The science of printing has many conflicting terms and we do not intend this page to be 100% technically correct. It is designed to answer the common questions and reasons why people choose a particular paper option. Nothing more. If you are a printing purist and take issue with our descriptions feel free to send us a corrected version by email.
Aqueous Coating:
It is used to protect and enhance the printed piece. Aqueous coating is applied to all 100lb gloss book and 100lb gloss cover.
Bindery:
The finishing department, which performs operations on the printed product after it has been printed. The bindery operations are as follows: Folding, Binding, Stitching, Scoring, Perforation, Die Cutting, & Envelope Converting.
Bleed:
Printed colors that extend past the edge of a page. To cut the job to its actual size the processor has to make sure the job gets printed with 1/8 of an inch bleed some jobs may require more than that. For example if the job is a business card (3.5″ x 2″) the file size with bleed would be (3.625″ x 2.125″).
Borders:
An outline around graphics, text or edge of a sheet.
Card Stock:
Also called cover stock. Mostly heavyweight papers are called cards stock. The thickness of card stock is indicated with point sizes such as 14PT, 16PT. Some people will also refer to 100lb gloss cover as a card stock.
CMYK:
The primary colors used in 4-color printing. CMYK are used to reproduce full color on the printed sheet. CMYK also called PROCESS COLOR
C: Cyan (Blue)
M: Magenta (Red)
Y: Yellow
K: Key (Black)
More recently but not completely common in the industry a fifth color has been added, Silver. This permits metallic shades to be printed. It’s nifty when you use it and can be very gaudy if overdone.
Coating:
The mixture of clay materials that are applied to paper to improve the smoothness of the paper’s surface and improve ink holdout during the printing process. Examples are Aqueous coating (AQ) and UV coating. UV coating adds a gloss finish to the product and also improves the vibrancy of the printed colors. Spot-UV can be applied to selected portions of the piece, while keeping the rest a matte finish.
Color Types
4:4 – 2 sided, full color on front and on back
4:1 – 2 sided, full color on front, black on back
4:0 – 1 sided, full color on front
Crop Marks (Guide Marks):
Lines printed in the margin of sheet that indicates to the cutter and bindery where the finished product should be trimmed. They are also used to show what part of a photo should be used and what part should be cropped off. If you choose the “Just Printing” option from us be sure to follow the template guides and leave your crop marks in the files you upload to us.
Dots Per Inch (dpi):
A measurement of resolution of input, output and display devices. 300 dpi means that when printed, each square inch of your image will contain 90,000 pixels (dots), the higher the dpi (the more pixels per inch) the more crisp the printed image will be. Our electronic (digital files) have to have a resolution of at least 300 dpi. Anything less than that is considered as low resolution and may appear blurry when printed.
Finishing:
Operations to a document after it has been printed. The finishing operations could include bindery work such as, folding, trimming, binding, die cutting, inserting or any post press process that must be completed.
Flat Size:
The size of a printed product after printing and trimming but before any finishing operations that affect its size, such as folding.
Folding:
The process of bending printed sheets in a specific area. Folding is one of our popular bindery jobs.
4-Panel Roll Fold:
A type of fold where the piece is folded inward at one end and then folded inward again one or more times. It is as if you are rolling the piece up.
Accordion Fold:
A sheet which has been printed on only one side then folded twice in right angles to form a W-shaped four page uncut section. We are able to fold up to 4 panel(8 page max). 5 panel(10 page)+ will be send out to get folded. Accordion folds are usually 100lb book papers. Such as, brochures and catalogue.
Double Gate Fold:
Single gate fold, with an additional fold on the center.
Double Parallel Fold :
A type of fold where the piece is folded in half and then folded in half again. The folds are parallel to each other. Also known as a quarter fold.
French Fold (quarter fold):
A sheet which has been printed on one side only and then folded twice ats right angles to form a four page uncut section.
Gate Fold:
When both sides of an oversize page fold into the gutter in overlapping layers.
Half Fold:
Is folded in half.
Half-Tri Fold:
A sheet is folded in half and then tri-folded.
Tri Fold:
A fold where a three panel piece has both side sections folded inward, one on top of the other each section is approximately 1/3 the length of the piece. Also known as a C-fold or letter-fold.
Z Fold:
A paper fold represented by back and forth folds into three panels.
Full Bleed:
Printing that goes to the edge of all four sides of the page.
Gloss Finish:
A coating on paper that provides a higher reflection of light, which results in a shiny appearance. Gloss coatings reduce ink absorption, which allows excellent contrast and color definition.
Gloss Paper:
Paper with a gloss finish, usually used for higher quality printing. Examples are 100lb gloss book, and 100lb gloss cover.
Margin:
The non-printed areas around the image area of a page.
Offset Printing:
The transfer of an inked image from a plate to a blanket cylinder, which in turn transfers the image to the printing material as it passes between the blanket and the impression cylinder and pressure is applied. Also referred to as offset lithography.
RGB:
The additive primary colors, red, green and blue, used to display color in video monitors. Printing with a file in RGB color mode will produce a washed out appearance. 4over does not check files for RGB. That responsibility falls to the customer before submission of the files.
Round Cornering:
Using a machine to die cut the corners of forms, cards and books to create a rounded corner.
Scoring:
A crease applied, in a straight line, to a sheet of paper to allow it to fold easier and more accurately.
Based on our equipment we score any sizes between:
3″ x 4″ (min) to 11″ x 17″ (max) on 100lb book, 14pt & 16pt papers. Score in half, is the most popular
Silver:
Fifth color, pantone metallic coated 877c. Must be designed in a vector based graphics
program. Acceptable file types are EPS, CDR, and PDF.
Spot Color:
Printing with one or more solid colors, generally black ink is used with the addition of other colors. It is used to add highlight and add color to a printed product without having to print with four-color process.
Template:
A preset model that acts as a structure for setting up a similar product. Here at 4over we have lot of templates, for each product. The customers can download the templates online.
UV Coating:
A liquid coating applied to the printed piece, which is then bonded and cured with ultraviolet light. This coating is used to provide a protective coating to the printed image. Please note that you CAN NOT write or imprint on a uv coated jobs.
Varnish:
A thin, liquid protective coating, either matte or glossy, that is applied to the product. It adds protection and enhances the appearance of the product. It can be applied as an all over coating or it can be applied as a spot coating.