Absorbency: The ability of a material, such as paper, to absorb liquids. In printing, ink absorbency refers to how much ink penetrates the paper’s surface, affecting drying time, color vibrancy, and print sharpness.
Book Block: The interior pages of a book consisting of folded, printed sheets called signatures. These pages are gathered, stacked, and securely bound before being attached to the cover.
Binding: A process involving the assembly and attachment of printed sheets.
Bleed: The area of an image or background color that extends beyond the final trim size to ensure a clean, edge-to-edge print, preventing unwanted white borders from appearing due to slight variations in the trimming process.
Brightness: The measure of how much light paper reflects and affects the vibrancy and contrast of printed colors.
Bulk Printing: A printing method that produces large quantities of a single design.
Color Cast: A print error when one color dominates an image, leading to an unintended overall hue.
Color Variance: A process that refers to slight color differences that can occur due to factors like paper type, ink absorption, and the printing equipment used.
CMYK: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black is the color model used for printing. Colors are created by mixing these four inks on paper, relying on the absorption and reflection of light by the ink to produce visible colors.
Ink Density: A measurement of the darkness or intensity of ink on paper, determined by the amount of ink absorbed and reflected by the surface. Higher density means the ink appears darker, absorbing more light and reflecting less, while lower density results in lighter, less intense colors.
DPI: Dots Per Inch measures the resolution of an image, indicating how many individual dots of color fit within one inch—a higher DPI results in sharper, more detailed images.
Digital Printing: A process where images are printed directly from a digital file. This printing technique transfers images directly to paper without traditional print plates, allowing for fast and efficient production.
Dust Jacket: A printed detachable paper cover that wraps around a hardcover book and serves both a protective and aesthetic purpose. They protect the cover and provide additional information, such as the book's title, author, and promotional material.
Foiling: A printing technique that applies metallic foil to a surface, typically using heat and pressure, adding a shiny, decorative and high-end touch to book covers.
Grayscale: A printing technique also known as black-and-white printing that uses only Black (K) ink, relying on a single printing plate to produce varying shades of gray.
Ghosting: A print issue where faint, blurry ink remnants appear around text or fine details. It occurs when excess ink or improper drying causes unwanted impressions, affecting a print’s sharpness and clarity.
Hardcover: A bookbinding method that features pages bound to a spine with adhesive and encased in durable, rigid cardboard covers. These covers are typically wrapped in printed paper, giving books strength, longevity, and aesthetic appeal.
Hinge Area: A feature in hardcover bookbinding that refers to the flexible sections on either side of the spine that connect the pages to the cover. Essential for durability and functionality, they ensure the covers move independently of the pages without causing damage.
Inkjet Printing: A digital printing method where microscopic nozzles spray tiny ink droplets onto paper. This technique allows for high-quality color printing and produces detailed images and graphics.
ISBN: A unique identifier for books required for selling through online retailers or bookstores. Every book format and updated edition needs its own ISBN.
Lamination: The application of a transparent plastic coating to a printed surface to enhance durability and minimize damage. It differs from a finish, which typically refers to surface treatments like matte or gloss that improve the appearance or texture of a printed page.
Layflat Binding: A bookbinding method where pages lie flat when opened. This results in seamless double-page spreads. It eliminates visible binding and ensures that pages stay open without a noticeable crease.
Kerning: A typographic issue that refers to the adjustment of space between individual characters in a word to ensure even spacing. Proper kerning improves text legibility and appearance, while improper kerning can make text crowded or too spaced out, making it harder to read.
Manufacturing Variance: A part of the print process referring to slight differences in alignment, color, or positioning caused by factors like machine calibration, paper type, or environmental conditions.
Opacity: A characteristic of paper, indicating how much light can pass through it. It determines whether content from one page is visible on the other. The higher the opacity, the lower the visibility and vice versa.
Offset Printing: A printing process where images are not applied directly from plate to paper. Instead, they’re inked onto a metal plate, transferred to a rubber blanket, and then applied to paper.
Overprint: A technique that refers to printing one color directly over another. It is often used intentionally to create layered effects and can cause colors to mix if unchecked, such as underlying colors showing through.
