Glossary of Terms for Design, Packaging and Print

3D PRINTING
3D printers can print 3D shapes and models. 

4-COLOUR-PROCESS
The 4-color-process is a printing method that, as the name suggests, uses four ink colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK). This process is more used for printing colour images in press, publications and editorials. 

A, B AND C SERIES
These refer to the different industry standards of paper sizes, including A4, A3, A2, A1 and A0. 

ABSORBENCY
Refers to how much liquid paper can hold. Before you start printing, it’s worth checking the absorbency of your paper. Uncoated paper absorbs more ink, creating a muted colour effect. 

ACETATE
A thin and flexible sheet of transparent plastic that’s often used to make overlays. 

ADHESIVES
In print, adhesives are substances used to make things stick firmly together.

ANALOGOUS
Analogous colour schemes use colours next to each other on the colour wheel. They usually match well and create serene and comfortable designs.

AQUEOUS COATING
A clear coating protects printed pieces to create a high-gloss surface that improves durability. 

ART PAPER
Paper that has a smooth glossy finish made by adding a special coating.

ARTWORK BUILD
The first design or artwork set up of an item that will serve as a template for a range of items. 

ASCENDER / DESCENDER
The ascender is the portion of a lowercase letter that extends above the mean line of a font (the x-height). On the other hand, the descender is the portion of a letter that extends below the baseline of a font.

BARCODES
A method of representing data in a visual and a machine-readable form of information on a scannable, visual surface.

BESPOKE PRINTING
A technique which isn't restricted to certain printing products, materials or sizes. The technique is all about meeting a company's needs to create something truly unique which can't be produced elsewhere.

BINDING
Binding is used to bind or fasten a book together. 

BLEED AND BLEEDING EDGE
The bleed or bleeding edge is a term that defines the blank space between the printing image and the page. The bleed area allows for some movement and design inconsistencies.  

BLIND EMBOSSING
Bling embossing is the term given to the graphic design techniques of creating raised artwork on paper without the use of ink.

BLUR
Blur makes images more unclear or less distinct. 

BULK
A term sometimes used when describing the thickness and feel of a piece of paper.

CALLIPER
The measurement of the thickness of paper, measured in thousandths of an inch or mils.

CMYK
CMYK is a colour model that is used for print purposes. CMYK colours begin as white and then get darker as more colours are combined

COATING
To reduce the risk of ink smudging after printing, a special liquid coating can be applied to the paper.

COLOUR BARS
A test strip that’s printed on the waste portion of a press sheet. It helps to monitor and control the quality of the printed material relative to ink density, registration and dot gain.

COLOUR SEPARATION
The process of separating colours into their basic elements.

COLOUR THEORY
Colour theories create a logical structure for colour. There are three basic categories of colour theory: The colour wheel, colour harmony, and the context of how colours are used. 

COMPLEMENTARY
Colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel are considered to be complementary colours (e.g. red and green).

CONTRAST
Contrast occurs when two elements on a page are different. For example, it could be different colours between the text and the background colour or dark verses light colours.

COOL COLOURS
Cool colours such as blue, green and light purple can calm and soothe.

CREEP
Refers to the moving or shift that happens to the margins in a document when pages are folded during the finishing process of a booklet. The amount of creep can vary depending on the thickness of the paper and the number of pages.

CROP
When you crop an image, you’re cutting away and discarding the unnecessary portions of the image. Cropping allows you to change the emphasis or direction of an image.

CROP MARKS
Crop marks, also known as trim marks, are lines located on the corners of your sheet project, so the printer is aware of where to trim the paper. 

DEBOSSING
The process of stamping a design into the surface of an object or paper so that there’s an indent.

DECKLE EDGE
An untrimmed edge that's feathered or rough. 

DESIGN SETUP
The design setup process involves the placement of the dieline, logo, typography, graphics, illustrations or images in a layout to create a designed item or product. 

DIE-CUT
In the world of printing, a die refers to a precise, razor-sharp steel blade that allows multiple pieces of the same shape to be created efficiently and uniformly.

DIELINE/ WORKSMAP
A dieline, or worksmap is a graphic design term that refers to a plan layout and cut lines of packaging. The dieline marks where to print and fold, and it’s a guide for printers to understand the product’s shape. 

