Graphic Design

Moiré patterns are patterns that are irregular in shape and resemble a plaid pattern; they happen if a bit-mapped image is changed (enlarged, printed, displayed or reduced) to a resolution that is not the same as the original’s resolution. 

WYSIWYG is a mode of computer processing that is interactive; it involves a screen display of the printed output.  However, WYSIWYG is not necessarily accurate due to the various resolutions amongst printers and display screens.

A group of computer applications that allow one to make and display PDF files.

Aliasing refers to the visual effect of blocky or jagged pixilation that happens frequently around areas that include vertical or horizontal lines of high contrast.

An alley refers to the spaces that reside on a page between the columns.  (An alley is not the same thing as the gutter – this is the joining of the interior margins of pages that face one another.)

Assemblage is a kind of modern sculpture.  It involves the joining of various forms or objects.  Famous assemblages include those completed by Robert Rauschenberg in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  Often objects are joined and assembled for both expressive as well as visual characteristics.

A banner is the title of a periodical; this is displayed on the front of a magazine as well as on the first page of a newsletter.  A banner includes the publication’s name, volume, date, number and serial info.

A baseline is the imaginary horizontal line that the majority of the letters reside.  To lend a sense of optical balance, letters that are rounded slightly go under the baseline. 

One can give an image a raised appearance by the addition of a beveled effect; highlight and shadow colors are applied to the interior and exterior edges of the image.

In graphic design, the paint graphics mode tells a person if an image is created from pixels includes either the pixel being off (white) or on (black).

Black refers to a font that contains more weight in comparison to the typeface that is its bolded rendition.

In graphic design, to bleed refers to a design element that reaches to the edge of the page.  In order to print a bleed, the item is printed on paper that is bigger in size than the item being printed.  Once printed, the paper is trimmed to accommodate the bleed.

A block quote is a quotation that is at least 4 or more lines in the body text.  A block quote is placed on a page separately from the words of the author in order to make it clear to the reader that the quote comes from another source.

Body type refers to the plain, book or normal type utilized for big passages of text.  Body type is frequently 9 – 14 point and is used in places like chapters in a book or in articles within a magazine.

A byline is simply a credit line in an article for the author; it is used in magazine and newsletter design layout.

A callout is a label that explains an illustration; a section of the illustration is frequently pointed out with a leader line.

This term refers to the material ready to be published that is prepared into a negative for a printing plate.  An example of a camera-ready copy could be an actual print or a computer file. 

Cap Height is the amount of distance that exists from the top of the capital letters to the baseline.

A caption is used as a title for a picture or an illustration; frequently a caption is a short phrase.  It should refer and relate to the content used around it.

Color spacing is the placement of spaces to areas of words that are congested in order to improve the sense of balance after the line is set normally.

A column gutter is the space lying between the type columns.

A comprehensive layout is the publication’s blueprint; it displays how the type will be set and placed; it also shows the sizing, position of the illustrations on the page, and the treatment to be used.

Condensed font is a font that involves the set-widths of the characters being narrower in comparison to the normal typeface. 

Continuous tone refers to pieces of art that include variations of gray (versus black and white line art).  Drawings and photographs sometimes need treatment as continuous tone art pieces. 

Copy refers to text used in things such as word-processing files or typewritten pages.   The term may also refer to the graphics and text in a publication. 

Copyfitting is the layout of a certain section of copy in a particular set amount of space.

Crop marks show the edge of a printed piece on vertical, horizontal and mechanical lines. 

Cropping is used in pieces of art in order to remove extra parts of an image; cropping is frequently used in photography.

Cutlines are the description text that gives illustration information.  They are also referred to as legends or captions.  The term “title-captions” is often mistakenly used for cutlines; title-captions are illustration headings that are included as part of the piece of art.

Dingbat typeface is a kind of typeface that is created from non-alphabetic marker characters (like arrows, numbers within circles, and asterisks).

A discretionary hyphen is a type of hyphen that happens if a word is displayed at the end of a line, as opposed to if the word is displayed in the middle part of a line.

