Printing Glossary of Terms

C1S. Paper coated on one side.

C2S. Paper coated on both sides.

Calender. To make paper smooth and glossy by passing it between rollers during manufacturing.

Caliper. Thickness of paper, expressed in thousandths of an inch.

Camera-ready copy. Mechanicals, photographs, and art fully prepared to be photographed for platemaking according to the technical requirements of either quick or commercial printing.

Camera service. Business using a process camera to make PMTS, halftone negatives, printing plates, etc.

Cardboard. General term for stiff, bulky paper such as index, tag, or bristol.

Carload. Usually 40,000 pounds of paper.

Case bind.To bind by gluing signatures to a case made of binder's board covered with fabric, plastic, or leather, yielding hard cover books.

Cast coated. Coated paper with a surface similar to that of a glossy photograph.

Center marks. Lines on a mechanical, negative, plate, or press sheet indicating the center of a layout.

CEPS Abbreviation for color electronic prepress systems, a high-end, computer-based system that is used to color correct scanned images and assemble image elements into final pages.

Chipboard. Inexpensive, single-ply cardboard, usually brown or gray.

Chrome. Alternate term for Transparency.

Cleat bind. Alternate term for Side stitch.

Clip art. High-contrast drawings printed on white, glossy paper and made to be cut out and pasted to a mechanical.

CMYK Abbreviation for cyan, magenta, yellow and black process colors or inks.

Coarse screen. Screen with ruling of less than 133 lines per inch.

Coated paper. Paper with a coating of clay that improves ink holdout.

Collate.To assemble sheets into proper sequence.

Collateral. Ad agency term for printed pieces, such as brochures and annual reports, that are not directly involved in advertising.

Collotype. Method of printing continuous tones using a plate coated with gelatin.

Color bar. Strip of colors printed near the edge of a press sheet to help evaluate ink density.

Color break.In multicolor printing, the point or line at which one ink color stops and another begins.

Color Control Bars A film test printed or exposed onto a film or substrate to produce an assortment of measurable color and gray patches that are used to measure and control the printing process.

Color correct. To retouch or enhance color separation negatives.

Color Key. 3M trade name for overlay color proof.

Color matching system. System of numbered ink swatches that facilitates communication about color.

Color process. Alternate term for 4-color process printing.

Color separation. Set of four halftone negatives for making plates for 4-color process printing.

Color separation service.Business making separation negatives for 4-color process printing.

Color swatch.Sample of an ink color.

Comb bind.To bind by inserting teeth of a flexible plastic comb through holes in a stack of paper.

Commercial artist.Artist whose work is planned for reproduction by printing.

Commercial Register Color printing in which misregister allowable is within + or one row of dots.

Comp.Short for Comprehensive dummy.

Composite film.Graphic arts negative made by combining two or more images.

Composite proof.Proof of color separations in position with graphics and type.

Comprehensive dummy.A detailed dummy or sketch of a design, intended to give a client or the printer a clear sense of how the finished publication will or should look when reproduced. Desktop publishing systems can easily create comps using low-resolution black and white or color printers. Every job submitted for printing must be accompanied with a color-broken comprehensive clearly indicating color breaks.

Consignment memo.Alternate term for photographer's Delivery memo.

Contact print.Photographic print made by exposing a negative in direct uniform contact with paper.

Contact sheet. Alternate term for Proof sheet.

Continuous-tone copy.All photographs and those illustrations having a range of shades.

Contract Proof A color proof that represents an agreement between the printer and the client regarding exactly how the printed product will appear.

Contrast. Range of gradations in tones between lightest white and darkest black in continuous-tone copy or the abrupt change between light and dark in line copy.

Converter. Business that combines printed sheets with other materials to make boxes, displays, etc.

Copy. For an editor or typesetter, all written material. For a graphic designer or printer, everything that will be printed: art, photographs, and graphics as well as words.

Copyboard.Part of a process camera that holds copy in position to be photographed.

Copy preparation. In typesetting, marking up manuscript and specifying type. In pasteup and printing, making mechanicals and writing instructions to ensure proper placement and handling of copy.

Copyright. Ownership of creative work by the writer, photographer, or artist who made it.

Copywriter. Person who writes copy for advertising.

Corner marks. Lines on a mechanical, negative, plate, or press sheet showing the corners of a page or finished piece.

Corrugated. Characteristic of board for boxes made by sandwiching fluted kraft paper between sheets of paper or cardboard.

Cotton content paper.Paper made from cotton fibers rather than wood pulp.

Cover paper.Grade of paper made for covers and post cards.

C print. Color photographic print made from a negative on Kodak C Print paper.

Crash printing.Letterpress printing on carbon or carbonless forms so image prints simultaneously on all sheets in the set.

Creep. Phenomenon of middle pages of a folded signature extending slightly beyond outside pages.

Cromalin. DuPont trade name for integral color proof.

Crop. To eliminate portions of an illustration or photograph so the remainder is more clear, interesting, or able to fit the layout.

Crop marks. Lines near the edges of an image showing portions to be eliminated

Crossover. Image that continues from one page of a publication across the gutter to the opposite page.

Cutoff.The circumference of the impression cylinder of a web press, therefore also the length of the sheet the press will cut from the roll of paper.

Cut stock.Paper distributor term for paper 11 x 17 or smaller.

CWT. Paper distributor abbreviation for 100 pounds.

Cyan. one of the four process colors; also known as process blue.