Face:

Edge of a bound publication opposite the spine. Also called foredge. Also, an abbreviation for typeface referring to a family of a general style.

Fading:

The change of strength or color on exposure to light, heat or other influences.

Fade-o-Meter™:

An instrument used to measure the light-fastness of a printed ink or stock.

Faraday:

The quantity of electricity that can dissolve or deposit one gram equivalent weight (defined as the atomic weight, in grams, divided by the number of electrons involved) of a substance during electrolysis—about 96,500 coulombs.

Fast Color Inks:

Inks with colors that retain their density and resist fading as the product is used and washed.

FDA:

The Federal Food and Drug Administration, responsible for approving food additives and materials that come into contact with food in packaging. Inks, coatings and other packaging materials that come into direct contact with food or drugs must be shown to be non-migrating, or must be made only from raw materials known to be harmless.

Feathering:

A ragged or feather edge that shows at the edge of type or cuts.

Felt Side:

The top side of paper as it is formed in a Fourdrinier paper machine.

Festoon:

A method of inline storing of paper during printing, which uses a set of rollers that separate.

Fifth Color:

Ink color used in addition to the four needed by four-color process.

File server:

A combination of controller software and a mass storage device that allows computer users to share resources (applications and data) through a network.

Filing Up:

A condition in the printing, by letterpress or lithography, of halftones and the type, where the ink fills the area between the dots and plugs up the type.

Film Former:

A type of resin (binder) with qualities of forming a tough, continuous film; usually refers to such plastics as ethyl cellulose, nitrocellulose, chlorinated rubber and vinyl used in inks and coatings.

Finish:

The degree of gloss or flatness of a print or surface.

Fillers:

Mineral materials added to paper to increase brightness, opacity, bulk or smoothness. Typical fillers are clay, talc, calcium carbonate, diatomaceous earth and barium sulfate.

Film Gauge:

Thickness of film. The most common gauge for graphic arts film is 0.004 inch (0.1 mm).

Film Former:

A type of resin (binder) with qualities of forming a tough, continuous film; usually refers to such plastics as ethyl cellulose, nitrocellulose, chlorinated rubber and vinyl used in inks and coatings.

Film Laminate:

Thin sheet of plastic bonded to a printed product for protection or increased gloss.

Fine Screen:

Screen with ruling of 150 lines per inch (80 lines per centimeter) or more.

Fingerprinting:

Benchmarking the performance of a press or a proofing system under known conditions at a given point in

Fingerprinting Steps:

A list of actions needed to become involved in a fingerprinting process.

Fingerprinting Team:

An outline of the participants to be involved in a fingerprinting process.

Fingerprinting Process:

The procedures that will be used to implement a fingerprintng process.

Finish:

(1) The degree of gloss or flatness of a print or surface. (2) General term for trimming, folding, binding and all other post press operations.

Finished Size:

Size of product after production is completed, as compared to flat size. Also called trimmed size.

First-Down Color:

The first color printed on the substrate.

Fit-for-Use:

Any material, converted or raw, that is within a specified tolerance.

Fixed Costs:

Costs that remain the same regardless of how many pieces are printed. Copyrighting, photography and design are fixed costs.

Flammable:

Capable of burning.

Flash:

A very thin electrodeposit of copper or chromium, less than 0.1 mil or 3 microns. See also - Strike.

Flash Point:

The lowest temperature at which a vapor will ignite.

Flat Bed Scanner:

A flat bed optical input or output device (scanner or plotter) transfers images by means of a flat plane rather than a revolving cylinder.

Flat Color:

(1) Any color created by printing only one ink, as compared to a color created by printing four-color process. Also called block color and spot color. (2) color that seems weak or lifeless.

Flat Plan (Flats):

Diagram of the flats for a publication showing imposition and indicating colors.

Flat Size:

Size of product after printing and trimming, but before folding, as compared to finished size.

Flexographic Inks:

Most present day flexographic inks are a fluid mixture of finely ground pigments dispersed in a vehicle of solvent and resin. Most flexographic inks dry primarily by evaporation, but in some cases drying is partially by absorption using alcohol as a solvent. Color is achieved in some cases by pigmentation, and in others by the use of dyestuffs or by a combination thereof.

Flexographic Press:

An unwind or feed section, a series of individual workstations, one or more of which is a flexographic print station, any dryers (including interstage dryers and overhead tunnel dryers) associated with the workstations, and a rewind, stack, or collection station. The workstations may be oriented vertically, horizontally, or around the circumference of a single large impression cylinder. Inboard and outboard workstations, including those employing any other technology, such as rotogravure, are included if they are capable of printing or coating on the same substrate.

