; screen; screen-printing inks; palette knife; solvent brush to remove stencils; cleaning rags.
Screen-printing Inks: Most fabric paints can be used for screen-printing, but it is more economical to use a thickening agent or a binder to spread the fabric paint so that it does not appear too thick on the fabric. In general screen printing inks are very concentrated and it is therefore only necessary to use few drops in order to produce a strong color. Always add the color to the binder, as it is difficult to make the color paler once it has been mixed. All printing inks are intermixable and water soluble, so that the printing screen can be washed with clean water.
Screen Ruling: Halftone screen; screen resolution.
Screen Tester: Device, which if laid on printed halftone and rotated until symmetrical moiré pattern is produced, will indicate screen size.
Screen Type: Of a halftone screen, its pattern, e.g. dot, line etc.
Script (Type): Typeface designed in imitation of writing done with pen or brush, often having characters made to fit closely in joined writing - see figure below.
Scumming: In Lithography, fault in which water-accepting layer is worn away from non-image areas, giving dirty-looking impression.
Secondary Color: A color obtained when two primary colors are mixed.
Section: Sheet of paper folded into four or more pages to make into gathered or in-setted book; also known as "signature", especially in USA.
Section-Sewn Book: One in which gathered sections are secured by sewn thread.
Seek Time: See access time.
See-Through: Degree to which image on underlying surface can be seen through a sheet of paper.
Select(ing): To choose a thing (e.g. an icon or a piece of text) so that you can do something to or with it. To alter the state of any item, it first must be made active, or selected.
Selectric: Trade name for popular make of direct impression, or "strike-on", composing machine (obsolete).
Self-Cover: Book cover made of the same material as leaves of a book.
Self-Ends: Endpapers which are a part of the first and last sections of a book.
Sensitive Material: A material with the surface chemically treated to make it receptive to light.
Sensitometry: The science for measuring the properties of photosensitive materials.
Separation: See color separation.
Separation Artwork: Artwork in which a separate layer is created for each color to be printed.
Serif: Finishing strokes or terminals at the ends of type characters.
Serigraphy: The term used for fine art screen-printing.
Set: The width of a piece of type; in Monotype machine composition, all characters (including spaces) have "set" width, expressed in units, which are not standard dimensions, like points, but are related to the proportion of type face design; widest character is divided into 18 equal units, other characters are allocated unit values in proportion - see diagram below.
Set Solid: A term describing a type set on its own body size without any leading, e.g. 10pt on 10pt.
Sewn Book: Any book secured with sewn thread.
Sexto (6to): Cut or folded sheet which is one-sixth of a basic sheet size.
Shaded Letter: Outline letter with a shadow effect running down one side of the strokes - see figure below.
Shadow Font: Letterforms given three dimensional appearance by heavy shadows besides the main strokes.
Sheet: Whole piece of paper, flat or folded; there are many basic sheet sizes in printing.
Sheet Proof: One taken from a frome; also called an imposed proof.
Sheet Stock: Printed sheets held in store for binding up.
Sheet-Wise: Most common printing method in which sheet is printed first on one side, then on the other side to produce a complete section.
Sheet Work: Form of imposition in which pages on one side of the sheet are in one forme and those for the other side are in another forme.
Shin Hanga (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "new prints"; the resurgent Japanese woodblock print movement beginning in the Taisho period, which joined traditional Japanese woodblock subjects and printing techniques, together with Western drawing techniques, to revitalize the traditional woodblock print.
Shini-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Prints commemorating the death (Literally, "death pictures") of some important person from the 'Floating World'. Most depicted Kabuki actors, but some prints also commemorated woodblock artists, and on occasion musicians. The deceased is usually portrayed in light-blue robes (associated with death), and the print usually includes the date of the person's death, their age, their posthumous Buddhist name (kaimyo), and the location of their grave. Some also included the death poem of the deceased, or memorial verses written by friends or associates.
Shooting Script: Script giving details of a camera work and order of shooting.
Shun-ga (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Erotic images (literally "spring images", a typical euphemism for erotica); another of the classic original woodblock forms.
Shomen-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "front-printing"; a polishing technique similar to gauffrage, which was used to produce a shiny surface on black areas of some prints, often in intricate patterns; to produce this, a carved block was placed behind the print and the printed surface rubbed with a hard polisher (in addition to a boar's tooth, the usual implement, mention is made of use of the use of porcelain, and also spoons, during the Meiji period).
Short Page: A page containing text to a length shorter than the usual length on other pages, adjusted to improve the layout or accommodate a break.
Show Through: See look/see-/show-through.
Shoulder: Raised edge of a stencil (particularly a paper stencil or thickly applied photo-emulsion).
Shuffling: In some page mark-up applications, a term describing the re-ordering of the pages of a document while retaining a logical numbering sequence.
SIAD: Initials of Society of Industrial Artists and Designers (UK), founded in 1930.
sic: Latin for - "thus"; used within parentheses to confirm accuracy of preceding word, usually because of unorthodox spelling.
Side-Bearing: The letter space assigned to each side of a Postscript type character that, if an application permits, can be adjusted to provide greater or less kerning.
Side Heading: Heading in side margin at the top of a page or paragraph.
Side Stab/Stitch: To secure a book by means of a wire force through side close to back.
SIG: Special Interest Group.
Signature: Letter or number printed at the bottom of the first page of each section of a book, to ensure correct sequence; also (especially in USA) synonym for "section".
Silhouette: A drawing of an object showing simply the outline filled with solid tone or color.
Silk Papers: A highly textured, sometimes delicate, almost translucent papers, with strands and fibers of silk embedded in the structure.
Silk Screen: A stencil used as a resist in printing, once made of mulberry paper on a silk screen, now usually photographically developed on a polyester screen.
Size, Sizing Up: See scale/scaling.
Sizes of Japanese Woodblock Prints:Ōban: By far and away the most common print size; about 15" x 10" (38cm x 25cm).
