M – Glossary of Print and Design Terms
Welcome to our comprehensive glossary of print and design terms. We are continually seeking to grow and improve this glossary, so if you spot any definition you do not agree with, a term that is missing, or have any comments in general, please email our reference team.
| M Weight | Weight of 1,000 sheets of paper in any specific size |
| Machine Coated | Paper that has had a coating applied to either one or two of its sides during the papermaking process |
| Machine Direction | Direction of lie of cellulose fibres dur to motion of papermaking machine – long way or web of paper. Also direction in which product is printed in reel-fed machine i.e. head or foot of label first, or wide edge or narrow edge leading along web |
| Machine Finish | A paper finish that results from the interaction of the paper with the Fourdrinier process as opposed to post machine embossing. See also Fourdrinier |
| Machine Glazed (MG) | Paper holding a high-gloss finish only on one side |
| Magenta | Hue of a subtractive primary and a 4-Colour process ink. It reflects or transmits blue and red light and absorbs green light |
| Magnetic Black | Black pigments containing black iron oxides, used for magnetic ink character recognition |
| Mailing House | Generic term used to describe a business who’s core activity is the collation and mailing out of printed matter on a large scale |
| Make-Ready | 1. All activities required to prepare a press or other machine to function for a specific printing or bindery job, as compared to production run.2. Paper used in the make-ready process at any stage in production. Make-ready paper is part of waste or spoilage |
| Making Order | Order for paper that a mill makes to the customer’s specifications, as compared to a mill order or stock order |
| Male Die | Die that applies pressure during embossing or debossing. Also called force card |
| Management Information System (MIS) | This is a computer system, linked to external production equipment and data capture/input devices for the purpose of gathering, collating and allowing for the analysis of production-related information |
| Manifold | Paper which is thin, strong, and has a smooth surface and is used for duplicating or copying of substance un 45gsm |
| Manuscript (MS) | An author’s original form of work (hand written, typed or on disk) submitted for publication |
| MARC | Machine Readable Cataloguing – a standard bibliographic format used in libraries |
| Margin | White space around the edge of the printed material |
| Mark-Up | Instructions to a typesetter or printer, written usually on a “dummy” |
| Mask | The blocking out of a portion of the printing plate during the exposure process. |
| Master | Paper or plastic plate used on a duplicating press |
| Master Archive | A collection of images which have been stored in their original captured state prior to optimisation |
| Match Print | A form of a four-colour-process proofing system |
| Matt Art | Art paper with dull eggshell finish |
| Matt Finish | Paper finish with level, smooth-coated surface and little or no gloss |
| Measure | The width of type as measured in picas. See also pica |
| Mechanical | Camera-ready assembly of type, graphic and other copy complete with instructions to the printer. A hard mechanical consists of paper and/or acetate, is made using paste-up techniques, and may also be called an artboard, board or paste-up. A soft mechanical, also called an electronic mechanical, exists as a file of type and other images assembled using a computer |
| Mechanical Bind | To bind using a comb, coil, ring binder, post or any other technique not requiring gluing, sewing or stitching |
| Mechanical Paper | Paper containing a proportion of mechanical wood pulp |
| Mechanical Separation | Colour breaks made on the mechanical using a separate overlay for each colour to be printed |
| Mechanical Tint | Lines or patterns formed with dots creating artwork for reproduction |
| Mechanical Wood Pulp | Pulp produced by grinding wood mechanically. Used for cheap papers i.e. newsprint, combined with larger proportions of chemical wood pulp for more superior qualities of paper |
| Memory | Tendency of a substance to return to its original state. e.g. whether or not a piece of folded paper can return to its flat state without evidence of it having ever been folded |
| Metadata | Descriptive textual data associated with an image file |
| Metadata Element | An individual part of a metadata structure or schema . Contains a particular category of information, such as Date or Creator |
| Metadata Schema | A structured set of metadata elements |
| Metafiles | A file containing information that describes or specifies another file |
| Metallic Ink | Ink containing powdered metal or pigments that simulate metal |
| Metallic Paper | Paper coated with a thin film of plastic or pigment whose colour and gloss simulate metal |
| MFP | In printing, MFP is a commonly used term to represent Multi Function Products which are devices that that have more than one function such as being able to print, scan and fax |
| Middle Tones / Midtones | In a photograph or illustration, tones created by dots between 30 percent and 70 percent of coverage, as compared to highlights and shadows |
| Mill Board | High grade board, made from rope and other materials |
| Mill Finished | Machine-finished or mill-finished. Paper that is not supercalendered |
| Mill Glazed | Mill-glazed or machine-glazed paper. Applied to a large range of papers which are characteristically rough on one side and highly glazed on the other |
| Mill Roll | Paper roll as delivered from paper mill |
| Millboard | Board of high grade, made from rope and other materials and btown in colour. It is very hard, very touch and has a good finish. Used for the covers of better quality bound books |
| Misting | Phenomenon of droplets of ink being thrown off the roller train. Also called flying ink |
| Mock Up | A reproduction of the original printed matter and possibly containing instructions or direction |
| Moiré | Undesirable pattern resulting when halftones and screen tints are made with improperly aligned screens, or when a pattern in a photo, such as a plaid, interfaces with a halftone dot pattern |
| Molleton | A cotton fabric used on the dampening rollers of a printing press |
| Molybdate Orange | An ink pigment made from precipitating lead molybdate, lead sulfate and lead chromate |
| Monochrome | A Monochrome printer only uses one colour of toner. The term Monochrome Printing is quite often described as black and white printing as the toner is normally black and the paper is often white in colour |
| Moral Rights | Gained after copyright clearance has been gained and may be concerned with derogatory use of images, not crediting the creator, use of only part of an image etc. Must be asserted by creator |
| Mottle | Spotty, uneven ink absorption. Also called sinkage or mealy. |
| Mull | A specific type of glue used for books binding and personal pads needing strength |
| Mullen Testing | A specific test of tensile paper strength; an important factor if web presses are used for printing |
| Multicolour Printing | Printing in more than one ink colour (but not four-colour process). Also called polychrome printing |
| Multi-Purpose Tray (MPT) | A multi-purpose tray is an input tray which can handle different types and sizes of media such as paper, envelopes, transparencies, labels etc |
