Right Angle Graphic Design | Glossary of Terms

branding and marketingfrom a different angle!

studio@rightangle.uk.com

01279 84 11 77

Glossary of Terms

	A
	Achromatic	Having no colour, IE. Black, white or grey.
	Aesthetic	Giving or designed to give pleasure through beauty; of pleasing appearance.
	Ai	Adobe Illustrator. A vector based programme which is used to create and manipulate shapes and type. Great for the production of illustrations and logos.
	Aliasing	An image becomes aliased when the computer screen, printer or graphics file has insufficient resolution to represent an image. Aliased images appear jagged.
	Alignment	There are 4 main types of text alignment. Ranged Left: a straight vertical line is formed to the left side by the lines of text, leaving the right side irregular Ranged Right: a straight vertical line is formed to the right side by the lines of text, leaving the left side irregular Centred: lines of text are arranged centrally leaving both left and right edges irregular Justified: a straight vertical line is formed to the left and right sides of a block of text. This is achieved by varying the ‘character space’ between letters and words.
	Animated GIF	A image shown at timed intervals to create the illusion of movement.
	Annual report	A periodical booklet describing a company’s year on year progression.
	Anti-aliasing	Aliased (Jagged looking), images are smoothed out by blending their pixels.
	B
	Balance	A condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions aesthetically.
	Bevel	Bevelling an image gives it a raised appearance by adding highlights and shadows.
	Baseline	In typography, an imaginary horizontal line upon which the main body of the letters sits. Rounded letters sit slightly below the baseline as do the tails of letters with ‘descenders’.
	Bauhaus	An influential design school, founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany in 1919. It had a profound influence upon developments in art, graphic design, interior design, industrial design and architecture.
	Bit-mapped (font)	A type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. Tiny squares ‘pixels’, form the shape of letters and images. The information used to control the display of a computer screen can be described as pixilated or bitmapped.
	Black (font)	A heavier font than bold in the same type family.
	Bleed (print)	Elements of a design which touch the edge of the page need bleed. Bleed extends beyond the actual page to allow for any misregistering during the printing process. The document is printed on oversized paper which is then cropped by the printer, leaving a clean edge.
	Body copy	The main part of the text within a document.
	Brochure	A small booklet or magazine containing information and imagery relating to a specific product or service.
	Byline	A line in a newspaper naming the author of an article.
	C
	Cap height (typography)	The distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.
	Clip art	Pre-drawn images which computer users can add to their documents, usually provided with word-processing programmes and drawing packages.
	CMYK	Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. The colours used for 4 colour process printing. Also known as process colour. By blending these 4 colours the whole colour spectrum can be represented, (see also Four colour process).
	Column gutter	The space between columns of type.
	Composite image	A group of images or photographs, combined to form one image.
	Condensed font	A taller, narrower typeface than the standard roman font in a type family.
	Copy	Text used within a document or publication.
	Copy fitting	Manipulation of text to fit within a given space.
	Collage	The use of mixed media to create an illustration or piece of art.
	Corporate identity	The "persona" of an organisation, which is devised to accord with and facilitate the attainment of it’s business objectives.
	Counter (typography)	The enclosed area inside a letter, EG. the triangle within an A.
	Crop marks	Horizontal and vertical lines which identify the printable area and the areas to be ‘cropped’.
	Cropping	Cutting off surplus parts of an image or document.
	D
	Descender (typography)	The part of a letter which projects below the baseline.
	Design	The bringing together of elements in a creative, harmonious fashion, to clearly convey an idea or message.
	Digital	Information which can be manipulated and stored on a computer.
	DPI	Dots Per Inch. The resolution at which something is printed. Standard printing quality is set at 300dpi. Standard computer images are set at 72dpi.
	Drop shadow	Effect used to give the impression that images or text are 3 dimensional and casting a shadow.
	E
	Egyptian font	Fonts with heavy square serifs, eg Rockwell.
	Expanded font	A wider typeface than the standard roman font in a type family.
	F
	Flyer	A small, single or double sided leaflet advertising an event or product. Usually distributed free.
	Font	A set of characters of one particular face. EG. Bodoni Bold or Bodoni Light. In the past a font was considered to be only one point size, however in the modern era this distinction has become obsolete.
	Four colour process	The four colours of ink, (CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW and BLACK), are used by printers to create the entire spectrum of colours. Each of the 4 colours are printed separately from four individual press plates to achieve the finished result.
	G
	GIF	A type of file used for the web. Ideal for files made up from solid colour. GIF’s can be animated to represent motion.
	Greeking text	Dummy text, usually Latin. Used to show the look of a page without having to type in actual text.
	Grid	Horizontal and vertical rules used to design page layouts.
