Graphics Unit Glossary Asssignment

Kerning: 

Kerning is the space between characters. There are many ways to change the kerning, the 2 biggest being auto, which uses the spacing built into the font, and optical, which manually figures out where one character ends and the other begins in order to effectively change the spacing between them.

Leading:

Leading is very similar to kerning, except instead of measuring the horizontal distance between characters, it measures the vertical distance between characters on 2 different lines. 

Baseline:

The baseline is a line that goes along the bottom of a font, excluding descender. 

Serif / Sans-Serif:

A serif is an attachment to the ends of a font that is usually a line derivative. Serif fonts are called "Roman" and sans-serif fonts are called "Gothic". Sans-serif fonts are fonts without a serif.

Bleed:

A bleed is the part of the design that is included beyond the actual print dimensions so that when it is later trimmed the minute inconsistency of the printer and cutter will not cause unprinted paper to be part of the print because it would look really bad.

Cropline:

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Gutter:

The gutter is the part of the page that is blank on the outsides of the pages that is usually used for bindings. They are not to be confused with alleys, which are blank spaces between columns of text.

Points:

A point is the smallest unit of typography measurements. It is equal to 1/12th of a pica, or 1/72th of an inch.

Pica:

A pica is a unit of measurement in typography that is equal to 1/6th of an inch. 

Snapping:

Snapping is a feature in most graphic design programs that automatically moves objects to the nearest grid line  reference point, or line it up to similarly placed options. 

Spread:

A full picture taking up 2 pages.

 Justification

Justification is the way of aligning text. For example, center justified will put all the text in the middle, left justified is standard and will keep all the text on the left, and full justification. It is synonymous with alignment.

Character Style

The character style is the set of parameters such as kerning, leading, and size that is applied to a certain set of characters. 

Paragraph Style

The paragraph style is the set of parameters such as font, and line spacing that is applied to paragraphs.

Object Style

Object styles are used for formatting frames and other vector objects and include parameters such as colors, thickness of border, and transparency.

Swatch

A swatch is a collection of colors that is used throughout a project. 

Stroke

A stroke is the outline of an object, aka border. It usually has a width, color, transparency, as well as any layer style effects that one can choose to add on.

Fill

A fill is what fills the inside of an object. It can consist of solid colors, as well as patterns, pictures, and gradients.

Process Color

The process color, also known as four color or CMYK, is a method of printing using the 4 colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key(Black) in order to create a more accurate representation of true colors.

Spot Color

Spot color is similar to process color in that it uses the CMYK inks, but the difference is that it prints on only a single run and also sometimes uses orange and green inks.

DPI

 DPI is dots or pixels per inch, and is a measure of the resolution, how many pixels will fit on one inch.

Offset Lithography

Offset lithography is the most common commercial printing process. It involves transferring the image first onto rubber plates with water, then the rubber plates transfer the ink to the paper more accurately because ink is hydrophobic.

Screen Printing

Screen printing is a process through which designs are printed onto a surface by spreading ink over a mesh sheet on top of a stencil to produce the desired image.

Letterpress

The letterpress is a form of typing through which ink is transferred onto wooden or metal blocks, then placed against a paper to transfer the ink. It was invented by Mr.Gutenberg and was the basis of the printing press. Because press is part of letterpress.