MY HEADING

• CMYK. CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (black). These are the basic colors used for documents being sent to the printers (newspapers, magazines, flyers, etc.). On a traditional press, the first three colors are aligned or ‘keyed’ to the black plate, which explains why black is also called Key. If there is a need for a fifth color to be added, these are created as separate plates.
• Crop Marks. These are often seen on the outside of printed pieces. They are guides used as each piece is cut to its final size.
• Die Cut. Die cuts are used to print documents that require unconventional shapes. It is a metal ruler that can cut shapes on different kinds of materials.
• DPI. DPI stands for dots per inch, an acronym used to measure resolution. Based on the name itself, this measures how many dots there are for every inch of printed space. As you increase the number of dots, the image quality improves. For images to be printed, 300 DPI is usually the standard resolution.
• Export. This means that you are saving the file in a format that can be used by a different program. The Export function often allows you to open the file in computers that do not have the same design software that you do.
• Font. A font is an element of typography that dictates the style and size of displayable text characters under a typeface.
• GIF. A common format used for images, it can either be static or animated.
• Grids. Grids are a series of horizontal and vertical lines that intersect and allow a designer to add structure and organize content. It helps to balance and lay out the entire composition.
• Gutter. The gutter is the space created when a book or magazine is bound. It is the blank space between two pages facing each other.
• JPEG. This is short for Joint Photographic Experts Group. One of the most common image formats used, it is best used for images that contain gradients.
• Kerning. Kerning is the spacing between characters to make the pairing of every two letters more balanced. For example, if an A and a V were placed beside each other, the top left corner of the V will often be aligned with the bottom right corner of A so that the text, as a whole, appears more balanced.
• Layers. Layers are tools within design software that separate tiers of information, shapes, and images from each other. They allow effective organization and editing of the design work done on the specific software used.
• Leading. Leading is the vertical space that sets each line of type apart. As a general rule, the leading used should be 1.25 to 1.5 times bigger than the font size to make lines of text easier to read.