	Gutter	The Gutter is the term used to describe both inside margins of facing pages.
	H
	Headline	Bolder, larger copy than the body copy. It draws the eye to give an immediate impression of the main content below.
	I
	Illustrator	1. A vector based drawing / type manipulation programme. 2. A person who draws or produces pictures for posters, magazines, advertising, books etc.
	INDD	In Design (In Design Document) - a page layout programme. The Adobe version of Quark Xpress.
	Italic (typography)	Leaning or slanted typeface, a counterpoint to roman text. Words or phrases, used for emphasis or distinction are often italicised.
	J
	JPEG (JPG)	Joint Photographic Experts Group, (the people who created JPEG’s). A means of compressing digital photography. A typical Jpeg. compression ratio of 10:1 can be achieved with minimal loss of image quality.
	K
	Kerning	The manipulation of letter spacing
	L
	Landscape	A format which is wider than it is tall. The opposite of Portrait which is taller than it is wide.
	Leading	The vertical spacing between lines of type, usually measured in points.
	Leaflet	A sheet of printed paper, usually distributed free, containing information or advertising.
	Light (typography)	A font that is lighter than the roman version of a typeface. Opposite of Bold.
	Line art	Black and white artwork with no gray areas.
	Logo (Logotype)	An individual symbol or device used by a company to differentiate them from their competitors.
	M
	Master page	A template page used in layout programmes such as InDesign and Quark. Elements like text boxes, Page headers and page numbers, need only be input once using master pages. Documents can contain multiple types of master page.
	N
	Negative (or white) space	The parts of a page not occupied by graphics or text.
	O
	Opacity	The density of a colour. 0% opacity is totally transparent and 100% opacity is opaque.
	Oblique (typography)	Leaning or slanted typeface, a counterpoint to roman text. Words or phrases, used for emphasis or distinction are often italicised.
	P
	Packaging	The process of design, evaluation, and production of packages.
	Pantone matching system	PMS is a system for matching colours - used in specifying printing inks. Formed from a combination of primary inks - it contains more than 700 colours and each swatch has details of the individual colour breakdown so that printers can match them exactly.
	Pixel	The smallest area of illumination that can be achieved on a monitor. All images on display monitors are composed of many pixels.
	Point size	A unit of measurement for type sizes and spacing. One point = one twelfth of a pica, or, in Europe is 0.015 inch (0.376 mm). There are about 70 points in an inch.
	Promotions	Publicity campaigns for particular products or organizations.
	PSD	Photoshop Document. Photoshop documents saved as psd’s can retain all of their separate layer information. If a Photoshop document is saved as a Jpeg or an eps. for example the layers are combined (flattened), and the individual layers cannot be accessed.
	Primary colours	The Primary colours for pigments are red, blue, and yellow. The primary additive colours for light are red, green, and blue; the primary subtractive colours (which give the primary additive colours when subtracted from white light) are magenta, cyan, and yellow.
	Q
	Quark Xpress	A page layout programme, similar to Adobe InDesign.
	R
	Raster	A Raster is a bitmap image made up of pixels
	Resolution	The degree of detail visible in a photographic or screen image. The resolution of a printer is measured in dpi - EG 600dpi. Screen resolution is measured in dots by lines - eg 640 x 350
	Rivers	Spaces between words which form irregular, winding lines within blocks of body copy.
	Roman type	Plain or regular typeface - commonly used for body copy.
	Rule	A line used by designers as a graphic device to separate or balance information.
	S
	Sans serif typeface	A typeface without serifs. eg Futura.
	Script	A typeface which imitates neat, flowing handwriting.
	Serif	A slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter. Baskerville is an example of a serifed typeface.
	Sub-heading	Like a heading but of secondary importance and emphasis
	Spot colour	Colours not produced from the four colour process. Spot colours are used to print flat (or special) areas.
	Strapline	A secondary phrase or sentence added to a brand, logotype or trademark to highlight a phrase with which the company wants to be associated. eg HSBC... The world’s local bank.
	T
	Typeface	The term typeface is frequently confused with font; The distinction between font and typeface is that a font is a specific member of a type family such as roman, bold, or italic. A Typeface has an overall look or style which can be a "family" or related set of fonts. EG. a typeface such as Futura may have roman, bold, and italic fonts which make up part of the Futura family. In the past, a font also meant a specific point size, but with the onset of the digital age, outline fonts became scalable so this distinction became obsolete.
	Type family	A group of typefaces designed in the same style but with various weights and proportions. EG. Swiss Bold; Swiss Bold Condensed; Swiss Black etc.
	U-V
	Vector	Illustrations created in drawing programmes such as Macromedia Freehand and Adobe Illustrator. The illustrations create shapes defined by a series of points. Vector illustrations are, digitally speaking, quite simple and file sizes are usually very small compared to raster based files.
	W
	White space	The areas of a design which contain no type or graphic imagery. An awareness of white space is essential to good design.
	X
	X-height	The height of the lower case x in typeface.
	Y-Z	No relevant data available.

