Back Up

In the printing industry, to back up a print means to print the reverse or second side of a sheet of paper. This is accomplished through many different methods depending on the type of printer being used. Digital prin ... Read More

Base Art

The key color plate of the four color printing process is often referred to as the base art. This is because the key layer serves as the base or primary color of image. Typically key plates are black, but other colors can be used for the base art. Base art can also be referred to as base mechanic ... Read More

Base Negative

The base negative is the photographic negative made of the base art. Base art is the key or black color layer in the four color process. Printers use the negatives when transferring between the RGB color system and the CMYK color system. The red negative (R in RGB) is actually cyan (C in CMYK) and s ... Read More

Basis Weight

Paper is often measured in terms of its uncut weight based upon 500 sheets, which is referred to as the paper’s basis weight. For example, standard office paper is 8.5” X 11”, but the weight is measured based upon the 17” X 22” uncut size. The result is that the typical basis weight of ... Read More

Bindery

The bindery department of a printing company is often responsible for everything that has to do with putting together a document. Collating, binding, and folding are some of the major tasks that involve the bindery department. For larger printing companies, many of these tasks are complete with ... Read More

Binding

The sheets of paper that form books, catalogs, and some pamphlets or other booklets have to be bound together. To bind leaves of a book together requires the use of glue, wires, staples, or sometimes a combination of these methods. Some of the most popular methods of binding include wire binding, pe ... Read More

Blank

A blank is a paperboard which is often used to form shipping and packing boxes. Most blanks range in thickness from 15 to 48 pt. and have score lines for folding. Many come with sections of the paperboard which can be tucked into one another to form the sides of the box. Often, blanks are plies of p ... Read More

Blanket

In the printing industry, thick rubber mats called blankets are used to transfer ink from the plates to the paper. These blankets are secured to a cylinder which rolls first across the plate and then across the paper. The plates have on them an impression of the image to be transferred to the pap ... Read More

Bleed or Bleeds

In the printing industry, bleed refers to the part of the image that extends past where the paper will be cut. This enables the printer to cut the paper after printing so that no white border around the image is visible. Bleeds are used when the final product is designed to go all the way to the ... Read More

Blind Folio

Many times in book or booklet printing, a page number which is still referenced in the total page count is not printed. An page number which is not printed on the page is called a blind folio. Sometimes the page number on the beginning page of a new chapter is not printed, or sometimes a blind folio ... Read More