S – 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.
| Saddle Stitch | Saddle Stitch refers to a finishing process, where the sheets of paper are folded and secured by applying staples along the fold to produce a book format |
| Safety Paper | A paper that shows sign of erasure so that it cannot be altered or tampered with easily |
| Satin Finish | A smooth, delicately embossed finished paper with sheen |
| Saturation | Saturation represents how pure a colour is. It is the amount or strength of the colour. Saturation is measured as a percentage from 0% to 100%. If a colour has a saturation of 0% then the colour will contain no hue and would appear grey. On the other hand, if the saturation of a colour is 100% then the colour will appear fully saturated |
| Scale | To identify the percent by which photographs or art should be enlarged or reduced to achieve, the correct size for printing |
| Scaling | The enlargement or reduction of an image or copy to fit a specific area |
| Scan Area | The maximum dimensions of the area, in a flatbed scanner, in which an original can be placed and be imaged |
| Scanner | Device used to scan an image and capture it in an electronic format. |
| Scanning Area Array | A hybrid of Scanning Linear Array and Area Array for the arrangement of the detector within a digital camera |
| Scanning Linear Array | Another way in which the detector within a digital camera can be arranged. Gives high resolution images |
| Score | To compress paper along a straight line so it folds more easily and accurately. Also called crease |
| Screen Angles | The placement of halftone screens to avoid unwanted moiré patterns. Frequently used angles are black 45º, magenta 75º, yellow 90º, and cyan 105º |
| Screen Density | Refers to the percentage of ink coverage that a screen tint allows to print. Also called screen percentage |
| Screen Printing | Often called silk screen printing from the material formerly used for the screen. A stencil process with the printing and non-printing areas on one surface. The printing (image) area is open and produced by various forms of stencil. the substrate is placed under the screen and ink is passed across the top of the screen and forced through the open (printing) areas on to the substrate below |
| Screen Ruling | Number of rows or lines of dots per inch or centimetre in a screen for making a screen tint or halftone. Also called line count, ruling, screen frequency, screen size and screen value |
| Screen Tint | Colour created by dots instead of solid ink coverage. Also called Benday, fill pattern, screen tone, shading, tint and tone |
| Scumming | The non-image area of a printing plate attracts ink. This unwanted ink will print on a sheet and give a dirty background appearance. The problem is usually fixed by adjusting the ink/water balance on the press |
| Seal | Coating in water base and applied like ink by a printing press to protect and enhance the printing underneath. Also called Aqueous Coating |
| Search and Retrieval | Action taken by database software after a request for an image has been submitted |
| Selective Binding | Placing signatures or inserts in magazines or catalogues according to demographic or geographic guidelines |
| Self Cover | A cover made out of the same paper stock as the internal sheets |
| Self Mailer | A printed item containing all relevant posting information and posted independently without the need for an envelope |
| Separations | Usually in the field of four-colour process printing, separate film holding images of one specific colour per piece of film. Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. Can also separate specific Pantone colours through film |
| Serigraphic Printing | Printing method whose image carriers are woven fabric, plastic or metal that allow ink to pass through some portions and block ink from passing through other portions. Serigraphic printing includes screen and mimeograph |
| Setoff | Undesirable transfer of wet ink from the top of one sheet to the underside of another as they lie in the delivery stack of a press. Also called offset |
| SGML | Standard Generalised Markup Language is a standard text markup language or tag set, which can be used in the typesetting process of a book |
| Shade | Hue made darker by the addition of black, as compared to tint |
| Shadows | Darkest areas of a photograph or illustration, as compared to midtones and high-lights |
| Sharpen | To decrease the dot size of the halftone, which in turn decreases the colour strength |
| Sharpening | A software method of exaggerating ‘edges’ in an image to give enhanced definition |
| Sheet Fed | Relating to a printing technique whereby paper is fed into the printing press in single sheets, as opposed to paper on a roll |
| Sheeter | Converting machine which cuts a web of paper into individual sheets |
