L

Leading – The vertical space between lines of text.

Loupe – A magnifying glass, often shaped as an upturned cup with the lens at the top, used for examining slides or checking the detail of printed material.

Lossless – Any saving / compression method which retains all the quality of the original, no data is lost.

Lossy – A method where some data (detail) is lost to varying degrees depending on how much compression is applied.

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K

Kerning – refers to the spacing between any two particular letters. For instance, ‘AV’ has a closer kerning than some other combinations to give visual balance.

KISS – “Keep It Simple, Stupid”, a useful phrase to remind creatives to make sure that they’re not over-complicating a concept. Carefully considered but simple ideas are the most effective.

Kiss-Cut – A type of cut which just ‘kisses’ the paper. A notable use is in the production of self-adhesive stickers where the stickers are cut to shape, leaving the peel-away backing intact.

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J

Java – Not to be confused with JavaScript, this is a programming language which allows small programs to be downloaded onto computers and run.

JavaScript – Is a scripting language which adds interactivity to web pages. Effects such as drop-down menus, roll-overs and slideshows are typically written with JavaScript.

JPEG or JPG – An image file format. Extremely common, many web graphics use this format, as do digital cameras.

jQuery – jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development.

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I

Idea – The same as concept.

Imposition (Pagination) – The process of arranging pages ready for printing. Although we read items in numerical order, a different order needs to be applied depending on how the item is to be printed.

Indirect Visual – An image or graphic that is somewhat related to the headline, either directly or indirectly. Used to convey mood and feeling.

Interface (User Interface) – Either on a web page, mobile phone, or any other interface which a user interacts with.

Interruptive Methods – This refers to web advertising that interrupts the user by using tricks like pop-ups, animated banners etc. Web users find these extremely annoying.

Interstitials – As Interruptive Methods, these are unsolicited web pages that appear to user before they can access the page they wanted to see.

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H

Headline Twist – A technique often used by comedians, whereby they lead users thought down one trail, only to reveal an unexpected punchline. In marketing, this can be either humorous or serious.

Hex / Hexadecimal – A numbering system which uses the numbers 0 – 9 and the letters A – F. This system is used to define colours for use on the web, pre-fixed with # to mark it a colour. #000000 is black, #ffffff is white.

HTML – Abbreviation of HyperText Markup Language. The fundamental coding used to develop web pages.

Hickey – A mark, blotch or other artefact left on a printed item. An error usually created by foreign matter affecting the print run.

Hyperlink (or Link) – A clickable element that directs the user to another web page, or part on the same page.

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G

Gerunds – These are words which end in “ing”. You should avoid having too many of these close together.

Ghosting – Whereby elements in the background are visible through foreground elements. Sometimes this occurs as an undesired effect when printing.

Gif – An image file designed specifically for the web. It allows transparency, and can also be animated. It typically has a low number of colours and small file size.

Glow – Can provide a similar effect to a drop-shadow, this will provide a glowing edge either on the inside or outside of a shape.

Gradient – A gradient defines with subtle blending from one colour to another.

Grid – A method which is used to layout content either for print or web. Well thought-out grids are based upon mathematical formula.

Guerilla – Usually followed by “advertising” or “marketing”, this applies to ambient media, often using people, stunts and props to create innovative campaigns.

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C

Call To Action – On a website or in other marketing media, a ‘call-to-action’ is something which encourages the customers to perform an action e.g. request a brochure.

Campaign – A series or marketing efforts.

Cap Height – In typography, this is the distance from the baseline to the top of the capital letters.

Caption – Copy which accompanies a photo, illustration etc. Descriptive text.

CGI – An external application that is executed by a HTTP server in response to an action you perform in a Web browser, such as clicking a link, image, or another interactive element of a Web page.

Character – This to refers to any symbol, such as a letter, number, punctuation.

CMYK – This is a colour mode used for printing materials: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and BlacK. The colour amounts are expressed as percentages – meaning a total of 400% is possible, though this can cause issues when printing as the material being printed onto can become over-saturated.

Cliché – Any phrase, visual or idea that’s now trite and hackneyed.

Collate – The act of organising paper into it’s final order, ready for binding.

