OUGD504 - Studio Brief 01 - Print Terminologies

Colour Management: 
This ensures the accuracy of colour reproduction between equipment and process.

• Gamut:RGB, CMYK and hexachrome (CMYKOG) are examples.
  Describes how accurately particular systems can reproduce certain colours - RGB can reproduce approximately 70% of colours that the human eye can see (on screen only). If a colour is outside the printing gamut is used then the closest equivalent will be used, however this can change the overall design.
• Colour Profiles:Often predefined in relation to specific printing equipment and stock.
  These differ on different programmes, for example, photoshop, illustrator and indesign.
• Coated and Uncoated:Paper coating provides a certain surface quality but can affect how the ink is absorbed, and therefore can also affect the sharpness of the image.
• Process Colour:CMYK - in offset lithography, colours are applied using the CMYK gamut, applied using half-tone dots.
• Spot Colours:Must be defined if a colour to be printed lies outside the working gamut system.
  Must be defined within the image file (swatches) and any conversations with the printer.
  Can also be defined using the Pantone colour matching system as a reference.

Printing and Alignment:

• Lithography:Uses plates (one for each colour) and ink is applied on the basis that oil and water repel each other.
  Ink from plates are "offset" onto a rubber printing surface before being applied to paper.
• Web:Ultra-high volume printing (for example, newspapers), often printed onto large rolls of paper.
  Flexography (relief) and retrogravure (intaglio).
• Black and "Registration" Black:In offset lithography black is one plate in the printing process.
  Registration black is achieved using all four process colours in the same space, however this is more expensive.
  Registration black is used to apply registration marks to ensure accurate alignment of the litho plates.
• Crop and Bleed Marks.

Finishes and Specialist Techniques:

• Tipped-in Page:A page that is printed separately but bound along with other pages.
  Can use different formats or stock than other pages.
• Tip-on: Added content glued to a page or cover, for example, a plastic membership card glued to a members pack.
• Duplexing:Bonding two different stocks together to act as one page with different textures or colours on each side.
• Foil Blocking:Coloured foil is pressed into the stock using a foil stamp.
• Embossing and Debossing:Embossed refers to a raised surface and debossing refers to an indented surface. These use metal "dies" specific to each job.
• Die Cutting:A design cut out of the surface using a metal die.
• Laminate.
• Varnish:Colourless coating applied similarly to that of spot colours.
  Often identified to the printer by a separate file using black to identify the varnish (varying levels of glossiness).