Display type is the decorative and/or big type utilized as visual elements or headlines in shown pieces.  Usual sizes of display types include: 14, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, 60, and 72 point.

A dither is the making of a flat bitmap to create digital halftones.  Dots are the same size and are congested in darker areas and spread out more in light areas (versus deep bitmaps that are utilized in gray-scale images). 

DPI refers to the unit of measurement that gives the resolution of printed output.  300 dpi is the standard desktop laser printer output.  600 dpi is the medium resolution printer output. 

A drop shadow is a shadow that goes below the image or text that lends an illusion of shadows from the effect of the lighting used, as well as giving a three dimensional appearance to an object or figure.

A duotone is a halftone image that is printed with one dark and one light color.  A photograph is half-toned a second time (the screen is used twice at two different angles).  By using both, the detail and contrast of the image is improved.

A type created in 1815.  It showcases a bold face along with square serifs or heavy slabs.

Em space is a space that is the same width as the point size of the types.  Em space depends upon the point size used.  For example, an em space is 16 points wide for 16-point type, and 12 points wide for 12-point type.

To emboss an image means to give the image dimension by giving the image an appearance as if it was projecting from a flat surface. 

A type of font in which the set widths of the characters are wider in relation to the normal typeface. 

To export means to permit a user to save a file in a different format in order to open it in another program.

Extended type is horizontally wide typefaces such as Hellenic, Latin Wide, Egyptian Expanded, Microgramma Extended and Hellenic.

Facing pages are two pages that are displayed as a spread if the publication is open in a double-sided document.

To feather means to insert tiny portions of leading within paragraphs, lines and in front of or after headings to balance the baselines of a page’s columns.

Flash is a type of vector graphic animation software.  It was made by Macromedia to make browser-independent graphics; these type of graphics are thus displayed in the same manner across all browsers – keeping the Internet unified and ensures users are seeing what the website designer intended.  Using Flash animation is efficient way to animate something, because Flash download time is fast.

A folio is a page number; the page number often includes running footers or headers.

Font refers to a set of characters that are in a particular typeface in a particular style and in a particular point size.  For example, a 14-point Times Italic is a font.  The typeface is Times, the style is Italic, and the point size is 14. 

Galleys refer to type set that is in long columns.  They may be printed using a page-assembly program in desktop publishing to use for copyfitting or proofreading.

GIF stands for graphic interchange format.  A GIF image can be shown with up to 256 colors.  Usually this type of image contains small file sizes; as such, they are a frequently used graphic format on the Internet.  They cannot be used successfully in printing because their compression creates a low quality image.

Gradient refers to a function in graphic software permitting a person to make an image contain a gradual change of colors (such as purple turning gradually into blues and then greens). 

Graphic design is the visual display of a concept or idea.  Various sub-categories exist under the umbrella term “graphic design.”  For example, graphic design includes under its actitivites web design, logo design or poster design.

A gray-scale image refers to a deep bitmap that keeps track of every dot with its gray-scale level.  A function of the size of the dot is the impression of greenness.  A section of small dots will appear light, and a section of large dots will appear dark.

Greeked Text refers to text that is displayed as gray bars that is similar to the lines of type as opposed to the actual characters.  Greeked text lessens the amount of time necessary to draw images on the screen.

Halftone refers to a continuous-tone image that is photographed through a screen to make different sized dots that may be reproduced during the printing process.  It is used in traditional publishing; one creates the digital halftones by sampling a continuous-tone image, and arranging numbers of dots; this in turn will simulate the various sized dots to create the same appearance. 

A screen used in traditional publishing that a continuous-tone image is photographed.  The term describes the dot sizes (the digital halftones are not photographed through a screen in actuality).  One can create special effects using special screens.  The smaller the dots, the less grainy an image appears.

Type set in which the first line is flush left.  The rest of the lines are indented.

A hard hyphen is a hyphen that is continuous; it is used for the two sections of a hyphenated word that should not be broken apart.  (A hard hyphen is different than a soft hyphen in that in a soft hyphen the program’s word-wrapping function separates a line. 