Colour Channel – Each channel represents one level of color in the image; for example, RGB has three color channels, while CMYK has four. When all the channels are printed together, they produce the entire range of colours in the image.

Comb Bind – A bind using a flexible plastic comb that is curled.

Comparative Advertising – Any ad or campaign that directly or indirectly compares itself to one or more competing brands.

Compression – Refers to the method of ‘compressing’ files, most commonly images and videos, in order to make the file sizes smaller. Compression will reduce quality, so it’s a bit of an art to compress something correctly.

Comps / Comprehensives – Drafts of a piece of work.

Concepts – The concept is the deeper thought behind an ad or strategy.

Contrast and Contradiction – When a headline or other headline conflicts or contradicts the visual, creating tension and surprise.

Contrasting Pair / Headline Twist – Where a strap-line or slogan uses contrasting terms. e.g. Argos’ “Famous names at unheard of prices.”

Copy – Apart from its more obvious meaning, being a duplicate of something, it refers to written text.

Creative Process – A term that encompasses stages that are undertaken as part of a project.

Creep – Refers to the middle pages of a document extending outwards slightly of the outer-most pages.

Crop Marks – Small guidelines which are exported on printed material to indicate where they should be trimmed as part of the print-finishing processes.

Cropping – Cutting out the required part of an image, discarding the rest.

Cure – To allow inks, varnishes and other coatings to dry properly.

Cut Back – A technique in either TV or Radio where after the ‘action’ was interrupted by, for instance a voice over, then cuts back to the action briefly.

Cutting Die – The plate, usually custom ordered, that is used to cut materials.

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B

Balance – A term used to describe the aesthetic or harmony of elements, whether they are photos, art or copy, within a layout or design.

Balloon – Anything that encircles copy / text.

Banner (Web) – A web-based advert, either static, animated or interactive.

Baseline – In typography, this refers to the imaginary line upon which sits the text. Rounded items will actually sit just below this line to give balance as visually, a letter with a rounded bottom will appear to sit slightly higher than it actually does.

Below The Line – Marketing that is direct, such as Direct Mailers.

Bezier line – A path defined by the position of the four control points that are located at the ends of the tangents of the vertices. The length and angle of the tangents describe how a path deviates from linear between its vertices.

Bible Paper – A lightweight, yet reasonably strong paper of the sort typically used in bibles.

Bind – Most frequently refers to books, but can include any printed material where the sheets are bound by string, wire, glue, or other method.

Bitmap – A graphics mode where the resulting image is constructed of pixels (as opposed to vectors).

Bleed – In printing, the bleed refers to an area that ‘bleeds’ over the edge of the document area. This is done so that background colours / images and so on will not have have white borders due to minor error margins that can occur when trimming printed objects.

Blind Image – This refers to an image that is embossed, de-bossed, stamped or watermark that is created through creating the image as part of the papers texture and not using inks or foils.

Blocking – This is when printed sheets (usually freshly printed) stick together, resulting in damage when they are separated.

Blow-Up – An enlargement of an image.

Blurb – A brief description that is found on the back of book jackets. They are designed to entice the reader.

BMP – Windows bitmap file format. It ‘lossless’, meaning uncompressed so that image quality is preserved. Its use is dwindling as there are better options available.

Body – In print or on the web, this refers to the main text area.

Borrowed Interest – A technique of using something already famous to help sell a product or service. Examples are celebrity endorsements and give-aways.

Brand (Branding) – The brand is what sets a product apart from its competitors. The idea of the brand transcends the physical properties of the product and incorporates a great deal of other elements.

Brand Loyalty – This is the trusting relationship that customers feel towards a particular brand and the reasons why they like it.

Bronzing – An effect which is created by dusting wet ink with a metallic powder.

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Z

Z-Axis – Vertical plane of a three-dimensional plot.

Z-Index – The arrangement of layers on a webpage. Layers can be overlaid on one another so they are assigned a Z-Index to dictate in what order they appear.

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Y

Y-Axis – Vertical plane of a two-dimensional plot. Or one of the two horizontal planes of a three-dimensional plot where it will be at a right-angle to the x-axis.

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