| Sheetfed Press | Press that prints sheets of paper, as compared to a web press. |
| Sheetwise | The printing of two different images on two different sides of a sheet of paper by turning the page over after the first side is printed and using the same gripper and side guides |
| Shiner | A process whereby solid areas of colour are overprinted onto a percentage tint created to the same coverage area. For example, a solid area of black by be pre-printed on an earlier press unit with a 60% tint of Cyan |
| Shingling | Allowance, made during paste-up or stripping, to compensate for creep. Creep is the problem; shingling is the solution |
| Short Ink | Ink that is smooth and creamy but does not flow freely |
| Show Through | A problem that occurs when the printing on one side of a sheet is seen from the other side |
| Shutter Lag | The delay between pressing the shutter button of a camera and the taking of the photograph, this is common in budget digital cameras |
| Side Guide | The guides on the sides of the sheet fed press that position the sheet sideways as the paper is led towards the front guides |
| Side Stitch | To bind by stapling through sheets along, one edge, as compared to saddle stitch. Also called cleat stitch, side wire and Side-Stab |
| Signature | The signature function is used in conjunction with booklet printing. The spine of a book is made up of numerous smaller booklets which are then bound together. For example, if you fold a sheet of A4 paper in half you can create 4 pages of A5. The signature option limits the amount of pages used to print individual booklets in order to make folding easier |
| Silhouette Halftone | A halftone with the background screen removed |
| Silverprint | See also brownline proof |
| Simplex | Printing done on only one side of each sheet. Opposite of duplex |
| Size | Process of binding fibres and loading together to increase resistance to ink and increase strength. Resin or other sizing material is included in the furnish of a paper |
| Slip Sheets | Separate sheets (stock) independent from the original run positioned between the “printed run” for a variety of reason |
| Slit | A term to describe the process of cutting of printed sheets by the cutting wheels of a printing press. |
| Slitter | The actual device/tool attached to a printing press (usually between cylinder and delivery) that allows for a cut to be made during the production run |
| Smoothness | That quality of paper defined by its levelness that allows for pressure consistency in printing, assuring uniformity of print |
| Soft Dot | An excessively large halo around a dot in a photograph that causes a fringe that diminishes the dot intensity |
| Solid | Any area of the sheet receiving 100 percent ink coverage, as compared to a screen tint |
| Soy Based Inks | Inks using vegetable oils instead of petroleum products as pigment vehicles, thus are easier on the environment |
| Spatial Resolution | Describes the finest detail visible to the human eye |
| Specific Volume | Measurement of paper compressibility and suitability for forms printing |
| Specifications (or Spec) | Complete and precise written description of features of a printing job such as type size and leading, paper grade and quantity, printing or binding method |
| Spectrophotometer | Instrument used to measure the index of refraction of colour |
| Specular Highlight | Highlight area with no printable dots, thus no detail, as compared to a diffuse highlight. Also called catchlight and dropout highlight |
| SPI | Samples per inch, a measure of the resolution of a capture device |
| Spine | Back or binding edge of a publication |
| Spine Width | The measurement made across the bulk of the backs of folded sections forming a publication to be allowed between cover pages 1 and 4 in order a good fit is achieved. The Spine Width will often contain text, e.g.. title of publication |
| Spiral Bind | To bind using a spiral of continuous wire or plastic looped through holes. Also called coil bind |
| Splice | Point where two strips of paper are joined. Can relate to joining a mill roll or parts of continuous form |
| Split Fountain | Technique of putting ink colours next to each other in the same ink fountain and printing them off the same plate. Split fountains keep edges of colours distinct, as compared to rainbow fountains that blend edges |
| Split Run | 1. Different images, such as advertisements, printed in different editions of a publication.2. Printing of a book that has some copies bound one way and other copies bound another way |
| Spoilage | Materials that, due to mistakes or accidents, must be thrown away instead of delivered printed to the customer, as compared to waste |
| Spoilage Reprint | The second production run of a publication or signature due to mistake or accident |