Paperback Book: This book type has pages bound to the spine using adhesive and attached to a flexible, slightly thicker paper cover. Also known as a softcover, perfect binding creates a rectangular spine, making these books affordable, lightweight, and portable.
Paper Weight: A measurement of a paper’s density and thickness. A high paper weight means thicker, sturdier, and less flexible paper, while a lower weight indicates thinner, more flexible paper.
PDF: The Portable Document Format ensures that files appear the same across all devices and platforms. It preserves fonts, images, and layout.
Perfect Binding: A bookbinding method where glued pages are attached to a spine before they’re joined to a flexible outer cover.
Preflight: A detailed analysis and preparation of files before printing. This process checks for potential issues such as missing fonts, incorrect color settings, image resolution, or formatting problems to ensure files are print-ready and meet a printing press specification, preventing costly errors and delays.
Print on Demand (POD): A printing method where books are printed upon order placement and sent directly to customers. This efficient and flexible approach reduces inventory costs and waste, allowing self-publishers and creators to monetize their work.
Proof: A physical sample or digital preview of a print file created to show how the final version will appear. It allows for review and adjustments before production, helping to catch any color, layout, and text issues before printing.
PUR Binding: A bookbinding method using polyurethane reactive (PUR) adhesive. It’s ideal for books with thicker paper or higher page counts. The strong and durable adhesive ensures flexibility, allowing a book to open fully without spine damage.
Resolution: The number of dots a printer can produce per inch (dpi) determines the level of detail an image holds. The higher the dpi, the sharper and more detailed the printed image.
RGB: Red, Green and Blue is the color model used by digital screens, where varying intensities of these three colors combine to create all on-screen colors.
Rich Black: A tone that mixes Black ink (K) with Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow inks. It enhances the depth and saturation of dark areas in print, especially for large black areas, text, or high-contrast details.
Saddle-Stitch Binding: A binding method (also known as staple binding) where pages are folded and secured with two staples at the centerfold. It’s ideal for multi-page items with a low page count and designs that require uninterrupted graphics.
Safe Zone: The area within a design file that keeps important content within the printable boundaries, minimizing the likelihood of being cut off during trimming.
Saturation: A characteristic that refers to a color’s intensity. Higher saturation means the color is more vibrant. In ink saturation, it measures how much ink is on a page. More ink creates richer, deeper colors, while less ink produces lighter, less intense hues.
Self-Cover: A bookbinding type where the cover is made from the same paper stock as the inner pages, meaning there is no separate cover material.
Sewn Binding: A hardcover binding method where a thread stitches pages together. In Smyth-sewn binding, the thread passes through the signature folds at the spine, strengthening the book block. This process ensures flexibility and durability without spine damage when reinforced with adhesive.
Signatures: A part of the bookbinding process in which folded, printed sheets form the inner pages of a book. Each signature contains multiple pages, arranged in sequence and stacked to create the book’s interior before being bound.
Spine: A book’s bound edge where the pages are bound together.
Spiral Binding: A bookbinding method (also known as coil binding) that uses a plastic coil threaded through holes along the binding edge. It allows the pages to rotate 360 degrees and lay flat when opened.
Spot Color: A pre-mixed ink applied separately to prints. It specifies and highlights individual page elements, such as logos or text, with vibrant color.
Spot UV: A printing technique that applies a glossy, transparent coating to specific areas of a print, creating contrast against the matte or uncoated surface. This effect enhances visual appeal by making selected elements, such as logos or text, stand out with a reflective shine.
Standard Black: An ink setting for standard text and simple layouts, ensuring crisp and legible prints. It’s ideal for titles, headers, and larger vector strokes (outline or path of a shape or line), providing a sharp contrast without excess ink coverage.
Trim Line: A printing guideline indicating the final edge where a printed page is cut to its intended size.
Tolerance Movement: The acceptable range of variation in measurements or alignment during the printing and binding process.
Quiet Area: A printing guideline that keeps important text and design elements away from a page’s edge to prevent them from being cut off during trimming.
Upsampling: The process of artificially increasing an image’s resolution by adding pixels. Starting with a high-resolution image (300 dpi) is best for sharp, high-quality prints.
Wire-O Binding: A binding method where pages are punched with holes and secured with C-shaped wire loops. It allows pages to lie flat and rotate 360 degrees.
