Need Help?
Know your EPS from your PMS, your CMYK from your RGB; and Creep along carefully or you could get yourself into a WYSIWYG, fall into a Wet Trap, which will be the RIP of you… Yes every industry has its jargon so here is a guide to keep you perfectly Aligned in ours.
Portable Document File, a type of formatting that enables files to be viewed on a variety of computers regardless of the program used to create them. PDF files retain the “look and feel” of the original document.
JPEG
Joint Photographic Experts Group, a file compression format that allows high quality full colour or grey-scale digital images to be stored in relatively small files.
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format, a bitmapped file format used for the reproduction of digitally scanned images such as photographs, illustrations and logos.
Binding
This is the process used to keep your books and booklets together. There are many different methods of binding; the most commonly used are saddle stitch, perfect, PUR and burst bound.
Perfect Binding
Whirlwind stacks single sheets of paper together, applies an adhesive to the binding edge and then wraps a cover around the pages. This binding method can be used on booklets and books that are greater than 35 pages.
Matt Cello
A non-reflective varnish applied to a printed surface to protect it. A matt cello has a slightly granular look and tends to make colours look more vivid.
Gloss Cello
A clear, shiny finish that brings out and emphasises colours. It makes images look brighter, adds definition and radiance.
Coated
Printing papers that have had a surface coating to give a smoother, more even finish with greater opacity.
Embossing
A process which produces images or decorations that are raised above the surface of the paper.
Dummy
A mock-up made to resemble the final printed product using the planned grade, weight and colour of paper.
External Bleed
When an illustration or image is extended beyond the edge of the page. Whirlwind requires a 3mm external bleed – anything that touches an edge must be extended a further 3mm past it. This allows for a small amount of movement in the printing process.
Internal Bleed
Whirlwind requires 3mm of internal bleed or type area. We recommend that you keep your important information at least 3mm in from the trim to allow for a small amount of movement in the printing process.
Imposition
The arrangement or layout of pages on a printed sheet.
Impression
Refers to the number of plates hitting the press sheet.
Lithography
A printing process based on the principle of the natural aversion of water to oil. The printing plate is treated chemically when being made so that the image will accept ink and reject water.
GSM
Grams per square metre, a standard measure of the weight of paper.
Jog
To align sheets of paper into a compact pile before they go to the guillotine for trimming.
Quickset
Lithographic inks are designed to obtain a tack-free state as soon as possible after printing to minimise the chance of setoff.
Borders
A margin around the edge of artwork. We recommend that all borders are more than 3mm wide on the trim edges.
Laminate
A thin transparent plastic coating that is bonded to paper or board by heat and pressure. This provides protection, as well as a matt or gloss finish.
Debossing
An invention form of embossing. An image or decoration is recessed into the paper, so it’s lower than the paper surface.
Creep
When the middle pages of a folded booklet extend slightly behind the outside pages.
Crease
An indent made in paper to make folding easier.
Trim
Cutting the printed product down to the correct size.
Trim Marks
The guide marks on the printed sheet that indicate where you want to cut/trim the printed sheet.
RGB
Red, Green, Blue, a model for describing colours that are produce by emitting light rather than absorbing it. They are known as additive colours because when they are added together they create all colours. RGB colours are what you see on your computer screen, these must be converted to CMYK for printing.
CMYK
The abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The colours used in our full-colour printing process.
Pantone
The name of an ink colour matching system.
Digital Printing
Printing by a plate-less imaging system. Printed sheets are produced directly from a computer file without being transferred onto printing plates. Perfect for small printing volumn, variable data, print on demand & personalised printing.
Spot Colour
A colour that’s not produced with our standard four-colour process, the colour is printed using ink made exclusively. It’s used when you require a very specific ink colour.
PMS
Pantone Matching System, a standard that creates different ink colours by mixing inks with a minimal amount of base colour. A process guide shows how Pantone spot colours will appear when converted to process colours (CMYK).
Swatch
A sample of colours or paper stocks.
Dot Gain
The apparent increase in dot size, or tone value, measured on the press sheet compared with the size specified in a digital file or measured on the film separations. The increase is both optical and mechanical and varies with the type of paper and line screen being used. Dot gain is higher with uncoated paper or newsprint.
Pixel
A coloured dot that makes up an image on a computer or television screen.
Bitmap
A digital graphic image formed by tiny squares called pixels. The more pixels in an image, the clearer it appears.
Spot Varnish
Varnish is applied to a particular spot on your printed material – not the whole thing. It creates a shiny effect on just this spot and nowhere else.
PPI
Pixels Per Inch, a measurement describing the size of a printed image. The higher the number, the more detailed the image will be.
Numbering
Printing sequential numbers on your printed material, from event tickets to limited edition series. Numbering can be printed in a number of different fonts and in black or red ink.
Saddle Stitch
A form of binding commonly used by Whirlwind to create books and booklets from 8 to 64 pages. The book or booklet is stapled through the middle fold of its sheets using saddle wire.
Scoring
Making a line or a crease in paper or board so that it can be folded cleanly. Scoring is recommended when you require folding on stocks heavier than 150gsm. It minimises cracking of the ink and paper at the edge of the fold.
Perforation
A line of punched holes that allow a sheet of paper to be torn or folded accurately. You might also hear it called a perf.
Guillotine
A machine used to trim stacks of paper. The guillotine-cutting blade moves between two upright guides and slices paper evenly as it moves down.
Encapsulation
Hot reverse and cold front (gloss or matt) – The covering and sealing of your print work.
Stock
The general term for any paper or board that is used as a printed surface.
Finishing
Any process that follows printing, including folding, stitching, binding, laminating.
Ticks/Corner Marks
Marks printed on a sheet to indicate the trim.
Cold Lamination (matt or gloss)
Uses pressure sensitive adhesives to bind the film to the material being laminated. This is your best option when you are laminating heat-sensitive work.
Drilling
The process of drilling holes in printed material.
Knife, forme cut or die cut
The process of cutting paper and card into different shapes after it has been printed. We can create just about any shape you can imagine.
Collating
The process of arranging your printed and/or other materials into a desired sequence and packing them for dispatch.
Amendments / Alterations
Changes made to the copy after it has been set.
Proof
Also called Epson Proof, a representation of the colour.
Digital Proofing
The final hard copy view of your artwork before it hits the press and your final chance to make changes. Digital proofing incurs an extra charge and is not compulsory.
ESP
Encapsulated Postscript File, a vector-based, computer graphics file format. EPS is the preferred format for many computer illustrations because of its efficient use of memory and colour control.
ICC
International Colour Consortium, established by the printing industry to create, promote and encourage the standardisation of colour.
ICC Profiles
Standard guidelines for colour management. The profile allows one piece of software or hardware to “know” how another device created its colours and how they should be interpreted or reproduced.