DIGITAL PRINTING
Digital-based-printing is printed with the assistance of high-volume laser or inkjet printers and idea for quick, small-scale jobs. Digital printing is more expensive than offset printing for volume, but cheaper for smaller runs because it requires less technical preparation. 

DOT GAIN
A term used when dots are printed larger than they should.

DUMMY
Before printing a large quantity, it is common practice to print a ‘dummy’ to show the customer an example of the finished product.

DUST JACKET
A detachable outer dust wrapper around the front and back of a book, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations.

EMBOSSING
The process of creating raised relief images on paper and other materials. The design will bulge out of the paper.

FINISHED ART
The technical print set up of artwork for different printers and print mediums, including digital, litho and flexo printing. 

FINISHING
The finishing touches of a print including cutting the crop lines and adding protective gloss.

FLAT
Flat design is a minimalistic approach focusing on simplicity and usability. It tends to feature plenty of open space, crisp edges, bright colours and two-dimensional illustrations.

FLEXOGRAPHY
A method commonly used for printing onto uneven surfaces such as packaging. Flexographic printing uses a flexible relief plate to print letters and images. 

FOIL EMBOSS
Foil emboss refers to that metallic finish almost “foil-like” you can add to your product’s packaging. It works by applying a pigment of metallic foil pressed onto the paper’s surface with a heated tool. 

FOLDS
With fold variations such as the concertina, gate, closed gate and French, folds can give you different options for presenting your documents.

FONT
The font refers to the style of letters used in print.

GHOSTING
On a printed image, another lighter image in the same print is called ghosting because of the lighter, ghostly finish.

GRADIENT
A gradient is a gradual change of colours or a colour fading into transparency. There are two common types of gradients: radial and linear.

GREY SCALE
A strip of grey values ranging from white to black contains shades of grey and is used for reproducing images.

GRID
A grid is constructed from evenly divided columns and rows. The point of a grid is to help designers arrange elements consistently. 

HEX
A hex is a six-digit number used in HTML, CSS, and design software applications to represent colours.

HIERACHY
Typographic hierarchy is a system for organising type that establishes an order of importance within the data, allowing the reader to easily find what they are looking for and navigate the content. It helps guide the reader’s eye to where a section begins and ends whilst enabling the user to isolate certain information based on the consistent use of style throughout a body of text.

HUE
Essentially, a hue is a way to describe a colour. And a hue can be any colour on the colour wheel. 

ICON
Icons are images used to represent an action or an object. 

INTERLEAVES
Printed pages loosely inserted in a publication.

KERNING
In typography, this is the process of adjusting the visual spacing between characters, to achieve a more aesthetically pleasing result.

KNOLLING
Knolling is arranging different objects so that they are at 90-degree angles from each other, then photographing them from above. This technique creates a very symmetrical look that feels pleasing to the eye. Images that feature knolling tend to be set against a contrasting solid background.

LAMINATE
A thin transparent plastic sheet is applied to a thick stock to provide a glossy protective layer against liquid and heavy use.

LEADING
Leading determines how text is spaced vertically in lines. Leading is used when content that has multiple lines of readable text and ensures the distance from the bottom of the words above to the top of the words below has appropriate spacing to make them legible.

LITHOGRAPHY
Lithographic printing is popularly used for high-quality image printing. The image is placed on the lithography plate, inked and then printed onto the paper. It’s a fast and smooth printing process.

LOCK BOUND
A stronger binding process that ensures longevity and is often used for publications that need to be durable, an adhesive is pushed between the perforations during the binding process. 

LOGOMARK/ BRANDMARK
A logo mark generally does not contain the company's name and instead more abstractly represents that company using a symbol or mark.

LOGOTYPE
A logotype is the name of a company that is designed in a visually unique way for use by that company. Most of the time, when people refer to a logo, they’re referring to the brand’s logotype.

LORUM IPSUM
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text used by the design industry. It’s used as placeholder text and has a more-or-less average distribution of letters, making it look like readable English.

LUX. PAPER
A stock which suits classic products. This material is an ultra-thick, triple-layered card with a signature-coloured core running through the centre layer.

