Design and Printer Jargon

The Alphabet Soup of Design and Print Lingo

BLEED – This is the area of your image which trims off in the cutting process in order to allow your document to maintain full color to the edge of the sheet. It is typical to allow an extra 1/8" - 1/4" of image around all four sides of your document. (Example: If your documents final size is 8 1/2" x 11" then your file should be set up to accommodate that space at 8 3/4" x 11 1/4".)

TRIM – This is the finished size of your final document once it is trimmed and the excess bleed has been cut away.

SAFE AREA – When creating a document with text or content that is too close to the trim edge, you run the risk of cutting away important information. To be safe, always allow yourself an invisible margin of at least 1/8" from the trim or final document size in order to produce a professional design.

RESOLUTION – This is the quality of the image you will be producing. For print design, you should always start with a high resolution image. Resolution can always be lowered but never increased. Most image editing software allows you to determine the resolution of your image, which should be 300dpi at 100% of it's final size. (Example: If you have a photo or image that is 3" x 5" saved at 300dpi and you scale that same image up to 6" x 10" you will encounter loss or image blurring.) Always keep your image resolution at 300dpi at no more than 100% of the image's size. 

DPI – Dots Per Inch. If you zoom in on an image you will discover that it is made of up of tiny squares called pixels. The more pixels you have per inch the greater the clarity of the image when printing in dots per inch. (Example: If you only have 72 pixels per inch that will not be as clear as the same photo with 300 per inch. Thus the difference between 72dpi and 300dpi.)

RASTER FILE – A raster file is basically any photographic image that is resolution dependant (from a photograph to custom piece of art). 

Raster files include images such as, .TIFF, .JPEG, .GIF, .PNG and .BMP.

VECTOR FILE – A vector file is a mathmatically generated image. All logos, line art, shapes and illustrations should be saved in this format.

The benefit with a vector file is that you can freely scale the document in size, either up or down, without loss of resolution. These file types include .AI, .EPS, .FHD, and .CDR and are generated originally in a program such as Illustrator or Freehand.

CMYK – Stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key or Black. All process printing incorporates these four colors, thus the terms four-color printing or process color. All images and photos that will be reproduced in process printing should be converted to CMYK and saved in this format.

RGB – Stands for Red, Green, Blue. RGB is the default setting for most image manipulation software because it offers a broader spectrum of color variation for on-screen view (web, presentations, etc). Although this may be the intial state of your design, be sure to convert it to CMYK before saving for press. Why? Because CMYK or printing inks are limited in their scope of reproducing the RGB spectrum. The best way to see what your image will look like when it is printed is to make this conversion.

SPOT COLOR or PMS – The Pantone Matching System® is the industry standard for color selection when printing specific ink color(s). If your piece is being reproduced on press using a specific ink color, it should be selected before design begins. This is common with one or two color projects where you are matching a specific corporate color in a logo.

COLLECT FOR OUTPUT – This is the process of including all images, art, fonts and text used in creating your document. Save all of these items on your CD, file folder, or jump drive before sending it to your printer. 

PAGINATION – When creating a book or multiple page document, most software, by default, will set up your document in what is commonly referred to as readers spreads, one page after the next. However, this format is not how the final product will be printing. Printing utilizes what we call signatures, which pair the correctly corresponding pages with one another, so that the end product reads correctly. (Example: in an 8 page document, pages 8 and 1 would print together in that order, 2 and 7, 6 and 3, etc...) To avoid incorrectly paginating your program or book, it is always best to set up a multi-page document in single pages, 1, 2, 3, etc. and allow your printer to paginate your document.