Uncoated stock is a rough porous type of paper. It is normally used in newspapers and tends to be less expensive. Coated stock has a smooth glossy finish. Printing on this type of paper will sharpen your text and graphic layouts. Coated stock, however, can be a bit more expensive.

100# text is measured in weight. 14 pt is measured in thickness. It can be hard todifferentiate between the two unless you know both weight and thickness. The size paper comes from the mill is called "parent" or "basis" size, and it differs for different kinds of paper. This is why "80# cover" is heavier than "100# text." The point system, on the other hand, measures paper thickness, not weight, and is typically used with coated papers. Make sure you ask the printer before they begin your work.

A term used by paper manufacturers for a heavy paper that is suitable for catalogs and other folders. Cover stock can come in "coated" which has a smooth surface, or "uncoated" in its original rough surface.

A color separation is an image that defines where one specific color will be printed. Colors can be mixed by overlapping areas of different color separations, so that one ink is applied on top of the other. By combining this technique with halftones, many variations of colors are made possible.

The standard weight of a paper is defined by the weight of 500 standard-sized sheets in pounds. These are the different grades of paper and their respective basis weights.

Bond : Usually reserved for letterheads, business forms, and quick printing jobs. 16# for forms, 20# for copying, and 24# for stationary.

Text: A high-quality sheet with a lot of texture. Ranges in weight from 60# to 100#, but the most common weights are 70# or 80# Uncoated Book: The most common sheet for offset printing. Usually a 50# to 70# stock.

Coated Book: A glossy sheet that yields vivid colors and excellent reproduction. Generally goes from 30# to 70# for web, 60# to 110# for sheet fed.

Cover: Used for book covers, postcards, and business cards. Coated or uncoated. Come in 60#, 65#, 80# or 100# weights.

Yes, but only within the same type. For instance, let's assume you chose 70 # vs. 50# offset text stock for a newsletter. The 70# stock would be more durable over time and result in less show through of the printed image from on side of a sheet to the other. However, let's assume you choose 70# gloss text vs. 70# offset for your newsletter. The gloss stock would be more durable and result in greater ink holdout and glossier images than the uncoated offset stock.

It is the basis weight in pounds of a text stock type or the weight of a ream (500 sheets) of 25" x 38" sheets. For a cover stock type, it's a ream of 20" x 26" sheets. With that in mind you now know the reason that 100# cover is heavier and thicker than 100# text stock.

Cover stock is the outside page and is thicker than body stock. Body stock is the inside pages and is less thick than cover stock.

Offset stock is uncoated paper which is most commonly used for 1-color pages in books, reports, letters and business forms. Offset stock is usually less expensive than coated stocks.

Matte stock is a coated paper that has a dull finish. It is often used to make pages easier to read that are text intensive or that contain numerical charts. Gloss stock is a coated paper with a shiny or highly reflective finish. It is most often used in 4-color printing to help full color photographs, images and graphics appear more vivid, real and appealing.

One of the oldest and most elegant processes for printing. Engraving involves etching the text onto a copper plate. During the printing process, the plate is coated with ink and then compressed onto the paper, creating the printed text in a slightly raised impression. Engraved stationery is considered to be the epitome of good taste and sophistication. The process is relatively expensive but the finished product is first-rate.

The Pantone Matching System, also known as the PMS color system, is a popular color matching system used by the printing industry to print specific colors. PMS match book are book of color where each PMS color has its own name or number that helps you make sure that your colors are the same each time you print, even if your monitor displays a different color or if you change printing services.

2 over 1 refers to two color (Black and a PMS color or 2 PMS colors) on the front and one (Black or PMS color) on the back. 2 over 2 refers to two Color (Black and a PMS color or 2 PMS colors) on both the front and back. 2 over 0 means two color printing (Black and a PMS color or 2 PMS colors) on one side only.

4 over 1 refers to full color on the front and black & white on the back. 4 over 4 refers to full Color on both the front and back. 4 over 0 means full color printing on one side only.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format, a universal file format developed by Adobe that preserves all the fonts, formatting, graphics and color of any source document. It allows a file to read through the use of Acrobat Reader ( a free program available from Adobe) regardless of the hardware or software platform on which the file was created.

If the colored background of a layout extends to the edge of the sheet it is desirable to have the color extend or bleed over the intended trim marks or line. This produces a far more finished result on the edges of the page and deters the perimeter of the page from appearing ragged or uneven because of the substrate or paper showing. 

As with RGB, spot colors were not intended for the process (four color; CMYK) environment. These colors were developed by pigment designers who license a color to manufacturers to produce ink that has the exact hue match to a specified color. Chip charts are provided either digitally (in the color selection portion of layout applications) or physically (on material printed with that specific ink; Pantone chart or chip books) and the user makes their selection and assignment. Some spot colors do exist within the CMYK gamut, but many do not. These colors cannot be produced accurately using any combination of the process color model.

Occasionally, a user will quit an application or power down the system before the application completes the writing process. In addition, operating systems can experience errors that result in "unexpected end of file" or data that was not written to disk (or written incorrectly).

If linked imports are not included in the submission of an order the file may only contain low-resolution images, which will reproduce poorly. If 1-bit or 4-bit vector imports are embedded in some applications they can convert into part of the background and display previously "hidden" qualities.

These and many other problems can occur in the composition, saving and transmission process which make it impossible to use the data received to image a job.

RGB refers to the primary colors of light, Red, Green and Blue, that are used in monitors, television screens, digital cameras and scanners. CMYK refers to the primary colors of pigment: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. These are the inks used on the press in "4-color process printing", commonly referred to as "full color printing".

The combination of RGB light creates white, while the combination of CMYK inks creates black. Therefore, it is physically impossible for the printing press to exactly reproduce colors as we see them on our monitors. For this reason, we request that you convert your colors from RGB to CMYK if your tools allow you to. By doing it yourself, you have maximum control over the results since you can do adjustments if a difference in color occurs during the conversion.