Folder Printing Terms
Presentation Folder Printing Terms, Definitions, Terminology, & Glossary
C1S – Paper produced with a cast coated surface on one side only (coated one side).
C2S – Paper produced with a cast coated surface on both sides (coated two sides).
Cast Coated – Coated paper with a surface similar to that of a glossy photograph. Cast-coated papers combine a superior flat surface with excellent ink receptivity; making them a terrific printing surface for all print processes.
Coated Paper – Paper to which a coating of clay or other material has been applied, causing ink to rest on the surface of the paper. Printed images appear more brilliant on coated paper; these papers offer a good choice for reproducing halftones and are ideal for four-color process printing. The smooth surface of coated papers also helps to reflect light evenly.
Dull Coated – Emboss-finished coated paper that has also gone through a super calendering process; exhibits low gloss and high ink holdout. Used for jobs that require high-quality color reproduction with minimal paper gloss. A coated paper finish that falls between glossy and matte.
Felt Finish – A finish created at the wet end of the paper machine using woven wool and synthetic felts with distinctive patterns to create a similar texture on the finished sheets. These papers exhibit excellent opacity and are strong enough for use with special procedures such as stamping and embossing. They are well-suited for jobs with large non-printed areas that display their interesting texture. Care should be taken when specifying halftones on felt-finished papers; they tend to absorb ink, and tonal areas may be lost.
Gloss Coated – Coated paper that has been super-calendered to enhance surface gloss and ink holdout. Provides excellent reproductions of halftone and colors. The property responsible for a coated paper’s shiny or lustrous appearance; also the measure of a sheet’s surface reflectivity. Gloss is often associated with quality; higher quality coated papers exhibit higher gloss.
Linen Finish – Embossed pattern on a paper surface resembling the look and feel of linen cloth. Usually manufactured with engraved embossing rolls.
Matte Coated – Slightly dull finish on coated lightly-calendered paper. A non-glossy coating on paper, generally used to refer to papers having little or no gloss. A matte coated sheet is often specified when the printed pages will carry a lot of type, since the low gloss makes it easier for reading.
Opacity – A measure of how opaque a paper is. The more fibers or fillers paper has, the more opaque it is and the less it allows “show-through” of the printing on the back side or on the next page.
Vellum Finish – Glare-free paper finish with a high degree of “tooth”–the ability to take pencil or crayon marks. An absorbent and fast-drying paper, ideal for jobs requiring no pattern background and little surface texture. Well-suited for halftone reproductions. A paper surface that is finely textural.
Aqueous – A water-based coating applied after printing giving the folder a gloss, dull, or matte finish which helps prevent the underlying ink from rubbing off.
Lamination – A polypropylene or nylon film laminate applied through heat application which provides maximum durability with minimum curl.
UV Coating – A very slick, glossy coating applied to the printed paper surface and dried on press with ultraviolet (UV) light.
Varnish – A coating applied on top of a printed sheet to protect, add finish, or add a tinge of color. An entire sheet can be varnished or certain areas, such as halftones, can be spot varnished to emphasize.
Beveled Edge – The edge of an embossed area made to a specific angle to the paper plane. These beveled edges range from 30 to 80 degrees from the paper and image plane.
Blind Embossing – Impressing raised letters or images into paper using pressure and a die-cut without using foil or ink to add color to the raised areas.
Debossing – Pressing letters or illustrations into a sheet of paper using a metal die to create a depressed (debossed) image.
Die-Cutting – Using a formed, metal-edged die to precision cut or to cut shapes into a piece of paper.
Embossing – Pressing a shape into a sheet of paper with a metal die, creating a raised (embossed) image.
Foil Stamping – To cover paper with a thin, flexible sheet of metal or other material. The foil, which may be clear or opaque, comes in a range of colors and is carried on a plastic sheet. Stamping separates the foil from the plastic and makes it adhere to the paper. Foil stamping can be combined with embossing or debossing as an added design element.
Scoring – Pressing a channel into a sheet of paper to allow it to fold more easily. Scoring and pressing the paper fibers together creates an embossed channel that acts as a guide for easier folding and creates a hinge that keeps the fiber stretch short.
Bleed – An image or printed color that runs off the trimmed edge of a page. Bleeding one or more edges of a printed page generally increases the amount of paper required and the overall production cost. Bleeds are created by trimming the page after printing.
Color Separation – Separating full-color artwork or transparencies into the four primary printing ink colors; magenta (red), cyan (blue), yellow, and black. Typically accomplished with various photographic or scanning processes.
Dot Gain – The growth in size of a halftone dot from the halftone negative to the printed paper. It can be caused by paper selection, ink formulation or overexposed films.
DPI (dots per inch) – The number of dots that fit horizontally and vertically into a one-inch measure. Generally, the more dots per inch, the more detail is captured and the sharper the resulting image.
Duo-Tone – A two-color halftone of an image created with two screens, two plates, and two colors. Most halftones are one color, printed with black ink on white paper. By blending the black of the tiny ink dots and the white of the paper, the human eye sees shades of gray.
Four-Color Process – A printing process which uses magenta (red), cyan (blue), yellow, and black dots to simulate the continuous tones and variety of colors found in photographic images. Reproducing a four-color image begins with separating the image into four different halftones by using color filters of the opposite (or negative) color. For instance, a red filter is used to capture the cyan halftone, a blue filter is used to capture the yellow halftone, and a green filter is used to capture the magenta halftone. Each halftone separation is printed with its process color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black). When we look at the final result, our eyes blend the dots to recreate the continuous tones and variety of colors we see in color photographs, paintings, and drawings.
Half-Tone – A printed picture using dots to simulate the tones between light and dark. A printing press never alters the tone of ink, it only prints the exact ink color used on press. This works great for printing text or line art. The press simply applies a full dose of ink for each letter or line, creating small solid areas of ink. However, black-and-white photographs are continuous tone images. Printing a photograph this way would result in the same large solid areas of ink. White areas would have no ink, black areas would have black ink, and gray areas would also have black (not gray) ink. The halftone mimics the continuous tone of black-and-white photographs by converting the picture into dots. The result is strikingly similar to the continuous tone of a photograph.
Image Area – Primary element of a folder design to be printed, stamped, or embossed. Refers to the area of the sheet within the imaginary lines noted by tic marks. All areas outside the tic marks will be trimmed and removed from the finished product.
Ink – A combination of pigment, pigment carrier (or vehicle), and additives. Careful ink formulation by the printer can reduce or prevent smudging, unevenness, picking, and other ink-related printing problems. The ink selection for a particular job depends on the paper and the printing process.
Pantone Colors – Provide designers with color swatches and printers with recipes for over 1,000 colors. The most widely used system for specifying and blending match colors.
Process Colors – The four process colors: magenta (process red), cyan (process blue), yellow and black are used to print four color images.
