Print Terminology

Visual explanations

Bleed – Any element that extends past the edge of a printed page or crop marks. 

Crops Marks that allow artwork to be trimmed down to the desired size. 

DPI – This refers to the physical dot density of an image when it is reproduced as a real physical entity, for example printed onto paper. 

CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Keyline (Black). Colours used for print. 

RGB – Red, Green, Blue. Colours used for web. 

Vector – An image or drawing made up of points, lines, and shapes that is clean and can be scaled without any loss of quality. 

Pantone – Allows you to specify the exact colour ink you want to use, based on a pre-defined colour scale. Pantone swatches are mainly used in litho printing and aren’t really applicable to the process of digital print. 

Proof – An artwork draft that is sent (sometimes as a low resolution PDF) to be approved before being sent to print 

High Resolution or ’High Res’ – Artwork that is high res does not appear pixelated or ‘blurry’, and looks crisp and clear when printed.