Below is our art glossary of some of the commonly used terms in the label industry. Read at your leisure and if you have any questions about label artwork, please call our customer service team.
- 4 Color Process: The representation of all colors through an arrangement of dots using four color process ink colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.
- Adobe Illustrator: A popular software program used for vector graphics editing. Illustrator can manipulate electronic files and images towards the creation of label artwork. We prefer to get artwork in this format as this is the primary application used by the art department.
- Adobe InDesign: A desktop publishing software program typically used in the production of multi-page documents such as magazines and books.
- Adobe Photoshop: Primarily a graphics editing application. This should not be used for the layout of text in your label design (Photoshop is best for manipulating graphics and photos).
- Across x Around: How the dimensions of a label are stated. Ex: A label that is two inches tall and wraps around the container by four inches would be expressed as 2 x 4.
- Across: The “across the web” dimension of the label on the press; also the first number of a label dimension.
- Anilox Cells: Individual depressions or wells in the surface of an engraved cylinder that retain ink.
- Around: The length of the label up to the maximum that a specific press can handle; also the last number of a label dimension.
- Bleed: Printing that extends beyond the edge of where the label is sliced (i.e. die cut).
- Choke and Spread: Refers to slightly decreasing (choke) or increasing (spread) the size of a graphic element to create a trap.
- Color Correct: To retouch or enhance color in specific areas.
- Color Separation: The separation of a continuous tone image into the four process colors: cyan, magenta, yellow, and ‘key’ black (CMYK).
- Crop Marks: Horizontal and vertical marks to show label outline/dimensions.
- Distortion: Altering the art’s dimension in the web direction to match the print cylinder circumference. This is done automatically at the RIP – a distorting and trapping software.
- Dot Gain or Spread: Phenomenon of dots printing larger on paper than they are on negatives or prints.
- DPI (Dots Per Inch): Used loosely to describe the resolution of an element.
- Duotone: The graphic representation of an image using only two colors.
- Encapsulated Post Script (EPS): A commonly used format for moving files from one application to another electronically.
- Exposure: This term is used for the sum of the time and the intensity of illumination acting upon light-sensitive material.
- Knockout: The removal of all other colors behind a specific element (e.g. with a black background, you would remove the black behind any colored text or graphic).
- Line Work: Refers to artwork or photographic material which contains no tone values (i.e. solid colors only with no gradient or design effect). Bitmap images (aka raster) are composed of fixed pixels that contain color information.
- Lines per inch: A measurement of printing resolution – the number of rows of dots per inch in a screen tint, halftone, or separation.
- Moire: (Pronounced moh-ray) An undesirable checkerboard or plaid effect caused by the improper relationship of the screen angles used on the various printing plates.
- Photopolymer: A flexible, light-sensitive material used to make printing plates.
- Portable Document Format (PDF): A universal file format that can be viewed on any computer using Adobe Acrobat Reader – a free application. We do not encourage customers to send PDF files as their final art as there are many options when saving these files that, if not set correctly, can degrade the quality of the file.
- PMS: Pantone® Matching System. Universal system of color with numerical codes.
- Print Cylinder: The cylinder the photopolymer plate is mounted on with “stickyback.”
- Preflight: The verification of an electronic design document for potential problems prior to printing.
- Proof: A test sheet produced to check color, type, layout, and design.
- Registration: A term used to describe the fit of one color with another, “out of register” indicates the opposite.
- Repeat: The length of the printed piece (web direction) plus one space between the items.
- Step and Repeat: The number of images across and around on a printing plate to match the die.
- Screen/Halftone: A one-color photographic image, with tones reproduced by varying-size dots of ink.
- Screen Tint: Area of an image printed with dots so ink coverage is less than 100 percent and simulates shading or lighter color.
- Trap: A small overlap in color, usually the lighter color is swelled into the darker one to compensate for minor misregistration on press.
- UPC: Universal Product Code. A barcode system for product identification.