Having no colour, IE. Black, white or grey.

Giving or designed to give pleasure through beauty; of pleasing appearance.

Adobe Illustrator. A vector based programme which is used to create and manipulate shapes and type. Great for the production of illustrations and logos.

An image becomes aliased when the computer screen, printer or graphics file has insufficient resolution to represent an image. Aliased images appear jagged.

A image shown at timed intervals to create the illusion of movement.

A periodical booklet describing a company’s year on year progression.

Aliased (Jagged looking), images are smoothed out by blending their pixels.

A condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions aesthetically.

Bevelling an image gives it a raised appearance by adding highlights and shadows.

In typography, an imaginary horizontal line upon which the main body of the letters sits. Rounded letters sit slightly below the baseline as do the tails of letters with ‘descenders’.

An influential design school, founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany in 1919. It had a profound influence upon developments in art, graphic design, interior design, industrial design and architecture.

A type of memory organization or image file format used to store digital images. Tiny squares ‘pixels’, form the shape of letters and images. The information used to control the display of a computer screen can be described as pixilated or bitmapped.

A heavier font than bold in the same type family.

Elements of a design which touch the edge of the page need bleed. Bleed extends beyond the actual page to allow for any misregistering during the printing process. The document is printed on oversized paper which is then cropped by the printer, leaving a clean edge.

The main part of the text within a document.

A small booklet or magazine containing information and imagery relating to a specific product or service.

A line in a newspaper naming the author of an article.

The distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.

Pre-drawn images which computer users can add to their documents, usually provided with word-processing programmes and drawing packages.

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. The colours used for 4 colour process printing. Also known as process colour. By blending these 4 colours the whole colour spectrum can be represented, (see also Four colour process).

The space between columns of type.

A group of images or photographs, combined to form one image.

A taller, narrower typeface than the standard roman font in a type family.

Text used within a document or publication.

Manipulation of text to fit within a given space.

The use of mixed media to create an illustration or piece of art.

The "persona" of an organisation, which is devised to accord with and facilitate the attainment of it’s business objectives.

The enclosed area inside a letter, EG. the triangle within an A.

Horizontal and vertical lines which identify the printable area and the areas to be ‘cropped’.

Cutting off surplus parts of an image or document.

The part of a letter which projects below the baseline.

The bringing together of elements in a creative, harmonious fashion, to clearly convey an idea or message.

Information which can be manipulated and stored on a computer.

Dots Per Inch. The resolution at which something is printed. Standard printing quality is set at 300dpi. Standard computer images are set at 72dpi.

Effect used to give the impression that images or text are 3 dimensional and casting a shadow.

Fonts with heavy square serifs, eg Rockwell.

A wider typeface than the standard roman font in a type family.

A small, single or double sided leaflet advertising an event or product. Usually distributed free.

