Standard European sizes for cut paper sizes. e.g A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7 etc.  Please note that the USA use the imperial system, which is different sizes to the UK. See ‘Imperial Sizes.

This refers to the digital file produced by you (or our Graphic Designer) that includes the images, type, illustrations and design that you want to be printed.

Printing the reverse side of a sheet already printed on one side. 

Binding is how the pages are held together. There are multiple methods of binding, e.g., staples, glue, wire-o binding, saddle-stitched binding and perfect binding.

Printed in a single colour (black).

During any printing process, there is always a small degree of movement on the press, cutting and finishing machinery. To account for this, you extend the printed items 3mm beyond the edge of your artwork. This is known as the bleed and is cut off during printing.

Canva is an online design platform used to create artwork. Before ordering, please check that your Canva artwork includes the correct size, bleed, safe zones and file export settings so it is suitable for professional printing. Please refer to Canva website for more information to prepare print-ready artwork.

Cyan (Blue), Magenta (Red), Yellow and Key (Black) – is a four colour printing process to reproduce full colour artwork on paper.

A print job may be mechanically creased to make folding easier. If you ask for your printed projects to be supplied flat, they will be creased.

Refers to the shift that happens to the margins of a document when pages are folded during the finishing process of a booklet or brochure.

Lines printed in the corners of your artwork to show the printer where to trim the paper.

Presses the design downward into the material, creating a recessed, indented impression. Embossing is the opposite to Debossing. – See ‘Embossing’. Both techniques use metal dies and pressure, but they push in opposite directions.

Cyan (Blue), Magenta (Red), Yellow and Key (Black) – is a four colour printing process to reproduce full colour artwork on paper.

A print job may be mechanically creased to make folding easier. If you ask for your printed projects to be supplied flat, they will be creased.

Refers to the shift that happens to the margins of a document when pages are folded during the finishing process of a booklet or brochure.

Is when a printed piece is cut using a custom cutting tool to ensure it finishes in a specific shape.

A printing process where a digital image is printed onto a variety of materials. As a computer tells the printer where to print the ink, there is no need for printing plates. Digital printing is very cost-effective for short runs.

DPI stands for dots per inch, which measures how many tiny dots of ink a printer places into a one-inch line on paper. 300dpi is the gold standard for high-quality printing like photos and brochures.

However, please note changing a low-resolution file to 300dpi in software will not add missing details; it just stretches the poor quality. You can also reach out to our team of print experts by chat, phone or email for support.

In printing doing two things at once – such as printing both sides of material in one pass.

Raises a design above the surrounding material to create a 3D, protruding effect - the opposite to Debossing. – See ‘Debossing’. Both techniques use metal dies and pressure, but they push in opposite directions.

A form of protective enclosure for paper that involves placing the item between two sheets of transparent polyester film that are subsequently sealed around all edges. 

Refers to the processes that happen after a document has been printed. Print finishing techniques include folding, laminating, trimming, drilling, binding etc.

A process that involves applying coloured foil to a printed document. It’s used to highlight certain aspects of a design.

Folds can provide you with different options for presenting your printed documents. They include gatefolds, concertina folds, letter folds, Z-Folds etc.

The most common system for producing full-colour print. The four ink colours are Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), Yellow and Black – often referred to as CMYK. 

Grams per square inch is the measurement of the ‘weight’ of paper. For example, a standard sheet of photocopier paper may be 80gsm, letterhead paper may be 100gsm and a postcard may be 300gsm.

A sharp blade used to trim a stack of paper accurately.

Grayscale printing produces images and documents using multiple shades of gray, ranging from pure white to deep black.

A continuous tone image, such as a photograph, that has been converted into a black-and-white image. Halftones are created through a process called dithering, in which the density and pattern of black and white dots are varied to simulate different shades of gray.?

U.S. Standard Sizes refers to print dimensions based on inches, such as Standard Letter (8.5 x 11 inches) and Legal (8.5 x 14 inches) paper. Large format products can sometimes be either imperial or metric, such as banners, signage and broad-scale print media.

A coating that protects your print and usually gives a smooth, high-gloss, matt or soft-touch finish.

The orientation of the page so that the long edge is along the bottom.

Lithographic printing is the traditional method of printing. The image is placed on the lithography plate, inked and then printed onto the paper. It’s popular for long print runs and printing spot colours.

A Leaflet usually consists of a printed sheet of paper not larger than the international standard A4 in size. Leaflets are used to convey information and are commonly used by companies, organisations and individuals to advertise products, services, events and activities.

A conventional (non-digital) print process. The process works by first transferring an image to thin metal, paper, or plastic printing plates. Rollers apply oil-based ink and water to the plates. Only the inked image portion is transferred to a rubber blanket that then transfers the image onto the paper as it passes between it and another cylinder beneath the paper.

A non-glossy finish for paper. Perfect for enhancing designs with a subdued colour palette.

Although paper is usually measured in grams per square metre (weight), it is sometimes measured in microns (thickness). Whilst related to the weight (GSM) of a piece of paper, different production methods produce different thickness’s when compared to the weight. A micron is a unit of measure equal to one-millionth of a metre or .00004.

A universal colour language that is used by Printers and Graphic Designers. It ensures your brand colours are used consistently and the same colour is achieved time and time again.

The preferred artwork file type used in the printing industry. Quick, cheap and increasingly stable, often used for viewing proofs and for supply of final artwork. The version to print from should always be high-resolution. Free to download from the internet, the viewer enables universal viewing of PDFs.

A type of bookbinding that is most commonly seen on paperback books. Papers are glued to the spine.

This refers to the orientation of a document where its height is greater than its width.

Pixel Per Inch. The more pixels per inch, the higher the resolution.

Any process such as design, artwork, proofs, set-up etc. that is carried out before a product goes to print.

A version of the document to be produced for the client to sign off as ready to print and the printer to run to. Proofs are often supplied as a low-resolution PDF for checking on screen or for the client to output. Please note that these proofs are never colour-correct.

A raster image in printing is a picture made of a fixed grid of tiny coloured dots called pixels. Unlike vector graphics that are made of mathematical lines, raster images store individual colour data for every single square on the grid, such as photographs.

Five hundred sheets of paper (approximately).

Accurate backing up is important so that the text and images on the front and back line up correctly.

Is the measurement of the number of dots that a device can put in one square cm of the page space.

The colour space of Red, Green and Blue that computers use to display images on your screen. An RGB computer file should be converted to CMYK before it’s printed to ensure accurate colours.

In binding, fasten a booklet by wiring it (stapling) through the middle fold of the sheets. Normal saddle stitching has two staples/stitches.

To impress or indent a mark in the paper, to make folding easier and to stop the print from cracking. This process is used on board and not generally on paper stocks.

Coated silk paper is often used for flyers and leaflets, brochures, high-end magazines and wedding stationery. On silk paper, the colours remain vibrant, with a reduced shininess.

A binding, as used in notebooks, in which the pages are fastened together by a spiral of wire or plastic that coils through a series of holes punched along the edge of the document.

A finish applied to specific parts of a printed product (e.g a logo or key information). It makes the areas it’s applied have a glossy and raised finish.

The type of paper used to print your projects.

Oversized paper sheet sizes, used to allow for crops and bleed (see 'Crops and Bleed). 

This is the line cut to produce the finished print size. – See ‘Crop Marks’.

Varnish applied to a stock and dried using ultra violet lamps. Is normally the method of spot varnishing as well as an overall varnish.

The use of geometrical algorithms (such as points, lines, curves, and polygons) to represent images in computer graphics. By contrast, the term raster graphics is the representation of images as a collection of pixels (dots).