Frequently Asked Questions

Set off is when colour from your print job is transferred to another part of the job, leaving ink marks.

Set off is when colour from your print job is transferred to another part of the job, leaving ink marks.

An estimate, or a quote (quotation), is a price that states what a job is likely to cost.

A laminate is a thin, transparent, plastic sheet that is applied as a coating to printed items. They prevent solid blocks of ink from cracking, as well as offering additional protection against wear and tear, and spills. Laminations can be single or double sided, and are recommended for use on thicker paper stocks and items intended for regular use, such as book covers, postcards, and business cards.

Types of Laminations
Matt: A matt lamination adds depth to your designs.
Gloss: A Gloss lamination adds shine and vibrancy to colours.
Soft Touch: A Soft Touch lamination offers a luxurious finish.

Hickeys are spots or imperfections on a print job that are caused by dirt on the press, dried ink skin or paper particles etc.

Crop marks are lines near the edges of an image indicating the area of print to be reproduced. The area outside of these lines may be cut off during guillotining. Crop marks are also known as cutting marks and tick marks.

CMYK is an abbreviation of cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). These are the four process colours commonly used when printing.

We highly recommend using CMYK images as RGB images will be converted to CMYK in our workflow, and this may result in a small colour shift. Colour settings are easy to change within the design package. For Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator, you can change colour setting in the proof set up menu, under view.

RIP stands for Raster Image Processor, and is a processor which converts files into a format ready for printing.

Typo is short for typographical error, which is a mistake found in the copy.

A watermark is a translucent logo on a sheet of paper. It is created during the manufacturing process, by slightly embossing the page with a dandy roll while the paper is still approximately 90 percent water.

A plate is a piece of paper, metal, plastic or rubber carrying an image to be reproduced using a printing press.

A perforation is a line of small dotted holes created by a press or a binding machine, for the purpose of tearing off part of the paper.

Offset lithography is a printing process where the inked image is transferred to a rubber blanket layer before coming into contact with the paper, which takes up the inked areas. This process is used for printing longer runs and larger quantities.

Digital printing is CMYK printing straight from electronic artwork, without the use of plates. This type of printing is ideal for short runs and fast turnarounds.

Wide or large format printing is the term used for printing large format terms, such as; Roller Banners, PVC Banners, Sign Boards and Self-Adhesive Vinyl.

Self-cover is when the cover of a booklet uses the same paper as the inside pages.

Spine is the binding edge of a publication.

Wire binding is a form of binding where a continuous series of wire loops are run through punched slots along one side of a booklet.

Spiral binding is a type of binding where a plastic spiral is looped through holes punched into the pages of a booklet. It is also known as comb or coil binding.

Top and left binding indicates which edge of the job should be bound.

Saddle stitching is a type of binding where pages are stapled together where they fold at the spine.

Perfect binding is a type of binding where pages are held together at the binding edge by a glue or synthetic adhesive. We use a PUR adhesive which gives a bond 60% stronger than other adhesives typically used in perfect binding.

Collating is the arrangement of printed sheets into the desired sequence. For example, when we print your booklet orders, we will collate the pages into the correct order prior to binding.

Comb binding is a form of document binding where a plastic comb is used to grip the spine edge of a book.

Case binding is a form of document binding used to create hardback books. The pages are covered with a stiff outer cover and are often covered with an outer cloth, vinyl or leather.

Paper that is made with a coating, such as gloss or silk, which makes the paper appear shinier. A silk coating feels smooth to the touch and has a gentle shine, ideal for displaying colourful images. A gloss coating has a stronger shine and smoother finish, and display colours vibrantly.

Uncoated paper does not have a coating. It can be written on, and overprinted, so is commonly used for letterheads and compliment slips. Uncoated paper is also referred to as bond or offset paper.

Uncoated paper compares to coated paper, which is made with a coating, such as gloss or silk.

Recycled paper is paper made entirely, or in part, from old paper.

Stock refers to the paper or card to be printed on.

A ream is 500 sheets paper.

GSM means grams per square metre, and is the unit of measurement for paper weights. The higher the number, the thicker or bulkier, the paper will feel. Typically, letterheads are printed on a thinner stock, such as 100gsm or 120gsm, while a business card can range from 300gsm to a weighty 920gsm Triplex stock.

Artwork is a completed design ready for print. Artwork is usually created in the Adobe Creative Suite, Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign, or Corel Draw. This artwork file is converted to a print ready PDF before submitting for print.

A proof is a printed or digital sample of work to be checked for errors in text, positioning or quality of colour reproduction.

A visual is a preliminary layout which indicates the general design and positioning of elements.

Image resolution refers to the sharpness and quality of an image. The higher the resolution, the better quality the final printed product.

Personalisation is where data elements are unique to an individual piece, such as numbering on event tickets and NCR jobs, or adding addresses to a leaflet.

Personalisation is where data elements are unique to an individual piece, such as numbering on event tickets and NCR jobs, or adding addresses to a leaflet.

Portrait is a page orientation where the height of the artwork is greater than the width. This is the opposite of landscape orientation.

Imposition refers to the planning and positioning of artwork so that it is reproduced in an effective and orderly method.

We group together artwork from a variety of orders to our A0 size plates so they are printed at the same time. This is a faster and efficient method of printing, and it helps us keep our prices down. The example below shows how the imposition of A4 and A5 leaflets.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format. This is the industry standard for saving files in an acceptable and stable format.

Desktop Publishing is the creation of artwork for print from your computer. Examples of some of the most common desktop publishing programs are Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, and Coreldraw.

Dots per inch indicates the resolution of an image. The more dots per inch, the higher the resolution and the better quality the image.

A font is a set of letters, numbers or symbols that share a unified design. The design is called a typeface.

Die Cutting is the process of cutting irregular shapes into paper or a board using a die.