Basics
Alignment: When objects or text are arranged together along a straight path. The alignment may be Left, Right, Center, Top or Bottom. The alignment may also be in relation to the page layout, where items are all aligned with the center of the page.
Bleed: This is when color or objects run out of bounds of the page layout, or outside the trim edge. Bleed is required by your print vendors to ensure that your image is finished properly with color or graphics that go right to the trim or fold without leaving a sliver of white along the edge. It’s better to give your vendor a margin of error in case there’s a misalignment while printing, folding or cutting. Your vendor will have specifications for how much bleed to include, typical bleeds are 1/8″ or 1/4″, however some projects that install into hardware may require more.
Brand Identity: This term relates to everything from a logo, tagline, font styles, color palette or even style of word smithing that are approved to use in all print and electronic media formats, to ensure that the standards of the brand are upheld.
Crop Marks: Also called trim marks, these are line marks outside the page border, in each of the four corners that indicate to a print vendor where a design should trim or be cut to the finish size.
FPO: For Position Only. FPO objects and text are used when the final artwork or verbiage are not yet available, they are placed to give a visualization of the finished product. In the example above we’ve used a generic word, “headline” and Lorem Ipsum as FPO for the body copy.
Layout: The act of or the result of page design.
Margins: A margin is the space between the edge of a page and the content. A margin may be stipulated by a print vendor or branding standard to ensure that content, especially logos and text are safely or aesthetically situated on the page. A margin is similar to Safe Area.
Mock-up: A simple representation of how a final product will look, usually as a digital composition, such as a 3D rendering, or a manipulated photograph, these better allow a user to visualize the concepts.
Safe Area: A safe area is the space within a printed product that is guaranteed not to be compromised. A safe area may be stipulated by a print vendor to ensure that critical content, such as logos and text, are not at risk of being trimmed off, disappear into a fold or hardware, or be sewn through during finishing.
Colors
Color Wheel
Analogous Colors: Any three colors that are near each other on the color wheel are defined as analogous, i.e., Red, Orange and Yellow. These color combinations are harmonious and appealing to the eye, so you’ll often notice that a successful design uses a team of analogous colors.
Color Values: These are tints or shades of the same color, i.e., Hot Pink, Baby pink and Crimson are all color values of Red.
Complimentary Colors: These are colors that sit exactly opposite each other on the color wheel, i.e., Yellow and Purple. These combinations of colors are pleasing to the eye and offer more drama and contrast to a design.
CMYK: Digital or offset printing machines use CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) inks or pigments to produce printed products. Setting up your file in this color space may be required by your vendor to minimize the risk of an unacceptable color shift from a RGB file at the printer, Click Here to find out more about converting files to CMYK.
Hex or Hexadecimal Color: Hex color is made up of a 6 digit code based on RGB color, each “three-byte hexadecimal number” represents a color used primarily by HTML, CSS and SVG and other computing applications.
Pantone or PMS Colors: The Pantone Matching System is an excellent way to get accurate color, especially for brand specific colors often assigned to your logo. Vendors will likely have a preprinted book of Pantone colors for an accurate visual representation of the color that is critical to you. Click Here for more information on Pantone books, we recommend you rely on the Coated book as most of your projects will print on a coated material.
RGB: RGB (Red, Green, Blue) are the primary colors of light and is a screen viewing color space used by your electronic devices and is capable of creating millions of vibrant colors. While the darker CMYK pigments may not be able to reproduce some of these colors as vibrantly, leaving your artwork in RGB can give you some benefits. RGB has a larger gamut of possible colors in the file and by keeping them you are not minimizing the range of color at the printer. Secondly, RGB file sizes are much smaller and easier to work with at large and grand format sizes, which means faster processing at the design and printing stages. Some color shifts can occur in the conversion to print, but if color saturation is the priority, a color shift may be acceptable.
Design Elements
Contrast: Design elements that are very different from each other are contrasting, this can be in color, light vs dark, or size, large vs small elements. Contrasting elements create drama, interest and can be used to create a path for the eye to follow through the design.
Embossing and Debossing: This is a printing method using a die press to add a 3D texture to paper, Emboss creates the texture on the top of the paper creating a bump, and a deboss creates a divot.
Greyscale: A color mode for photos that are black and white, these files are saved with no color information other than values of black.
Gradient: A gradual blend from one color to another, or from one value of a color to a different value. Gradients can come in several kinds like linear and radial, as well as, complex gradients from shapes.
Logomark: A graphic that is unique to a brand, company or product, it can consist of a mix of text, photo and illustration. A logo is a great way to create brand recognition, successful graphics, color and typography can convey a message of what the brand is about. For instance, the Nike swoosh is successful in generating a feeling of high energy or going fast which is valuable to an athletic wear company.
Logotype or Wordmark: A logo that is specifically only a typography treatment. A great example of a wordmark is Google.
