Design Jargon

Designers are well versed at creating jargon. Creativity is often a critical factor in the creation of design jargon.

Simply take a look at the flamboyant use of language within this design jargon section of our directory and you will see a real fun use of terms.

This media section covers design jargon, printing jargon and advertising jargon. All three trade elements go hand in hand with media and are great fun to read.

Many designers are the 'luvvies' of the industry with colourful characters and often gay. Dealing with such people can often be frustrating unless you understand their own design jargon.

Media - Design

ADVERTISING JARGON

Consumer Advertising aimed at the general public - the 'consumer' of food, fashion, furniture etc.

Trade Press business to business and special interest newspapers and publications.

Media general term for all publications, television, radio, posters and electronic publishing.

BRAD industry directory which lists all UK media with advertising sizes, prices, technical requirements etc. Updated monthly.

Press Packs listings and dates of special interest features and articles published by newspapers and magazines in addition to their regular editorial content.

Deadline last possible time to get your advert to the media for inclusion in the slot you booked.

Above the Line advertising for inclusion in any media.

Below the Line packaging, promotions, sponsorship, point of sale, mail order, etc. .

DESIGN JARGON

Visualiser a designer.

Scamp or Visual rough pencil drawing/layout.

Desk Space station for a visiting freelancer to work.

Text/Copy wording (see Copy Writing).

Copy Writing NEW writing text for advert/design. Not to be confused with Copyrighting.

Graphics photographs, illustrations, drawings, computer images etc.

Work Station computer (Usually an Apple Mac, though not always).

Mock-up/dummy prototype model of brochure advert or other design.

Pitch an agency or design consultancy is invited to submit a creative presentation of designs, with costings, in competition with other agencies to win a prospective client's business.

Open Line Work black and white artwork with no grey areas

Halftones photographs or drawings with graduated tones. They can be single (spot) colour or black/white. They are produced with a high resolution dot pattern for printing.

Duotones as halftones but using two colours.

Strapline / Tagline throwaway line under a logo (e.g. "The future's bright, the future's orange"). It is almost a signature for a company.

Stock paper or board for printing etc.

Origination material prepared for printing, usually supplied on disk.

Bromides high quality black/white photographic prints for reproducing.

A-sizes standard paper sizes in the UK. Most letters are printed on A4 size paper (210mm x 297mm). A3 is twice the size, A2 is twice the size of A3, A5 is half the size of A4.

gsm NEW standard measurement of paper density or weight (grammes per square metre). Photocopier paper is around 80gsm.

PRINTING JARGON

Press general term for any machine used for printing (hence "going to press").

Separations (or Seps) films used to make printing plates for colour printing in two or more colours.

4 Colour Sets as Seps, but for printing a full range of colours using the four process colours (CMYK).

CMYK the four process colours used as standard for full colour printing: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (known as the Key, hence "K").

Cromalin a full colour proof to see before the job is printed. It is photographically prepared from the film seps (see above) and is the last chance to make changes before the job is printed.

"put the job to bed" print the job

Saddle Stitched stapled together

Bleed NEW area of colour beyond the crop marks of a printed job, ensuring a continued print covering right to the edge of the final cropped output (usually about 5mm is sufficient).

Authors Amends client's mistakes or revisions. These can be expensive if made at a late date and designers usually exclude the cost of 'authors amends' from their quotations.

Laminate a protective plastic covering to printed work. Comes in a range of thicknesses with a gloss or matt finish. A4 folding to A5, 4pp an A4 sheet folded to A5 resulting in four surfaces on which to print

Reverse Type white letters looking as if they are printed on black or a solid colour. In actual fact, the letters have been 'knocked out' of a solid background and the white paper is showing through.

Gather to put the printed pages in sequence (e.g. "gather & saddle stitch"). Printers quite often charge separately for this.

ADD YOUR OWN JARGON TO THIS SECTION:-