Ō-ōban: Literally "large ōban"; a rare size somewhat larger than standard ōban, about 23" x 12" (58cm x 32cm).
Chūban: A somewhat common small print size; half an ōban, by division along its short axis; about 10" x 7" (25cm x 19cm).
Aiban: A somewhat rare print size, roughly halfway between chūban and ōban; about 13" x 9" (34cm x 23cm).
Koban: A fairly rare small print size; half an aiban, by division along its short axis; about 9" x 7" (23cm x 17cm).
Vertical Koban: A fairly rare small print size; half an koban, by division along its long axis; about 9" x 3" (23cm x 9cm).
Hosoban: A fairly rare narrow print size; about 13" x 6" (33cm x 15cm). It was more common in older actor prints of the eighteenth century, although still used for kacho-ga in the nineteenth.
O-hosoban, O-tanzaku: Literally, "large hosoban", a fairly rare narrow print size; about 15" x 7" (38cm x 17cm). This size was often used for kacho-ga prints by Hiroshige.
Nagaban: A rare large print size first used around 1800; about 22" x 10" (56cm x 25cm).
Yokonagaban: A very long format (i.e. horizontal nagaban, hence the name), used for some surimono in the early 1800's; sometimes about 15" x 22" (38cm x 53cm), more often 8" x 22" (21cm x 56cm).
Shikishiban: A mostly square format, usually of heavy paper, often used for surimono; about 10" x 9" (26cm x 23cm).
Hashira-eban: The size for hashira-e; it varies depending on the time period, but normally it was about 29" x 5" (68-73cm x 12-16cm). In later times, this was produced by gluing together two hosoban sheets, one vertically above the other.
Habahiro hashira-e: The size for extra-wide hashira-e; varies, but normally it was about 29" x 10" (68-73cm x 26cm).
Chū-tanzaku: A very rare long print size; half an ōban, by division along its long axis; about 15" x 5" (38cm x 13cm).
Ō-tanzaku: A very rare long print size; two-thirds of an ōban, by division along its long axis; about 15" x 7" (38cm x 18cm).
Ko-tanzaku: A very rare long print size; one third of an aiban, by division along its long axis; about 13" x 3" (34cm x 8cm).
Yotsugiri: A fairly rare small print size; half a chūban, by division along its short axis; about 7" x 5" (19cm x 13cm). Prints of this size were often obtained by printing 4 prints from a single ōban-sized block.
Mitzugiri: A very rare small print size; one third of an ōban, by division along its short axis; about 10" x 5" (25cm x 13cm).
Ko-yotsugiri: A very rare small print size; half a koban; about 7" x 5" (17cm x 12cm).
Sixteen-MO (16mo): Cut or folded sheet which is one sixteenth of a basic sheet size.
Sixteen Sheet: Poster size of 120 x 80 inches (305 x 203 cm).
Sketch Book: An exercise book design to assist in the collation of source sketched materials.
Skew, Skewing: In some applications, a feature enabling you to slant an item, such as a picture or word.
Skyline (of a newspaper): Banner headline running above the nameplate.
Slab-Serif: Typeface with markedly square-ended serifs, which may or may not be bracketed - see below.
Slash: See solidus.
Slip-sheeting: See interleaving.
Sloped Roman: Correct term for many typefaces, which are generally known as italics even though they are not cursive.
Slur: Fault in printing caused by movement during making of impression.
Slurred Dot (Type): Termination of certain characters, resembling distorted dot - see below.
Small Capped Numerals (Typefaces): A numeral set used with small caps. Most typefaces do not have this set, but the old style numerals can also be used in combination with small caps.
Smart Quotes: The term sometimes given to facilities provided by some applications to convert quotation marks from straight "pecks" (" ') to typesetting, or curley ones - see below.
Smoking (Etching): Wax tapers are burnt yielding a dark smoke that deposits carbon on the ground during an etching process.
Smoothing: A term describing the refinement of a bitmapped images by rounding off corners of the square dots, or pixels.
Smoothing Tool: Hand tool used to flatten background in foil tooling.
Snap: The action of the mesh lifting away from the wet print, determined by the height of the gap between the mesh and the press bed (when the press frame is down).
Soft Back: Paperback.
Soft Copy: Typeset copy used for checking a text before camera-ready art is produced.
Soft Cover: On made from a stiff board.
Soft Dot: A halftone dot on film that is less dense at the edge than at the center and is thus easier to etch for correction purposes.
Solidus: Oblique stroke, thus "/" used to denote alternatives, ratios and fractions; also called "slash" or "oblique".
Solus Position: Advertisement space on page where there is no other advertisement.
Somerset: Inexpensive quality paper.
Source Document: A document from which items have been copied, as distinct from the document an item is being copied to - the "target", or destination document.
Sort: Single character type.
Sosaku Hanga (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "creative prints"; a Japanese woodblock print movement of the 20th century which utilized Western concepts of art; both in the production, in which the artist was more involved in the production of the prints (often undertaking the entire process on their own), and in the subject matter and presentation, which was that of modern art.
SP: Initials for - "station point".
Space: An invisible, graded unit for spacing out a line of text.
Spec. (pronoun: Speck or Spess): Slang for "specification", which is definition of data and procedures required to execute a task.
Special Character: A type character supplied as part of a font, or character set, but generated by pressing modifier keys.
Special Sorts: Type characters not normally included in a font, or character set, e.g. fractions, musical notations, etc. Also called "peculiars" or "pi characters".
Specimen Page: A proof of a page as an example of a proposed style of design, paper quality, printing, etc.
Spelling Checker: A means of checking a document for spelling errors by way of a special dictionary, built in to most word-processing applications, but also available as stand-alone utilities. Spell checkers may be of batch or interactive mode varieties.
Spine: That edge of a book at which leaves and covers are secured; also called "back" and "backbone".
Spiral Binder: One in which leaves are secured by spiral wire wound through small, pre-drilled holes; sometimes, but totally inaccurately, applied to plastic comb binder - see below.
