Accordion Fold — A term used in binding to refer to a printed piece that has two or more parallel folds and opens like an accordion.

Bind — Fasten two or more sheets of paper together, typically using staples, glue, wire / thread or some other means.

Bindery — The department of a printing company that finishes printed products by trimming, binding, stamping, numbering, padding and performing other steps that need to be done after a product is printed, in order to make the product ready for delivery.

Bleed / Full Bleed — Refers to printing that goes to the very edge of a printed sheet after trimming. The text, image and graphics on the paper run off, or "bleed off", the edge of the paper.

Blind Embossing — A technique in which an image is pressed into a sheet without the use of ink or foil.

Blueline — A blue photographic proof of a printed product. The blueline is used to check the position of all elements of the print job.

Bond Paper — A durable and strong paper grade typically used for letterheads and business forms.

Camera Ready — Mechanical artwork which is ready for printing.

Case Bind — A glue binding used in making hardcover books.

Coated Paper — Paper with a clay coating that produces a smooth finish. There are typically two varieties: gloss and matte.

Collate / Collating — To act of gathering up papers in a precise order — typically the step immediately before binding.

Colour Bar — A bar of various colours on the tail of a press sheet used for quality control.

Colour Key — Layers of acetate which, when laid one on top of the other, produce a colour proof of a printing project.

Colour Separation — The process of preparing a print project by separating it into its printing colours. For full-colour work, this would consist of four separations, one for each of the four primary printing colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and black).

Comb Bind — A binding method which uses a plastic comb which is inserted in holes along the side of the printed piece in order to hold the sheets together. Also called Cerlox binding.

Crop — To cut off unwanted portions of a picture or image.

Crop Marks — Small printed lines which indicate where a printed piece is to be trimmed.

Cyan — A blue colour which, together with black, yellow and magenta, form the four standard process colours used in full-colour printing.

Die Cutting — Cutting an image into or out of paper.

Duotone — A halftone picture which is constructed from two printed colours.

Embossing — The process of pressing an image into paper. The result is a raised relief.

Foil Embossing — A combination of foil stamping and embossing.

Foil Stamping — Using a die to make a metallic image on paper.

4-Colour Process — The process of combining four basic colours to create a printed colour picture, or other colours that can be created from the four basic colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and black).

French fold — two folds at right angles to each other.

Gloss — A shiny, reflective coated paper.

Halftone — Converting a continuous tone image, such as a photograph, to lines of dots of various sizes for printing.

Hard Copy — Computer printer output, or typed text that is used for typesetting.

Hickey — Unplanned spots or specs which appear on a printed image, usually caused by dust, lint or dried ink.

Image Area— The portion of the printed page on which ink can appear.

Imposition — Positioning pages for printing so that when the printed piece is folded, the pages appear in the proper order.

Imprinting — Adding printed copy to a previously printed page.

Kiss Diecut — Cutting the top layer of a pressure sensitive sheet, but not the backing.

Laid Finish — A paper finish which simulates the surface of handmade paper.

Laminate — Cover with a clear film.

Line Per Inch — Number of rows of dots per inch in a halftone.

Magenta — A purple-red colour which comprises one of the basic colours in process colour.

Make Ready — All the activites required to prepare a press for printing.

Matte Finish — A non-shiny coating on paper.

Offsetting — Using an intermediate surface to transfer ink to paper; the basis of offset printing.

Offset Paper — Uncoated book paper.

Overrun — Copies printed in excess of the specified quantity.

Perfect Bind — A glued binding in which the edges of the sheets are glued to the cover. Paperback books and a number of magazines are bound in this way.

Pica — A unit of measure equal to 1/6 of an inch; used in typesetting.

PMS Colour — Acronym for "Pantone™ Matching System" colour.

Point — In typesetting, a point is a unit of measure equaling 1/72 of an inch. There are 12 points to a pica. A point is also a unit of measurement indicating a paper's thickness. One point is equal to 1/1000 of an inch.

Process Blue — The blue or cyan colour used in process colour printing.

Process Colours — The four process colours are cyan (blue), magenta (process red), yellow and black.

Ragged Left — Type that is justified / lined up on the right side / margin, with the lengths of the lines varying on the left side.

Ragged Right — Type that is justified / lined up on the left side / margin, with the lengths of the lines varying on the right side.

Register — To position type, graphics and images in the proper position on a page in relation to other printing on the same sheet.

Register Marks — Guides used by printing staff (strippers, platemakers, press personnel and bindery personnel) in processing a print job. The register marks consist of cross-hair lines on film, plates and paper.

Saddle Stitch — A binding method in which sheets are stapled together in the seam where the sheets are folded.

Score — A crease put into a sheet of paper to aid in folding.

Self-cover — Using the same paper for the cover of a printing item as is used for the inside pages of the item. For example, a book that is 24 pages self-cover consists of a cover (4 pages) and 20 inside pages, all printed on the same type of paper.

Side Stitch — A binding method in which sheets of paper are stapled along on side of the sheets.

Signature — A sheet of printed pages which, when folded and trimmed, become part of a book or other printed document.

Spot Varnish — Application of varnish to specific parts of a printed sheet in order to highlight those specific parts. The varnish typically produces a shinier surface to those spots to which it is applied, creating a contrast between it and the other parts of the page.

Stamping — See foil stamping.

Stock — Material to be printed.

Trapping — A technique which compensates for variation in registration during a press run by allowing an overlap between colours which touch each other.

Trim Marks — Marks on a printed sheet which indicate where to cut / trim the printed sheet.

Trim Size — The final size of a printed sheet after all trimming has been completed.

UV Coating — A liquid laminate bonded to a sheet and cured with UV light.

Varnish — A clear liquid applied to printed sheets, often as a design element or to protect the page (ie. helps prevent ink from smudging).

Wire-O Binding — A wire binding technique for books which uses double wire loops. The advantage of this type of binding is that, when opened, the book lies flat.

Work and Tumble — Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from the gripper end to the tail end to print the reverse side using the same plate for the reverse side.

Work and Turn — Printing one side of a sheet and turning it over from left to right to print the reverse side using the same plate for the reverse side.