1. F

    • Face Print

      The 'normal way of printing' printing the same on a clear substrate as you would on a piece of paper. Images are to be applied, and read, from the same side of a window.

    • Films

      A physical product produced by an imagesetter from the artwork and are used to create the printing plate through a photochemical process.

    • Finished Size

      Size of product after production is completed, as compared to flat size.

    • Finishing

      What follows the printing process, whether that is creasing, folding, stitching, binding or anything else.

    • Flat Size

      Size of product before production is completed. The size of the product laid flat (e.g. 6pp DL Flat size would be A4).

    • Flood White

      A full coating of white ink acts as a base-coat for the colours printed on it, without the white background colours may not be as bright or vibrant. Commonly used on clear materials pvc/polyprop/vinyl etc.

    • Flush Cover

      Book or booklet having the cover trimmed to the same size as the text.

    • Foil Block

      An off line process to attach foil in a predetermined shape to the printed page.

    • Folio

      The page number.

    • Fore Edge

      The outer edge of a bound publication opposite the spine.

    • Four Colour Process Printing

      This is the most common method of producing colour print. The four CMYK colours are translucent, which means the can be overprinted and combined a number of different ways to achieve a wide range of colours. Most magazines and colour books are printed using this process. Also known as 'Full Colour'.

    • French Fold

      Two folds at right angles to each other – also known as cross fold.

    • FSC

      The Forest Stewardship Council trademark provides international recognition to organisations that support the growth of responsible forest management.

    • FTP

      A site purposed to upload artwork files to so they are easily accessed by both parties. Often requested by clients transferring large, sensitive information, files (like banks).

    G

    • Grain Direction

      Direction in which the majority of the fibres in a piece of paper or board are aligned.

    • Gravure

      This is usually used for high quality or long run printing and is sometimes known as intaglio printing. In this process, the image is etched below the surface of the plate. The web version of the process is termed rotogravure.

    • Grey tone

      Shades of grey ranging from black to white, in litho greyscale is achieved with only one plate.

    • Grippers

      Metal fingers which hold paper and carry it through the press. We need to allow room around the edges of the paper to the finished print product to allow for the grippers.

    • GSM

      GSM is an acronym for Grams per Square Metre. Typically, photocopier paper would be around 80gsm, whilst letterhead paper might be 100gsm and a postcard 250gsm. An A0 is 1 square meter, so an A0 of 250gsm would weight 250g.

    • Gusset

      Expandable portion of a pocket folder or an envelope.

    • Gutter

      The line or the fold where two facing pages meet.

    H

    • Half Perf

      A perforation line usually running across the page but not to the full width of the page.

    • Halftone

      This is the process used to produce a range of tones such as on a photograph or tinted area by using varying size dots.

    • Hickies

      The terms used for imperfections in printing often but not always due to debris in the ink or paper.

    • Hybrid Screen

      A screening technology made up of two different screen algorithms. This is usually a combination of AM and FM. The technology seeks to combine the advantages of each and allows print to a higher definition.

    I

    • Image area

      Portion of the paper where the ink is.

    • Image Setter

      A device that plots high res bitmaps/raster files which have been processed by the RIP. This can include text, images and graphics.

    • Imposition

      The process of arranging pages correctly on the flat sheet prior to printing so that when folded the pages appear in the correct order.

    • Indicia

      Postal information places on a printed product taking the place of a stamp.

    • ISO 12647

      The printing standard determines the colour of the CMYK inks and the dot gain allowed on the print sheet.

    J

    • Job ticket

      A printed form that accompanies the job around the factory in traditional printers to give instructions as to how the job should be produced and track who has worked on that job.

    • Jog

      The process of shaking a stack of papers either on machine or by hand so that the edges line up. Also called 'knocking up'.

    K

    • Kiss Cut

      A light die cut that cuts through the first layer but leaves the base substrate uncut. Commonly used for peel off stickers.