Spirit Duplicating: Simple plano-graphic printing process for up to 100 copies by means of aniline dye transfer printing onto plane sheets moistened with spirit solvent.
Splayed "M": See below.
Split Dash/Rule: One like below.
Split-Screen: Referring to the technique in which two or more images appear simultaneously on different parts of the same screen.
Spoils, Spoilage: Sheets which are badly printed and so not included in delivered quantity of job; printers usually allow for this by printing "overs".
Spot Color: The term used to describe any printing color that a special mix of colors, and not one of the four process colors.
Spread: Pair of facing pages, left-hand and right-hand; often considered as design unit even though pages may be printed in different sections.
Square Corner/Rectangle Tool: In most graphics applications, the tool that enables you to draw a rectangular box or shape.
Squared-Up (Halftone): Normal form of halftone in which edges are straight and regular.
Squares (of Book): Bookbinders' term for overhanging edges of "cased book".
Square Serif: See slab serif.
Squeegee: A long polyurethane blade attached to a wooden handle used for screen-printing; this tool pushes the ink through the screen. It usually consists of one or two rubber blades mounted on a flat wooden handle.
Squeegee Support: Water proofed cardboard wedge, which is parcel-taped to the mesh behind the image area and used to rest the squeegee on during hand printing.
SRA Paper Sizes: See "A, B and C Series".
S/S: Abbreviation for "same size".
Stacking Order: In graphics applications, the position of an item relative to other items in front or behind it.
Staircasing: Baggie.
Standard Character Set: See character set.
Standing Time: See open time.
Starburst: (i) A photographic effect of radiating lines from a highlight, provided by a filter that diffuses light from a strong, concentrated source; (ii) In some applications, the name given to the shape that the pointer assumes when certain transformation tools are selected.
Stationary: A document which serves as a template - when opened, it is automatically duplicated, leaving the original in tact.
Stem: Main vertical, or near vertical, part of type character.
Stencil: A blocking material with a series of open areas through which ink can pass to produce an image underneath.
Stencil Brush: Short-haired brushes designed to hold small amounts of paint for stencilling. Available in a wide range of sizes and with long and short handles.
Stencil Card: Stout oiled manila card, from which shapes are cut in order to make stencils.
Stenciling: Method of decoration in which paint or dye is applied through a cut-out design to create images on a surface.
Stencil or Spray Printing: In stencil or spray printing the color is sprayed, dabbed, brushed or sponged onto a material through a stencil which has been prepared from a substrate (e.g. thin sheet of metal, plastic, cardboard or water proofed transparent paper etc.)
Step and Repeat: To produce multiple copies of an image at different sizes in defined increments.
Step Index: One in which steps are cut out of foredge for greater ease of reference; sometimes called "cut-in" index. See below.
Stereotype: A metal cast of a mold of a wood-engraving block. The duplicate of the original block enabled more efficient printing of images on steam-driven presses. It was invented in 1829.
Stet: A Latin word meaning, "let it stand". It is used in proof correcting to cancel a previously marked correction.
Stiff-Leaves: Endpapers which are glued to the hole of first and last leaves in a book, rather than just being tipped-on.
Stipple: In intaglio printmaking, dotting the plate with various instruments to produce areas of tone.
Stippling: Making sharp indentations in a surface with a sharp point to provide texture.
Stippling Brush: Rectangular brush used for a stippled finish and for removing excess paint cornices and architraves etc. Available in a variety of sizes.
Stock: Any material to be used for printing on.
Stone: Surface (once made of stone) on which letterpress formes are imposed before being transferred to bed of press.
Stone Hand: In letterpress printing, one who arranges and secures composed type matte and plates in correct order for printing.
Stop-Cylinder Press: Cylinder press in which cylinder remains stationary whilst printing bed is returned after being moved out of contact for inking, as distinct from two-revolution press.
Stopping Out: Painting screen filler onto the mesh to alter or edit (or create) an image.
Storyboard: Set of preliminary sketches showing how a motion sequence is intended to develop and give idea of timing and content without going into detail.
Straight Matter: A body of text without break for headings, illustrations, etc.
Stress: The apparent direction of a letterform, giving emphasis by the heaviest part of a curved stroke.
Strike Off: The production of a sample print to prove the accuracy of a printed design and registration of screens or rollers.
Stripping: (i) Assembling two or more images to produce a composite for making final film in photomechanical reproduction; (ii) To insert a typeset correction in film or in camera-ready art; (iii) To glue a strip of cloth or paper to the back of a paperback book or pad as reinforcement.
Stripping Up As One: Assembling two or more images or items of film to combine them as a single piece of film in photomechanical production.
Strobe: Flicker.
Stroke: (i) The outline of any shape or type character, as distinct from the inside area, called the "fill"; (ii) A straight, diagonal part of a typed character.
Style: The term used to describe a stylistic modification of a font, such as italic, shadow, outline, etc.
Style Sheets: In some applications, the facility for applying a range of frequently used attributes, such as typographic and paragraph formats, to elements in a document by using specially assigned commands.
Styling: As used in industrial or product design; superficial change. The stylist alters the appearance of product for marketing rather than functional reasons.
Stylization: The process of making visual representations conform to a conventional model.
Subhead(ing): Any heading for the division of a chapter or section of a newspaper.
Subject: Term for any image, which is to be reproduced or originated.
Sublimation Printing: What is termed "transfer printing" in reality should be termed sublimation printing. Sublimation describes a process that goes from a solid state to a gas state without passing though a liquid state. Dry ice has this property. In sublimation or transfer printing once the dye has been painted on a paper and is dry, the painted side of the paper is placed on top of the fabric surface that is to be dyed. Then heat is applied via an iron or a heat press to the back of the dry dyed paper. The dye vaporizes from the paper and infuses into the surface of the target fabric. The vapor dye reacts with the target fabric surface and adheres to it via dispersion forces and hydrogen bonding. The heat of the iron serves a dual purpose: (a) it vaporizes the dye; (b) it assists the dye to infuse into the fabric surface and adhere to it. That is why the temperature of the iron or heat press is so important since it determines the amount of dye that sublimates and that is finally adhered. The adhesion that the dye forms with the fabric surface is why the fabric automatically becomes color fast, wash fast, light fast and moreover, why it cannot change the hand of the fabric. Furthermore, it is a surface technique and so the reverse side of the fabric is unaltered. Also, image creating objects such as stencils, resist items etc. can be inserted between the paper and fabric surface as well as painted images that were resident on the surface of the original paper can be transferred directly onto the fabric surface.
