RGB: Red, Green and Blue. These three colours are projections of light that can be overlapped in millions of colour-strengths and combinations to create on-screen colours and images. RGB colours are associated with television screens and computer monitors, but is not used in offset printing. more »

RGB & CMYK: The RGB colour process and the CMYK colour process work in opposite ways. An RGB colour scheme forms colour through an additive process; to obtain white, all 3 colours are added together, and to obtain black, all 3 colours are removed. In contrast, the CMYK printing process obtains white by omitting all colour, and obtains black by using all four colours. more »

Full Bleed: A small amount of size added to all four sides of a file to ensure the background is printed and cut to fill up the entire card as opposed to seeing a white thin line going around the edge of the card. Usually the added file size is either 1,61mm or 3,175mm.

Colour Match: A colour will never print out to exactly to match its on-screen source. Colours vary from monitor to monitor, and different printers produce different colour results. All these variables affect the printed outcome.

Pleasing Colour: Colour that when printed is close enough to the original colour requested without becoming an entirely new colour.

Cutting Tolerance: The margin of error that a cutting machine has to cut paper. It can be 1/16 inch or 1/8 inch. This means the trim line that it is suppose to cut down can vary up to either 1,61mm or 3,175mm depending on the cutting tolerance for the order.

Colour Drift: This occurs when a colour shifts away from its original value and becomes a new colour. It becomes a gradient in a way, it starts with the original colour then blends into a new colour at the end.

Incorrect Colour Selection: This is when you select a colour that doesn't exist in the colour gamut (the available colours in a certain colour mode) you are using. In CMYK there are colours that don't exist within the CMYK colour gamut but exist in another colour gamut such as RGB. They are referred to as “out of gamut” colours. Out of gamut colours can be seen when they are either viewed in CMYK mode or in the final output when they are printed. Often a new or altered colour is seen.

Crop Marks: A pair of thin lines that are at each corner of a file that show where the file ends.

Card Orientation: There are two types of orientation, vertical ( up and down) and horizontal (left to right).

U/V Coating: A clear liquid that is applied to a paper to give it a glossy look. It also protects the ink that is printed on the paper.

Offset Printing: Standard printing process used. The process consist of a plate that makes an inked impression on a rubber-blanketed cylinder which in turn transfers it to the paper. This is the printing process used by all major printing companies as well as newspaper and magazine printers.

Offset vs. Digital Printing: A new option of printing called Digital Printing is available and uses a toner based printing method that burns images on paper at resolutions of 600-800 dpi. We print offset at 2400 dpi using your converted file using the ICC profile for sheet feed offset.

Resolution to Submit: The correct resolution for submitting files is 300 dpi. Which stands for dots per inch. Some programs have it as ppi ( pixels per inch), which is the same value.

Gang Run Printing: In order to achieve efficiency we use the industry standard of “Gang run” printing. It is the method used to place multiple orders onto a single sheet offset sheet.

Satin Matte: A coated paper characterized by a glare-free finish.

ICC (International Colour Consortium) Profile Format: “The intent of this format is to provide a cross-platform device profile format. Such device profiles can be used to translate colour data created on one device into another device's native colour space. The acceptance of this format by operating system vendors allows end users to transparently move profiles and images with embedded profiles between different operating systems. For example, this allows a printer manufacturer to create a single profile for multiple operating systems.” ICC. 1:2003-09