Monochrome: When a design or image is made up of the values of a single color and would print using only one ink.
Stroke: A colored outline around an object.
Style Guide: A style guide is brand identity at work, this guide get’s down to fine details on how fonts, colors and images are arranged in any print or electronic media layout. Keeping to the brand’s identity ensures that all media released about a company or product look like they come from the same source, essentially ensuring brand recognition by consumers.
Swash: A curved line used as a design element.
Symmetry and Asymmetry: When a design has elements that are nearly identical from left to right, every object is of equal value this is a symmetrical layout. Asymmetrical design can be equally pleasing by adding drama and contrast by using graphic elements that are not perfectly aligned and sized.
Typography
Typeface or Font: These terms are often interchangeable however a font is the physical file used by a computer and a typeface is the styling of letters.
Serif Font: Serifs are the little hats and feet on the the tops and bottoms of letters.
Sans-serif Font: A font that has no serifs such as Arial.
Cap Height: How tall a capital letter is above the baseline of the letter, usually based on flat letters like H rather than round or pointed letters like O and A which often extend beyond the baseline and cap heights of flat letters.
X Height: The height of the letter x is usually used for this size, it is specifically the height of lower case letters from the baseline to the meanline excluding any ascenders and descenders.
Kerning: The spacing between letters and words that are set manually.
Tracking: The default spacing between letters and words set by the design of the font.
Ascenders: portions of letters that extend above the x-height of the font, letters like h, d and f have ascenders.
Descenders: The portion of letters that extend below the baseline of the font, letters like g, q and p have descenders.
Ligatures: Common letter combinations like ff, fi and th often have a preset glyph within a font on how to combine the letters in an appealing way.
Script Font: Cursive or Caligraphic font styles.
Display Font: Fonts that are more decorative, corroded or fancy are designed for headlines as they are more difficult to read when used small or in paragraph formats.
Baseline: The invisible line that the letters in a word or sentence sit upon.
Meanline: The invisible line at the height of all lower case letters that do not contain an ascender.
Drop Cap: The first letter in the first word of a paragraph or chapter is larger and drops below the baseline to the next baseline below it. Caps can be set to drop any number of lines preferred by the designer.
Small Caps: Fonts or an effect applied to typography turning the lower case letters into a smaller version of their capital letter designs.
Leading: The spacing between lines of text within a paragraph, this is measured from baseline to baseline.
Font Sizes: Usually measured in points, it is the height of the overall font style, headlines tend to be the largest font size in a layout.
Font Weights: This is the thickness of each letter stroke, some fonts will give you the option of various weights such as light, regular, semi-bold, bold and ultra bold. The example above uses regular for body copy, bold for subhead and ultra-bold for the headline.
Left Aligned: Aligning the paragraph of text along the left edge leaving a ragged edge along the right.
Centered: Aligning the paragraph of text along the center of the text block leaving a ragged edge on both sides.
Right Aligned: Aligning the paragraph of text along the right edge leaving a ragged edge along the left.
Justified: Stretching the text to align to both the left and right sides of a text block leaving a straight edge. The last line can be set to align to the center, right or left sides and it’ll appear the way it does in the other examples, however it can be set to be fully justified which may stretch the kerning to fill the whole line as in the example above.
Headline, Title or Header: This is usually the largest text on the page to pull the eye in and gain the interest of the reader.
Subhead or Subtitle: A secondary thought that backs up the title or a subject change for the body copy, this is typically smaller than the headline but larger than the body copy in either font size and/or weight.
Body Copy: Any and all text or copy on the page that is not a Headline, Subtitle or Caption.
Caption: A line of copy to explain a graph, illustration or photograph.
Orphan or Widow: When one word or a few small words are left on the last line of a paragraph making it look unfinished or unbalanced.
Ragged Edge: When words in a paragraph do not align and make an edge that varies in width from line to line.
File Kinds
.ai: Adobe Illustrator native file extension, in order to manipulate the file it must be opened in Illustrator, preferably the same or newer version of the program to avoid issues. This file type can be placed into InDesign and Quark Xpress layouts. This file format is vector based however it may have linked raster images in place.
.bmp: A bitmap file used specifically for screen viewing, this file kind is outdated and rarely used.
.cdr: Corel Draw native file extension, must be opened in Corel Draw. This file format is vector based however it may have linked raster images in place.
.eps: Electronic Post Script file, usually a vector file version. This file type can be placed into InDesign and Quark Xpress layouts.
.gif: Graphic Interchange Format, this file format is intended for screen viewing and is most commonly used because if it’s ability to support animation or short video clips. This image format is limited in colors and resolution and is never recommended for use in printing.
.jpg: Typically used to save digital raster images, this file format contains lossy compression to save more data in with fewer bytes for file size. Jpgs are excellent for keeping files small for use on the internet, and in printed materials, however resaving manipulated jpg files again as a jpg may result in undesirable results called jpg artifacts, and should be avoided.