Year: 2016.
Subscriber: Person who subscribes to the delivery of a printed object.
Subscript/Inferior and Superscript/Superior (Typefaces): Sets used for formulas, mathematical expressions and descriptions of chemical compounds or isotopes as in "2" of the water chemical descriptor H2O.
Successive Contrast: The phenomenon of an after image seen after the viewer looks away from color stimulus.
Sugarlift: Tradition etching process which results in a characteristic bold, broken, painted mark. See also lift-ground etching.
Sumizuri-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "black-ink printed picture"; sumi is the name for black India ink. Hence sumizuri-e, a print done in black and white, although sometimes one finds shades of grey as well, as in Hokusai's famous and fabulous illustrated book, '100 Views of Fuji'. The first ukiyo-e prints were produced with this technique.
Sumo (Woodblock Print Subject): Sumo wrestling is a Japanese sport with ancient roots; mentions of it are found as early as the 8th Century (although it would have been nothing like today's sumo at that point). It has always had deep connections with Shinto religious rituals and festivals, and even today Shinto priests officiate and serve as referees. Professional sumo dates from around the start of the Edo period.
Supercalendered Paper: Glossy (but not coated) paper produced by being passed through supercalender rolls under great pressure.
Superior Numeral (Figure) or Letter: Small character set above level of normal characters of typeface (e.g. 43 = 64).
Superscript: The term used to describe figures our letters that are smaller than text size, and which were raised above the cap height as in (2), as distinct from superior.
Surface Mapping: Texture/surface mapping.
Surimono (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "printed things"; privately issued and distributed prints, mostly produced in small numbers. Most had poetry (usually comissioned by private poetry clubs) or calendars on them, and were often used as invitations, notices, holiday and greeting cards, etc. They were usually very finely printed, with elaborate and unusual printing techniques such as use of powdered metals.
Surprinting: See overprint.
Swash Character: One with emphatic flourish - see below.
Swatch: A color specimen.
Swelled Dash/Rule: One like below.
Swell (of book): Extra bulking at the back of book as result of sewing; reduced by "smashing" in bookbinder's press.
SYLK: Symbolic link, a file format for transferring spreadsheet data between applications.
Syllabary: Set of written characters, each representing a syllable.
Symbol: A letter, figure or drawn sign that represents or identifies an object, process or activity.
Tabbing: (i) Arranging copy (typewritten or typeset) in multi-columnar pattern within set measure; colloquialism for "tabulation"; (ii) Forming projecting portions to edges of book so as to make a tab index.
Tab Index: One in which divisions are indicated by projecting tabs on foredge.
Tab Limit: To separate data elements such as records or fields by using the Tab key on a computer.
Tab Stop: The place at which the text insertion point stops when the Tab key is pressed.
Tabular Lining (Typefaces): Same as proportional lining figures, but the kerning is adjusted to stack in the columns (see below).
Tabular Oldstyle (Typefaces): Old style numerals to use in columns.
Tabular Work: Type matter set in columns.
Tabulation: Arranging information in a list or table form.
Tail: Bottom of book; also known as "foot", especially in USA.
Tail Margin: The margin at the bottom of a page, also called "foot margin" or "bottom margin".
Take: Uninterrupted filming of a scene; filmed scene produced in this way, often re-shot several times.
Take Back: An instruction, marked in a proof, to take back characters, words or lines, to the preceding line, column or page.
Take In: An instruction, marked on a proof, to include extra copy supplied.
Take Over: An instruction, marked on a proof, to take over characters, words or lines to the following line, column or page.
Tan-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Hand-colored prints, which used tan (a pigment made from a mixture of red lead, saltpeter and sulphur, which intended to be orange, but turned to blue as it slowly oxidized), and roku (a green pigment produced from ground malachite, which turned black and often ate into the paper as it aged). The earliest colored prints were produced with this technique.
Taper: Of graduated tones and colors, the progression of one tone or color to the next. Graduations may be in equal increments or may be logarithmic (the increments and tones or colors increase from one end of the graduation to the other).
Taper Angle: The direction of the graduated tones or colors - see above.
TeachText: An application that allows you to read "plain text" documents. These are documents that frequently accompany application files to provide instruction for installation, correction to the documents etc.
Tear Sheet: An image, feature or advertisement torn from a periodical and filed as reference material.
Technical Illustration: A specialist branch of graphic design dealing with illustrations of all types depicting technical machines, systems and processes.
Template: Shape or sheet with cut out forms and designs, used as a drawing aid.
Text Chain: A set of linked text boxes, with text flowing from one to another.
Text Type/Matter: Any type face of a suitable size for printing a body of text, usually in the range of 8pt to 14pt.
Texture/Surface Mapping: A graphic technique of wrapping a two-dimensional image around a three dimensional object.
Thermocopy: A copy produced by the action of heat, rather than light as in photocopy.
Thermography: Technique in which heat-treated ink image produces raised effect (note: not complete printing process).
Thesaurus: Book presenting a specialised vocabulary.
Thick (Space): Commonly used word space in hand setting: 1/3 em of set (see below).
Thin (Space): Commonly used word space in hand setting: 1/5 em of set.
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Thirtytwo-MO, 32 MO: Cut or folded sheet which is one thirty second of a basic sheet size.
Thirtytwo Sheet Poster: Poster size 120 x 160 inches (3048 x 4065 mm).
Three Color Process: Similar to four color process except that there is no separate black printing; also called trichromatic system.
