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| graphic design jargon |
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RGB is...
An additive colour model in which three primary colours of light (red, green and blue) are combined
in varying intensities to produce all other colours. Monitors, scanners and the human eye use RGB to
produce or detect colour. |
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CMYK is...
A print process that uses four colours - cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y) and black (K) to produce all
other colour ranges. Used in most full-colour commercial printing.
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DPI is...
Dots per inch. A measure of the resolution of a display or output device. |
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Resolution is...
In bitmaps, a measure of the size of pixels or dots that compose a bitmap. |
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A bitmap is...
An image composed of a rectangular grid of squares called pixels (picture elements). Each pixel
contains information that describes whether it is black, white or has a colour value. When working
with bitmap images, you edit pixels rather than objects or shapes. A bitmap image is resolution
independent - that is, it contains a fixed number of pixels to represent its image data. As a result, a
bitmap image can lose detail and appear jagged if viewed at a high magnification on screen or
printed at too low a resolution. BMP is the standard Windows image format. |
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Vector Graphics are...
These are made of lines and curves defined by mathematical objects called vectors. Vectors describe
graphics according to their geometric characteristics. A vector graphic is resolution-independent
- that is, it can be scaled to any size and printed on any output device at any resolution without losing
its detail or clarity. Drawing programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Freehand and CorelDraw create vector
graphics. |
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A JPEG is...
A JPEG (joint Photographic Experts Group) is commonly used to display photographs and scanned
images via email. JPEG retains all colour information in a bitmap image but compresses file size by
selectively discarding data. The JPEG format supports CMYK, RGB, and greyscale colour modes. A
higher level of compression results in lower image quality and a lower level of compression results in
better image quality. In most cases, the maximum quality option produces a result indistinguishable
from the original. Because of this, JPEG compression is referred to as lossy. JPEG does not support
transparency. |
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Why do I have to supply PMS colours with my artwork?...
PMS is a colour that is specified in the Pantone Matching System. This system provides a standard for
describing printed colours using specific inks, and therefore results in best colour replication for your
artwork. |
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A PDF document is...
A PDF (Portable Document Format) is used by Adobe Acrobat. Adobe’s electronic publishing software
for Windows, Mac OS, UNIX and DOS. You can view and print PDF files using the Acrobat Reader
software. PDF files can represent both vector and bitmap graphics. |
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What if I don’t have an electronic copy of my artwork?...
The best way to get hard copy artwork into electronic format is to use a scanner - a device used to
create a bitmapped image of art. Scanners are also good for art that cannot be created on the
computer, such as photographic prints, transparencies or slide. |
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Can’t your printer change my artwork?...
Our printers can only digitize your artwork. They cannot delete, change or add anything to your art.
If alterations are required, they will be made by our Art Department prior to our printer receiving your
artwork. |
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Supplying artwork in a Word document...
Word documents are not compatible with our art department’s operating system. Therefore, they are
unable to manipulate these types of files. |
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