| Spot Colour | Any area of colour that is not printed using a CMYK process set; coloured areas reproduced using self-coloured inks, such as Pantone inks |
| Spread | 1. Two pages that face each other and are designed as one visual or production unit.2. Technique of slightly enlarging the size of an image to accomplish a hairline trap with another image |
| Stab TLHC | Generic term for finishing style which is a single stitch placed in the top, left-hand corner of the document |
| Stability | The quality of paper to maintain its original size when it undergoes pressure and moisture changes |
| Stagger Cutting | A process of cutting many sheets from the same parent sheet in which the smaller sheets have different grain directions; also called dutch or bastard cutting |
| Standard Viewing Conditions | Background of 60 percent neutral grey and light that measures 5000 degrees Kelvin, the colour of daylight on a bright day. Also called lighting standards |
| Star Target | The Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, GATF, has established various quality control images; the star target appears along with the colour bar and helps the pressman detect any irregularity in the ink spread. See also colour bars |
| Static Neutralizer | A device on a printing press that minimizes the amount of static buildup on paper as it passes through the press |
| Step and Repeat | Prepress technique of exposing an image in a precise, multiple pattern to create a flat or plate. Images are said to be stepped across the film or plate |
| Stet | A proofreader’s symbol that is usually written in the copy margin, that indicates that the copy, which was marked for correction, should be left as it was |
| Stitch | A staple or metal fixing used to hold the sections of a document together |
| Stock | A term for unprinted paper or other material to be printed |
| Stocking Paper | Popular sizes, weights and colours of papers available for prompt delivery from a merchant’s warehouse |
| Straw Board | Straw composition board, usually used for making covers of cheaper books |
| String Score | Score created by pressing a string against paper, as compared to scoring using a metal edge |
| Strip | To assemble images on film for platemaking. Stripping involves correcting flaws in film, assembling pieces of film into flats and ensuring that film and flats register correctly. Also called film assembly and image assembly |
| Stub Roll | Used roll of paper that has had too large a percentage of the roll used for the remainder to be considered sufficient for further jobs |
| Stumping (Blocking) | In the bookwork field, hot die, foil or other means in creating an image on a case bound book |
| Style Copy | A sample of a (usually previously printed) document included with a job for the purpose of producing a document with the same characteristics and feel. Not to be confused with Customer’s Copy, the style copy is a guide only |
| Substance Weight | Alternate term for basis weight, usually referring to bond papers. Also called sub weight |
| Substrate | Any surface or material on which printing is done |
| Subtractive Colour | Colour produced by light reflected from a surface, as compared to additive colour. Subtractive colour includes hues in colour photos and colours created by inks on paper |
| Subtractive Primary Colour | Yellow, magenta and cyan. In the graphic arts, these are known as process colours because, along with black, they are the inks colours used in process-process printing |
| Sulphite | Sulphite process used in preparing wood pulp. Preparation includes use of sulphate of soda, caustic soda and sulphite of soda |
| Super Calendering | In papermaking, alternating rolls of highly polished steel and compressed sotton in a stack. Paper is subjectted to the heated steel rolls and pressed by the compressed cotton rolls. This process imparts a high gloss finish to the paper |
| Surprint | Taking an already printed matter and re-printing again on the same |
| Surrogate Image | A digital image that has been derived from the archival Image. Usually not as high resolution as the archival image, surrogate images are usually used as Access Images |
| Swatch Book | A book in a variety of forms, indicating specific stock in specific colours in a specific thickness |
| SWOP (Specification for Web Offset Publications) | Specifications recommended for web printing of publications |
| Synthetic Fibre | Fibres which are used to replace cellulose fibres used for paper manufacture, to offer special grades and characteristics which normal paper grades cannot offer. e.g. wall charts, labels, envelopes, manuals etc |
| Synthetic Papers | Any petroleum-based waterproof papers with a high tensile strength |
| System Palette | A lookup table containing information on a limited number of colours, normally 256. Computer manufacturers’ system palettes may differ |
