Digital Offset HP Indigo 5500 - 7 Color Digital Press Book Printing Terminology
06/11/2010
Book Printing Indigo Printing Industry News
In book printing there are many terms that may or may not be familiar but they are all important when it comes to producing a project correctly. Below are commonly used terms in book printing. If you come across another word or phrase and you would like to know what it means leave us a comment and we will add to this article. Happy printing.
BOOK PAGE- A book page is one side of a leaf in the book you are creating. Example: Page 4 is in the back of page 3. A blank page in a book counts as a page because it is a space in the imposition (page order).
LEAF- A leaf is one sheet of paper at the final size of the book. This term is used when discussing the amount of paper used to create a book and is very important when it comes to ordering saddle-stitched books. A leaf is two pages in a perfect bound, hard cover and spiral bound book.
SPREAD- A spread is two pages that are side by side in a book.
CROP MARK- Crop marks are a graphic tool used to define final print size. These markings are used as a guide for where to trim off excess material.
BLEED- Bleed is needed by the printer in order to make sure that there is no unwanted white area left on your print after cutting. Bleed can be a variety of sizes but usually around 1/8” on all sides past the crop marks for book pages.
LIVE AREA- Live area is the final image after crop marks and bleed are trimmed. The remaining image is called the Live Area. The maximum area that ink can be applied to on Duggal’s digital offset press is 11.5” x 17.25”
FULL BLEED- Full Bleed is when the image prints right to the edge of the page. The largest Full Bleed Print on Duggal’s Indigo is 11” x 17” after cutting.
BINDING- The most common bindings are Perfect Bound, Spiral Bound, Saddle Stitched and Case Bound (hard cover);
PERFECT BOUND BOOKS- A perfect bound book has each leaf glued into a wrap around cover. Also known as "soft cover" bound book. This is the most expensive binding.
CASE BOUND OR HARD COVER- is a way of binding printed and collated leaves into a pre-manufactured hard cover. Duggal uses a new technology with many sizes, materials and colors of pre-manufactured hard covers.
WIRE-O AND COIL BOUND BOOKS- A spiral bound book is a book that has each of the leaves bound together with a metal or plastic coil, visible on the binding edge of the book. Different thicknesses and colors are available.
SADDLE STITCHED BOOKS- A saddle stitched book has each spread folded in half, collated and nested into each other, then stapled together on the spine (saddle) with 2 staples. This is an economical way of binding books, brochures, and presentations. Saddle stitched books must have an increment of 4 pages (4, 8, 12, 20, 24 pages) in order to nest into each other.