Terminology
People often ask us about different printing methods and terminology. We have put together the following list of definitions to help answer questions frequently asked about screen printing.
Camera ready
Artwork that is already separated by color into one hundred percent black images on transparent background. Camera ready art can be used directly to create the screens used in printing.
Chino
A medium added to ink, diluting the pigment and reducing the ink deposit. With the addition of chino to plastisol inks, the print can achieve a lighter hand-feel.
Choke
The practice of making one layer slightly smaller than a layer applied later in the printing process. For instance, a white base would be made slightly smaller than the overlying red color to ensure that the base was not visible.
CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black)
The standard color palette used to create full color images in print media. It is often called 4-color process printing.
Color separation
The process of separating colors in an image into different film layers. Each layer is printed separately, one on top of the other, to yield a multicolor image.
Discharge printing
A process, best used on 100% cotton garments, by which a chemical removes the dye in the underlying fabric during printing. The benefit of this method is that the printing, unlike standard plastisol printing, has a very light and soft hand-feel.
Discharge base
A white base applied with discharge printing to color garments. Using this base with full-color process yields a softer ink deposit than standard screen printing, especially when chino inks are used for the colors.
DPI (dots per inch)
A measurement of how many dots fit into a square inch. The greater the amount of dots, the higher the image resolution.
Full-color process
The method of creating vivid photographic images from the combination of several separated colors. This is normally the same as CMYK or 4-color process, and in screen printing often requires a white base.
Greyscale
The shades of gray ranging from white to black that can be used in representing an image.
Halftone
Color and white dots that vary in pattern to simulate shades of the color. For example, a halftone of red would appear pink.
High resolution
The resolution of an image indicates the number of dots per inch (dpi). High resolution is normally considered 300 dpi or greater.
JPG or JPEG (joint photographic experts group)
A file format used for color images. The format retains a higher degree of color in relatively small files. The more compression used, the more detail and color lost.
Line art
Black and white artwork that does not contain any halftone elements.
Low resolution
The resolution of an image indicates the number of dots per inch (dpi). Low resolution is usually lower than 300 dpi, and using low resolution artwork could result in a poor quality image.
Outlining fonts
Preparing fonts in an image file so that the characters will display correctly on another computer even if that computer does not have the relevant font installed. Font information is generated by data contained in a font file (ttf or otf, for example). When the fonts are outlined, the font information is stored in the art file so that reference to a font file is unnecessary.
Pantone color
An industry standard method for designating and matching colors.
Plastisol
Ink type used in most screen printing applications. Plastisol contains pigment and a PVC binder. Once the printed garment is heated to 230 degrees, the plastisol ink is cured, and the print is durable, pliable and colorfast.
PDF (portable document format)
A popular way of formatting documents so they can be viewed and printed as intended on multiple platforms.
Resolution
The quantity of dots or pixels that fit into a square inch. The sharpness and clarity of an image is dependent on the resolution, which is normally measured in dpi.
Reverse
Type appearing in white or other light color on a black or dark background. This is sometimes called a “knockout” if the type is the color of the underlying material.
RGB (red, green, blue)
This is the color system most commonly used for video display. Pixels in red, blue, and green (RGB) combine to create an image display on a television or computer, for instance.
Screen mesh
The size of the space between threads in a screen through which ink is pressed in the printing process. The smaller the mesh, the more detailed the print.
Screen printing
The method of printing by forcing ink through a mesh stencil.
Specialty inks
A variety of inks that contain special elements to give unique printing effects. Examples of specialty inks include metallic, crystalina, reflective, phosphor glow, suede, puffy, and more.
Spot colors
Colors in a printed image that appear in the original shade of ink. This is different from process colors, which use small dots in different colors to combine to create the visual illusion of specific colors.
TIF or TIFF (tagged image file format)
A TIFF is a widely supported file format for storing images. It can handle a range from one bit to 24 bits of photographic image color.
Trap
A very slight overlap between abutting colors in order to eliminate a gap between the colors.
Typesetting
To layout words, text, and logos for printing.
Vector image
An image that is based on a scalable mathematical representation of lines. Vector images can be re-sized without losing resolution, and so are best suited to creating high resolution graphics. In contrast, pixelated images use various dots to present an image, and these can lose definition when enlarged.