A set of characters of one particular face. EG. Bodoni Bold or Bodoni Light. In the past a font was considered to be only one point size, however in the modern era this distinction has become obsolete.

The four colours of ink, (CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW and BLACK), are used by printers to create the entire spectrum of colours. Each of the 4 colours are printed separately from four individual press plates to achieve the finished result.

A type of file used for the web. Ideal for files made up from solid colour. GIF’s can be animated to represent motion.

Dummy text, usually Latin. Used to show the look of a page without having to type in actual text.

Horizontal and vertical rules used to design page layouts.

The Gutter is the term used to describe both inside margins of facing pages.

Bolder, larger copy than the body copy. It draws the eye to give an immediate impression of the main content below.

1. A vector based drawing / type manipulation programme. 2. A person who draws or produces pictures for posters, magazines, advertising, books etc.

In Design (In Design Document) - a page layout programme. The Adobe version of Quark Xpress.

Leaning or slanted typeface, a counterpoint to roman text. Words or phrases, used for emphasis or distinction are often italicised.

Joint Photographic Experts Group, (the people who created JPEG’s). A means of compressing digital photography. A typical Jpeg. compression ratio of 10:1 can be achieved with minimal loss of image quality.

The manipulation of letter spacing

A format which is wider than it is tall. The opposite of Portrait which is taller than it is wide.

The vertical spacing between lines of type, usually measured in points.

A sheet of printed paper, usually distributed free, containing information or advertising.

A font that is lighter than the roman version of a typeface. Opposite of Bold.

Black and white artwork with no gray areas.

An individual symbol or device used by a company to differentiate them from their competitors.

A template page used in layout programmes such as InDesign and Quark. Elements like text boxes, Page headers and page numbers, need only be input once using master pages. Documents can contain multiple types of master page.

The parts of a page not occupied by graphics or text.

The density of a colour. 0% opacity is totally transparent and 100% opacity is opaque.

Leaning or slanted typeface, a counterpoint to roman text. Words or phrases, used for emphasis or distinction are often italicised.

The process of design, evaluation, and production of packages.

PMS is a system for matching colours - used in specifying printing inks. Formed from a combination of primary inks - it contains more than 700 colours and each swatch has details of the individual colour breakdown so that printers can match them exactly.

The smallest area of illumination that can be achieved on a monitor. All images on display monitors are composed of many pixels.

A unit of measurement for type sizes and spacing. One point = one twelfth of a pica, or, in Europe is 0.015 inch (0.376 mm). There are about 70 points in an inch.

Publicity campaigns for particular products or organizations.

Photoshop Document. Photoshop documents saved as psd’s can retain all of their separate layer information. If a Photoshop document is saved as a Jpeg or an eps. for example the layers are combined (flattened), and the individual layers cannot be accessed.

The Primary colours for pigments are red, blue, and yellow. The primary additive colours for light are red, green, and blue; the primary subtractive colours (which give the primary additive colours when subtracted from white light) are magenta, cyan, and yellow.

A page layout programme, similar to Adobe InDesign.

A Raster is a bitmap image made up of pixels

The degree of detail visible in a photographic or screen image. The resolution of a printer is measured in dpi - EG 600dpi. Screen resolution is measured in dots by lines - eg 640 x 350

Spaces between words which form irregular, winding lines within blocks of body copy.

Plain or regular typeface - commonly used for body copy.

A line used by designers as a graphic device to separate or balance information.

A typeface without serifs. eg Futura.

A typeface which imitates neat, flowing handwriting.

A slight projection finishing off a stroke of a letter. Baskerville is an example of a serifed typeface.

Like a heading but of secondary importance and emphasis

Colours not produced from the four colour process. Spot colours are used to print flat (or special) areas.

A secondary phrase or sentence added to a brand, logotype or trademark to highlight a phrase with which the company wants to be associated. eg HSBC... The world’s local bank.

A group of typefaces designed in the same style but with various weights and proportions. EG. Swiss Bold; Swiss Bold Condensed; Swiss Black etc.

An influential design school, founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, Germany in 1919. It had a profound influence upon developments in art, graphic design, interior design, industrial design
and architecture.