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Resources/ Printionary
Baffling (and not so baffling) terms from the print world
4/4 - Color on the front and back
4/1 - Color on the front, black and white on back
4/0 - Color front - blank back.
14pt -medium heavy card paper for printing - thick.
10pt - thinner than 14pt, still strong, more flexible like a postcard thickness.
15pt - Thickest card, heavy and about as thick as a credit or debit card just a hair thinner and very strong.
9pt pp - durable plastic, thin - tear resistant card like pipe tags, grocery store labels, and some product packaging. Makes an excellent flyer and prints beautifully.
embossed - the art of heat pressing a metal roller into paper, or other media to create a texture, like linen, or crosshatch. There are many styles of embossing. We have two.
lb vs. # - What is the difference between lb and #?
lb is used in paper to describe a weight, like 20lb or 60lb. # is used much the same - and what it means for you is not much, except you should know that when a paper is used and described as 24lb, it's heavier than 20lb paper - but when a paper is used and it's described as 60#? than it's no heavier than 24lb paper, it's simply the parent sheet that is being weighed, not the sheet of paper itself. Reams of 500 sheets are measured and weighed. Some reams are 17 x 22, some are larger like 22 x 58. When 500 sheets are put together, the weight that results, like 24lb, or 80lb is what will describe that paper to you - unfortunately it's very confusing. A 24lb paper is the same as a 50# paper, because sheets of 24lb paper are smaller is dimension, and 50# sheets are larger - when all things are equal, the 50# sheet is the same thickness.
Why don't they (paper mills) just measure all paper the same - so we get one uniform weight we can actually measure?
I don't know.
UV Gloss - a fade resistant coating, in a high gloss that protects paper from being damaged, colors from fading, and wear over the course of time. Nothing lasts forever (except diamonds) but UV Gloss will keep it around a bit longer.
Silk lamination - smooth, silky feeling matte coating, protects card and design work, and also kills glare - so colors are more vibrant and text is easier to read.
Spot UV - the process of selective spotting a card with UV Gloss, to create a dynamic card with multi-faceted shine. A separate black and white file is needed to make a Spot UV card - the black and white file tells us where you want the spot UV applied.
Linen - an embossing process that creates a linen effect on cards - very classy, great with cursive fonts and other curly, fancy fonts. Not really great for photos.
Numbering - numbering is a process of serializing your cards, starting at a number you specify, and advancing to the last card. On paper cards, we go to 5 digits. On plastic, we don't stop until you say when.
Perforations - small cuts, like pinholes, made in the card or paper to create "tear-offs" or easily separated pieces or parts. If you want clients to be able to tear off parts of your card or brochure, or flyer - you'll want perforations. I use these with brochures to create a separate order form - for folded business cards, you could create a tear-off for coupons, or have one half become a ticket for an event. The uses are endless. For brochures - also see scoring.
foil - a stamp is used to press a piece of colored foil into a card, and when the fringes are removed, a design is the result. Used to make text stand out - it is akin to embossing, but with foil.
Scoring - the lines created in a card or paper that enables it to be folded without cracking or wrinkling. For example, brochures must be scored in order to be folded.
screenprinting: screenprinting is quite arguably one of the most versatile types of printing, simply by virtue of what can be printed on with this technique. A silk or polyester fabric screen is used as the "stencil" and and a water insoluble is used to protect the negative space (uncolored areas). A roller or wood dowel/bar is pulled across the screen, dragging ink down into the mesh and across. The mesh fills with ink, and then a rubber squeegee is pulled across the other way to further fill in any empty mesh and make sure the ink is pushed to the medium on the other end. The screen is lifted and the process is repeated once the ink is dry for multiple colors. This is a simple explanation, the commercial process is automated.
laser printing (laser-engraving): the art of using a laser to engrave or mark a design, art, or words into the surface of an object. Used successfully on metal, glass, stone, and wood. Laser machines are made of three main parts; the laser, a controller, and a surface. The laser moves across the surface, or uses mirrors to direct it across a surface creating a detailed facsimile of the original art. It's a bit rudimentary - but simple enough for all to understand the idea.
More to come soon!
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