Threshold Limit Value - Short Term Exposure Limit (TLV - STEL): TVL for short term exposure of film, up to 15 minutes.
Threshold Limit Value - Time Weighted Average (TLV - TWA): TVL for exposure of film during the whole working week.
Throughput: A unit of time measured as the period elapsing between the start and finish of a particular job.
Thumb Index: One in which thumb-sized chunks are cut out of foredge for greater ease of reference - see figure below.
Thumbnail: (i) Rough, miniature layouts of a proposed design or publication, showing a variety of treatments or the orders of chapters, etc.; (ii) In some applications, the facility to view and print pages together on a sheet at a reduced size.
Tied Letter: Ligature.
TIFF: Tagged image file format, a standard and popular graphics file format used for scanned, high-resolution bitmapped images.
Tight: A term referring to a design, or to text, that is very closely-packed and includes little blank space.
Tilde: Diacritical sign.
Tiling: (i) A term used to describe copying an item and repeating it in all directions, thus creating a pattern; (ii) The term used to describe the method of printing a document page that is too large to fit onto a single sheet by breaking it into overlapping portions which, when assembled, form the whole page.
Time-Lapsed: Referring to the technique of photographing a scene at intervals to give a continuous, accelerated view of a slow process, such as flower opening.
Time-Slicing: Multitasking.
Tint: (i) The effect of the admixture of white to a solid color; (ii) The effect achieved by breaking up a solid color into dots and allowing white paper to show through. Tints are specified in percentages of the solid color.
Tint Plate: One used to print color background to type, line or half tone matter.
Tissues: See layout.
Titanium Dioxide (Auxiliary): It is sometimes added to a print paste to act as a buffer, thereby improving the color of the final discharge by giving it a white pigment appearance.
Title Page: That page of a book carrying title, author and publisher.
Title Verso: The page opposite the title page of a book.
Tonality: The feeling of mood that the organization of value in a work produces.
Tonal Range: The total range of values within a work.
Tonal Value: The relative densities of tones in an image.
Tone-Line Process: A technique of producing line art from continuous tone original by combining a negative and positive film image.
Toner: A synthetic organic color that is insoluble and so can be used directly as a pigment. It is much stronger than a lake. It is used in photocopy machines and in printers.
Tool: A feature of most graphics applications, consisting of a device (tool) which, when selected, turns the pointer into a shape representing that tool, which you then use to perform the designated task, e.g. you use a box tool for creating a box.
Toshidama (Japanese Woodblock Term): Literally, "New Year's jewel"; the seal of the Utagawa school, usually a circle, with a zig-zag in the upper right-hand corner. Sometimes it is enlongated into a vertical oval, and used to contain the artist's signature.
TPD: Two-page display.
Tips: Trimmed page size.
Tracing Materials: Translucent forms of paper, cloth and acetate used as the basis of artwork for direct reproduction.
Tracing Paper and Drafting Film: Materials used to help re-create the effects of sheer translucent fabrics such as georgette, although paint effects may chip off if applied too quickly.
Tracing Tool: Round-point instrument used in tooling foil to trace the pattern and outline the design.
Track: (i) The printing line from the front edge of a plate to the back. Items imposed in track will all be the subject of the same inking adjustments on press; (ii) Move the camera, usually on rails, to follow the action that is being filmed.
Tracking: A term describing the adjustment of space between the characters in a selected piece of text. As distinct from kerning, which only involves pairs of characters.
Tranny: Slang for "transparency".
Transfer Film: A film or acetate sheet bearing an image for transfer to a printing plate.
Transfer Leaf: Sheets of gold or silver leaf attached to tissue paper used in oil gilding.
Transfer Printing: There are four distinct processes by which transfer printing can be achieved: melt-transfer; film-release transfer; semi-wet processes; sublimation printing. See each for appropriate definitions. The dye adheres to the hydrophobic fiber molecules via dispersion forces and hydrogen bonding.
Transferring (Lithography): Drawing or impressing inked image onto special coated paper and transferring it thence to lithographic printing surface.
Transformation Tools: The name sometimes given to tools that change the location or appearance of an item.
Transitional: Class of typefaces dating from mid-18th Century, having somewhat finer serifs and hairlines than "old-face" but not to extent of "modern" - see below.
Translucent: The description of materials that transmit light but are not fully transparent; that is, an image cannot be seen clearly through the material.
Transpose: To swap the portions of any two items of text, or two images, either by design or because they are wrongly ordered.
Trapping: The method of printing underlying image areas slightly so the overlaying color will overlap and cover the edge of the underlying color, making registration a little easier.
Treatment: Full and detailed version of a script.
Trichromatic System: Color reproduction by three-color, instead of four color separation; same as three color process.
Trim: To cut printed sheets to the required size.
Trim Marks: Those incorporated on sheet when printed, to show how job is to be trimmed, and which are not visible in printed result.
Trimming: Final cutting to size of printed job by guillotine.
Trim Page Size: A term used to describe the size of a printed and bound book, referring to the page size rather than the size including the binding.
TRS: Abbreviation for "transpose"; instructions on manuscript or proof to transpose character, word, phrase or sentence.
TrueType: Apple's on-line font format produced as an alternative to PostScript. A single TrueTye file is used both for printing and for screen rendering - unlike PostScript fonts, which require a screen font file as well as the printer font file. TrueType font files reside in the System suitcase file.
T-Square: Ruler with cross piece at one end, used in conjunction with drawing board when drawing parallel lines.
Tsuya-zuri (Japanese Woodblock Printing Effect): Literally, "lustre-printing"; an inclusive term for a number of techniques which could produce a surface sheen, among them shomenzuri. One that is seen on occasion is the use of glue to produce a sheen, often on animals' eyes, and areas of blood. At one point, the craze for Western things, the sheen covered the entire surface, in an apparent attempt to emulate Western oil paintings; in some cases, wax was applied over the entire surface to aid this effect.