.idml: Saved from Adobe InDesign to allow older versions of the program to open the layout.
.indd Adobe InDesign native file extension, must be opened in the same or newer version of InDesign it was created in.
.pdf: Portable Document Format, a postscript language format file that embeds all text, fonts, vector and raster graphics into a fixed layout allowing anyone with Adobe Acrobat programs or plug-ins to display or print the document without the need of the linked images or fonts used to create it. Depending on which postscript language is used a pdf can be saved as a small internet ready file, or a larger print quality file including bleeds and crop marks ready for a vendor. A PDF is the most versatile and widely accepted file type for use with print vendors, and can be created from every program available for page layout.
.png: A file format used primarily for screen viewing that will allow for transparent backgrounds.
.psd: Adobe Photoshop native file extension. This file type can be placed into InDesign and Quark Xpress layouts. PSD files allow you to save multiple layers, raster images, vector spot graphics and spot colors without compression or image loss.
.psb Adobe Photoshop large format file extension for files larger than 2GB. This file format is best used for archiving layers and image manipulation work before flattening an image to save for layout purposes in programs such as Indesign which will not place a psb file.
.qxd Quark Xpress native file extension, must be opened in the same or newer version of Quark it was created in.
.tif or .tiff: Tag Image File Format, this format is best used in design layouts for printing. A tif file can contain a raster image and include a vector clipping path, layers and spot colors that translate well when placed into a layout program such as Indesign. The files are saved with lossless compression or no compression making them perfect for further manipulation and saving without image loss.
Images
Illustration: An artist created rendering of an object or concept, illustration files can be either raster or vector image formats.
Photograph: A camera captured image of an object, these files are always raster image formats.
Raster: Photographic or raster images use information cells called pixels to create every inch of graphic as rows of dots. Measured in dots per inch, i.e., 100 dpi has 100 lines by 100 lines of pixels of information in every inch of your graphic. Images with varying shading are generally raster images.
Vector: Line art such as type, frames, strokes and boxes are considered vector images. Vector image files are 2D graphics made up of plot points, lines, curves and fills.
Image Issues
Contrast: A balance of light and shadow on an object make it much more recognizable and interesting to the eye, when the contrast is off your image can lack the detail necessary to be easily identified. When an image lacks contrast it looks flat and often unpleasant, especially when it’s a photo of a person. Too much contrast makes an image look unnatural and may print overly bright colors that are undesirable.
JPG Artifacts: With a jpg you can take a lot of file data and create a relatively small file with it’s compression settings, that is good. Unfortunately as you manipulate your jpg photo and save again it adds more compression to the file, over many saves the file may create strange colored halos around objects, or sharp objects become blurred with dirty looking pixels, these extra colored pixels are called JPG artifacts and have undesirable results when you attempt to print this file.
Low Resolution: If your image is low resolution that means it lacks the minimum dots per inch for your print project, sell below for further definitions on image resolution.
Moiré Pattern: This is an interference pattern overlaid onto another pattern, it can be an interesting design element, but it can also be a negative result to photographing or scanning an image with a lot of fine details, causing a rainbow moiré pattern across the image. The pattern often looks like water ripples or repeating curving lines.
Poor Quality: This term is used when an image looks bad regardless of having proper resolution or being a large file size. This could be the result of a number of reasons like poor camera focus, lighting or file manipulation.
Resolution
Image Resolution: Resolution of a file is specifically speaking about raster (variable data) images which are captured photographs or illustrations created using raster image programs such as photoshop. A raster image uses pixels to create every inch of graphic, and resolution is how many pixels are used to create that inch, that is what PPI or DPI is, Pixels Per Inch or Dots Per Inch, i.e., 100dpi has 100 lines by 100 lines of pixels of information in every inch of your graphic, the more pixels the better quality of image. Pixels on your computer are converted to Dots of ink at the printer which is why the terms PPI and DPI are interchangeable.
High Res – Large Format Printing: For large and grand format printing an effective resolution of 72-100dpi at final size is typically acceptable and considered high resolution. In large format printing, viewing distance is measured in feet rather than inches, the eye won’t see blurry and jagged edges the further away the viewer is from the product. It should be said that it’s often difficult to get photographs and illustrations that are large enough to enlarge to some of the larger sizes and have it retain a resolution larger than 100dpi. Click Here for more information on what resolution you will need for your print project.
High Res – Small Print Formats: For print projects 11″x17″ or smaller 300 dpi is the ideal, these projects are usually viewed within several inches of the user, so the clarity of the photo should be sharper and of a higher quality.
Screen Resolution: For use on the web or digital media platforms, image quality isn’t really measured by dots per inch, i.e., a 500 pixel x 500 pixel image could be 72 dpi or 500 dpi and it’ll still display at the same quality on screen when viewed at 500×500. This means that you shouldn’t display the image larger than 500×500 if you don’t want to risk image degradation.