A hard return is made by pressing the Enter key or the Return key.  (A soft return changes according to the column width and character count.)

A head is a single line or multiple lines of copy that is set in a bigger face in relation to the body copy.

A hyphenation zone is a random zone around 1/5 to 1/10 of the measurement of a line.  Hyphens are used to “fill in” the line of a long word that does not include a hyphen and creates a break within that zone.

An image area is the region within a page that includes the copy; the image area is designated by the margins of the page.

JPEG stands for joint photographic electronic group.  It is a compression method that compresses a file’s size by removing non-essential picture information.  If used too much, an image’s apperance will not display well.

To kern means to push together characters in order to make a bitter fit of white space and strokes.  Usually characters must be kerned in display type due to the white space amongst characters at bigger sizes being more obvious.

A kicker is a short lead-in phrase to a narrative or chapter.  Often a kicker is set smaller than the headline of the narrative, or the title of the chapter.  However, the kicker is bigger in size then the text type.

Knockout refers to a color being printed right next to a second color (there exists a small overlap in the printing of the colors).

A landscape is a layout of a page that is contains a bigger width measurement than its height measurement.

A lap register is used to ensure there exists no white line between two ink colors when printing the colors next to each other.  The colors are overlapped slightly to do this.

A leader is made up of dots forming a line (or dashes) in order to move the eye from the page to other copy.

Leading is the space that exists between type lines.  Usually, leading is measured in points from baseline to baseline.  One or two points of leading are often used to set text type.  For instance, 16-point type with 2 points of leading is described as 10/16 (read 10 on 16). 

Ligature in typography are characters that are linked with one another (like ae).  The lowercase “f” is frequently set as a ligature along with other characters – like fl” or “fi” - in professional typefaces.   

A type of font lighter than the roman version of the typeface (such as plain, book or normal).

Line art is artwork that consists of only black and white areas (no gray).  Many images made using desktop publishing graphics programs are considered to be line art.  Another example of line art is a pen-and-ink drawing. 

Logotype refers to an identifying name, mark, or symbol. 

A low-resolution image is an image that contains only a certain amount of detailed information.  To view an image with sharp, clear colors, it is best to use a high-resolution image. 

A masthead is the credit box that lists information such as the names of designers, illustrators, writers, editors, sponsors, as wells as pieces of information like publication office location details, and subscription information.  The masthead is headed by the name of the publication.

The measurement of a line’s length (including lines that do not contain characters - like a partial line) that is designated in picas.  The length of a line is termed a “columnmeasure” if the text is set in columns. 

A mezzotint is a particular screen that creates joined, rather dusty-looking dots. 

A lowercase letter.

A kind of typeface that involves the horizontal space used by each character being the same.  Monospaced type is a typewriter typeface.

Stories set in multiple columns at varying column depths in magazine publication layouts or newsletter layouts.

A grouping of algorithms display graphic form in abstract geometrical terms as object primitives (the basic shapes that other shapes are created from – curves, lines, plan or patterned area masses). 

Oblique type includes characters that slant to the right.  Sans serif typefaces frequently contain oblique rather than true italics.  True italics are regarded as a different font. 

Offset printing is used for high-volume reproduction.  It involves 3 drums that rotate (an impression cylinder, plate cylinder and blanket cylinder).  The process involves wrapping the printing plate over the plat cylinder that is inked and moistened.  Then, the plate image is moved on the blanket cylinder.  The paper moves between the impression cylinder and blanket cylinder, allowing the image to pass onto the paper.

An orphan is the very first line of a paragraph set apart by a page break or column from the remainder of the paragraph.  A heading may be considered to be an orphan if the text beneath it is not enough.  Ideally, the type under the heading should be the same as the height of the heading (this includes the white space).

The outline is the outer border of a graphic or area of text.

The Pantone matching system is a system that functions as a method to distinguish and blend match colors.  Designers are given more than seven hundred colors to choose from; printers are given the necessary recipes to create these colors. 

PMS is the standard color-matching method that graphic designers and printers use for materials – such as ink and paper.  Percentage mixtures of various primary inks make up a standard color called a “PMS color.”

