Aqueous Coating: Refers to an over coating or "varnish" on the printing press that is water based, as opposed to an oil or organic solvent based.

Basis Weight: Weight per a selected unit of area of a grade of paper; grammage or "grams per square meter" is used throughout the world and scientifically in the United States; the U.S. uses many different weight designations, depending upon the type of paper, including fine paper.

Bleed: An illustration that extends to one or more sides of the printed piece; bleed illustrations are usually printed 1/8" beyond the planned trim edge(s).

De-inking: The mechanical or chemical removal of printing inks and other foreign materials from paper, so that the cellulose fibers can be reused or recycled.

Die-Cutting: The process of using a sharp knife or edged steel rules to cut special or irregular shapes for labels, greeting cards, and containers.

Digital/Digitization: The process of creating images, generally through a computer or some form of electronic media.

Dot: The individual printing element or spot in halftone printing.

Dot Gain: The gain in size of the printed dot, as a result of ink, paper, printing pressure, pre-press operation, or any combination of these. The dots that are printed are larger than expected; this result can be seen in the darker tones and/or different hues.

Embossed: A textured finish imparted to paper by means of raised or depressed engravings on steel rolls, so as to leave a visible surface design on the paper.

Four-color Process: The printing of a full color picture or drawing by the use of four separate process printing inks: yellow, magenta, cyan, and black.

FSC Certified Virgin Fiber: Recently, some United States commercial forests have undergone a sustainable harvest certification process overseen by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a non-profit organization set up to encourage the use of sustainable practices in forestry worldwide.

Halftone: The process in printing to impart tonal value to a printed piece with a single color of ink, created by separating the different tonal value areas into dots of varying size. This can create a full range from 5% to 95% ink coverage of the paper area to be printed.

Ink Jet Printing: Pressureless and plateless forms of printing, generally where a variable image is generated from an electronic media or computer.

Letterpress Printing: A form of relief printing. A printing method where ink is applied on all the raised areas on the plate; the non-image or background area is away or removed, i.e., "relieved".

Matte Finish: The non-glossy appearance resulting from being an uncoated sheet of paper, or from coating without supercalendering; the least glossy paper surfaces available.

Offset Printing: The method in which the printing plate is removed from the point of transfer of the printing ink to the paper to be printed, generally by means of a resilient blanket or roll; the resilient blanket or roll actually makes an impression on the paper, thus "offsets" the ink. Also referred to as "Offset Lithography".

On-demand Printing: A concept for improved delivery of short run color printing utilizing "digitized printing". There are waterless, liquid toner, and dry toner systems which utilizes this process.

Pantone Matching System: An ink color system containing widely used variations of swatches, each of which is identified by a color number and a formula for the ink.

Perfect Binding: A process of holding pages of a book together with glue, using no stitching or sewing. The backbones of the book are usually roughened, the adhesive applied, and finished with a wrap around the corner.

Post Consumer Waste: This is paper that has already been used and returned through a recycling program, thereby diverting it from a landfill or incinerator. It is usually de-inked and then processed to make new paper. Office paper waste makes up the majority of post-consumer waste content in recycled copy and printing papers. Post-consumer waste content is important to look for in your recycled paper, as it diverts landfill waste.

Recycled Paper: Recycled paper (both pre- and post-consumer) needs to be washed and is often de-inked prior to being pulped. The pulp goes through a bleaching process to make it whiter. The most preferable and environmentally sound mills use a chlorine-free process. Once the pulp is bleached, it enters a series of phases including the following: the paper forming section, the press section where water is removed by pressing the wet paper between rolls and felts, the drying section where the moisture content is reduced to the desired level, and the calendering section where the paper is compacted and smoothed progressively as it travels down a stack of steel rolls. Once completed, the paper is stored as rolls or cut into sheets.

The EPA guidelines require a minimum of 30% post-consumer content for uncoated printing and writing paper, and a minimum of 10% post-consumer content for coated papers. Other forms of paper, such as newsprint, corrugated packaging, tissue, and others, also require post-consumer content.

Register Marks: Fine lines crossing at right angles and placed on original copy before color separation. Used for positioning pictures, registering colors, accurate cutting, etc.

Saddle Stitching/ Wire: In binding, staples driven through the back fold of a booklet, clinched in the middle, and enabling the booklet to open out flat.

Score: The process and the resulting line mechanically impressed into a heavy sheet of paper or board, to pre-stress the fold line and facilitate folding or improve the appearance of the fold. Most effectively done with the grain of the paper, and is absolutely necessary with heavier basis weight paper.

Virgin Fiber: Virgin fiber is fiber that has never been used before in the manufacture of paper or other products. It usually refers to virgin tree fiber. It can refer to virgin "non-wood fiber" or "tree free fiber" from a plant such as bamboo, hemp, or kenaf.

Waterless Offset Printing: Refers to lithographic printing, where no fountain solution is used. The non-image areas of the plate are composed of a material that serves the same function as the fountain solution, and does not "accept" the lithographic ink.