Print Job Definitions

There are four main steps on how a typical printing job works. First you must plan your production. Then the prepress production begins, starting with your image work and into prepress. After preflight, the finishing touches are made. Finishing includes trimming, folding, stitching, binding, gluing, and die cutting. Die cutting is using pressure and shaped metal dies to cut a printed piece in an interesting shape. Sometimes done by the printer, and sometimes done by outside specialty companies that subcontract with the printer. Packaging and pocket folders are examples of pieces. The cutting die is mounted on a specialized die cutting press.

When print job is referred to as, two-color print job, that simply means that two colors of ink will be required to print it.


Glossary Terms from the book-

Folding Dummy: A blank sheet of paper folded in the configuration that will be used in finishing the job. Pages are numbered to indicate the correct imposed page position.

Imagesetter: A typesetting device that produces very high-resolution output directly from a computer file, as for camera ready copy.


Pica vs. Point
A pica is a unit of measurement. There are six picas in an inch and a pica is equal to twelve points.
A point is also a unit of measurement. There are 72 points in an inch. Text size and leading are almost always specified in points.


Importance of Registration: The alignment of all links printed on a press. Since each color is applied by an individual unit on press, there is some possibility of the successive colors not aligning. While modern presses have sophisticated controls for maintaining proper registration, mechanical or environmental problems may cause slight misregistration, as can stretching or deformation of the paper itself during the printing process.

Purpose of a RIP: A "RIP", short for raster image processor, is a dedicated computer with specialized software that converts PostScript or PDF information into bitmap information. This process drives an image setter to image the film or a plates.


Variable data printing (VDP): VDP can be the personalization of a printed piece by inserting the recipients name and address. Since each impression on a toner based digital press is unique anyway, a database driven process can insert custom text, even images, to narrowly target the printed piece to the recipients demographic or buying history.


DPI, LPI, PPI
Dots per inch (dpi) are used to describe the resolution of an imaging device such as a desktop printer, an imagesetter, or a platesetter.
Lines per inch (lpi) describe the frequency of halftone dots, measured along a row of dots.
Pixels per inch (ppi) describes image resolution. Image resolution should be 250-300 ppi.


CMYK vs Spot Color
Printed color image is referred to process colors, such as, cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (CMYK).  The process inks are transparent, and when combined, they form other colors.
A spot color is used when it is necessary to print colors that fall outside the range of CMYK inks. Example colors are bright orange and navy blue. 






Source: "Print Production with Adobe Creative Suite Application" book by Claudia McCue