Flexographic Print Station:

A workstation on which a flexographic printing operation is conducted. A flexographic print station includes a flexographic printing plate which is an image carrier made of rubber or other elastomeric material. The image (type and art) to be printed is raised above the printing plate.

Flexography:

A method of direct rotary printing using resilient raised-image printing plates, affixed to variable repeat plate cylinders, inked by a roll or doctor-blade-wiped anilox roll carrying fluid ink. Frequently used for printing on plastic, foil, acetate film, brown paper, and other materials used in packaging.

Flocculation:

The aggregation of pigment particles in the ink to form clusters or chains; may result in a loss of color strength and a change in hue.

Flood:

To print a sheet completely with an ink or varnish. flooding with ink is also called painting the sheet.

Flop:

The reverse side of an image.

Flow:

The property of an ink, causing it to level out as would a true liquid. Inks of poor flow are classed as short or buttery in body, while inks of good flow are said to be long.

Flush Cover:

Cover trimmed to the same size as inside pages, as compared to overhang cover. Also called cut flush.

Flying:

A mist or fog of tiny ink droplets thrown off the press by the rollers. Also known as Misting.

Foaming:

A property of a liquid related to its surface tension; frothing. Foaming is a problem mostly with water base inks, usually occurring when inks are circulated through the ink pumps on a press fountain. Another class of inks, called foam inks, are purposely formulated to be applied as a foam.

Focal Tone:

A proprietary color-matching system for process color.

Fog:

A defect in a print or negative containing a deposit of silver extraneous to the intended image. Fog may be caused by improper developing or by light leaks in the darkroom.

Fogging Back:

Used in making type more legible by lowering density of an image, while allowing the image to show through.

Foil:

Very thin metal substrates, such as aluminum.

Foil Emboss:

Foil stamping and embossing an image on paper with a die. Also called heat stamp.

Foil Stamping:

A mechanical process that results in the bonding of colored foil to paper.

Folder:

A bindery machine dedicated to folding printed materials.

Fold Marks:

With printed matter, markings indicating where a fold is to occur, usually located at the top edges.

Foldout:

Gatefold sheet bound into a publication, often used for a map or chart. Also called gatefold and pullout.

Foldover:

A slitter-caused defect in paper consisting of a rough, irregular edge, either nicked or torn, often accompanied by slitter dust. Also called Turnover.

Folio:

A page number in a publication.

Font:

A complete assortment of letters, numbers, punctuation marks, etc. of a given size and design. There are three kinds of fonts: screen or bitmap fonts, printer or PostScript fonts and TrueType fonts.

Form:

Each side of a signature. Also spelled forme.

Format:

Size, style, shape, layout or organization of a layout or printed product.

Formation:

A term used to describe the internal structure of paper, the arrangement of fibers, the consistency of structure across the web, and the distribution of fillers and other additives.

Form Roller(s):

Roller(s) that come in contact with the printing plate, bringing it ink or water.

Fountain:

The part of a printing press that contains the ink to be fed to the distributing system. In lithography, it is also the part that feeds the water or fountain solution to the dampened rollers.

Four-Color Process Printing:

Technique of printing that uses black, magenta, cyan and yellow to simulate full-color images. Also called color process printing, full color printing and process printing.

Fourdrinier:

A papermaking machine characterized by a continuous moving metal or plastic wire former. It is the most common paper machine in use today.

FPO (For Position Only)

A low-resolution image used to mark the placement of the final image. During the draft stages of a publication, FPOs are often used instead of the high-resolution images to ease file transfer during the proofing and approval stages. When the publication is finally printed, the FPOs are replaced with the high-resolution images.

Free Sheet:

Paper produced with minimal or no groundwood.

Freeze/Thaw Stability:

The ability of an ink system to undergo freezing and thawing cycles.

French Fold:

A printed sheet, printed one side only, folded with two right angle folds to form a four page uncut section.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol):

Refers to a method of transferring files from one server to another via a network or the Internet.

Fugitive:

(1.) Poor color fastness because of exposure to light, heat or other agents. (2.) Term used to describe unstable plasticizers that leave a printed film because of their volatility.

Fumaric:

A synthetic hard resin.

Furnace Black:

A form of carbon black obtained by decomposing natural gas and or petroleum oil under controlled conditions in a furnace and precipitating the pigment in special chambers.

Furnish:

The pulp or mix of pulps selected for making a given grade of paper.