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• Glossary

  CMYK: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. In full-colour process printing, CMYK is the standard method for offset printing. CMYK colours are measured by their subtractive/reflective values; when the coloured ink is applied to paper, the surface of the paper reflects some colour and the non-reflective (that is, absorbent) colour is seen. more »

  RGB: Red, Green and Blue. These three colours are projections of light that can be overlapped in millions of colour-strengths and combinations to create on-screen colours and images. RGB colours are associated with television screens and computer monitors, but is not used in offset printing. more »

  RGB & CMYK: The RGB colour process and the CMYK colour process work in opposite ways. An RGB colour scheme forms colour through an additive process; to obtain white, all 3 colours are added together, and to obtain black, all 3 colours are removed. In contrast, the CMYK printing process obtains white by omitting all colour, and obtains black by using all four colours. more »

  Full Bleed: A small amount of size added to all four sides of a file to ensure the background is printed and cut to fill up the entire card as opposed to seeing a white thin line going around the edge of the card. Usually the added file size is either 1,61mm or 3,175mm.

  Colour Match: A colour will never print out to exactly to match its on-screen source. Colours vary from monitor to monitor, and different printers produce different colour results. All these variables affect the printed outcome.

  Pleasing Colour: Colour that when printed is close enough to the original colour requested without becoming an entirely new colour.

  Cutting Tolerance: The margin of error that a cutting machine has to cut paper. It can be 1/16 inch or 1/8 inch. This means the trim line that it is suppose to cut down can vary up to either 1,61mm or 3,175mm depending on the cutting tolerance for the order.

  Colour Drift: This occurs when a colour shifts away from its original value and becomes a new colour. It becomes a gradient in a way, it starts with the original colour then blends into a new colour at the end.

  Incorrect Colour Selection: This is when you select a colour that doesn't exist in the colour gamut (the available colours in a certain colour mode) you are using. In CMYK there are colours that don't exist within the CMYK colour gamut but exist in another colour gamut such as RGB. They are referred to as “out of gamut” colours. Out of gamut colours can be seen when they are either viewed in CMYK mode or in the final output when they are printed. Often a new or altered colour is seen.

  Crop Marks: A pair of thin lines that are at each corner of a file that show where the file ends.

  Card Orientation: There are two types of orientation, vertical ( up and down) and horizontal (left to right).

  U/V Coating: Standard printing process used. The process consist of a plate that makes an inked impression on a rubber-blanketed cylinder which in turn transfers it to the paper. This is the printing process used by all major printing companies as well as newspaper and magazine printers.