Bleed

Any element that extends up to or past the edge of a printed page.

Embossing

The molding and reshaping of paper by the use of special metal dies and heat, counter dies and pressure, to produce a raised image on the paper surface.

Crop Marks

Small printed lines around the edges of a printed piece indicating where it is to be cut out of the sheet. Sometimes referred to as cut or trim marks.

Die Cutting

The process of cutting paper in a shape or design by the use of a wooden die or block in which are positioned steel rules in the shape of the desired pattern.

RGB

The color space of Red, Green and Blue. These are the primary colors of light, which computers use to display images on your screen. An RGB computer file must be translated into the CMYK (the primary colors of pigment) color space in order to be printed on a printing press.

Saddle Stitched

The binding of booklets or other printed materials by stapling the pages on the folded spine.

CMYK

A system where a color image is separated into different color values (cyan, magenta, yellow and black or CMYK) by the use of filters and screens and then transferred to printing plates and printed on a printing press, reproducing the original color image.

Spiral Binding

A type of binding where a metal or plastic wire is spiraled through holes drilled along the binding side of a document. (Also called wire-o).

Pantone Color Matching System

A popular color matching system used by the printing industry to print spot colors. Most applications that support color printing allow you to specify colors by indicating the Pantone name or number. This assures that you get the right color when the file is printed, even though the color may not look right when displayed on your monitor.

DPI (Dots per Inch)

A measurement of printer resolution. For printers, the DPI specification indicates the number of dots per inch that the printer is capable of achieving to form text or graphics on the printed page. The higher the DPI, the more refined the text or image will appear.