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P

Packing
In offset printing, paper or polyester is used to underlay the plate and blanket to get proper squeeze or pressure for printing.

Page Printer
A printing device which reproduces single pages of material at a time. Modern page printers use dot-matrix, laser xerography (laser printer), ink-jet, dye-sublimation and other technologies to reproduce digital information from a computer or digital storage device.

Page Proofs
Proofs made up from single pages or spreads, rather than imposed flats. Color proofs are usually page proofs, as they need to be approved before the imposition stage.

Pages
The number of pages is determined by the number of sides of each leaf.

Pagination
The number of separate pages within the document. This can be specified inclusive of the cover, which is known as‘ self cover’ or can be specified without the cover, in which case the ‘cover’ pagination needs to be specified separately. Specify self-cover if the paper used for the cover is the same weight as the paper used for the text pages. The number of pages must include both sides of each leaf.

Pantone® Matching System (PMS)
The Pantone Matching System is a system of numbering a comprehensive range of colors for reference. A PMS color printed with specially mixed inks is referred to as a "special." PMS also allows for approximations of colors using four-color process printing. Making a PMS color from CMYK never results in exactly the same color as printing it as a special. Critical colors which must be reproduced accurately and consistently are better printed as specials.

Paper Plate
A short run offset printing plate on which matter can be typed directly.

Peeling
Delamination from the edges of the laminate.

Perf Marks
Markings (usually dotted lines) at edges showing where perforations should occur.

Perfect Bind
A method of binding involving folded and collated pages being glued into the spine of the cover and the bound booklet being trimmed on three edges (top, bottom and fore-edge). Perfect binding is used for items with many pages and a minimum spine width of 3mm.

Perfect Bound
Binding procedure where adjacent pages are stacked together, the spine edge is glued, and then a cover is glued onto the spine.

Perforating
Punching small holes or slits in a sheet of paper or cardboard to facilitate tearing along a desired line.

Photoengraving
Making printing plates by exposure of line and halftone negatives on sensitized metal, converting the image into an acid resist; and etching the print to the relief required for letterpress printing.

Photographic Proof
A proof made through photographic process. Generally, four-color flats are fed into a proofing machine such as Agfa or Cromalin one at a time, which in combination produces a full-color photograph of how the final printed piece will look. Color accuracy, though improving, cannot be guaranteed, and photographic proofs cannot usually be matched on press. Also used for monochrome proofing.

Photogravure
A printing process where the image is etched into the plate cylinder. The main advantage of this method of printing is the high speed, long run capability. Used mainly for mail order and magazine work.

Pi Fonts
Characters not usually included in a font, but which are added specially. Examples of these are timetable symbols and mathematical signs.

Pica
A printing industry unit of measurement. There are 12 points to a pica, one pica is almost exactly one sixth of an inch.

Picking
The effect of ink being too tacky and lifting fibers out of the paper. Shows up as small white dots on areas of solid color.

Piling
The building up or caking of ink on rollers, plate, or blanket; will not transfer readily. Also, the accumulation of paper dust or coating on the blanket of the offset press.

Pin Holes
Small areas or holes on the printed sheet, most apparent in solids, where ink has not been transferred. These differ from hickeys by not having a dark center.

Pinholing
Failure of printed ink to form a completely continuous film, visible in the form of small holes in the printed areas.

Plate
A surface bearing an etched or chemically defined image which attracts ink for offset printing.

Plate Binding
The disappearance of the image from the plate, or the inability of the plate to transfer the image to the blanket.

Plate Crack
Fracture of the metal plate, normally located at the leading edge.

Platemaking
Making a printing plate from a film or flat includes preparation of the plate surface, sensitizing, exposure through the flat, development or processing and finishing.

Point
The standard unit of type size of which there are almost exactly 72 to the inch (one point is approximately 0.01383in). Point size for type is the measurement from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender. 12 points make a pica.

Or, the thickness of cover/card stock is often described in units called "points." A point is one one-thousandth of an inch. Ten point stock is 10/1000 or .010 inch.

Portrait
A page or image that is deeper (higher) than it is wide.

Positive
A true photographic image of the original made on paper or film.

PostScript®
A page description language developed by Adobe Systems. Widely supported by both hardware and software vendors, it represents the current 'standard' in the market.

Pound (lb.) Weight
The standard of measurement for weight (combination of thickness and density) of paper products in the US. Standard US pound weight for card stock is determined as the weight of 500, 20" x 26" sheets. For text stock, measurement of weight assumes 500 sheets of 25" x 38". Outside of the U.S., the weight of paper products is measured in Grams per Square Meter (GSM).

Pre-Press
The production phase which includes color separation, film output and proofing. Usually quoted and billed separately from the printing and binding phases. Can be arranged separately by the publisher before the printing phase.

Press-Proof
Unlike other proofing processes, press proofs are produced with actual printing inks on final paper with actual printing plates, thus assuring ability to reproduce colors accurately on final print run. Used for color proofing and not for proofing of copy, layout or imposition, which is done via ozalid proofs (bluelines).

Primary Colors
In photography, red, green and blue (the additive primaries). In printing, cyan, magenta and yellow (the subtractive primaries otherwise known as process colors). Black is commonly added to the printing primary colors to give the acronym CMYK where K stands for black.

Process Color
Using selected colors which in combination can reproduce other colors. The most common process is four-color CMYK process, but other processes include Hexachrome, which is a six-color process.

Process Ink
Printing inks, usually in sets of four colors. The most frequent combination is yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. These are printed over one another in that order to obtain a colored print with the desired hues, whites, blacks, and grays.

Progressives
Color proofs taken at each stage of printing which show each color printed singly and then superimposed on the preceding color.

Proofs
Proofs are a visual means of checking a job for color, content and accuracy before a complete print run is approved. There are a number of different types of proofing methods which can be employed and they vary in terms of accuracy, process and cost.

Proportional Spacing
A method of spacing whereby each character is spaced to accommodate the varying widths of letters or figures, thus increasing readability. Books and magazines are set proportionally spaced, typewritten documents are generally mono-spaced.

Pulp
The raw material used in paper making consisting mainly of wood chips, rags or other fibers. Broken down by mechanical or chemical means.