A paste-up is the preparation of mechanicals.  In regard to desktop publishing, this involves the page-assembly software that allows the user to accomplish the electronic pasteup.  In terms of traditional publishing, it involves the layout and pasting of type and graphics onto a board. 

A pica is a measurement utilized in typography for the widths of columns as well as other space measurements in a page layout.  There are about six picas to one inch; twelve points are contained within one pica.

A pixel is the smallest unit of measurement that a device can work with.  Usually the term “pixel” is used in reference to display monitors since a pixel is the smallest area of phosphor that a screen can light up.  If you enlarge an image on a computer screen, you can view the individual color pixels that make up that image.

A point is a measurement in typography that designates leading, type size and other space details within the layout of a page.  There are about seventy points to one inch; one pica is twelve points.

Posterization is the decrease of the amount of gray scales in an image or graphic in order to create a high-contrast effect.

A printer font includes font outline masters or high-resolution bitmaps that put characters down onto the printed page (versus to display on the screen).

Process color separation is used to re-create color photographs.  Halftone dots of the process colors (including magenta, yellow, black and cyan) are superimposed to create many different kinds of hues. 

Proportionally spaced type is a kind of typeface that involves the horizontal space of characters being dictated by the character’s shape, as well as the characters around it. 

A pull quote is a short phrase from the body text that is set apart from the rest of the text with a box, rules and/or a screen and increased in size.  It is placed in the center of a paragraph in order to add interest and to stress the text set apart.

A punctuation block includes multiple consecutive lines that finish with punctuation and cause the right margin to appear uneven in right-aligned or right-justified text.

Quark X Press is a type of software frequently used by the publishing industry.

Quick time video was created by Apple; it is a video streaming technology.

Ragged right alignment is a type set that involves the additional white space in a line set to the right – allowing the text to have a ragged margin.  Often it is set with flush left. 

A page displayed on a spread’s right side.  A recto is a page that is even-numbered.

Reverse is the light-colored or white type of an image over a background that is dark.

Right-justified alignment is a type set that involves the text being even on the right AND left margin.  The additional white space is located amongst words and between characters on the line evenly. 

Roman type is called normal or plain type in desktop publishing systems; it is also known as regular or book weight.  Roman type is utilized for the body type in publications that contain large amounts of text.

Rough refers to a detailed thumbnail sketch used for a publication design.  A rough is completed at actual size with detail; clients use the roughs for review. 

A rule is a geometric line that functions as a graphic aid in assembling pages.  A rule (or ruling line) is different that a line of type. 

A run-around is a type set to fit within the outline of an ornament, initial, illustration or photograph.

A run-in heading is a heading positioned upon the very same line as the text. Frequently this text is put in either italic or bold type.

Running heads/feet are titles positioned at either the top or bottom of the pages of text on a publication containing multiple pages.  Frequently, running heads/feet include page numbers as well.

Sans serif typeface is a kind of typeface that does not include serifs (such as Swiss or Helvetica).  The weight of the stroke is frequently uniform.  And usually the stress is oblique (however, there do exist exceptions to these general rules).

Scaling refers to the enlarging or reducing of a piece of artwork that may be either proportional or disproportional to the original piece.

A screen is a dotted fill pattern used in graphic arts that is described in percentage (such as 30 percent screen).

Screen resolution bitmaps of type characters that display the layout and size of the characters seen on the screen.  Screen font is not the same as printer font; printer font may include font outline masters or high-resolution bitmaps.

The horizontal width of characters in typography; the typefaces contain different horizontal set widths of each character (Times, for example, contains a narrow set width).  Also, set widths of single characters differ in typeset copy based upon the shape of the character and the characters around it.

A block of information or a story relating to other text which is placed separately from the main body text.  Frequently the sidebar is screened or boxed to separate and distinguish it from the main text.

Small caps are capital letters positioned at the x-height of the font. 
 
 

Solarization is a photographic image displayed in a manner in which the whites and blacks of the image are black in appearance; the midtones of the image lean more towards white in appearance. 

