As a marketer, knowing print and design terms is crucial when it comes to executing any campaign that involves printed pieces. We know that printing terminology can often be confusing or too technical, so we’ve compiled a list of 5 terms to help you plan and execute your next printed marketing piece. Take a look…
1. Bleed
Bleed is a term that refers to printed area that extends past the edge of a printed item. This area is trimmed off when the item is cut down to finished size.
Your desktop computer at home likely can’t produce bleed, meaning you’ll always have that white border around the edge of your printed document, and you’ll have to cut a significant amount of paper off the edges to make sure the color or printed area goes all the way to the edge.
Even with larger presses and printers, printing to the edge of a sheet can be difficult, so printers will ask designers to include bleed in their design so that they can print a slightly larger area than needed, then trim the paper or substrate down to the finished size. For most printing jobs, standard bleed is 1/8 inch. Other jobs may require more bleed.
2. DPI
DPI stands for dots per inch and refers to the measurement of resolution in printing or video. In other words, a certain amount of tiny dots are placed within a span of one inch, indicating your DPI.
DPI can fluctuate depending on printer settings and other design factors, but you may hear your printer say that your projects need to be 300 DPI for high-quality printing. This means that when printed, your image will contain 90,000 pixels (or dots) and will have a higher resolution, producing crisper images. Anything less than 300 DPI is considered low resolution and may appear blurry when printed.
3. Pantone Colors
When you hear the word Pantone, you may think of the Pantone Matching System (PMS), a color matching system used in countless industries, but primarily in printing.
Pantone colors are standardized colors, which mean various ink manufacturers can all refer back to the Pantone system to make sure their colors are accurate.
Pantone colors are described by numbers. For instance, a PMS color of 718 is the orange color we use in Alexander’s logo.
Pantone colors help designers and printers ensure that your printed projects stay consistent with your company’s branding and look the way you intended them to look after they’re produced.
4. Spot Color
Spot colors are unique ink colors, created by a mixture of inks in order to produce a unique look or nuanced color. Due to the wide range of colors, mixing certain inks to create a spot color can produce a cleaner and brighter color than if the four-color CMYK process is used. Typically, spot colors are used by brands or corporations who need exact matching for their logos and other branding pieces.
5. Coating
You’ve probably seen coated paper before, but understanding what types of coating are available and what they do to improve the function and quality of the paper will help you in designing your next print project.
Coating is done by adding a mixture of polymers to the paper to improve its surface and ability to hold ink. Aqueous coating and UV coating are two common types of coating. UV coating adds a gloss finish to the product and can improve the vibrancy of your printed piece.
You should know that coating can, and usually does, impact the way you view colors in finished printed pieces. So keep the slight color change in mind when selecting the proper ink for the project. It’s a good idea to request a finished proof before your whole project is printed so you can see how the coating impacts the user’s visual and tactile impression.
If you have any printing, design or production questions, please contact us. We’re happy to help.
