Glossary of Common Terms in Graphic Design

Banner Ad

See "Web Banner."

Bitmap Image

Graphic file that consists of pixels (on the computer monitor) or dots (on paper). When enlarged, bitmap images loose significant amount of clarity and sharpness. Bitmap images are also referred to as raster images.

Bleed

Text or image that extends to the edge of a page on which it is printed. Most desktop printers cannot print all the way to the age of the paper, so the only way to reach the effect of bleed is to print on larger piece of paper and then to trim it down to the desired size.

CMYK Printing

Color printing used in professional print shops. CMYK stands for "cyan, magenta, yellow, black" where "K" is used for black instead of "B" so that not to confuse it with "blue." Because each color is described as a mixture of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black ink, CMYK printing is also called four-color printing.

Compression

Shrinking the size of a graphic file down. Compressing images for Web allows them to load quicker, but too much compression can cause degrading of the image quality if the file format uses a lossy compression algorithm. JPG, the main format for photos, uses the lossy compression and because of this JPG files should be compressed carefully to preserve maximum of the visual quality.

Cropping

Removing excessive or irrelevant parts of a photo in order to improve its composition or create more interesting framing for the subject.

Four-color Printing

See "CMYK Printing."

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

Widely used graphic format that allows transparency and animation. GIF images are ideal for graphics with areas of flat color and no gradients. The limitation of this format is a small number of colors - only 256 are allowed.

GUI (Graphical User Interface)

User interface based on graphics instead of text characters. Among other components, GUI incorporates icons, menus, and windows. GUI makes using a software or Web site easier and more intuitive.

JPEG, JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

The main format used for photographs. JPG files are full-color images and can be compressed to a certain degree without visible loss of quality. The downside of this format is its inability to represent areas of flat colors and hard edges without introducing some level of compression noise called JPG artifacts.

Raster Image

See "Bitmap Image."

Spot Color

Color created by using the exact premixed ink, not a mix of four basic colors as in CMYK printing. Spot color printing is a cost-effective solution for print jobs with 1-3 colors.

Vector Image

Graphic file that uses mathematical formulas to represent shapes and colors. Vector images can be stretched or scaled down without loosing any quality and because of this they are considered more versatile than bitmap (raster) images. Vector images are ideal for logo design; they ensure that your logo will look clean and crisp at any size.

Web Banner

A Web banner is a rectangular image placed on a Web page for advertising purposes. Animated banners are often considered to be more effective because they grab attention quicker, but overly animated banners can annoy visitors to the point of leaving the page without looking at its content.