Solid refers to the lines of type that do not contain space between each of the lines.

Spot color separation involves the division of solid pre-mixed ink colors (such as brown or green) in offset printing.

A spread is the joining of two facing pages that are created to work as a unit in a double-sided document.  A spread also refers to the inner panels of a brochure.

Elements in a page design that are repeated in an identical manner in every page in both content and page position.  Footers with automatic page numbers are examples of standing elements.
 
 

Standoff is the amount of space that exists between two text blocks that wrap, or a graphic and a clock of text.

Stress is the axis that the strokes are created around in a typeface; stress may be vertical or oblique (positive or negative).  Stress is not the angle of the strokes.  Italics, for example, are created with slanted strokes.  However, italics do not necessarily contain oblique stress. 

The degree of contrast between the thin and thick strokes in a typeface.  Various typefaces contain particular stroke-weight characteristics. 

A style sheet involves the typographic specifications included within tagged text in desktop publishing programs.  Style sheets may be used to prepare headings, titles and the attributes of text blocks (like tables), and the text used along with images.  Style sheets are used in order to create an efficient means of changing attributes and ensuring everything is uniform. 

Subhead is a phrase that follows a headline.  A subhead is presented in a smaller size than the main headline because it is secondary in importance to the head. 

A subscript is a character a little smaller in size in comparison to the remainder of the font.  Subscript is placed under the baseline; it is used within chemical equations, and as a base denotation in mathematics.  It may be used as the denominator of fractions.

Superscript is a character that is a little smaller than the remainder of the font.  Superscript is placed over the baseline, and functions in footnote markers.  It is sometimes used as the numerator of fractions. 

A tabloid-sized page is a size frequently used for newspaper or portrait layouts.  The page measures 11x17 inches (tabloid-sized page is not the same thing as a 11x17 inch spread – this is created from two letter-sized pages).

Tags are delimited sets of characters placed within the text of style sheets, or are internally coded.  Tags are used for paragraphs to show the purpose of the paragraphs.  The style sheet associated with a tag determines the actual type specification. 

Text wrap is the spatial relationship that exists amongst graphics and blocks of text (or amongst two blocks of text).  Usually a text wrap is rectangular in shape.  However, a text wrap may also be arbitrary or irregular in shape. 
 
 

A thumbnail is a tiny picture that is drawn roughly to get one’s design ideas upon paper.  A thumbnail is used primarily as a thinking tool aid – it helps a person figure out the basic layout of an idea. 

A TIFF file is a graphics file format that is independent of any particular device.  They can be worked with on either Mac or IBM computers, and they can be output to PostScript printers. 

Tiling involves the printing of a page design in parts with edges that overlap in order that the pieces may be pasted together.

Tombstoning occurs when two or multiple headings are positioned horizontally on a page in multi-column publications.

To track is to lessen the amount of space placed uniformly among characters in a line.  (This is not the same thing as kerning – a lessening of the amount of space among particular characters.)

Type alignment is the placement of white space in a line of type in which the characters at their standard set width do not exactly fill the line length.  One may position type to be aligned either centered, right, right-justified, or left. 

Type families are a group of typefaces that are created with a similar design; however they each differ in their proportions and weights. 

Typeface is the set of characters designed by a type designer that involves both the lowercase and uppercase alphabetical characters, special characters, punctuation, and numbers.  Each typeface includes several fonts with various styles and sizes. 

An abbreviation for uppercase and lowercase.

A vector graphic is created in paths.  The paths permit a person to change an image’s size easily without pixilated edges.  This type of format is primarily used in printing (as opposed to the bitmap format which is used for displays that are onscreen).

Verso is the page that is displayed on a spread’s left side; it is a non-even numbered page.

White space is the negative space on a page’s layout where there exists neither graphics or text.

Widow consists of the short last lines of paragraphs in a page’s design.  Widow is often considered inappropriate if it is divided from the paragraph by a column break, and is always considered inappropriate if it is divided from the rest of the paragraph by a page break.

Word wrap consists of the automatic removal of characters to the following line if the right margin is reached in a text editor or word processor.