Tungsten Halogen Lamp: Photographic light source consisting of a special form of tungsten lamp with trace of a halogen gas, smaller and brighter than conventional lamp; sometimes called a "quartz-iodine" lamp, though it might not contain either quartz or iodine.
Tusche: Traditionally a greasy solution used in lithography for painting washes on stones or plates. In water based screen-printing and acrylic resist etching, tusches are specially formulated painting and print making media containing opaque particles, which are used to make autographic positives. Many types of marks can be created, from reticulated washes to soft-ground effects.
Twaddle Scale (abbreviation "TW"): A scale used for expressing specific gravity of liquids.
Twelve-MO, 12 MO: Cut or folded sheet, which is one twelfth of a basic sheet size.
Twice Up: Artwork prepared at twice the size at which it will be reproduced.
Twin Wire Paper: That which is made from machine producing paper, which has no "wire-mark" and so is smooth on both sides.
Type: (i) Piece of metal of standard height having raised image of character or characters on its upper face, assembled with other pieces to form line, which is printed by letterpress (relief) process - see figure below; (ii) Images obtained by printing from this metal; (iii) Images obtained from composition systems, which do not use metal type (e.g. photocomposition).
Type Area: Specified area of page or trimmed sheet which contains body of text matter and illustrations.
Type Effect: The modification of type characters to create a special effect, e.g. outline, zoom etc.
Typefaces:
Type Family: A term describing all the variations related to a basic typer design, such as Goudy Old Style, Goudy analogue, Goudy Handtooled, etc., as distinct from a typeface.
Type 1 Font: The Adobe PostScript outline font format containing hints. Type 1 fonts were formerly encrypted, meaning that you could not alter them, but Adobe has now made the format available to all in response to the introduction of the open format of TrueType. Type 1 fonts come as two files: an outline printer file and a bitmapped screen file.
Type 3 Font: A PostScript font format which, not being encrypted, was introduced as an alternative to the encrypted Type 1 font format. Type 3 fonts do not contain hints and, in any case, are now virtually obsolete.
Type Height: Standard height of type from bed to printing surface: 0.918 inches in UK and US; also called "height-to-paper".
Type Mark-Up: Typesetting instructions to compositor on manuscript or typescript, accompanied by general specification.
Type Scale/Gauge: Rule marked in ems and points, and often also in inches and millimeters, for use in layout, imposition and proof correction; also called "line gauge" and "pica rule".
Type Series: Those designs and sizes of typeface referred to by manufacturer by same series number.
Type Specimen Sheet: One giving full alphabets, figures and signs, with some text settings, of particular typeface.
Typesetting: (i) The process of converting text into a recognized font and producing it in a form suitable for printing; (ii) The text item produced by (i).
Type Specifications: The characteristic of type used in a design, such as font, size, measure, etc.
Type Style: See style.
Type Synopsis/Specimen Sheet: A printed sample of a font showing the full character set.
Typo: Slang for typographical error; can refer to either typewriting or typesetting mistake (USA term).
Typography: Designed alphanumeric and special characters.
Typographer: (i) A person whose occupation is typography; (ii) Compositor.
UC: Upper case.
UCR: Under-color removal.
UDC: Initials of "Universal Decimal Classification": system of classifying areas of knowledge developed as extension of "Dewey Decimal Classification".
Uki-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "floating pictures"; perspective prints, i.e. prints done with the newly introduced Western perspective technique, as opposed to the classical Chinese method of portraying depth.
Ukiyo-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "floating world picture", often given as "images of the floating world"; a term originally used to describe actor and courtesan prints depicting life in the Epicurean world of the Edo middle-class (the chonin), the so-called 'Floating World'. Now used to describe woodblock prints in general.
U/LC: Upper and lower case, an instruction for type to be set in both upper and lower case, as appropriate.
Umlaut: As in "ü" - German accent.
Under-Color Removal (UCR): See UCR.
Underlaying Technique: Method of adding a small illustration within a larger one by sitting the larger illustration and slipping a portion of the smaller one through the slit underneath.
Underline/Underscore: A rule printed beneath a word or portion of a text.
Underlying Color: A color printed first that becomes partially or totally hidden by a subsequent layer of color.
Underpainting: The first stage of indirect painting method; the establishment of the chief shapes, lights, darks and masses, usually with a limited palette or in monochrome.
Undertone: The color effect of a hue when tinted; the result might look like the body tone or it may show a temperature change.
Unit System: In machine composition of type, method of relating character widths to unit measurements, originally developed by Monotype; units are not standard dimensions but vary according to set.
Universal Copyright Convention: An international assembly that, in 1952, agreed protection for the originator of n "intellectual work" - a text, photograph, illustration etc. - to prevent the use of that work without permission from its creator or copyright owner. The work must carry the copyright mark "©", the name of the owner of the copyright and the date of its first publication.
Unjustified: Lines of type which do not align with both the left and right margins, as does justified type. Unjustified type may be range left or ranged right, or it may be entered. The appearance of unjustified type is also called free line fall.
Unsharp Making: The technique of enhancing the details in a scanned image by exaggerating the density of pixels at the edges of a color change (the image is first blurred, hence the term unsharp).
UPC: Initials of "Universal Product Code" (see "bar code").
Upper Case: The capital letters of a type font.
Upright: Portrait.
Upstroke (of Type): Lighter stroke in the type character, deriving from upward movement of pen in calligraphy - see figure below.
Urushi-e (Japanese Paper Print Types): Literally, "lacquer pictures", from their use of glue mixed with the black ink which was then burnished after printing, to emulate lacquer; hand-colored prints which were the next stage in the technical development of woodblock prints after tan-e. They used the techniques of laquer-ware, including a number of new colors such as red and yellow, along with gold dust, to produce exquisite hand-colored prints; most common in the period 1720-40.
Uta-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Literally, "poem picture"; a print which depicts the setting of a poem or other verse; the text is usually written above or beside the image. In some cases, e.g. in surimono, the image alludes to the poem by skillfully incorporating pictorialized Japanese characters and allegorical images, to form a kind of visual code for the poem, something which is now very difficult to decipher.
