A photographic looking color print made by heating dyes on a substrate instead of applying inks. Frequently used for proofing.

A necessary part of the offset printing process whereby rollers distribute a solution to the plate, which covers the non-printing area of the plate, repelling ink in those fields. Some newer presses use a waterless ink technology, which does not use dampening.

A color trial strip that is printed on the waste part of a press sheet. It assists a press operator to monitor and assure the quality of the printed material relative to ink density, registration as well as dot gain. It can include a Star Target as well, which is designed to detect inking and press problems.

A boldface square or dot that is used before a sentence to emphasize its importance.

How an image on one side of a printed sheet adjusts with the image on the other side.

One of the four process colors of ink, or CMYK. Here the Y is for yellow.

Used to describe how many similar pieces can be printed on a larger sheet; two up, four up, etc.

The stapling of sheets (or signatures) on the side nearest to the spine.

The placement of two or more printed images in exact alignment with each other.

A process of binding books whereby holes are drilled on the spine, and a plastic grasping device is inserted to contain the pages together.