Marketing and Printing Glossary

Using specific language will help you communicate with your printing and marketing vendors and to understand the questions they ask you. Here are some common advertising, marketing, and printing terms.

MARKETING

advertising	The process of communicating to others the availability of your products or services. This can take the form of word-of-mouth advertising (referals), or use of the media.
demographics	The measurable data statistics that identify the common characteristics of a targeted market. The demographics might include information like gender, age group, income group, cultural background, purchasing history, personal preferences, or geographical location.
marketing	The research, planning, and statistical analysis that will inform you as to who your target market is, how to most effectively reach them, and whether your efforts are profitable or not.
media	The different channels of advertising. Television, Radio, Newspapers, Billboards, the Internet–all are different examples of media.
niche	A product or service particularly suitable to a specific demographic or target market. Refers to a unique part of the overall market. As example, of the “grocery store” market, a “niche” in that market might be “asian groceries” or “organic produce.”
press release	An announcement that is mailed or faxed to the media to inform them of news concerning your business. Announcements could include information regarding the start-up of your new business, new staff hires, a location change, an event you are sponsoring, or unique new products.
target market	The group of people or businesses who would have an interest in buying your products or services.
Printing
case	Refers to whether a letter starts with a capital or not. Comes from an old printing reference to the wood “case” that the metal type for a letterpress was stored in. The capital letters were stored in the “upper case.” The other letters were stored in the “lower case.” Type can be set in all UPPER CASE, lower case, or Small Caps.
CMYK, or 4-color process	Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and BlacK, referring to the four ink colors used to produce the effect of multiple colors in printing. Also known as 4-color process. These ink colors are also referred to as process colors.
em space	a space whose width equals the point size of the type being set. Generally about the width of the letter "M". An "en space" is roughly half that size - about the width of the letter "N".
Fixed space	Electronic typography allows for the space between letters and words to flex, functioning much like the cartilage and ligaments in your foot. A fixed space font, like Courier, will establish a fixed space for each letter, regardless of the letter’s natural shape, so that a thin letter like a lower case “i” will take up as much space as the wider capital letter “M.” Tabs will create fixed space for indentations.
font	A complete assortment of upper and lower characters of a typeface. Also called typeface. Many cheap or free fonts (including "TrueType" fonts) do not reproduce properly when they are being printed on high quality output devices. This is usually due to the fact that they were "created" by people who do not apply the exacting standards of professional typographers. Be sure to check with your printer when using non-standard fonts.
gripper edge	An unprintable edge on one side of a sheet of paper, usually the short edge. This is the area where the press “grips” the paper to pull it through a printing press. All designs must allow for gripper.
kerning	Adjustment of letterspacing to create visual balance.
leading	The space between lines of type, measured in points. The term originated when printing was done with metal type, and strips of lead were inserted to separate lines of type.
line screen	The number of lines or rows of dots there are per inch in a screen.
logo	The unique symbol design created by art and/or type that identifies a specific product or company. moire–(more-AY) An undesired mottled, houndstooth pattern created when a screen is applied to a previously screened image.
moiré	An undesirable mottled or houndstooth pattern created when a screen is applied to a previously screened image.
picas	Unit of measurement. 6 picas equal one inch.
PMS	Abbreviation for Pantone Matching System. The PMS color matching system is like a "recipe" for color. It gives the printer exact measurements for ink colors, which allows a printer to mix a specified shade of color and get consistent results.
points	Unit of measurement. 72 points equal one inch. Fonts are measured in points, also called “point size.” A font that is 72 points in size will measure one inch tall from the baseline to the top of the ascender.
san serif	A font or type without serifs (sans meaning “without”). Futura and Arial are two examples of sans serif fonts.
screen	A piece of film or the mechanical process that allows artwork to be broken into the dot pattern required for printing reproduction of gradiant colors. All photographs must be screened to be reproduced.
serif	A font or typeface with serifs. The short lines crossing the end strokes of most characters in some typefaces. Times Roman and Garamond are two examples of serif fonts.
Separations	Breaking multi-color artwork into separate printing plates to allow proper distribution of the different colors during printing.
trapping	Adjusting colors to slightly overlap to avoid accidental gaps between them when you print.
typo	A typographical error. Errors can be spelling, punctuation, grammar, font style, or omitted information.
weight	Type or font: how light or heavy the type appears when set. Paper: paper weight usually consists of: 20# (copy paper), 60# (offset paper, slightly heavier), 70#, 80#, or 100# book or text weight, and cover
x-height	The height of lower case letters without their ascenders or descenders, which is the height of the letter x.

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