UV Curable Ink: Ink used in commercial screen-printing, which is hardened by exposure to UV light.
UV Sensitive Ink: This is a water-based pigment sharing the same binder as a regular pigment, and is charged by ultraviolet (UV) light, which creates a “glow in the dark” effect.
Vacuum Forming: Shaping thin plastic sheeting by means of a vacuum - see diagram below.
Vacuum Frame: A frame for making positive or negative process images by direct contact with an original. The frame is illuminated and creation of vacuum ensures stable contact between surfaces.
Vacuum Press: Screen-printing press with a perforated bed through which air is removed by a vacuum pump, holding the printing paper (or other substrate) in position during printing.
Vacuum (Printing) Frame: Illuminated printing frame used to make process negatives and positives; vacuum provides the best contact between surfaces.
Vade Mecum: Ready-refernce manual, typically carried about constantly.
Value: Color value; tonal value.
Vandyke Print: A print or photocopy producing the image as a dark brown print, either negative or positive.
Vanishing Point (abbreviation "VP"): In perspective projections, point at which all parallel lines, which are also parallel to the round plane, converge on the horizon.
Vapor Diazo: Same as ammonia duplication process.
Variorum: Edition of a text with notes by several scholars.
Vector: Any quantity specifying both direction and magnitude.
Vellum: The treated skin of a calf, kid or lamb, used as a writing surface.
Velox: Photomechanical transfer.
Venetian (of Typeface): Early form of roman, which retains sloping bar to "e" from calligraphic origin and has less variation between thick and thin strokes - see below.
Verification: A term used to describe the process of testing the integrity of the data.
Verso: Any left-hand page book; one which is even-numbered.
Vertical Alignment: The placement of lines of text in relation to the top and bottom of a page, column or box.
Vertical Dimension: The measurement of an image from top to bottom.
Vertical Justification: The spacing out of a block of text so that it vertically fills a page, column or box.
Vide: A Latin term meaning "see"; used as a reference in footnotes.
Video: Used in reference to all television based products.
Viewpoint: The direction from which an illustrator represents a particular object to provide the best analytical or aesthetic study.
Vignetted Halftone: One in which edges are gradually shaded off into the background - see figure below.
Visual: A mock up of the proposed appearance of a design or layout or presented as a rough drawing, or if more highly finished, as a presentation visual.
viz: abbreviation of videlicet; a Latin term meaning "namely" - used when citing a reference in footnotes.
Voice Over: Commentary of an unseen narrator, or representation on the sound-track of a character's unspoken thoughts.
Wallet Envelope: One with quadrilateral, as distinct from triangular flap.
Wallet Fold: Same as gate fold but may be applied more particularly to wallet-fold cover.
Watercolor Paper: It is expensive but its soaks up dye and paint without cockling. Some watercolor papers have interesting textures, which may add to the designs. Most papers are cotton based and the weights of the paper is usually between 190 and 300g.
Watercolor Printing: Printing process using water-based inks a relatively porous paper so that colors are absorbed and can be mixed by overlapping the layers printed.
Water-Gilding: Technique for applying transfer or loose leaf to a surface.
Watermark: A distinctive design incorporated in paper during manufacture.
Wax Prints: Wax prints are produced by covering the patterned areas of the fabric with a wax resist and subsequently dyeing the areas left free. The resist agent is usually a rosin obtained from certain pine trees and, like wax, it must be applied in a molten state.
Wedge-Serif Typeface with triangular serifs, also known as "latin" - see below.
Weight (of Typeface): Comparative strength of appearance of any typeface.
Well: The interior portion of the screen where the ink is applied.
Wet-Dry Sandpaper: Abrasive paper that may be used with water to achieve a really smooth finish.
Wet-On-Wet: Printing technique in which one color is printed on another, whilst the first one is still wet.
WF: Wrong font, a mark used in proof correction to indicate type set in a different font from the one specified.
White Line: A space between lines of type equivalent to the type size, including leading.
Whiteprint: A reproduction method producing copies at the same size of the original by direct contact, the image being formed by a light sensitive dye. The original for this process must be transparent or translucent material.
White Space: Page areas with no text or images.
Widget: A colloquia term for any unspecified device.
Widow: Strictly speaking, a short line at the end of a paragraph that falls at the top of a column or page, but the term is often used to describe a single word at the end of any paragraph.
Wildcard: Textmarker.
Wipe: Changes of scenes, in which a line moves across to obliterate the old scene and bring in the new.
Wire-Side: That side of some uncoated papers (such as antiques) which shows a wire-mark (as distinct from felt-side).
Wire-Stitch/Stab: To secure a book by forcing a wire through back of insetted work or side gathered work.
Woodcut: A relief printing method using the side grain of a wood block. Areas not intended to print are cut away below the surface of the block leaving a raised image that can be inked - see below.
Woodcut Equipment: Side-grain wood blocks; gouges and V-tools; craft knife for fine-line work on block; push knife and palette knife; block printing inks.
Wood Engraving: A relief technique of printmaking using end grain blocks of wood, sometimes bolted together to produce larger surfaces and a burin to cave them. Usually wood-engravings have a highly detailed, white-on-black appearance that required smooth manufactured papers, which could pick up detail. Wood-engravings were used extensively from the late eighteenth century on for journal and book illustrations - see below.
Wood Engraving Equipment: End-grain wood blocks; engraving tools; mixing slab; block-printing inks; palette knife; roller.
Word Break: See hyphen.
Word-Breaking: Splitting words at the end of line of type to avoid "gappy" word spacing:
Word Spacing: In machine composition other than line casting, word spacing conforms to "unit system"; in hand composition, word spaces are provided in the following widths - see below.
Word Underline: See underline.
Work and Turn: To print forme on one side of the sheet, turn it over from left to right and print same forme on reverse, thus producing two identical half-sheets; some common type of half-sheet work - see below.
