Branded Promotional Product Jargon Buster
Here at The Extra Step, we like to keep things simple. Throughout the site we have mentioned a number of words which may be confusing if you are not familiar with the industry. We have included the obvious terms below, but if you are unsure of anything let us know - we are always looking for ideas to add to this list!
Spot Colour
Also known as CMYK this is a four colour print process that combines Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black to create your chosen colour/tone.
Pantone References
The Pantone Matching System (PMS) is an industry standard set of colours that printers and designers refer to, allowing them to produce exact colour matches.
Artwork
In order to produce your branded merchandise we need to be supplied with (or create) the artwork. Your design team, or graphic designer should be able to provide all the files you need.
Digital Print
This is a print process that is generally used for low quantity orders. It is the process of printing a digital file on a surface and although the price per item can be higher you do avoid many of the setup costs and procedures involved when working with other print techniques.
Litho Print
This is a print process that is generally used for high quantity orders. It is the process of printing an image using metal plates that are manufactured for each individual print run and becomes economical once a certain quantity are being printed.
300dpi
DPI stands for dots per inch – the number of dots (or pixels) that make up an image in a square inch area. The more dots that are used per inch the clearer the image will be. 300dpi is the resolution of images required to produce high quality images, anything lower than this is considered unsuitable for printing purposes (and is generally used on the internet).
Vector artwork
Also known as raster graphics, these are illustrative files that can be used to print an illustration at any size. This means that the image can be increased to a very large size without becoming distorted or pixelated.
