Printing Terms:

Item: what is being printed.

Stock: the type of paper or other printable media being printed on

Inks: There are several kinds of ink. The most popular are black, spot colour and process colour. Black is self-explanatory. Spot colours are colours that are mixed to a specific colour, precisely. Process colours are colours that are achieved by mixing other colours on a press during printing, like your printer at home – usually CMYK, i.e. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. There are other processes that use other colours such as Red, Green and Blue.

Registration: How close 2 spot inks are printed together; "close" is less that 1/8"; "hairline" is less than 1/16".

Finished size: the size of the final product

Bleed: the size of printing outside the finished size that will be trimmed off during cutting

Collation: sorting finished product into ordered sets

Binding: how the finished product is held together – if necessary

Perf or perforation: the partial cutting of the stock that usually allows a stub to torn off from the main body of the finished product.

Parts: the number of parts to a single printed product, like a 3-part invoice has 3 pages

Coated: usually refers to a stock that has a slight sheen

Coating: usually refers to an aqueous coating or varnish that is put on over the ink for protection and gives the finished product a high gloss.

Lamination: refers to a plastic coating applied to the finished product much like varnish but gives superior protection.