Work and Tumble: Similar to work and turn, except that the sheet is turned over from gripper edge to back, instead of from left to right - see below.
Work and Twist: To print forme on one side of sheet, then turn it round (not over) and print again from the same forme (particularly suited to work involving crossed rules - see below.
Working: A single operation performed by a printing machine (e.g. embossing, inking).
Working White (WW): A term describing white space in a design or layout which contains no text or images but forms an integral part of the design.
Worksheet: A term sometimes used to describe a spreadsheet template.
Work Up: In letterpress, type space which has been accidentally pushed up.
Wove Paper: Uncoated paper, which has an even, unpatterned look-through.
Wrap Around: Small printing section (4pp or 8pp) wrapped around another section in gathered work.
Write Enable: The opposite of write-protect.
Write Once Read Many: WORM
Write Protect: To protect a computer disk from erasure, accidental or otherwise.
Writing Head: Read/Write head of a device.
Wrong Reading: The term used to describe copy or film that reads backwards when viewed with the emulsion on the desired side.
WYSIWYG: An acronym for "what you see is what you get", referring to the accuracy of on the screen rendering relative to printed output.
x-axis: horizontal axis in a coordinate graph.
Xerography: A photocopying process in which the image is formed by an electrostatic charge that allows adhesion of powder ink. The ink was sealed by heat processing.
x-height: Mean height of lower case characters, which have neither ascenders nor descenders - see below.
Xerography: Printing process in which image is projected onto late, causing electrostatic charge already imparted to be discharged where light falls, thus allowing applied coating of resinous powder to adhere only to uncharged areas and then transfer to paper; also known as photostatic or dry copying process - see diagrams below.
Y: Process yellow.
Yakusha-e (Japanese Woodblock Classes of Print): Prints of Kabuki actors; one of the first major types of Japanese woodblock prints, and a mainstay of the field down to this day.
Yapp Binding: Binding form in which limp cover overlaps leaves of book (after William Yapp, who devised it for his pocket bibles).
y-axis: Vertical axis in co-ordinate graph.
Zero Point: See origin.
Zig-Zag Book: One made as continuous, concertina fold, usually printed one side only; may be stitched at the back or left unstitched so that it may be opened up, either for display or to reveal printed reverse - see below.
Zinco, Zincograph: A zinc plate used in letterpress line printing.
Zip-A-Tone: Mechanical tints printed off cellophane and used in the preparation of original artwork.
Zone: One part of two or more connected networks.
Zoom: Quick increase or decrease in the size of the image of an object, by means of a special lens.
References:
[1] A. Fritz and J. Cant, Consumer Textiles, Oxford University Press, Melbourne (1986).
[2] P. Lambert, B. Staepelaere and M. G. Fry, Color and Fiber, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Pennsylvania (1986).
[3] N. Hollen and J. Saddler, Textiles, 3rd edition, Collier-Macmillan Ltd, London (1968).
[4] Ed. L.W.C. Miles, Textile Printing, Dyers Company Publication Trust, West Yorkshire (1981).
[5] E.N. Abrahart, Dyes and Their Intermediates, Pergamon Press, Sydney (1968).
[6] A. Kosloff, Textile Screen Printing, The Signs of the Times Publishing Company, Cincinnati (1966).
[7] D.W.A. Sharp, The Penguin Dictionary of Chemistry, Penguin Books Ltd, New York (1983).
[8] A. Stromquist, Simple Screenprinting, Larks Books, New york (2005).
[9] R. Adam and C. Robertson, Screenprinting, Thames & Hudson, London (2003).
[10] A. Campbell, The Designer's Handbook, MacDonald & Co., Sydney (1983).
[11] K.L. Casselman, Craft of the Dyer, University of Toronto Press, Toronto (1980).
[12] E.P.G. Gohl and L.D. Vilensky, Textile Science, Longman Cheshire, Melbourne (1989).
[13] G.H. Aylward and T.J.V. Findlay, SI Chemical Data, John Wiley and Sons, Elwood (1983).
[14] R. Mayer, The Artist's Handbook, 4th Edition, Faber and Faber, Norfolk (1982).
[15] K. Wells, Fabric Dyeing And Printing, Conrn Octopus Ltd., London (2000).
[16] A. Kornerup and J.H. Wanscher, Methuen Handbook of Colour, 3rd Edition, Eyre Methuen Ltd, London (1983).
[17] C. E. Kicklighter and R.J. Baird, Crafts - Illustrated Designs And Techniques, The Goodheart-Willcox, Company, Inc. South Holland (1986).
[18] K. Skinner, The Paint Effects Bible, Gary Allen Pty Ltd, Smithfield, Australia (2003).
[19] E.J. Gawne, Fabrics For Clothing, 3rd Edition, Chas. A. Bennett Co. Inc., Peoria, USA (1973).
[20] M.E. Ratcliffe, Fabric Painting, Salamandar Books Ltd, New York (1988).
[21] Editors A. Jeffs, W. Martensson and and P. North , Creative Crafts Encyclopedia, Octopus Books, London (1984).
[22] L. Wauchope, Silk Painting, Simon and Schuster, Sydney (1992).
[23] E.B. Feldman, Varieties Of Visual Experience, 2nd Edition, Prentice-Hall, New York (1982).
[24] J. Fish, Designing and Printing Textiles, The Crowood Press Ltd., Ramsbury (2005).
[25] A.H. Barr, Cubism and Abstract Art, Arno Press, New York (1966).
[26] D. Piper, The Illustrated History Of Art, Bounty Books (2000).
[27] N. Dyrenforth, The Technique of Batik, B.T. Batsford Ltd., London (1988).
[28] W. Caruana, Aboriginal Art, 3rd Edition, Thames & Hudson, London (2012).
[29] http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/
[30] Reverse Dictionary, The Reader's Digest Association Limited, London (1989).
[31] A. Campbell, The MAC Designer Handbook, Angus & Robertson, Sydney (1992).
[32] M-T Wisniowski, personal communication (2013).
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