It Ain't Mumbo Jumbo, Baby. It's Printing!

Believe me when I tell you that some of the terminology I learned as a new print buyer gave me pause. Work-and-turn? Work-and-tumble? What was this, a circus?

Printing has a language all its own, and print customers need to jump on board the lingo train if they want to know what's what.

In no particular order, here are some printing terms that seem to come from a whole other planet:

Bleeds - when printing extends all the way to the edge of the paper, as in "the ink bleeds off the sheet." An job that bleeds can cost you more.

Choke - to reduce a printing image slightly so you don't have a darker overlapped border on a lighter background.

Creep - also called "push out," it happens when the middle pages of a folded signature extend a little bit beyond the outside pages. Your printer has to compensate for it during layout and imposition. Otherwise you'll be stuck with a little creep. And who needs that?

Dummy - a preliminary mock-up of the final piece, showing images and text. Sometimes it's just blank pages or paper, made up in advance to simulate the final size and format of a print project.

Hickeys - these are small spots or imperfections that occasionally show up in printing, due to dirt on the press. Hickeys are bad news no matter where they show up.

Kiss cut - a die cut that just barely cuts through the paper. Also, there's the kiss impression, one that's light enough to leave a mere hint of itself.

Moiré - no, it is not when the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie. A moiré is an undesirable pattern that might make you think your vision's in trouble. Such a pattern is caused by incorrect screen angles for printed colors. I went online to LL Bean to see a sweater I wanted to buy. Talk about a moiré. I crossed my fingers and hit "Purchase."

Scum - a film of ink printing in the non-image areas of a plate where it shouldn't print. I take offense that "scum" is part of printing's lexicon. The cluck who thought of it probably came up with creep and dummy, too.

Verso is the left-hand and Recto is the right-hand page of a book or magazine. Latin makes everyone sound smarter. Use these terms and impress your friends.

Web printing - sorry, it has nothing to do with the worldwide web. Web presses are massive presses used to print jobs from rolls (or webs) of paper, as opposed to paper precut into sheets.

Can't you tell that printing is fun business? These are just a hint of the wild and wonderful terms that connect us all.

And now, for your reading pleasure, we've just added a Print Buyer Glossary to our web site. It's seeded with hundreds of traditional printing terms, and every now and then I've been adding terms that buyers use and/or really need to start using.

Want to contribute a term or two? This Print Buyer Glossary is by nature a work in progress. You are invited to add terms using our online form.

Think of it as a wiki for printing. Please submit words you think buyers need to know, and we'll fold them into the glossary on a regular basis. Remember, it's under our Resources tab. A sub-glossary on green printing terms is next in line.

Enjoy!

Comments? Talk to me at mdana@bostonprintbuyers.com.

©2008 Margie Dana. All rights reserved. You're free to forward this email to friends and colleagues: please do! However, no part of this column may be reprinted without permission from the author.

Print Buyer Conference Update

September 11th - 12th, 2008

The speaker line up for our September conference is just about done, and within weeks we'll share all topics, all presenters, and a detailed schedule so that you can decide which sessions appeal to you most.

This much is true:

The keynote breakfast on September 11th (day 1), from 8:30 - 10 am, will star the titans of print for a second year, thanks to overwhelming feedback from last year.

Dr. Joe Webb and Frank Romano present…

Two for the Road! The Titans of Print Are At It Again

Last year, these industry giants co-keynoted during dinner. Amidst the dueling PowerPoints and the rapid-fire "he said, he said" interchanges, the audience's laughter nearly drowned out the speakers. These gentlemen will once again debate the power of print and where it (and you) are headed. Hold on to your seats. There is simply no better way to jumpstart our conference.

Do yourself a favor and plan on joining us for breakfast on the 11th. Registration begins in May. Keynote sponsorship is available. For details, contact Barbara Graham at
(978) 490-0100. Go to www.printbuyersconference.com for details.

Questions on exhibiting? Please contact Barbara Graham at exhibitorinfo@printbuyersinternational.com.

New Contributed Article

Kevin Fortin, the Director of Sales and Marketing for Narragansett Graphics in Coventry, RI, has written "The Green Printer Checklist." Read it here under Contributed Articles.

New Job Posting

Appleseed's of Beverly, MA is looking for a Print Production Coordinator. For details and application information, click here.

Print Tips Archives!

Our Print Tips archives are public. Access them from the home page of our site
under Print Tips at www.bostonprintbuyers.com.