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D

Dampeners
In lithography, the rollers that distribute water or dampening solution to the plate.

Deboss
A plate sunk image on paper.

Descender
Any part of a lower case letter that extends below the x-height, as in the case of the letter y and j.

Die
Design, letters or putter cut into metal or other hard substance for stamping book covers or embossing. See "brass." Also, a sharp-edged steel shape or template used for cutting through and/or scoring paper or board.

Die Cutting
A process whereby a steel die is used to cut out a shape from a board, board book leaves or a book block. Used extensively in novelties, packaging and box-making, often used in board books, and occasionally used in paperback or hardbound books. Scoring can be performed concurrently using the same die, for example, in box-making.

Digital Print
There is an array of methods of digital print. Some of these methods approach the quality of offset and the arena of digital print is subject to constant improvement and innovation. Digital printing is very useful for short runs because it doesn’t incur the same set up costs as offset. There are no films and no plates. Digital printing can be used to produce a single copy as a proof before continuing with the rest of the job and that one copy will appear exactly as the finished job. Digital printing also allows us to personalize printed material as never before. A recipient’s name can appear in white text reversed out of a four--color image, something not possible using other printing methods.

Dot Elongation
Printed dots become longer than they are wider. Also called dot slur.

Dot Gain
Dot gain is the unintentional increase in the diameter of the halftone dot, printing larger on paper than it appears on negatives or plates. This will create darker tones or color imbalances. The more absorbent a paper, the more dot gain you can expect.

As a rule of thumb, coated papers are less absorbent, so they have much less dot gain then uncoated ones. It either case, preparing for the expected gain in prepress is essential for great results on press.

Dots
The basic constituent of a halftone. In order to reproduce a continuous tone image such as a photograph in print, we must convert the image into a halftone. A halftone is composed of dots of varying density and size.

Dots Per Inch
(See DPI)

Double Page Spread
(See Spread)

DPI (Dots Per Inch)
A measure of the density of dots within a halftone. The higher the DPI the higher the resolution and the sharper the image.

Drilling
Holes such as those for three ring binding are often drilled, rather than punched. The standard hole punch used in most offices can only punch a few sheets at a time. However, a specialized drilling machine performs the same function on up to 1000 sheets in a single pass. Wall calendars usually have drilled holes for hanging.

Dry Offset
Process in which a metal printing plate is etched to a depth of 0.15 mm (0.006 in), making a right-reading relief plate, printed on the offset blanket and then to the paper without the use of water.

Dummy
Sample of a project during the artwork stage. A dummy or mock up is useful for assisting the estimation of print costs and for presenting ideas to the client.

Duotone
Halftone image composed of two colors.

Dye Sublimation Printer
Dye-sub page printers apply varying levels of heat to a pigment on a ribbon, which immediately vaporizes and upon cooling, bonds as a solid to the target medium (paper) in varying levels of saturation. The result is an extremely durable, near-continuous tone image.

Dye Transfer
A photographic color print using special coated papers to produce a full color image. Can serve as an inexpensive proof.