MATTE FINISH
A matte finish describes a non-shiny texture. You can opt for printing on paper that has a slight shine to it or a completely matt (Anti-reflection) finish. 

METALLIC INK
It is made with powdered metal or pigments that reflect to make text look metallic. The most common colours used are silver and gold.

MONOCHROME
Monochrome describes design or photographs in one colour or different shades of a single colour.

OFFSET PRINTING
Offset printing refers to an inked image transferred to a printing surface. It differs from digital printing in that offset printing is inked from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to a printing surface. 
Modern days offset printing is one of the most economical methods suited for high volumes. Additionally, offset printing is coordinated with computer-to-plate systems, increasing productivity and quality.

OPACITY
Opacity enables us to make an element of a design transparent. The lower the opacity, the more transparent an element is. For example, 100% opacity means an object is solid.

ORIGINAL
Before you can start any printing work, the printing press will need the ‘original’ - which is the original image you wish to produce.

ORPHANS / WIDOWS
Orphan: A is a single word or very short line that appears at the end of a paragraph or the beginning of a column or a page, separated from the rest of the text.
Widow: A paragraph-ending line that falls at the beginning of the following page or column, thus separated from the rest of the text. Or the beginning of a new paragraph at the bottom of a column or page.

OVERPACKAGING
Overpackaging refers to the situation in which products have unnecessary packaging or are dramatically over-packaged for no logistical reason whatsoever. 

OVERPRINTING
Any additional printing over an area that’s already been done.

PALETTE
A colour palette comprises colours that can be utilised for any illustration or design work. The chosen colours should be designed to work harmoniously with each other.

PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM (PMS)
The Pantone matching system has a wider range of colours than CMYK systems.
The Pantone Matching System organises colour by numbers, a three to four number digit followed by the letter C, U or M that stands for “coated,” “uncoated”, and “matte,” respectively. 
PMS is constituted of around 1,114 colours. 
Also, the Pantone Matching System can produce different colour effects, such as metallic and fluorescent.

PIXEL
A pixel is a minuscule screen area (the word comes from “picture element”). Pixels are the smallest basic unit of programmable colour on a computer, and images are made up of many individual pixels.

PRIMARY PACKAGING
Primary packaging is the wrapping or containers handled by the consumer. Primary packaging is the last thing your user touches before fully touching the product. 

PRINT BLEMISHING
Refer to small marks of flaws, which spoil the overall appearance or quality.

PROCESS COLOURS
The process colours are cyan, magenta, yellow and black. The colours combine to create different colours.

PROOFING
Proofing is the best way to avoid expensive mistakes in printing. Pay close attention to the proofs you receive to ensure the design, copy, and colour has no errors. 

PROTOTYPE
A prototype is a design term used to describe an early model or mock-up of the proposed design. Prototypes are a preliminary version of the final developed concept. Sometimes also called a “blank dummy”. It is highly recommended that you prototype packaging before you order a shipment.

PUR BINDING
This refers to a softcover book binding method that uses Polyurethane Reactive (PUR) adhesive, which creates clean and perfect edges.

RASTER
Raster images are made up of a set grid of pixels. This means that when you change the size of the stretch of a raster image, it can get a little blurry and lose some clarity.

REEL
A continuous length of paper wrapped around a cylinder is commonly referred to as a paper reel.

REGISTER
To accurately position an image or text onto paper, register marks are used as reference points to help make sure the printing work is accurate at every step.

RESOLUTION
The resolution of an image determines the quality. The higher the resolution, the higher the quality. A high-resolution image will be clear and crisp, whereas a low-resolution image will appear pixelated and blurry.

RGB
RGB colour is a model in which red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array of colours. RGB tends to be used for on-screen purposes.

SANS-SERIF
“Sans” literally means “without”, and a sans serif font does not include extra strokes at the ends of the letters. 

STAIN FINISH
A smooth and soft finish over the paper.

SATURATION
Saturation refers to the intensity or purity of a colour. The more saturated a colour, the more vivid or brighter it appears. Whereas desaturated colours appear a duller.

SCALE
In design, scale refers to the size of an object in relationship to another object. e tend to be seen as different.

SCORE
In printing terms, a score refers to creating a folded line on a printed document. By creating a crease in the paper, a document becomes easier to fold. 

SCRATCH RESISTANCE
Depending on the technique used, it can be difficult to scratch or cause damage to products because the physical properties will have been dramatically improved.

SCREEN PRINTING
A fine mesh that transfers an image onto another material. It’s useful for printing logos onto clothes and printing fabric banners.

SCRIPT
Script typefaces are fonts or types based upon historical or modern handwriting styles and are more fluid than traditional typefaces.

SECONDARY PACKAGING
Primary packaging is last thing a user touches before interacting with a product and secondary packaging is the packaging/protection used to group primary packaging and packaged goods. 

SERIF
A serif is a little extra stroke or curves at the ends of letters.

SHELF APPEARL
Shelf appeal describes how a product’s design looks at the point of sale compared to its competitors on the same shelf. 

SHELF-READY PACKAGING (SRP)
A term that refers to a container with ready-to-sell products. SRP packaging tends to go straight from the factory to the retailer that uses that same shipping box as the point-of-sale unit. 

SKEUMORPHISM
A digital element designed to look like a replica of the physical work. 

SKU
A stock-keeping unit (SKU) is a scannable barcode, most often seen printed on product labels in a retail store. The SKU is composed of an alphanumeric combination of eight-or-so characters. The characters make up a code that tracks the price, product details, manufacturer, and point-of-sale.

SLAB SERIF
A geometric style font with square, large bold serifs.

SPOT COLOUR
An individual colour achieved by mixing ink into a specific colour, as opposed to using the CMYK process colour.

SPOT VARNISH
Spot varnish is the fore-mentioned varnish applied to specific portions, for decorative purposes. This is a very common technique used mainly for books covers. This spot varnish tends to be very glossy and metallic (basically the opposite of a matte finish).

STOCK KEEPING UNIT (SKU) 
A retail industry term that refers to a coding system that expresses each product line and size variant. Each SKU is unique to each product and each retail chain. 

STRUCTURAL PACKAGING
A design term that describes the three-dimensional form of a product’s packaging.

STYLE GUIDE
A style guide is a set of standards for the design of anything related to a brand to ensure complete uniformity in style and formatting.

SUBSTRATE
Refers to the material that a design is printed onto, i.e. carton, board, polypropylene, film, etc.

TEXTURE
A texture is defined as the surface characteristics of an image. 

THREAD-SEWN
A strong binding ideal for high-quality, long-lasting publications and those that need to be opened flat without splitting along the spine.

TINT
A tint is a variety of a colour, created by adding white to any hue on the colour wheel to lighten and desaturate the hue, making it less intense.

TRACKING
Tracking refers to the spacing between groups of letters or characters. 

TRANSPARENCY
This refers to images or text that aren’t completely opaque. 

TRIADIC
A triadic colour scheme uses colours that are evenly spaced around the colour wheel.

TRIM
This is the line cut to produce the finished size. The trim cuts through the bleed area to ensure a continuous and sharp edge around a design. 

TYPO
A spelling mistake in printed text material. 

TYPOGRAPHY
Ty­pog­ra­phy is the vi­sual com­po­nent of the writ­ten word. All visually displayed text, whether on paper, screen or billboard, involves typography.

BARCODE
A barcode consists of 12 numbers randomly assigned to a product to identify the number and symbol of a product. It also gathers information on size, colour, configuration, name and other additional attributes. 

UV CURING
A drying method which uses high-intensity UV light instead of heat to cure or dry inks, coatings and adhesives.

UV VARNISH
A thin coating applied to a printed sheet for protection that gives off a gloss sheen. 

VARNISH
A glossy finish added to a finished printed product to give it extra shine and protection against damage.

VECOTR
Vector images are made up of points, lines, and curves. Vector images can scale in size without losing quality, which differs from rasterised images, which become blurry when scaled. 

VIGNETTE
An illustration or colour gradually fades away or blends into another colour or paper.

WARM COLOURS
Colours including red, orange, yellow and various combinations of these colours. 

WATERMARK
A faint logo or barely visible design element. 

WHITE SPACE
Whitespace, or negative space, refers to the blank area of a design. It’s the space between graphic elements, images, copy, and anything else on the page. 

X-HEIGHT
The x-height refers to the distance between the baseline and the mean line of lower-case letters in a typeface.